Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
UCLA Bruins’ Shabazz Muhammad’s draft stock went down a little for the 2013 NBA Draft, but why? This is a player that NBA teams can’t go wrong with.
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Was Muhammad’s 17.9 points per game and 5.2 rebounds per game as a freshman not good enough? Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel was great on defense, but he disappointed in his freshman season and tore his ACL, yet he still might go No. 1 overall. I understand that big men are hard to come by in the NBA, but what was so wrong about Muhammad this past season that made him go from an early top five pick to possibly not even being picked up in the top 10?
Who knows if that will happen, but his draft stock did take a hit.
If there was anything not disappointing about UCLA this past season, it was Muhammad. His 44.3 percent from the field and 37.7 percent from behind the arc seems perfectly fine to me. I guess he was a whole year older than what people thought, but don’t people always say age is just a number? Well…
Whether if it was driving to the hoop, knocking down a jumper or draining the three ball, Muhammad did it all and did not lack anything on the offensive side of the ball.
His 0.8 assists per game may be a little alarming to some and maybe he could have played better defense, but Carmelo Anthony seems to be doing just fine in the NBA. Not saying that Muhammad is going to be as good as Anthony, but what I am saying is that Muhammad is a great scorer and that is what everyone expected him to be.
He will still get picked up and get a big paycheck, so in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter that much, but it comes down to pride and expectations. Muhammad probably thinks he is the best player in the draft. If he does think that, then he wouldn’t be wrong in thinking so.
He was great in his only year in college and any NBA team can’t go wrong with him because of his scoring abilities alone.
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