It was nice to see Andre Emmett selected to the All-Revue team, while playing for Seattle in this year’s Rocky Mountain Review. I for one really didn’t know all that much about him except that his name sounded familiar when our team roster was announced. I was reminded that he was actually drafted by us in the second round (#35) and traded to Memphis. He has seen only a little NBA action with the Grizzlies and the Heat.
What was especially gratifying about his performance in the Revue, was the validation that came from not selecting Ronnie Brewer who was still on the board at # 10 this year. Brewer would have been my choice had I been king for a day. I, like many others was blindsided when we took Sene with that pick instead. But after a few weeks of mental adjustment, and a few nice games from Sene and Emmett, I am at peace with the pick.
One comment that was out there in the aftermath of the selection of Sene over Brewer and others was that guys like Brewer are out there in every draft, or can be found easily in free agency, but talented big men are at a premium. Well, at this point, I am beginning to agree.
Take Brewer and Emmett for example. One is a first rounder with a 3 year guaranteed contract; the other is a hungry free agent. There are a few inches in height differential between the two, and their skill set is not exactly identical, but statistically, they were fairly comparable at this years’ Revue.
PLAYER G GS MIN FG FGA PCT FG FGA PCT FT FTA PCT OFF DEF TOT AST PF DQ STL TO BLK PTS AVG
Emmett 6 2 149 30 52 .577 2 5 .400 13 19 .684 7 16 23 9 13 0 14 11 0 75 12.5
PLAYER G GS MIN FG FGA PCT FG FGA PCT FT FTA PCT OFF DEF TOT AST PF DQ STL TO BLK PTS AVG
Brewer 6 2 153 36 64 .563 2 3 .667 22 31 .710 5 11 16 11 11 0 10 9 3 96 16.0
The comparison is favorable. If you take per/48 min. averages of both players it looks like this:
Emmett: 7.4 rebs; 2.9 Assists; 4.2 PF; 4.51 Steals; 3.5 TO; O blocks; and 24.2 pts/48.
Brewer: 5.0 rebs; 3.5 Assists; 3.5 PF; 3.14 Steals; 2.8 TO; .94 blocks; and 30.1 pts/48.
Like I said, not identical, but a favorable comparison between the two, who were both named to the All-Revue team. Had we drafted Brewer, he would have been redundant on our roster with Damien Wilkins and M. Galebale on the squad.
If I wanted to pound the keyboard a little longer, you would see that Emmett compared favorably to Maurice Ager and Rodney Carney as well; both first round picks this year, who were not selected to the All-Revue team. http://www.nba.com/jazz/Revue/2006_RMR_AllTournament_Team.html
I don’t know if Emmett will even get an invite to training camp, but at this point, with the success of low draft picks, or undrafted players in the last several years (Marquis Daniels, Damien Wilkins etc), I would have to agree that the Sene pick might have been the right one for us at #10. Guys like Emmett, Marquis Daniels, and Damien can be found. Players like Sene are a bit harder to come (if our first impressions of him are accurate).
As a disclaimer, I am not saying that Emmett will be as good a player as Ager, Carney, or Brewer. What I am saying is that perhaps given a chance, he could be a very nice player in the league (with us or someone else) without the guaranteed contract, and not at the expense of possibly drafting a very special big man.