by rydjorker121 on Tue Jun 20, 2006 4:54 pm
Yeah, Freeland's an extreme late bloomer. He only really showed up as a draft prospect in the Reebok Treviso EuroCamp which took place over the past few weeks, and he's one of those rare prospects coming from England. However, a lot of what we see in Freeland is primarily potential; he is 6'11", athletic, hard working, and has a solid base of offense (shooting touch) and defense (aggressiveness). However, it's not like his offense and defense are in NBA level right now, and that's why he could certainly use another couple of years in Europe to shore up his game. He'll probably become like an Ian Mahinmi/Fran Vazquez/Ricky Sanchez type prospects who's a few years away. The reason why he's considered an early 2nd rounder to even a late 1st rounder is because teams that don't necessarily need any more rookies or roster spaces can just stash him away for the time being and perhaps get something good in return eventually. There could be a huge payoff in drafting little-known guys with a lot of potential, such as Freeland.
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