Hansbrough works out with the Bobcats

Tyler Hansbrough

A I talked about in a post this morning, Tyler Hansbrough did work out with the Charlotte Bobcats, and here is a post that features a video of the power forward from the Bobcats Blog (NBA.com). How  awesome must it have been to see Tyler Hansbrough work out in front of head coach Larry Brown and his assistant Phil Ford, who by the way (for those that don’t know or have forgotten) Hansbrough passed as the all time scorer at North Carolina on his was to the all time conference leading scorer. But that isn’t what made this experience a good one for the young man from Poplar Bluff. The fact that coach Brown told the reporters he is a believer in the forward from his alma mater might just have been the biggest endorsement that Hansbrough has gotten so far.

“… he’s a much better athlete than most people think.”

The Bobcats head man told the media that he could easily see some Ben Wallace in Hansbrough, stating to the reporters (who were able to watch part of the work out):

“Everybody said Ben was undersized, he couldn’t shoot the ball, he couldn’t handle the ball,” Brown said. “He’s had a phenomenal career. There are a lot of players like that.”

Larry Brown

From searching on the internet there is no doubt in my mind that Hansbrough’s stock is on the rise, all you have to do is check what teams the young man is working out with. Tyler has already had his day with the Pistons, which holds the 15th pick of the draft, the Bulls (16th) and the Hornets (21st). After Charlotte Hansbrough will have workouts with the Pacers (13th), the Jazz (20th) and the TrailBlazers (24th). I still hold pretty firmly to the belief that the ACC all time scorer will end up being picked anywhere from 18th to 23rd, and these workouts are making my pick look pretty good so far. On the other hand, when you do go outside of the lottery too many things can happen for anyone to be sure what will really happen. A trade, a team moving out of their spot  and a player can easily move up, or down. But for now there is no way, whether you are a die hard fan of Hansbrough or a hater/ABC’er, that you can deny that his stock has lifted above any expectations anyone could have had a month ago.

Now I know that most people that want to attack this post can do so by saying that first of all Charlotte is biased with all the Carolina connection and secondly no head coach is going to say “nah (name of player) is no good, we are just working him out for the heck of it”. On the other hand this isn’t a one time deal, from the Chicago Pre Draft camp on, it seems that the general opinion is that Hansbrough is a lot better than some had thought (and many had voiced about).

What all of these thing tell me that scouts and GMs might focus too much on too many things and not enough on others. Hansbrough has become what he is by doing things that whether you are in college or in the pro’s are not going to change. Working hard is always going to be working hard wherever you are. And while I keep repeating that I do not see Hansbrough as the next All Star in the NBA, I certainly see him having a fruitful career that is going to last at least a decade and have plenty of great moments in it. I say this because he is a great team mate and that too doesn’t change whether you are in college or the next step.

As more information comes around I will make sure to post it, but for now let me say “all the best” to Tyler Hansbrough (as well as Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green) as they work towards the NBA Draft and then playing in the National Basketball Association.

Shortlink: