Lawson’s stock dropping…

Ty Lawson

Things are not looking good for one of the Tar Heels at the NBA Pre Draft Camp in Chicago, and I bet most people would not guess who it is, I know I was shocked. It’s speedy point guard Tywon Lawson and what the people in “the know” are giving him little or no love as of now. Actually, they are beating him down pretty badly, in a way I never thought would happen after the performance that the junior from Maryland gave us in the NCAA Tournament. But that is just the way it is I guess, scouts/GMs/teams get a hold of a player and they either push him up or down, for Lawson it seems like he is going to be pushed right out of the lottery in this case. From an online article from DraftExpress this is what the people are saying about Lawson:

One player who really doesn’t seem to have very much positive buzz these days is Ty Lawson. “Injury prone” one assistant GM calls him. “A backup point guard…he’s 100% behind Jonny Flynn” another NBA representative says. “He’s a product of North Carolina’s system” a third told us. Lawson seems to be outside of the lottery at the moment, but still has a good chance to be picked by two teams looking for point guards in the late teens, Philadelphia (#17) and Atlanta (#19).

Living in upstate New York I have watched every single game that Syracuse played with Flynn leading the squad. I have to say, and this could be biased, Flynn is way more turnover prone than Lawson ever was and did not have the leadership capabilities that the point guard from Chapel Hill possessed. However I think that Flynn is getting the love because LeBron James has said to one and all that he is ready, and while LBJ might be the best player in the league, I doubt that he is ready to be the best analyst of talents.

Some will say that Lawson fell off his game when matched against better competition. Having watched Flynn for two years, the same thing happened when he encountered good opponents, but maybe a bit worst, because Flynn would hinder himself even more by pushing the cause. That turned a bad situation into a worst one and made the whole team go amiss.

And thanks to the Truth About It, owner of the blog with the same name, I found some excellent quotes from the speedy point guard that were in the Washington Post:

On the team for which he grew up dreaming about playing:

“Maybe the Wizards. They are a hometown team. I’d like to play for them. But the team I want to play for now is Miami. That’s where I want to go. I liked the Bulls, Heat matchups back in the day. Maybe the Bulls, but they already got a point guard. I’d really go anywhere because I didn’t grow up watching a team. I watched players, like Michael Jordan.”

On whether he has ruled out possibly playing for the Wizards:

“Not really. This draft is probably going to be real crazy. A lot of teams need a lot of things. If I got to the Wizards that would be good.”

On coming back for a championship at North Carolina:

“It meant a lot. We all tried to go to the NBA last year and we came back for a championship. All of our blood, sweat and tears worked out. It feels like we accomplished something.”

On playing hurt during the NCAA Tournament:

“It was do-or-die time. I had to play. If we had lost that second game to LSU, I would’ve taken that to heart. I’m happy to go out there and play and play real well.”

So to all of those that think Lawson isn’t good enough or maybe damaged good, beware, passing on him when you are in need of a point guard is going to be a mistake you will soon learn to regret. And yes, I am bias, and yes, I know that there are other guards before him, but definitely not Johnny Flynn, not by a long shot. Hopefully the work outs will show once again what kind of talent Tywon Lawson is and people will stop trying to find the negatives and focus on the positive of this young man. As I always do with any Tar Heel, let me with Lawson all the best as he moves forward with the next chapter of his life.

Shortlink: