June 23, 2011

Jeremy Hazell - Like Diebler, Hazell is another one of the better shooters out there, with roughly 28 feet of consistent range at his disposal, and without needing to have his feet set to hit it. Unfortunately, there's a lot of other stuff to consider. Hazell never passes, and pretty much shoots as soon as he catches it. He improved slightly upon this as a senior, yet he is still that most scary of things - a chucker. It is the shot selection, not the shot calibre, that seems him consistently shoot only about 34% from three point range. Furthermore, Hazell is not a talented ball handler, and his rare forays at attempting so are often misguided. He did record 2.4 steals per game, but it was the Larry Hughes kind of 2.4 steals per game, not the John Stockton type. [He gambles.] Hazell is also already 25, got shot at Christmas time, and has had academic issues in the past, none of which is insurmountable but which all counts against a prospect anyway. And moreover, he's too streaky of a shooter to be considered an out-and-out shooter. Diebler is bigger, a better shooter, and far smarter. Given the choice, there's no choice.

Nevertheless, he's a 20ppg scorer in the Big East, so that counts for something. Unnecessarily early prediction that relies upon the belief that he'll wind up playing there, a belief that has no basis in fact that I know of - Hazell will be a D-League all-star next season.

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