McRoberts A Dicrace To D-League

[.GR]

Yahoo! Sports

For every player in the D-League Showcase who busted his back end to impress the overseas scouts and 30 NBA teams studying the event, perhaps no one did as much damage to his reputation as Josh McRoberts.

His body language blurted, "Why do I have to be here?" on Tuesday and Thursday night, one more in a string of performances that have left people in the NBA and D-League asking: Does the rookie out of Duke want to play basketball anymore?

McRoberts, a 6-foot-10 forward with impressive passing skills, needs to get over where he thought his basketball career would be and make the best of where it is. He was one of the top-five high school players in the nation, a freshman at Duke whom some executives believed would've been a first-round pick had he left school after one season. After a disappointing sophomore season, McRoberts turned pro and dropped to Portland with the 37th pick of the second round.

McRoberts, a cheerleader for the Northwest Division's first-place Portland Trail Blazers, treated his assignment to Idaho like a deployment to Baghdad. Despite playing just three games this season, McRoberts resisted the chance to work on his game in Idaho. To go scoreless Tuesday night in 31 minutes and come back with 2 of 10 shooting that included more airballs and mindless basketball insulted his teammates, coaches and a slew of scouts.

Most believe his two-year guaranteed contract was more a product of his childhood friendship with Greg Oden, than a testament of his talent.

"He'd better figure out fast that Oden will make some new friends," one D-League coach said.

When a player with a guaranteed contract comes down, he's an immediate target for players trying to make a name for themselves. They'll challenge him. On a nightly basis, McRoberts is getting humiliated in the D-League. "If you take away the name, the contract, the school, and just judge him on what you're seeing: He looked like the worst player in the building," one Western Conference personnel director said.

Said an Eastern Conference scout, who had watched him regularly at Duke, "If he keeps this up, he will be out of the league in two years. (McRoberts) better wake up before it's too late for him. It's a shame because he has some talent."

He should have stayed in college anyways...

 

[jarrod2323]

ouch - lots of hype a year ago, now this...

 

[RipCity32]

What a jackass. Scrubby.

 

[CameronCrazy06]

I feel bad for the kid. I kinda wish he would've left after one year, even though we would've sucked even more last year.

Kid's got a lot of talent, but he's such a pouter....

 

[DJT]

A "dicrace"????? Hmmmm. Anyways, I think he was dumb to come out of college, and now he's paying for it.

 

[CameronCrazy06]

No, he was dumb for not leaving sooner.

Had he stayed another year his stock would've fallen even more...