Site Map | Archives

Home › Sports › LoboZone

Men's basketball: Giddens says no to NBA for now

By Jeremy Fowler
Saturday, January 27, 2007

Lobos guard J.R. Giddens says he won't go pro this year unless he's a first-round draft pick.

Photo by Craig FritzTribune

Tribune

Lobos guard J.R. Giddens says he won't go pro this year unless he's a first-round draft pick.

Giddens out

Coach Ritchie McKay said guard J.R. Giddens is staying in Albuquerque as the Lobos play at UNLV tonight because of his sprained left ankle. Giddens re-injured the ankle in the second half of Wednesday's 70-49 loss to Brigham Young. McKay said this isn't a disciplinary move. This is Giddens' fourth missed game of the season due to the nagging injury.

Hidden behind the will-he, won't-he NBA draft status of J.R. Giddens is a bottom line.

If the University of New Mexico guard had to decide on the draft today, he said he would stay with the Lobos for his senior year.

The reason: Giddens isn't a first-round pick right now.

If he's projected as a first-round pick, he's says he's gone.

If he's projected as a second rounder, he stays.

Surely his status can change by April 29, the deadline for declaring for the draft, and June 18, the deadline for withdrawing if a player hasn't signed with an agent.

Since Giddens said he's "as skilled as any two-guard in the country," he believes his stock will rise.

"Family first," Giddens said. "I want to support my family more than anything. I have to strike while the iron's hot. I'm not the kind of person like Matt Leinart who can sit back and enjoy it. I'm an inner-city kid from Oklahoma City."

Giddens, who averages 16.8 points and 6.1 rebounds, "has the talent to be a first-round pick," according to ESPN.com draft analyst Chad Ford.

Ford lists Giddens as No. 53, or mid- to late-second round, on his top-100 board.

NBAdraft.net doesn't include Giddens in its two-round mock drafts for 2007 or 2008.

Ford says: "Scouts are worried about work ethic and attitude. He's off to a hot start at New Mexico, which bodes well for his draft stock, but he may be another year away from the NBA at this point."

Former Lobo Danny Granger, however, wasn't heralded until his stock ballooned toward the end of the Mountain West Conference season and his individual workouts. Granger was the 17th overall selection in 2005 by the Indiana Pacers.

If Giddens returns from a sprained ankle in time for Tuesday's game against Wyoming, he'll have nine conference games and a conference tournament left to try to revive a Lobos team (12-9, 1-5 in MWC) that's spiraling out of control.

Coach Ritchie McKay, who plastered the "lottery pick" tag to Giddens in the preseason, said he expects his athletic guard to at least explore his options.

McKay said he'll provide help for his star, including setting up individual workouts, if necessary.

Players have to finance their workouts with NBA teams if they want to keep the option to return to college.

Giddens said he's interested in the workouts.

And shaking the "selfish" tag.

"That really bugs me when people say that," Giddens said. "I don't feel that I am."