Besides basketball recruiting fantasies, the one thing that will captivate Terp fans more than anything else in the coming months is undoubtedly Greivis Vasquez's NBA draft campaign. One of the most productive point guards in college yet entirely unathletic by NBA standards, Vasquez's draft position is an enigma.
That won't stop people from trying to peg him in a hole anyway. While ESPN is still lagging behind in the mock draft game, plenty of others have pushed out their mocks. Where's Greivis? About right where we expected him, early to middle second round.
DraftExpress, which pushed out an updated mock today, has Vasquez as the 20th pick in the second round, 50th overall, to Dallas. That's not an awful situation to be in; it's a successful team with an aging point guard (Jason Kidd), though that position will probably fall to Rodrigue Beaubois. Still, playing time will be available, especially if Vasquez can back up the 2 spot as well.
NBADraft.net updated their entry two days ago, and the evaluation is slightly more positive: they have Milwaukee taking the plunge on Vasquez with the seventh pick in the second round, 37th overall. While I wouldn't be ecstatic to see him sent to a small market like Milwaukee, there are some positives there: like Dallas, they're a play-off team and have some major pieces that Vasquez could give the ball to, like Andrew Bogut and possibly John Salmons. While Brandon Jennings has the point locked down for the Bucks, they're losing PG backup Luke Ridnour to free agency in the summer and will be in the market for someone to play behind Jennings. Of course, that also opens up the possibility of an all-Under Armour PG position in Milwaukee - if Plank doesn't ink Vasquez to a contract, something's wrong.
Meanwhile, RealGM sees Milwaukee's PG need, but pegs Vasquez a little lower. They still have Vasquez as a buck, but being selected with Milwaukee's other second round pick, ten slots lower at #47.
Lastly, my favorite mock outcome comes from WalterFootball, which has Vaz going to the Wizards in the early second round. They claim him as depth for Gilbert Arenas, but with only Gimpy Gil in front of him, it's more likely than not that Vasquez will get a lot of playing time and maybe even have a shot to wrestle away the starting spot if he plays well enough.
Meanwhile, Steve Blake - admittedly, not a draft expert that didn't see Maryland play much - thinks Vasquez has a "shot" (fast-forward to 13:30) at the first round. Supposedly he's heard his named kicked around here and there as a first rounder, and he wouldn't be surprised if he went in the late first round.
I sort of agree; he's been extremely productive, and that could be enough for a savvy team to take a flier on him late in the first. Who knows? The Wizards have the 30th pick and are in the market for a PG; maybe they pull the trigger a little early.