Don't underestimate Portsmouth's value to seniors

	Former South Carolina swingman Tarence Kinsey got some much-needed exposure in Portsmouth last year, paving the way for the Grizzlies to sign him as a free agent. Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images

"There are three kinds of numbers: lies, damned lies and statistics."

This deliciously cynical quote is often attributed to American humorist Mark Twain, but Twain himself believed it originated with famed former prime minister of England Benjamin Disraeli. Despite exhaustive research, scholars have been unable to nail down its true origin.

Whoever said it, this quote leapt to my mind last week when a bushel of stories opined that the just-concluded Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (PIT), long a key stop on the post-collegiate, pre-draft circuit for NBA general managers and scouts to see top college seniors, had outlived its purpose.

One story pointed out that only one player from the Portsmouth event -- Jason Maxiell of Cincinnati, now with the Pistons -- had been selected in the first round of the draft over the past two seasons. Another underlined that only four players from the 2006 Portsmouth group -- Steve Novak (Houston), Solomon Jones (Atlanta), Bobby Jones (Philadelphia) and David Noel (Milwaukee) -- were chosen in the 2006 draft.

But what is more important: the fact that a player is drafted, or that he ends up playing in the NBA?

Ben Wallace got some exposure playing in the PIT in 1996, wasn't drafted, but signed as a free agent with the Washington Bullets. He has rebounded and bumped his way through 11 NBA seasons and appeared in four All-Star Games. Joe Vogel of Colorado State? Well, the big man was last seen leading Lebanon's national team at the 2006 World Championships in Japan. Vogel has never played a game in the NBA, but dadgummit, he sure can say he got drafted No. 45 by Seattle in 1996, when 58 picks went by without anyone calling Wallace's name.

Ten players from the 2006 PIT played in the NBA this season, and nine of them are on rosters right now. One of them, Grizzlies swingman Tarence Kinsey, an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina, has scored 20 or more points in six of his last nine games. Kinsey, a 6-6 guard who teamed with current Knicks forward Renaldo Balkman to help the Gamecocks win the NIT title in 2006, has some real athletic talent.

But he is also using the same tried-and-true approach to forging an NBA career used by a bevy of other non-drafted players from the PIT -- working hard on all aspects of his game, paying attention to what his coaches are saying and finding a role by providing consistent production.

The Clippers' Quinton Ross, Houston's Chuck Hayes (the 2005 PIT MVP), Denver's Reggie Evans and the Hornets' Jannero Pargo all share the PIT pedigree, and guess what? Not a single one of them was drafted. Today, all are playing key roles for their teams.

While Kinsey is raising eyebrows around the league with his late-season explosion, where would he have been without the extra exposure he gained by playing in Portsmouth? Maybe he would be playing over in Europe, which brings me to my next point in this discussion.

There were 10 international players picked in the second round of the 2006 draft, the same number of players who participated in Portsmouth and also played in the NBA this season. But of those 10 international players, only one -- the Hornets' Marcus Vinicius -- signed an NBA contract and played in a game this season.

I'll ask the question again: Is it more important that a player is drafted, or that he plays in the NBA? Teams, many of which are at or near the salary cap and have 10 or more players with guaranteed contracts, have made it a practice to draft international players in the second round because they can retain the rights to these players indefinitely while they continue to play in Europe. But if the players never make it over to the NBA (and many don't), wouldn't you rather your team had Kinsey, Ross, Hayes, Evans or Pargo contributing instead?

Identifying players who can help an NBA team is big business. Teams spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on scouting worldwide these days. Not all of the players who play at the PIT end up in an NBA starting lineup like Hayes or veteran PIT alums like Wallace, Cuttino Mobley, Derek Fisher, Ruben Patterson or Mikki Moore, just to name a few. But as long as you can find hard-working, blue-collar players in Portsmouth who end up with 10-year careers, the event will stand tall as an integral part of the draft process.