ABCD notebook

NYC point guard phenom Telfair getting even better

Sebastian Telfair is about to be known as more than just Stephon Marbury's cousin.

By Albert Lin, CNNSI.com

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- He is a bit taller and has put on a little weight, but it is still easy to spot Sebastian Telfair, the Brooklyn phenom (and cousin of Stephon Marbury) who first impressed here at the adidas ABCD Camp two summers ago as a rising freshman.

Telfair's game has improved. He is much stronger with the ball and now takes it to the hole without hesitation. He has super quickness, a great crossover and good hangtime. Unlike Marbury, he seems to think pass first.

The 17-year-old rising junior at Lincoln High also seems to be thinking college first. On Tuesday he insisted that he would not go straight to the NBA, even making a face when a reporter suggested the option to him.

"I'm like every other kid growing up -- I'm going to go to college," he said as media members scribbled furiously. "That's not a decision. It'd be a decision if I wasn't going."

Though he is a more polished speaker, Telfair still carries a lot of that Marbury braggadocio. When asked if things might change a year from now, he snapped, "I don't know. See me next year with that question."

The smaller the player, the more questions NBA scouts seem to come up with. The shortest high school player drafted was 6-foot-7 Kobe Bryant back in 1996. Even this June, with Yao Ming clearly a project and Jason Williams a finished product, Williams still had his detractors. It seems highly unlikely that an NBA club would entrust the future of its franchise to a 6-foot teenager.

Doesn't it?

"I'm sure it'll happen, but I'm not sure it's here yet," Milwaukee Bucks coach George Karl said. "I'd rather like to see us step backward for a while. But as long as we have the Tracy McGradys, until we get some horror stories -- and I think we had some this year -- we're going to continue to see kids skip our minor league system, which is college."

Karl added that because of the importance of the point-guard position -- he ranked it second only to center -- teams will continue to search high and low for quality ones, even if it means dipping into the high school ranks.

"Everybody needs a good point guard, and not everybody has a good one," Karl said.

Despite Telfair's insistence that he will attend school, when asked a subsequent question he talked in NBA terms. "I don't have a contract," he said, "so I still gotta do what I gotta do."

Stay tuned.

Double dribbles

Many of the big-name head coaches hadn't arrived yet. Spotted in the crowd: Henry Bibby, John Chaney, Phil Martelli, Louis Orr, Rick Pitino, Herb Sendek, Quin Snyder, Jay Wright. ... The most talked about player in camp may be 6-3 Philadelphian Mustafa Shakur, who dazzled the crowd Monday -- leading one scouting service to name him the camp's top performer -- and more than held his own Tuesday against Telfair. Shakur is very slender (generously listed at 175 pounds), but he has excellent floor vision and is very confident with the ball. He attends Friends Central and has a host of ACC and Big East schools on his trail. ... Pitino made himself prominent during the early game of Detroit point guard Brandon Jenkins, a recent Louisville commitment. Ever the cool customer, Pitino didn't bat an eyelash when the long-limbed, 6-3 Jenkins elevated for an alley-oop or when he foiled a 3-on-1 fastbreak. ...

Shaun Livingston, one of the top players in the class of 2004, has a lot of Reggie Miller in him. The 6-6 combo guard from Peoria (Ill.) Central didn't display Miller's dead-eye shooting touch, but he has the exact (scrawny?) build, moves without the ball and dribbles in similar fashion. ... Phoenix Suns executive and former Notre Dame All-American John Shumate got an up-close look at his son, John Shumate, a 6-4 rising senior wing at Brophy College Prep in Tempe. ... Other campers with famous relatives: 6-2 rising sophomore point guard Jeremy Pargo, younger brother of recent Arkansas grad Jannero; 6-10 rising junior power forward/center David Burgess, younger brother of former Duke/Utah center Chris; and 6-4 rising senior wing guard Omar Wilkes, son of former UCLA and Lakers great Jamaal (né Keith). ... Though both are injured, two of the top 10 players in the class of 2003 are in attendance. Top-ranked LeBron James of Akron (Ohio) St Vincent-St. Mary's broke his left wrist in May, while 6-8 power forward Leon Powe of Oakland Tech tore his ACL weeks earlier.

 

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