What they’re saying about Andre Iguodala
With just hours left before the 2004 NBA Draft, it is starting to become a little more clear where each player will be chosen. In the case of ex-Arizona Wildcat Andre Iguodala, one team may have emerged as the most likely to select the 6-foot-6 shooting guard.
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“The Wizards need just about everything with the exception of a point guard. They'll take the best player available at this spot whether his name is Luol Deng or Andre Iguodala. On our mock draft Iguodala is the man, and for those skeptical Wizards fans, Andre can ball.” – Dime Magazine
“Should the Suns stay at seven and choose a player? And just who would that be? The Suns love Arizona's Andre Iguodala but he most likely won't be there at seven. It looks like Igoudala could be drafted third by Chicago and then dealt to Washington for another player the Suns covet, UConn's Ben Gordon, who would be picked fifth by the Wizards, and Jarvis Hayes.” - John Gambadoro, AZCentral.com
“Andre Iguodala of Arizona? He's the Mike Mamula of the draft -- great in workouts, invisible in games.” - David Schoen, Alameda Times-Star
“The player with the most potential might be Arizona freshman guard Andre Iguodala. Athletically, Iguodala is ready for the NBA, but his jump shot is inconsistent, and he is limited offensively off of the dribble.” - Percy Allen, Seattle Times
“The top-rated shooting guard is Andre Iguodala, who put up pedestrian scoring averages at Arizona of 6.4 as a freshman and 12.9 as a sophomore before declaring for the draft. But scouts are in awe of Iguodala's Scottie Pippen-like athletic skills.” - Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News
“Andre Iguodala, a 6-6 defensive stalwart, spent just one year at Arizona and felt it was the best decision he could have made in terms of his basketball development.
‘Talent-wise, yeah, maybe I was ready for the NBA last year, but mentally, nah,’ he said. ‘This past year, I learned a lot about defense and playing in a team concept. ... There's a lot of great players at Arizona. There's wars in practice every day, so you have no choice but to get better. I'm a better player now than I was last year.’”- Percy Allen, Seattle Times
“Arizona guard Andre Iguodala had his second draft workout at Berto and fared well enough to remain on a short list for the third pick with Stanford forward Josh Childress, Duke forward Luol Deng and Connecticut guard Ben Gordon. The Bulls also are pursuing trading down, although nothing is imminent.” - K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune
“There are questions about his offensive ability and aggressiveness. But his ability to play defense and his confidence still will land him in the lottery.” - K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune
“Andre Iguodala worked out for the Bulls a second time Saturday, and Paxson is even more impressed now.
‘Andre is a very intriguing basketball player,’ Paxson said. ‘He has a real high skill level, a great body and he performed really well. He has some instinctive things about the game that will place him high on a lot of people's charts.’”
Iguodala averaged 8.4 rebounds and 4.9 assists to go with his 12.9 points last season. He is an ideal point forward who is an excellent passer, a good shooter and a gifted defender. - Lacy J. Banks – Chicago Sun-Times
“Iguodala returns: The Bulls put Andre Iguodala through the same individual workout on Saturday at the Berto Center that Luol Deng endured two days earlier. Iguodala visited the Bulls along with four other prospects back on May 28.
"He's a really intriguing guy and he's going to be high on a lot of people's charts," John Paxson said.
The biggest question about Iguodala, who attended Springfield Lanphier High School, is his ability to score. Last season as a sophomore, he led Arizona in rebounds and assists, but was fourth in scoring at 12.7 points.
‘He's going to score,’ Paxson said. ‘I think at Arizona this past year, they just didn't seem like Arizona teams of old. From my perspective, it looked like they had a few guys that had a little different agendas and they just didn't seem to mesh as well as a lot of Arizona teams do. Andre was more of the facilitator offensively.’” - Mike McGraw, Daily Herald
“My feelings about Iguodala are that he is a very intriguing prospect but I think he will slip in the draft. He and Okafor are probably the most defensively ready of the lottery picks. And he is physically solid as well. But there are questions about his offensive skills and his aggressiveness on the offensive end.” - K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune
“The 6-foot-6 Iguodala, who played collegiately at Arizona, has the physical ability to play the 1, 2 and 3 positions, although he is most comfortable at shooting guard. He likens comparisons to Scottie Pippen. He's a passionate but humble player.
He was third in the Pacific-10 in assists (4.9). But he's hardly the offensive juggernaut one would assume the possible top guard in the draft would be -- he averaged 12.9 points in his sophomore season for Lute Olsen's Wildcats, while making 23 of 73 3-point attempts (31.5 percent).
But he can defend.
‘A lot of guys have a couple years of getting better defensively, and that's keeping them off the court because they can't defend -- I think that's what's going to put me on the court,’ said Iguodala, who is expected to be a top-10 pick and could be the first guard selected in the draft, depending on what happens with high school player Shaun Livingston. ‘I think you have to take pride in playing defense; that's the base of winning. A lot of teams struggle because they can't stop teams from putting the ball in the hole. Detroit is a good example of defense right now.’” - Benjamin Hochman, The Times-Picayune
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-Josh Gershon, Senior Writer
GOAZCATS.com
JGershon@goazcats.com
