Updated: April 10, 2006, 12:26 AM ET
Report: Aldridge leaving, Barnes staying at Texas

ESPN.com news services


The Texas Longhorns will reportedly be without one of their leading scorers next season.


LaMarcus Aldridge, whose sophomore season ended with a disappointing performance in Texas' overtime loss to LSU in the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, has told teammates and the Longhorns coaching staff he will enter the NBA draft, three sources told The Dallas Morning News.


Aldridge is projected as a possible high first-round pick in the NBA draft -- and ranks at No. 3 on ESPN Insider Chad Ford's Top 100 -- but declined to discuss his future after Texas' loss.


Aldridge's 26-point, 13-rebound performance against West Virginia in the Sweet Sixteen had scouts buzzing that he had solidified his place as a potential No. 1 pick in the draft, according to Ford. But his 2-for-14 performance against LSU had scouts backing off a little bit.


The 6-10 forward averaged 15.0 points and 9.2 rebounds a game during the regular season.


In related news, Longhorns coach Rick Barnes will remain at Texas, despite reports the North Carolina State had targeted Barnes in its coaching search, the Morning News also reported.


Barnes' annual base salary will increase from $1.3 million to $1.8 million, and he will receive a $125,000 bonus if Texas reaches the NCAA Tournament, according to the newspaper.


In 2006, the Longhorns won a school-record 30 games, and earned a share of the Big 12 regular season title.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.




Now we just need Stern to show the Bulls/Knicks envelope a little love on draft day

I thought he was taller than 6'10

espn has him at 6'10"


These guys have him at 6'11"
http://nbadraft.net/profiles/lamarcusaldridge.asp

The one inch difference doesn't really matter, he plays a lot bigger. The guy has like a 7'5" wingspan.

As you can see..... I dont want him!!

Bulls could use him.

If this kid can go 16-8 in the NBA, I would love him. I worry about the offensive game of his, as he is a pretty skinny dude, in a big NBA. The defense will take care of itself with his footspeed and wingspan.

carney will not do it for us we might as well lose the rest of the games so we have a shot at Roy

he has the body that can add on another 25- 30 pounds if he needs. and for all of you that are qusetioning his hight he could still grow to be a 7'0 player like loul did last year. as for me i hope that we get him along with Roy from washington.

Yessssssssss...now we just gotta land him

The way he got shutdown by fat baby has me questioning a little, but before that I liked eveything I had seen from him. That game had me worried that he may not be thick enough to play Center just yet, but in comparison to all the other big guys he is probably the most talented. I would like to see Joakim come out, because he has all the moves a Center needs on O and D, to go allong with great inside and out shooting. If Joakim added 30-40 lbs he would be a no doubter at number 1.

here is the draft that i made that i would love to see for us.

http://realgm.com/src_checkdraft.php?draftid=126700

You guys really need to quit being so enamored with who we get with our 2nd pick. This is a week draft and our team needs guard help but the quality of guards out there is PATHETIC this year.

Drafting a guard in a big man dominated draft (also a bigger need on this team) would be foolish. You take Aldridge first (if he's there) and than you take another big with our 2nd pick.

Than try and find a way to trade Gordon or put together a package with our 2nd 1st round pick along with Gordon and whoever for a 2nd round pick (or maybe a signing, who knows).

Hell most of the guards that are actually decent now (and not just potential guys) are undersized and we have no need for that. Or they are tweeners (we don't need another BG).

The couple big guards that are out there can't shoot and for the most part fit more as SF's, which is a position we have ZERO need for. And considering Skiles seems to like systems that utilize good guard play, we need to find guards that can shoot and than use that shot to allow them to drive inside and obviously having guards that can shoot will also help when we kick the ball into our new found low post presence or so I hope we find a low post presence).

Welcome to chicago!!! Hope you like snow!

exactly!!!

Although, I do like BG off the bench if we can find a tall SG...I still believe Deng could start at SG if he works on quickness and his outside shot this offseason.

Counting on a 20 year old to grow is a strange proposition to say the least. I know there is a much better chance of his growing 25-30 pounds, but then again they said the samething about Tyson and he still hasn't grown much. But I will say even at 6'10" he is plenty big for an NBA center, he just has got to get much stronger.

mourning is 6'10 and big ben is 6'9.
But he needs to put on 20-25 lbs of meat to pound in the paint.. His frame reminds me a lot of david robinson when he was a rook.

that is exectaly who i was thinking of and for him growing i know that it is unlikly for that to happen but like i said loul deng did it and he is olny 20 no matter what he will be very good in the NBA with tha 7'5 wing span.

I for one wouldnt' be surprised at all if Mourning had a wee bit of help in adding his weight.

One game against LSU does not make me any less excited about the potential that we could get Aldridge, especially when he still had 10 rebounds and 5 blocks. His shots just weren't falling. He may need some strength, but he's about the same size (height and weight) as guys like Amare Stoudemire (currently listed at 260 but played at less previously), Chris Bosh, Rasheed Wallace, Dwight Howard and Chris Webber. How many 320 pound PF's are there in the NBA anyways?

he will have a good cerrier in chicago hopefully all we need is the lottery to go our way.

This is not a word of the English language, it's spelled career. Sorry just bustin your balls man, but this is the second time you have spelled it incorrectly here.

On to the point at hand. Lamarcus has some other things that make me wary of him, one being the fact that he had rather serious hip surgery just last season. The other is his history of back problems and the fact that a back is a very tricky thing to control(I think we should all know this by now... cough.... Dustin Hermanson). A lot of people are willing to look past these facts because he appears to be the best big man available to us, and the most worthy of our #1 pick. However, I wonder if the situation with Curry which revolved completely around his chronic and forthcoming health issues has Pax also thinking more than twice about this.

Right now the options appear to be Tiago Splitter(looks like a huge weapon 10' and in), Andrea Bargnani(good inside and outside game but I question his ability to do it inside against NBA Centers), or Pat O'Bryant(HUGE 7'0" 260 7'6" wingspan, great defender, relishes contact when going to the basket, knock is he still has a lot of learning to do when it comes to how he can assert himself as an offensive weapon). IMO, we may be better served grabbing Roy 1st and O'Bryant with our second. Both have very high ceilings and upside, Roy is almost a sure thing with his polish, and about as well manicured and talented college guard as there is. O'Bryant has a last name that makes him sound like Kobe and Shaqs secret love child, how can we go wrong with him?

I don't think O'Bryant will make it to the middle of the first round. I would imagine he goes top 10 in a draft devoid of big men

Sorry if I missed it.... but is he planning on coming out...

is he coming out?

I don't think he has declared either way...

Neither of those things bothered him at all this year, and he had no injury issues in high school. In fact, the back wasn't even really an issue, IIRC he was playing through it at the beginning of last year. I'd be more worried if he needed surgery on his back or knees than his hip, those are more likely to be recurring issues. There's more concern about Curry because he's overweight and the heart issue isn't going to correct itself.

Splitter probably won't even be in the draft because of his buyout situation. He's not really a good option anyways because he isn't really a post scorer and still needs to add weight just like Aldridge. Bargnani is even more perimeter oriented and is woefully thin for his height (7 feet tall and listed at 225 ). O'Bryant is extremely raw and also needs to add weight (seems like a trend). He's not going to be a factor at all early. The only big guys in the draft that will probably actually see the court for extended periods as rookies are Aldridge and Shelden Williams, and the latter isn't exactly a great option.

Roy is not a sure-fire hit as a draft pick. There's a reason he was still there his senior season. He's a rather ordinary athlete and isn't a very good shooter. He can probably contribute right away, but there probably aren't any All-star games in his future.

Lamarcus DID have back problems in high school, as they were the reason he didnt declare for the draft. He wanted to up his stock and show pro scouts they werent a problem by strengthening his body and developing in college, but it didnt work out as well as he thought because the issues are still there. How in the world can you say all these other guys need to add weight and not bring that up with Lamarcus(as he is the skinniest of the top round bunch behind Bargnani), it seems to me that you are being very unobjective here. O'Bryant could stand to add some muscle, but to say he needs to add weight like you did is not really relative. He is already very strong in the post, and if he were to add 10 lbs. of muscle it may enhance his game, but he is easily the thickest big man in this draft so weight should not be an issue when critiquing him. To simply look past the injuries he has had just because he has the great potential is the wrong way to go through this process. Look at a guy in the NBA, Tracy McGrady, he has had chronic back trouble during the latter part of his career, and that has really inhibited his teams ability to win. In the end Lamarcus may be the best player to be taken in the draft, but he is also looking like the riskiest because of injuries and his inability to dominate at a level where he should have. All this while Brandon Roy is looking like a low risk player, who doesnt have a low basement and a very high ceiling. At some point when you have to go through the process of determining which player to chose this comes up, and is very big to a lot of GM's.

He didn't declare for the draft because he wasn't a lottery lock. Now that I think about it he did have some issues before the draft, but that just sealed the fact that he'd go to college, kind of like Dee Brown. It hasn't drastically affected his performance. He was doing fairly well as a freshmen and was very good this past season. He showed no lingering affects from the hip or the back. If he did have problems, I'd love to see him when he's 100% healthy.

I said LaMarcus needs to add weight, several times. He's a lot closer than the other guys though, and he can actually play at a fairly high level right now, unlike the other guys. He's listed at around 240, which is more than every decent post prospect except Sheldon Williams and O'Bryant (although since he's 2 inches taller that 250-ish weight is at a similar ratio). O'Bryant clearly needs to add weight and build some strength, any scout will tell you that. One can argue that he's softer than Aldridge. It's an even bigger issue with Bryant because he has little to no experence against other top post players playing in the MVC and still needs serious development in the offensive department. What are you watching thinking that he's the thickest post player in the draft? That's Williams by far, followed by Horford (who isn't declaring right now). Everyone else is a bean pole.

Aldridge has had minimal problems with his back and the hip injury was a fluke. He's not a real injury concern. You're the only person I've ever seen that is worried about it, and I read an awful lot of draft material. What makes you think he didn't dominate? One off game against LSU? He averaged 15 points, 9 boards, and 2 blocks. The only guy in the draft with a better stat line is Shelden Williams. He'd have scored even more points if Texas had a real PG. That's what seperates him from the other players: He can actually score in the post and create his own shot.

Roy is a low risk, but he's also a lower reward player. I don't see where the high ceiling is. He's an average shooter at best and is only a decent athlete. There are a lot of guys in the NBA that are more athletic than he is. He's a pretty good ball-handler, but that's the only thing he does well.

read this and tell me what you do not like about him he is a star and is also athletic.

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewprofile.php?p=343

His back problem has flared up more than once in college, and derives from high school. His hip surgery was not invasive, but it was not a clean up surgery either. The hip related to the back is HUGE, and any doctor will tell you someone with back troubles who has had a hip injury is much more likely to have trouble with both of those down the line. Also, those stats do not represent the type of talent and player he is made out to be. They are very respectable lines, but if he is the best big man in the country those type of stats should comes easy. 15 points and 10 boards a game is not as good as it looks when you consider he is supposed to be a dominant big man. He is much more gifted athletically than any C in the nation, and even most of the NBA, yet he has failed to come up big against tougher competition. Memphis held him to 10, Tennesee to 15, OSU 14 and 9, A&M 5, Kansas 5, NC state 10, LSU 4. All teams with good bigs, which can be a worry, a guy with all his supposed talent should be consistantly putting up 20+, 10+ no matter the team or who he is matched up against.

Roy is very much an above average shooter, and if you watched any of his games you would see that, so dont believe every draft resource you read. He takes great shots, and creates his own off the dribble too. He is very much a high ceiling prospect, as he not only has one of the highest b-ball IQs in this draft, but he does everything at an above average level that you would from a 2 guard and more( he did prove his J is much improved by his better % from the arc this season). If you have never seen him play, and relied on what you read about him I might see where you got this attitude from, but having watched him grow from last season to this one I am really impressed by his athletic ability. He absolutely dominated against my Sun Devils this season, and when they wrecked them, he adjusted his game to help everyone else on the court while still contributing at a high percentage. When he has a poor game shooting he knows how to drive his way to the line, he single handedly beat UCLA this year by doing exactly that. While he may not be THE most athletically gifted guard, he is able to keep up with anyone on both ends of the court. He is very athletic and gets easy steps on other teams guards, so I have no idea where you pulled that one out of. He is a 2 guard he has the speed and moves of a PG, and can make opponents look silly with the things his body allows him to do.

You are selling Roy way short, and not giving enough warrant to the affect Lamarcus' injuries can have on him which makes me believe you are being very biased because you like Aldridges potential, and just dont want to see us grab Roy over him. I love Lamarcus' potential also, but you cant just ignore the types and frequeny of injuries he has had. Without a doubt I will conceed if healthy, Lamarcus is All-Star caliber, and I would not be dissapointed in the least about us drafting him. My points were just made as facts of the matter, nothing more, and all I wanted to get across is the inherent risk those pre-existing and little brought to light injuries MAY have on him.

Draft express writes extremely optomistic profiles. The gush over even the slighest demonstration of talent and often fail to mention flaws in a player's game. Going from their profiles one would think that everyone in the draft is a future superstar.

Agreed 100%. I judge players on what I see from them myself, not some dime a dozen internet draft source with no valid scouting credentials or proof they know what they are saying. I'm no scout, but I believe what my eyes show me, and Brandon Roy IS an extreme talent with a ceiling as high as anyone in the draft.

If he is the best big man in the country, why are you ripping on him? You're countering your own point. There aren't a whole lot of players putting up better numbers than him, especially considering that he is only a sophmore. Plus as I said, Texas' guards cost him several opportunities to score each game because they are both shoot first guards. Daniel Gibson and P.J. Tucker took a lot more shots than he did, which tells you something about their game planning and the players around him. So now a guy can't have any bad games? Plus only 3 of the ones you posted were really that bad (and he only got about 5 shots in all of those), and you're ignoring good games like 21 against Duke and the supposed best post defender in the league, 18 and 12 against Iowa, and 18 in his other meeting against Kansas. You've got ridiculously high standards for post players. Very few of them even get close to averaging 20 points per game. Even dominant big men like Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing only averaged about 16 per game.

We're going to have to disagree on the injury front. You're worrying about something that a lot of scouts that have to invest millions of dollars in the guy are not worried about. Nothing I saw this year showed any signs of problems. It's not like we're talking about someone like Antonio McDyess, Marcus Camby, or Penny Hardaway that has some nagging injury every year. We're talking about what happened in the course of one season. Obviously nothing that happened has limited his athletic ability in any way shape or form, and it's not affecting his draft stock at all.

I've watched Roy play several times, and he doesn't really rely on his outside shot. He only attempted about 3 three pointers per game (which hardly qualifies him as a marksmen), and he gets most of his points within a few feet of the basket. He has an okay mid-range jumper, but he's not exactly Michael Jordan out there. You definitely can't get a good feel for his real abilities in the Pac-10, that conference blew this year outside of UCLA. I'm supposed to be impressed with a couple of good games against teams that play no D like ASU and Gonzaga, or one good game and one bad one against UCLA? He's a decent player, but I've seen much better guards.

Why would I be biased towards Aldridge? I live in Illinois and have no connections to Texas whatsoever. I have no reason to talk up either prospect. I just think Aldridge is going to be a much better pro than Roy. If anything it seems you have a hard-on for Roy. If he were really that dominant a player, he wouldn't still be there in his senior season. He tried to declare twice but went back to school because he wasn't going to go very high. He was still at Washington because he isn't that impressive an athlete and he's only passable as a shooter. I'll admit he's a good ball-handler, but he's going to need more than that at the next level.

You are drawing some ridiculous conclusions from what I said. I pretty much paraphrased myself when when I said.....

"You are selling Roy way short, and not giving enough warrant to the affect Lamarcus' injuries can have on him which makes me believe you are being very biased because you like Aldridges potential, and just dont want to see us grab Roy over him. I love Lamarcus' potential also, but you cant just ignore the types and frequeny of injuries he has had. Without a doubt I will conceed if healthy, Lamarcus is All-Star caliber, and I would not be dissapointed in the least about us drafting him. My points were just made as facts of the matter, nothing more, and all I wanted to get across is the inherent risk those pre-existing and little brought to light injuries MAY have on him."


I dont care which one we take, I am just presenting the facts of which many were unaware of or just ignore. Also, yes I said he is the most talented/best Center in the college hoops. That's not a huge honor with the class this year, it's just facts, if Eric Dampier were in it he would probably be the best. I was not contradicting myself in any way, reading comprehension is a skill. Your point about Olajuwon is WAY off base here, as he was one of the most dominant players(on one of the best teams) to ever land on a college court and ruled over against lesser competition( and much better big men to play against than fat baby), Lamarcus hasnt even scored 30 in a single game. Hakim had low scoring numbers because he was playing alongside Drexler, and the Phi Slama Jama offensive unit. Texas doesnt have nearly the scoring threat or talent to compare the situation between the two. I can throw out ridiculous comparisons too, Tim Duncan averaged 20 and 15, Shaq 27 and 15, even ZO was 21 and 10. My point was never to say he sucks, just to say he hasnt lived up to his full potential in a place where he should have, and his injuries are of concern to me.

Okay, you could use that excuse for Phi-Slamma-Jamma but not in this case? Aldridge only averaged about 10 shots per game because Tucker and Gibson took so many. You can argue that they shouldn't have, but they still did. It's kind of hard to average much more than he did. That's almost exactly the same situation. Yeah, Hakeem was a much better defensive player, but they're about the same as scorers at that point in their careers.

Some big men did average a lot of points, but others didn't. My point is that scoring average in college don't really tell you what will happen in the future. Redick might be the ACC's all-time leading scorer, but that doesn't mean that he's the best player. Plus Duncan and Zo didn't averge those numbers for their entire career. Give Aldridge another year or two and he could easily do the same thing, but he's going to get too much money to stick around. And yeah, you did give some indication that you didn't think Aldridge wasn't that good since you apparently would rather have O'Bryant on the team.

And no, Dampier would not be the best or most talented center in the NCAA this year. Aldridge is arguably the most talented big man to actually go to college since Duncan, and Williams is among the most productive in some time.

I'd much rather have Aldridge and Ager than Roy and O'Bryant. There's a much bigger difference in talent between the two post players than the two guards.

According to Hoopshype. And NBAdraft.net Our 1st pick is currently number 3. NBAdraft.net has a picking Lamarcus but i doubt he will fall that low. They hace Tyrus going 1st to portland and then Morrison goign to the Bobcats. Hoops hype has Portland taking Lamarcus then Charlotte taking Tyrus, then us taking ADAM MORRISON. Would love if NBAdraft.net's draft worked out like that. But i dont get why we would draft Adam Morrison 1st

NBAdraft.net doesn't really do a mock draft at this point.

They put their rankings next to the draft order, not considering need at all

I wouldn't put too much stock in mock drafts right now. You don't know what order the picks will be in and you don't know who's in and who's out.

That said, those picks make some sense outside of us taking Morrison. Portland would go big, but I would think they'd take Aldridge over Thomas because they already have Randolph at the 4, and LaMarcus has a better chance of the two to be able to play center. Charlotte will take a wing player, with Morrison probably being their preference because of his polish. Gay would probably be their next pick. We obviously would go big, probably taking Aldridge over Thomas. I'd think we'd take Roy if those two were gone. I'm certain that if Krause were still here we'd be taking Bargnani.

yea there might still be some people hat are declaring and some that are not going to like noah sme people think that he will come out and some are sticking to his ward and presuming that he will stay at school. also some other people will be doing that as well.