I'm going to go out on a limb and say that OJ Mayo is the next Gilbert Arenas except maybe better. Mayo already has a great shot and he grew up playing the point. His shot will allow him to be successful in the NBA and when he wants to focus on defense he's a pretty good defender. I could see him being like Arenas and running the points except I think he can be more effective at it. I also think he'll be a dangerous shooting guard if he's playing next to an elite PG.

Anyway, below is an article from Chad Ford that describes Mayo's relentless work ethic. In the article Tim Grover also makes glowing remarks about Mayo's work ethic and basketball knowledge. Mayo is what Beasley isn't. He's serious about his NBA career and I could see why the Heat would be interested in getting him. If Mayo was 2 inches taller and just a tad quicker he'd be the number 1 pick in this draft. But he's not.

With that said, I'm going to again say that I hope Paxson makes a deal to draft Mayo. Even if it means losing Gordon (which I'd hate to do) I want a Rose/Mayo backcourt to lead the Bulls to the title again. Rose has the outside game that would compliment Rose's slashing game. Also, having a SG that is used to playing the point would cause havic on opposing teams defense and would improve our ball movement even more.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/i...atchMayo-080523

Yeah I think OJ probably will end up being the 3rd best player in this draft. He's a scorer but he plays point and being a point guard he has shown a little bit of his passing skills also. I think Gilbert Arenas is a fair comparison. A future 26 ppg scorer maybe?

I know you like the guy, but he can't do it all.

I think Rose can do it all. He's going to slash to the basket and then kick it out to himself for a wide open three. JK. My bad for saying Rose instead of Mayo in that sentence. And in typical SOXFAN1 style you pointed it out. Anyway, the point is that I think they'll be an excellent 1/2 combo in the NBA if the Bulls draft Rose and somehow manage to trade for the 3rd, 4th, or 5th pick and take Mayo.

id like to see the bulls trade up into the first round some how, i donnt know if it will be as high as 3 but it would be nice to add someone else with potential preferably mayo but its doubtful.

There was word out that the Bulls could trade Kirk Hinrich for Martell Webster and the 13th pick. I would do that! It would give us a tall young 2/3 and a pick to select another player or perhaps another trade following..

If Nicolas Batum or Koufas are still on the board I could see Pax wanting to make that deal. I wouldn't mind having Webster if we could clear up some of the clutter at the SG/SF position. It's always nice to have a young 21/22 year old that has great outside shooting touch. But if we make that deal we have to at least get rid of Hughes, Nocioni, or Gordon if not 2 of them.

Maybe through the Blazers, we can secure Brand. I think the Clippers would love to have a young SG/SF like Wesbster. Maybe we'll have a 3 team trade where Hinrich goes to the Blazers, Webster, Gooden, & Nocinoi go to the Clippers, and the Bulls get Blake from the Blazers and Brand from the Clippers. That would be nice. We'd address our backup PG needs and our PF needs in one 3 team trade.

Rose/Blake/Thabo
Gordon/Thabo/Hughes
Deng/Tyrus/Thabo
Brand
Noah/Gray

I think we'd still need to get rid of at least 1 guard and we'd need to get another PF/C. Maybe we use our 2nd round pick on a PF. (Jason Thompson if he slips but that's not likely)

I don't think anyone has ever doubted that Mayo has talent, he'll clearly be a good scorer, but I don't really trust him to do anything else on the NBA level. Yeah, the report sounds glowing, but you can say the same thing about Kevin Love, Joe Alexander and Marresse Speights as well. He strikes me as a Steve Francis or Stephon Marbury type that'll put up pretty good numbers but not do a whole lot for you in the win/loss column (you can kind of say the same thing about Arenas too). Yeah, let me predict the response, Beasley is the same. To an extent maybe, but Beasley will rebound too and hits at a higher FG%, and Mayo's USC team had an awful lot more talent than that K-State team.

This thread wasn't comparing Mayo to Beasley other than the fact that I think Mayo is more serious about his game and working on his game than Beasley is. Beasley even said that college was just a waste of time a necessary step until he gets to the NBA. Now I'm not sure what kind of time Beasley puts in to improving his game but I haven't seen anything that says he is putting the time in. When a trainer like Tim Grover and a writer like Chad Ford give you props that is a good thing, a great thing.

Mayo had more pressure on his shoulders than any player since Lebron. Maybe at times it caused him to underperform. He was inconsistent at time during his rookie season but he still put up great numbers for a freshman (especially considering Floyd was his coach). Beasley should throw up a better FG%. SF/PF's usually do post better FG%'s than PG/SG's. I think you're wrong when you say that Mayo won't contribute much else besides scoring in the NBA. I think he's going to prove a lot of people wrong and he's going to have an excellent NBA career. He shot 44.2% from the field and 40.9% from the arc in his freshman year. I think he'll improve those numbers slightly at the NBA level over the next few seasons.

I know I'm going to get a negative response or 2 from this but Mayo could end up being the best long-term pro in this draft (there is no guarantee that Rose will become the next Paul and there is no guarantee that Beasley is serious about becoming a star at the NBA level or being a leader). I've heard comparison to Gary Payton and Chauncey Billups but I think he'll have a better outside shot than either of them.

Do you really think Mayo cared about college at all? The only difference is he's smart enough to not be quoted on it. Now USC might be screwed because he supposedly took money from Guillory, that doesn't really sound like a guy that really cares about the school he plays/played for. That's a lame reason to worry anyways (think I said that before, doesn't really affect his NBA future, just ask Chris Webber), how many of the real pro prospects do you think really care about college? Beasley and Mayo both likely would have gone straight out of high school if the rules allowed it (though Mayo may have needed a year in college to improve his selfish image, which it appears he accomplished). It's basically a means to an end for these guys. Like I said, Ford was slurping several other guys as well, he merely hasn't been to Beasley's workout yet, and I personally don't consider Grover a credible source since Mayo's representitives are paying him (How often does a trainer bad mouth their client that you can think of?). Regardless, you don't get his type of inside/outside production without working. I have a really hard time seeing Mayo shoot a high percentage because he relies so heavily on his jumper and he's quite streaky. He's also not getting to the rack/line as much as you'd think, he only drew 4.6 FT a game even in college. His totals were considerably lower before he got hot towards the end of the season, and his shot selection is less than ideal. Plus the arc is a lot farther out in the pros, there's an adjustment period there for all but the most elite shooters.

I really don't see him being better than Rose or Beasley unless one of those two seriously underachieves. Sure, he has a pretty decent skill level, but he's not a freakish athlete like the other two are. That means his shooting and shot selection have to be sterling, and they really haven't been. Plus his assist to turnover ratio is awful and though he can shut down college players when he wants to he'll have to consistently bring more effort on D to be decent in the pros. I'm not saying he'll suck, I just see a fair number of issues that will probably prevent him from being more than a Joe Johnson/Jason Richardson/Jamal Crawford/Ben Gordon type that puts up good numbers on bad to decent teams. I'd actually rather have Gordon, he's a better shooter and Mayo's supposed ball-handling/defensive edges might not end up being as huge as we think (Remember that Gordon was widely considered a PG prospect as well. Money could be an issue though, in which case it's another story.). If anyone proves me to be grossly wrong in this draft it'll probably be him though.

First off, you're posting a response to the first draft response that Ford has put in. He's only going to do the positive reviews at this point. Seriously. Remember this is the same Chad Ford that couldn't stop drooling over the work that Darko was doing the year before the draft as well. That's great. Yes, OJ is much more talented than Darko. And dominating players younger than him right now, that are not as physical as he is, is what he SHOULD be doing.

Comparing Mayo to Arenas is fair, in the fact that both are awfully streaky shooters. He can carry you for a game or 2, then kill you on the 3rd.

Mayo has got good range, yes. But his midrange game is average and he's not as athletic as a Lebron and will struggle to get to the rim like he did in college. It's also not a good think to see that he shot 215 3's in the year. If he's jacking up 6.5 three's a game in college....yikes.

He might have a Gilbert Arenas ceiling...but he's definitely looking like he's got a JR Smith floor.

i agree with you 100% here

One thing that bothers me about trying to compare Arenas and Mayo is that perhaps as big of a reason as any for why Arenas is so good is that he constantly has worked and played with a chip on his shoulder. He's shown motivation every step of the way, going back to the draft when so many teams passed on him and no one thought he was going anywhere.

Does anyone see OJ Mayo having that kind of work effort and motivation? Does anyone see OJ Mayo playing like he wants to show everyone else who the boss is?

Let me just insert that Gilbert hurts his team more than helps it...

.. I don't know about that. I was at that painful game 5 during the 2005 playoffs when Arenas hit that winning shot.

I think the Arenas comparisons might be more apt that even Ed thinks. He has the look of a guy who will fill up a statsheet at the NBA level, and still have his team play better without him. I could see him as a guy who plays with mediocre teams who instantly improve when he leaves. He'll probably also be a guy whose teams struggle to make the playoffs, if at all, and usually get bounced pretty quickly.

I like the comparison.