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They are the Children of the Corn.  Some have been forgotten by casual fans but have been groomed slowly and delicately by management, while others are rookies under the radar with the opprtunity to make an instant impact. they're probably not good additions for your franchise on NBA 2K8, but by the time EA Sports spits out their 2K9 version they'll be viable candidates to get the cover feature.  It's "Girls Gone Wild Time" for the NBA's young projects, time to flash that potential and earn that money.

Following their crushing defeat to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Detroit Pistons dealt with questions over whether their window to a second championship had been slammed shut.

4 years ago Darko Milicic represented the future of the Piston's organization when the 18 year old was foolishly drafted ahead of perennial All-Stars/Olympians Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. This season, the future of Detroit basketball will begin it's apprenticeship, as 3rd year forward Jason Maxiell, Amir Johnson, as well as rookies Aaron Afflalo and Rodney Stuckey prepare to accept more prominent roles.  They've seemingly taken the Red Sox rout by fusing their youth and stars of the future with their current nucleus of veterans.

Jason Maxiell is an energetic, 6ft-7 in. physical power forward that is expected to cover(not fill) the gaping hole Ben Wallace's departure created. 

But the two most promising athletes are rookie guard Rodney Stuckey and third year forward Amir Johnson(seen above battling for a rebound w/ Andre Blatche).

Drafted 15th overall in the 2007 Draft, with the nam eof a divorced, overweight plummer Stuckey is a funky, phat and fresh 6-5 combo guard who has drawn legitimate comparisons to Dwyane Wade since his collegiate career at Eastern Washington.

As an explosive freshman in 2005-2006, Stuckey became the first freshman to win the Big Sky MVP award after lighting up defenses to the tune of 24 points per game, 4.7 rpg and 5.5 assists per game. The allusions to Dwyane Wade don't arise from their similar physical attributes, scoring prowess or jersey #'s but rather from their creative midair pump faking, gravity defying, funky aerial moves.  Ironically, Wade was available in 2003, when Joe Dumars selected Rasshhh-o Nestoveric! Jr., but more commonly known as the Russian Eminem Darko Milicic.

Stuckey was also one of the top performers during the NBA's Summer League averaging a balanced 19 points per game, and drained 90% of his free throws. 

However, Amir Johnson has been the player Detroit has heavily invested it's future in. Drafted 56th in the 2005 NBA Draft, Johnson holds the ignominious honor of being the last high school player drafted before the 19 year old age limit took effect. Drafted as a 6-9 forward, Johnson has sprouted 2 1/2 inches in his 2 NBA seasons. Last season during a stint in the NBDL, Johnson averaged 18.9 points per game, 9.7 rebounds in addition to 3.1 blocks per game.

It's easy to dismiss him because of his slow development compared to other preps-to-pro stars but considering Johnson is only 20 years old his upside is going to be just like a hockey stick-- straight up. In 8 limited appearances with the Pistons last season, Johnson averaged a decent 5.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.6 blocks per game and in the season finale against the Boston Celtics, Amir scored a career high 20 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, recorded 4 blocks and three steals in a season high 37 minutes which gave a glimpse into the versatility Johnson possesses.

However, his predicament mirrors the circumstances of another teen who collected pain inducing splinters as one of Rasheed Wallace's backups. While Kobe was putting an end to the Portland Trailblazers season in Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals, 4th year pro Jermaine O'Neal made his imprint on the Portland bench. In 4 years in Portland, O'Neal averaged 3.77 points per game. A few weeks later, O'Neal was an Indiana Pacer where he began his ascent up the NBA hierarchy ladder.


The Washington Wizards also have a versatile, athletic forward/center straight out of high school, they hope to weave into the rotation very soon.  In the longterm, I expect Amir Johnson to eventually be the better player but currently, Andray Blatche stands in a better position to earn prominent minutes for his team.  Had he gone to college for a season or two, the perception is that he would have emerged as a lottery selection.  The Wizards decided to jump on him early and hoped that after a little development, he would become a vital contributor at both ends of the floor.

Reports of his athleticism, shotblocking and scoring ability in preseasn and practice have given Wizards hope that Blatche can provide the low post presence for Terrance Howard Eddie Jordan that Kwame Brown could not.

How about another name you might remember from the 2004 NBA Draft named Louis Williams. The undersized high school shooting guard was the nation's top high school player but opted for the NBA Draft instead of the University of Georgia where he freefell into the mid-second round to the Philadelphia 76ers because of his shaky point guard skills. During a brief stint in the D-League Williams closed his eyes and averaged 26 points and 8 assists per game. In the Rocky Mountain Revue Summer League, Williams averaged 24.0 points in four Revue outings, tops among anyone playing in the Jazz hosted league.  With Allen Iverson out of the picture for an entire season now, the 21 year old Williams will get an opportunity to flash his potential to an eager fanbase.

The Blazers, meanwhile, search for results from their two preps to pros underrachievers.  Greg Oden's injury in Portland has given Trailblazer brass an opportunity throw uber athletic 6-9 forward Travis Outlaw into the fire, while Marcus Aldridge's summer and pre-season performances imply a breakout season for the former lottery pick in his second season.  For 4 years, Outlaw has been plastered on the Portland bench-- until the final month of the 2007 regular season.  In the season finale, Outlaw scored 36 points on 16 of 16 shooting, after scoring 26 and 22 in his previous two outings.  With Zach Randolph getting whisked off to the East coast, Outlaw may start for the Blazers and provide a further glimpse into how special the 2008-09 Blazers may be.

Fortunately for Outlaw, the organization learned it's lesson from the way it discarded Jermaine O'Neal and signed Outlaw to an extension. 

At shooting guard, Martell Webster must also begin to show some return on the Trailblazers' investment on him.  Let's noot forget that the Blazers passed on point guards, Deron Williams, Chris Paul and Ray Felton to draft him straiight out of high school. In the preseaon opener Webster dropped 28 on the bottom feeding Clippers, and averaged 17.7 points per game while shooting 58 percent from the field in the pre-season.

Either way, one of these guys has to emerge a cornerstone for this franchise before Greg Oden comes back in '08.  In the pre-season thus far Webster and Outlaw have emerged as viable scoring threats on a nightly basis.  Jumping to conclusions may be dangerous but the Trailblazers are on the verge of becoming a Western Conference powerhouse with their overstocked inventory of youth.

The Golden State Warriors first round upset over the Dallas Mavericks was no Cinderella story-- glass sneakers would shatter on hardwood, with the manner which they run their fast break offense. Baron Davis has enough durability issues without having to remove glass chards from his heel. In 2006, the Warriors were a narcoleptic parable, because everyone slept on Don Nelson's team.

After trading stiffs Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy for the more athletic combo of Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson in Coach Nelson's quick strike offense the Warriors tore through the league in the final weeks of the season to clinch the 8th seed in the West. However, on Draft night, the Warriors made a bigger splash in the trade waters by siphoning Jason Richardson to the Bobcats for the rights to North Carolina forward Brandan Wright.

The initial reaction to the trade was that Brandan Wright should flourish in Golden State playing a similar role to Amare Stoudemire's in Pheonix and not that different from his freshman season in Roy Williams' secondary fast break offense but how would Golden State replace Richardson's production at shooting guard?.

Something funny happened during the usually mundane offseason-- the Warriors developed a logjam at shooting guard between Monta Ellis, Kelenna Azubuike, and Marco Belinelli.

Conventional wisdom indicated that Monta Ellis, the uber-athletic 22 year old combo guard and winner of the Most Improved Player of the Year Award would inherit the two guard spot in the starting lineup. Ellis averaged 16.5 points per game and 4.1 assists per game in his second season since getting drafted out of high school in Mississippi. On Draft Night, the Warriors introduced a plot twist straight out of a Tom Clancy novel and drafted Italian swingman and James Bond nemesis Marco Belinelli.

Belinelli hasn't become a favorite of Don Nelson just because of his last name. At 6 foot 5, Belinelli's style of play is a polar opposite of Monta Ellis ' fast paced style. Belinelli is an average athlete with unlimited range from beyond the arc and is likely to make his living from beyond 20 feet, when the paint is occupied. Ellis uses his eye-popping athleticism, which he put on exhibit during his MVP performance in the Rookie Sophomore Game , and lightning quickness to get scores around the basket.

Don't interpret this as me saying Monta cannot shoot but his jumpshot leaves a lot to be desired and from beyond the arc his numbers suggest he couldn't hit the ocean shooting from a kayak. Though the same goes for Dwayne Wade.

The Warriors scout department discovered their needle in a haystack with their development of former Kentucky guard, Kelenna Azubuike. I think it's fair to say that the NBA's development leagued has panned out better than the now defunct NFL Europe.  After declaring for the NBA Draft as a junior at Kentucky, Azubuike was plucked off off the map after going undrafted. His descent was so quick and precipitous, it was believed he wuld never make a blip on the NBA radar.  Hard to believe that was only 2005. 

At every level thus far escept the draft, Azubuike has exceled and at this rate may become one of those classic late bloomers(if you can call 23 years old late) who eventually becomes a staple of a franchise's future.  (see: Bruce Bowen, Ben Wallace, Manu Ginobili, Stephen Jackson, etc. )  Seriously, has an rookie undrafted guard ever had a highlight reel assembled after averaging 7 points per game for 16 minutes in just 4 months of action?  It'd be akin to a USC Trojan backup quarterback to two Heisman Trophy winners who experimented at tightend getting drafted by the 3 time world champions to backup their Hall of Fame quarterback.  

In 2006, Azubuike averaged 26 points and 5 rebounds, while leading the D-League in scoring and ranking third in three-point field goal percentage Azubuike and as a result emerged in January 2007 where he showed his chops with the Golden State Warriors.  On January 17, while the Warriors' roster was depleted by an eight-player trade, which would eventually rock their franchise, in progress, Azubuike played 48 minutes versus the L.A. Clippers, scored 28 points, and collected 7 rebounds.  However, down the stretch as the Warriors playoff surge reached fever pitch, Azubuike's minutes diminished drastically but it was enough to earn a contract for this, the 2007-2008 season.  More than any other young unproven player, his athleticism, scoring prowess, aggressiveness, ability to create contact almost at will and defensive aptitude has made me a loyal fan of his game.

The pre-season has only raises his stock as he scored 27(including 9 boards) and 22 points on consecutive nights against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

Don't hold your breath waiting for Azubuike to start at guard or small forward this season.  But in case you do, you can exhale now as the first 7 games will be a treat for Azubuike who will start at Stephen Jackson's spot in the lineup while he serves a 7 game suspension.  With just 2 years remaining on the 6 year, $38.3 million contract he signed in 2003, it's easy to forget that Stephen Jacksn is only 29 years old but it's unlikely that the Warriors will anty up an extension past 2009 and that Azubuike has an opportunity to join Ellis and Belinelli in the Warriors backcourt of the future.