Hickson Gone (sortof)

According to 850 The Buzz, the Sporting News is reporting that J.J. Hickson is entering his name into the draft.

As college basketball players have the option of doing, Hickson will not be hiring an agent during this process. This allows Hickson the option to return to the Pack if he learns there is not enough interest in him from teams to warrant an early departure.

The real shock would've been had Hickson not declared, frankly. He had been very open about exploring his pro options from the day he arrived on campus, and most pundits figured him for a one-and-done player from the start.

The question is, will Hickson be the next Josh Powell? Powell, if you'll recall, had a fantastic ACC tournament his sophomore season, and despite a low projected draft position decided to sign an agent regardless, ending his college career. He went undrafted, relegating himself to Europe ball on a long road back stateside. He's now on an NBA roster (the Clippers), but it's a road that few players successfully navigate. I'm happy for Josh, but it was nevertheless a mistake for him to declare when he did.

Whether it will be a mistake for Hickson to enter now, assuming he doesn't return to State, is as of yet unknown but there's a good chance he'll get drafted outside of the first round. There's no guaranteed money past the first round, meaning Hickson could find himself out of an NBA job just months after getting drafted if he isn't careful.

I wish him well. He played great at times, but disappeared at others. It's tough to say if that's entirely his fault (the rest of the team disappeared for most of the year, quite frankly), but he's got a lot of growing to do before he'll be starting in the NBA.

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Hickson named to ACC All-Freshman team

Link

Good for Hickson, though his roll and level of contribution on the team faded a bit down the stretch. He scored only 35 points over his last four ACC contests for a 8.75 per-game average. But his game needed a better option at PG to feed him the ball and better shooters on the perimeter to open up the interior a bit more in order for him to be more effective.

It'll be interesting to see how things will change for him next season if he's here when the three-point line moves back nearly a foot. Theoretically that will create more space inside, which may allow more room for him to operate. There's no question that he's a skilled offensive player around the basket.

Will a focus on improving defensively this offseason, he could potentially be a first-team All-ACC player next year. All that depends, of course, on whether he sticks around for 08-09.

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