SF Corey Brewer and FC Joakim Noah, two of the hottest prospects in the upcoming draft and two guys that have been drawing a bunch of attention from the Blazer Faithful here on this blog, were recently featured in an ESPN.com Insider story by Chad Ford.  If you are an insider, take this article for a spin.

Link:  http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2007/insider/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=DraftWat ch-NoahBrewer&univLogin02=stateChanged

If not, I will highlight some of his insight...

Ford spent a day (this past Monday) at an elite basketball training facility called Abunassar Impact Basketball training center, that features state of the art training that included customized meals, strength training, skills work and five-on-five work, and where Brewer and Noah are working to prepare for the pre-draft events. Abunassar, an NBA elite trainer trains Kevin Garnett, Chauncey Billups, Baron Davis, among others, in the offseason.

In the individual workouts, Ford writes about Brewer: "Brewer looks great. He's stroking the ball from 18 feet and showing range out to the NBA 3-point line with good accuracy. He has great form on his jump shot with a high, quick release. He gets great lift on his shot and shows the ability to shoot off the dribble, too. He's most impressive, however, getting up and down the basketball floor. He has excellent speed for his size and is very explosive getting off the floor."

Ford writes about Noah's skills workout: "Noah is grunting and huffing with every post spin and dunk. Somehow, that frenetic energy he brings to the court every night also translates to the practice court. At one point Abunassar tells Noah that he doesn't need to grunt so hard in the workouts. Noah smiles and says that's the way he rolls. It's pretty clear it's not an act...Noah has a wacky release. He puts the ball on the left side of his head and then shoots it across his face in a diagonal motion...The crazy thing about the shot is that it goes in pretty regularly from 15 feet in...The fact that he shoots the ball the same way every time, according to Abunassar, means that his shot isn't nearly as problematic as it looks."

All this information is pretty standard with other scouting write-ups I have read on-line.  But here is the part that made interested in the prospects of Brewer:

"Brewer joins a group to play five-on-five.  The Blazers' Martell Webster and the Rockets' Kirk Snyder are here. They're joined by USC's Gabe Pruitt, San Diego State's Brandon Heath, Iowa's Adam Haluska, Creighton's Nate Funk, Oregon State's Marcel Jones and Wright State's Dashaun Woods.  The play is fast and furious. Webster was the No. (6) pick in the draft two years ago. He would've been just a sophomore in college this year. He has an NBA body and two years of pro experience. But he still doesn't have the game of Brewer, who clearly outshines everyone else on the floor. His smooth game, from pull-up jumpers to alley-oop dunks, shows just how destructive he could be in an open-court game."

Obviously this is one guy's opinion, but... Is Brewer really THAT great of a prospect.  I mean during the season, all the way up until the final four this year, Brewer was a #8 to #10 prospect.  Now, Brewer has moved to the #3 or definitive Top 5 on most scouting lists.  

It is clear that we all want either freak Center Greg Oden or freak Small Forward Kevin Durant if the BBall Gods shine on us, but if we are to draft other than 1 or 2... Maybe Brewer is the answer?

Personally, I like them both... A LOT.  I feel that we need to improve our big-man athleticism, for which Noah's hustle and spark could be huge in the overall development of everyone else (not to mention the winning pedigree of the Gators), but maybe Brewer is the missing piece we need.

An additional interesting note on NBA hopeful, Nevada senior PF Nick Fazakas "Fazekas is a dead-eye from the NBA 3-point line. His release is picture perfect and he nails 3 after 3 after 3."