2008 NBA Draft: Donte Greene Scouting Report

Donte Greene has enormous potential as an NBA player. He's very long and athletic, but won't be ready to contribute heavily for a year or two. He's got a great outside stroke which should translate into the pros. He needs to work on his ball handling so he can beat more people off the dribble. He's got the athleticism to beat people off the dribble, but not the skills. If he works on this, he can be a very good player mainly because there aren't many 6-11 players that can beat guys off the dribble.

He's got room to bulk up and needs to at only a wiry 215 pounds. He's not very strong and not very good with his back to the basket. He got into conflicts with Coach Joe Boehiem at Syracuse last year mainly because he didn't show hustle, especially on defense. Coach controversy and lack of hustle have been scaring some teams off of him. He was originally thought to be a top 10 pick, and he has the athleticism to do so, but he could slip. I don't be falls past Toronto at #17, but with the amount of small forwards available in that range, he could fall into the early twenties.

Donte Green has yet to separate himself away from wing players such as Joe Alexander, Chase Budinger, and Brandon Rush, all of whom could go in that late lottery to early 20's range, and that has hurt him. He's the definition of a project player. Right now, his main weapon is the long range jumper and a fast break dunk. He needs to improve his arsenal, but he is completely capable of doing so. However, he needs to work hard to reach his potential and he hasn't had a history of working hard.

I expect Donte Green will reach some of his potential and turn into a Rashard Lewis type player. I also expect that he'll slip in the draft a little, but not past Toronto, who will see him as too good to pass up on. He won't go past them at 17. Portland could take him at 13 because they need a small forward, but I'd see him getting into controversy with no nonsense defensive minded Portland Coach Nate McMillan.