Marty Blake, director of scouting for the National Basketball Association, has an understandably difficult job - deciding whom to approach about entering the draft.
But after seeing former Utah star Brandon Jessie play, Blake knew right away that he may have found someone special."The first time I saw him play, he went flying over my head while diving for a loose ball," Blake said. "I invited him to play (in the pre-draft Phoenix Desert Classic) immediately after that."
So it was no surprise to find the 6-foot-3 shooting guard at the NBA's final pre-draft camp in Chicago this past week. From June 4-7, Jessie and 54 other players showed their skills to NBA scouts, coaches and general managers.
Teamed with players such as Marcus Mann of Mississippi Valley State, Mark Pope of Kentucky, Shawn Harvey of West Virginia State and Derek Fisher of Arkansas-Little Rock, Jessie was expected to be the ruling force of his team. His aggressive nature was well known by coaches and colleagues alike, and they expected no less once he reached Chicago.
But all didn't go as planned for Jessie. He suffered a neck injury the first day of drills and had to sit out two games. "Because of the neck spasms, I couldn't move my left arm really high," said Jessie, who was finally allowed to play in the last game on Friday.
Before suiting up for Friday's final game, Jessie seemed determined to improve his stock entering the NBA Draft on June 30. "Things happen," he said. "All I can do now is my best."
With Jessie's two-game absence and a lackluster first half in Friday's game, onlookers were wondering if Jessie may have done more harm that good at the Chicago camp.
"We've all seen (Jessie) play before and he is good, but we don't know what he can do now," Blake said. "I know he's had lots of problems this year, but it's really important to play in this tournament."
Charlie Parker, former head coach at Southern California, disagreed: "These guys here, their whole life is scouting players. They've seen him play from more than this. They know, or they should know, what he can and will do."
In the second half, Jessie finally showed the 100-plus onlookers what he could do. With the help of Harvey, he led an aggressive assault on a team made up of players such as Moochie Norris (West Florida), Shandon Anderson (Georgia), Brian Evans (Indiana) and Mark Sanford (Washington).
"He did very well the second time we put him in," said Brian James, the Detroit Pistons assistant coach who led Jessie's team. "He wanted to make up for lost time. He came up with some big baskets for us and it was important for him to get ahead. Overall, I think he did a real good job."
Jessie finished the game as the team's second-leading scoring, putting in 12 points (including eight free throws). And while many coaches agree that Jessie is a good player who works well within a team setting, they cite his height as a major disadvantage when it comes to a potential professional career.
"I've always like him and he's real aggressive," said Black. "But he's too small. He may have to do this for another year at least."
Height-wise, in college he was more like a three-man, where in the NBA he would be a two-man," Parker said. "But he came to the draft well-prepared by Coach (Rick) Majerus - now it's time to get even better."
Said Bob Kloppenburg, an assistant for the Denver Nuggets: "He's a real marginal player - in between a forward and a guard. He's going to have to play small guard. He's going to have to make it through the CBA or a European league. He's too much of an in-between for anyone to do much now."
Although Jessie's reputation is that of a player who can be an asset to any team's chemistry, it still might not make up for his lack of a consistent outside shot.
"Brandon's perimeter shortcomings are highly noticeable because he's not trying to do anything else but play the outside," said one scout. "So many people have told him he would have to be a number two with a great perimeter shot that he seems to be concentrating only on that aspect of his game. He needs work, but if he could show more of the aggressiveness we saw at Utah, we wouldn't mind so much."
Golden State Warriors scout Kevin Stacom agreed that Jessie should concentrate on being the player he was back with the Utes. "He had a nice couple of years at Utah. He was really a team player then."