Miami Heat Vice president of player personal
Chet Kammerer opens up on Red Flagged cases – NBA Update
The future of young prospects who are red flagged by the NBA is very obscure and the recent example of that is Ohio State`s Jared Sullinger who was red flagged by NBA doctors just last week due to back issues.
Sullinger was expected to be one of the top prospects coming into the NBA this year. However after being red flagged by the league doctors, he has seen a constant fall in his draft expectations and has not been invited to the green
room on Thursday.
It was reported that Golden State Warriors who hold the number seven pick were interested in acquiring Sullinger, but ever since the forward was marked unfit by the league, they along with many other suitors have backed off.
The team officials do take league’s advice on this matter seriously and Miami Heat vice president of player personal Chet Kammerer while talking to
Ira Winderman of NBCSports.com recently, opened up about the reasons behind it. Heat have the 27th pick in this year’s draft and have a slight chance of drafting Sullinger.
“We take that pretty seriously,” Kammerer said “We’re still in the kind of in the review stages, to really get the latest information on two or three players.
“But I think it’s real. I think there are two or three guys probably, that will probably slip in the draft because of the medical issues that they have.”
He further went on to discuss the example of Brandon Roy who had some excellent years while representing Portland Trail Blazers and was a three time All-Star. But having almost no cartilage left in his both knees forced him into
early retirement before the start of last season
For Kammerer, the basic idea behind taking red flagged cases very seriously is to look at the future with a bigger approach and not just consider the players impact for three or four years;
“Most of the time those players are still able to play,” Kammerer said, “but the length of their careers are definitely altered because of things that are a part of their history.”
All hope is not lost for Sullinger and given the amount of talent he has, the Buckeyes forward may be drafted in the top 20 picks. Even if it’s not in the top 20, Sullinger has stated clearly that his utmost desire is to be a part
of NBA.
The only recent example of a similar case is of DeJuan Blair who slipped entirely out of the first round in 2009 after getting red flagged by the NBA because of having no cartilages in his both knees. The Spurs eventually drafted
him in the second round and the player is now an essential part of their rotation.
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