If the one-and-done rule didn’t exist and high school players were permitted to go straight to the NBA, Shabazz Muhammad might go as high as No. 2 in the 2012 Draft.
After Anthony Davis, Kentucky’s 6-foot-11 freshman shot-blocking sensation, Muhammad might be the most attractive option were he to be allowed to come out this year.
“He would be in the conversation for sure,” our friend, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com, points out. “He’s a great prospect. Lots of NBA teams have point guards and power forwards these days, not as many have big-time scoring wings.”
A 6-foot-6, 214-pound uncommitted senior small forward from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman High, Muhammad is an explosive, slashing, athletic wing possessed with a soft touch from outside, a high basketball IQ and a the work ethic necessary to maximize his talents.
He is a walking, talking, breathing highlight reel, too.
His left-handed windmill dunk to end Monday’s victory over national power DeMatha Catholic at the Hoophall Classic at the Naismith Hall of Fame made SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays.
“I always do that dunk—that one and the 360 are my favorites—but it was cool to see it on SportsCenter,” Muhammad, who poured in 37 points in Bishop Gorman’s 73-65 victory that came in front of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and Kentucky coach John Calipari, wrote in his Slam diary.
In another recent game, Muhammad went for 41 points and a career-high 18 rebounds in an 80-68 win over Clark.
As things now stand, DraftExpress projects Muhammad as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.
Yet as befits his mature and balanced personality, Muhammad says he’s more focused on helping an NBA franchise reach the ultimate goal than on where he might be drafted.
Asked by reporters in Springfield where he sees himself in three years, Muhammad said, “I see myself in the NBA trying to contribute to my team for a world championship.”
Of course, before he heads to the NBA, Muhammad must first spend at least a year in college.
And the greatest mystery in high school recruiting right now is where he will take his talents.
Muhammad has narrowed his list to six schools — Kentucky, Duke, UCLA, UNLV, Arizona and Kansas.
He is focused on his high school season at the moment, and it is entirely possible he won’t announce a decision until late April or early May.
Among other factors, Muhammad wants to see how the aforementioned college programs do this year, what players leave for the NBA and how their respective recruiting classes look.
Kentucky, which currently has the No. 2 recruiting class behind Arizona, would love to add Muhammad as the crown jewel in their 2012 class, and Calipari’s presence not only in Springfield but at the City of Palms Classic in Fort Meyers, Fla., in December shows just how committed he is to landing the Bishop Gorman star.
Calipari, of course, is known for cranking out one-and-done players, and it isn’t hard to imagine Muhammad following in the cycle of players including Derrick Rose, John Wall, Brandon Knight, and, presumably Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, too.
“‘Bazz likes Kentucky very much,” said Ron Holmes, Muhammad’s father and former college player at USC.
Duke is Duke, and Muhammad will take an official visit there March 1 for the North Carolina game.
“Coach K, he’s just a mastermind,” Muhammad told reporters in Springfield. “He lets his guards go, which is great for me, so I’m really excited to go down there.”
Arizona wasn’t even in the mix a few months back, but appears to have made great strides with Muhammad by virtue of a recruiting class that includes Kaleb Tarczewski, Grant Jerrett and Brandon Ashley.
“Arizona has a great freshman class coming in,” Muhammad said. “Their freshman class is probably the top in the country right now. They’re also a high tempo style of play, which is great.”
UNLV is the local school and has signed Muhammad’s Bishop Gorman teammate, Demetris Morant, who now thinks the Rebels have a shot.
“I think Shabazz is really considering going [there] because he feels that they’re a great team and everyone else sees that, too,” the UNLV-bound Morant told FiveStarBasketball.com. “And they’re ranked in the nation.
“At first he wasn’t thinking about going there because he thought they wouldn’t be that good and he wouldn’t be looked at by [NBA] scouts. So he was mostly considering Kentucky, but now UNLV is in the top three.”
On Saturday, Muhammad will go head-to-head with 6-8 Findlay Prep senior forward Anthony Bennett in an ESPNU game on the UNLV campus. Kentucky and UNLV are targeting both players.
UCLA, meanwhile, is a local school that has already secured 6-9 St. Anthony point guard Kyle Anderson, a close friend of Muhammad’s.
Anderson has said he talks to Muhammad “almost every day” in an effort to recruit him to Westwood.
Kansas is considered more of a long shot, but Muhammad is in the process of setting up an official visit there. No date has been set, his father said.
“I’m still saying there’s six teams on my list, six strong schools I’m really considering,” Muhammad wrote in his Slam diary. “Some of the recruiting guys think I’ve got it down to one or two schools, but that just makes me laugh. They’re doing their job, and people get into reading about that, so it’s cool. But I’m like, how do they think they know? It’s not even close to the truth. The process has been hectic, but I’ll focus on college after the season. I’ll probably make my decision in April.
“Right now I’m focused on the season. I’m just getting ready for this game on Saturday against Findlay Prep. They got us last year, so we’re just trying to get a big win. Then we can celebrate.”
If the one-and-done rule didn’t exist, Muhammad might celebrate at the end of this year and then head straight to the Association.
Instead, he’ll be filling up highlight reels on a college campus somewhere for a year before David Stern calls his name in 2013.
Photos: MassLive.com
Adam Zagoria of Zags Blog covers the future stars of the NBA for SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Saturdays. Follow him on Twitter at @AdamZagoria.