nate33 wrote:
I have a general, and surely uninformed impression that the players out of Memphis' program are a bunch of thugs. Obviously, you can't paint an entire program with such a broad brush and I haven't yet taken the time to investigate more thoroughly. How did Evan's do in school? How about high school? Did he get into trouble with the law at all as a kid? Did he have any formulative event that happened in his childhood where he hit "rock bottom" and had to pick himself back up (a la Caron Butler or Juan Dixon). Does he have a history of being lazy or is he a student of the game? Was his father around when he grew up? Was he a top prospect in the AAU programs as a 13-year-old, or was he more of a late bloomer?
These are the kinds of things I'd like to investigate before choosing between Curry and Evans. We already know a lot about Curry's background. We know he has a strong family with an extensive understanding of the NBA game. We know he was sorely tempted to stay in school to graduate and he plans to get his degree later. We know Curry was underrated and never considered a viable NBA prospect when he was 5-11 senior in high school and a 6-1 freshman in college. That builds humility and character. Going by background alone, Curry is a dream candidate. We also have a 3-year track record of his performance in college.
First of all, I love your candor, nate.
My mom and dad were born in Memphis. I have two sisters in Memphis. A nephew of mine went to school with Penny Hardaway and my sister knows his family. Good thing my Big Sis didn't read this! She is a die-hard Memphis Tiger fan. Also, she's an old school thug who packs heat!

Hey, I just made nate's point ...
But seriously, Big Sis is very proud of the graduation record Calipari had at Memphis. She's mentioned to me that the Memphis kids are serious, hard-working, student athletes who graduate. She
hates the media characterization of the players at that school.
Guys like Lee and Bedford really gave Memphis a bad rep. However, they are from a different era.
I can say Memphis does have some rough areas. A lot of kids do fall victims to the mean streets there. However, I think you run into having the same issues Gary Williams has with recruiting the DC Area kids if you characterize Memphis kids as thugs.
Tyreke Evans could be a better kid than Steph Curry or Gerald Henderson in the long run. I'd discriminate in their favor ONLY BECAUSE their pops were NBA players and I know their recent track records, and not because of them going to Davidson or Duke vs Memphis.
Some other programs had bad reps in the past: Georgetown in the 80s and Cinncinati in the 90s under Huggins. In both cases they produced some good NBA players. So will Memphis.
Tre Johnson is the future of the Wizards.