Williams hoping Hayes receives NBA look

The most likely scenario for the Maryland basketball team's three seniors tonight at the NBA Draft is for Greivis Vasquez to be selected either late in the first round or somewhere in second round and both Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne to go seeking free-agent deals.

After four seasons, it's still tough to figure out exactly what Milbourne is, positionally-speaking. He's almost certainly not big enough to be a full-time power forward, though it's possible he could try to continue to be a 3.5 at the pro level.

Hayes, though, is a more intriguing pro option.

He shot 45.4 percent from beyond the 3-point line as a senior. While the line moves back in the NBA, he still possesses a valuable skill that transfers to the next level.

"I want somebody to give him a look and just see," Maryland coach Gary Williams said in an interview this spring. "Don't decide without seeing him play. You have to have Eric out there n the court before you make a decision on him. He's one of those players that the better the level of teammates he plays with, the better Eric Hayes can be."

Hayes averaged 11.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.96 assists as Maryland went 24-9 and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament. His ability to complement Vasquez was crucial in the Terps earning a share of their first regular season ACC title since 2002.

Few things were more amusing over those 33 games than watching Hayes --- who everyone in the arena knew was easily at his most dangerous when he had an open perimeter jumper --- somehow earn a clean look. Williams sees that savvy as something pro teams would be wise to recognize in the coming weeks.

"I look at the [John] Paxsons of the world and people like that who made a living based on the fact they knew where to get to to get open," Williams said. "He did that with Vasquez all year this year. Vasquez made a move and Eric knew how to get away from his guy who was helping a little bit and get open. I want some teams to bring him in and let him go with their players and then make their decision. It's up to them what Eric is, but I think he deserves that. I think he had a good enough year where he deserves that."

Comments

[ckstevenson]

Any chance of an Eric Hayes repeat with the Wizards?

[D1scourse]

Your guess is as good as mine on that one.

[Shawn]

I hope this PWC product gets a shot. He's a good kid from a good family (and it'll be interesting to see how his talented sister, playing for dad at Potomac HS, does in college, too). If not the NBA, he'll have a long career in Europe and is probably headed towards a coaching career one day, too.