Meet Your Longshot NBA Draft Prospect part 1: Josh Heytvelt

Note- With the June 25 NBA draft poised to be the weakest in years, it seems like every player has a shot of being picked. With the help of some special guests, we're going to take an in-depth look at some players whose names NBA GM's might not have heard about.

Believe it or not, at one point Josh Heytvelt was a can't-miss NBA prospect.

That was two years ago, when Heytvelt was in the midst of a stellar sophomore season at Gonzaga. He was averaging 15.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game, and was the breakout star for the Zags.

What was most impressive about Heytvelt was how well the Zags played when he was the focal point of the offense, and how dominant he was becoming because of it. 19 points and 7 rebounds against North Carolina. 27 points and 22 rebounds against Pepperdine. The 2007 Zags were stacked with shooters like Derek Raivio and Jeremy Pargo, but the Zags were only effective when they fed Heytvelt the ball in the post.

The kid was a star.

But then, it all came unraveled. Heytvelt was arrested for posession of psychedelic mushrooms and suspended for the rest of the season. He tried to return the next season under heavy scrutiny, only to drop a weight on his foot and miss 11 games. Since then, he hasn't been the same.

The dominance was gone. The aggression was missing, replaced by a fondness for jump shooting.

What was worse, he seemed like a shell of his former self both on and off the court. He never opened up to reporters, and even as his team swept WCC play and cruised into the NCAA Tournament, he just seemed bored with it all. In the Sweet Sixteen against North Carolina, when the Zags needed him most, Heytvelt responded with a measly 14 points and 0 rebounds. In the locker room after the game, you wouldn't have been able to tell the Zags lost, based on Heytvelt's generic, indifferent expression.

Why did Heytvelt turn out the way he did? For the answer, we turn to my friend Kevin O'Brien, author of The Ex-Call Taker. If you haven't checked it out, do it right now, it's one of the best sports blogs out there. Kevin and I both covered the Zags for The Gonzaga Bulletin, so we got to see the Zags up close. He recently wrote a piece for The Ex-Call Taker diagnosing Heytvelt's problems:

So what happened? Truth be told, it is hard to determine. There are so many "ifs" and variables that there probably is no direct reason why Heytvelt was never the same player he was his sophomore year when many weren't only talking about him as a bonafide draft pick, but a possible first rounder. His sophomore year he could block shots, had great touch around the rim and could step back and hit the three pointer with ease. He had such a great all-around game that many Bulldog fans during his sophomore season felt that he could have been one of the best big men in the history of Gonzaga basketball.

And then toward the tail end of his sophomore season he got in trouble with the law. His junior year he was hurt, not to mention got in the dog house from Mark Few (he was forced to come off the bench midway through the year). And his senior year, well...he just kind of became a perimeter player. His senior year shows it statistically. In the big games, when they needed him in the post, he settled for threes. The games he shot the most three pointers were against Washington State, UConn and Memphis. They beat Washington State, but lost to the other two. Heytvelt was needed to bang, but instead was pushed out to the perimeter, forced to settle for outside jumpers and three point shots.

...One possible explanation for Heytvelt becoming the settling jump shooter he was last season? Gonzaga had no traditional big men for the first time in his tenure there and he had grown so accustomed to his role as the jump shooting center that when he was asked to be a center, he just wasn't ready nor accustomed to do so. His redshirt freshman year he played with Batista. His sophomore year he played with Sean Mallon. Junior year, it was Abdullahi Kuso and Robert Sacre. Heytvelt didn't have that big guy help his senior year. Kuso graduated, Sacre was hurt, and Foster didn't play nearly enough or was as competent down low either. Austin Daye, the starting four man, in reality is not a power forward. He's tall enough to be one, but his game is one of a small forward. It always has been. Thus, Heytvelt didn't have someone to make up for and hide his inadequacies on the court. In the past, it would have been Mallon or Kuso banging and hacking against Samhan or Bryant. He didn't have that guy this year and the guy we were enamored with sophomore year suddenly was not only shown as mortal, but filled with flaws. Senior year showed he didn't have the strength or the post game to bang against the better centers. Senior year showed he wasn't as great a defender or rebounder as we once thought he was. That possible first rounder, two years later became just a possible draft pick, no longer bonifide.

It's hard to dispute the evidence. Heytvelt may have the physical tools to become a good power forward, but based on his track record, it would be hard to imagine him putting it together to step away from his perimeter game.

With NBA teams moving back to the traditional, banging post player, Heytvelt has his work cut out for him in order to make it. The fact it, there isn't a big market out there for a big man who doesn't rebound or play down low.

Best case scenario: He's Channing Frye without the personality.