Prospect Profile: Craig Brackins

Craig Brackins is a name you might have seen attached to the Spurs in one of the approximately 1,252,678.03 mock drafts that have been published leading up to the big night later this week. Others of you might have a big question mark over your head like some character from the Sunday Funnys. Either way, here’s the low down, dude is a 6’-10” power forward out of Iowa State with decent range and versility on the offensive end, and questionable dedication on the defensive side.

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Some people considered him a lottery level talent after the 08-09 season, but after a pretty terrible outing for the Cyclones in 09-10 he’s dropped down by a considerable margin, pegged anywhere from picks 20-40. ESPN ranks him as the sixth best power forward in the draft after Favors, Monroe, Davis, Udoh, and Patterson; that’s pretty good company since four of those five are expected to go in the Lottery. However, DraftExpress doesn’t treat him as favorably slotting him at #11 in the same category.

If you are not familiar with him and are trying to match him up with an NBA player, the comparisons out there range from Channing Frye to Jason Thompson and LaMarcus Aldridge to Marc Salyers (who?). Of course comparisons only offer so much help when trying to figure a guy out. Video might be a better tool for that, so without further ado, Release the Brackins!

The thing that sold me on this guy doesn’t have much at all to do with the court. What got me, was when it looked like his stock was at an all-time high he listened to the requests (pleas really) of his coaches and returned for another season to try drap Iowa State from the doldrums of mediocrity. Unfortunately for Craig, the rest of his team sucked too much for his efforts to be of much value. But fortunately for the Spurs, he just might be around for them to pick should they think he’s a guy that could help them.