I promise we're not going to get into the habit of excerpting a ton of premium content, but ESPN's Chad Ford's account ($) of watching Chandler Parsons go head-to-head with the Indiana Pacers' Paul George in a 2-on-2 run in his preparation for the 2011 NBA Draft demands mention:
Parsons really surprised me. I knew he was skilled and athletic for a 6-foot-10 player. But he showed an aggressiveness that I just hadn't seen at Florida. He went head-to-head with George for an hour. George is better, but Parsons held his own. He showed the ability to take him off the dribble to the rim, rise up and hit jumpers over George's freakishly long arms and most importantly, make a number of spell-binding passes to Thomas. Parsons' decision making in the sets were fantastic. So was his shooting. He was hitting just about every shot he took and showed range out to the NBA 3-point line.
Scouts have always been high on Parsons' tools. It's been his lack of results at Florida that have caused his draft stock to slide. I think Parsons will have a great shot at the first round if he plays like he did on Wednesday. It was really a wow performance against one of the better young defenders in the league.
Parsons' NCAA Tournament swoon — which came after he played one of the more effortlessly dominant games of his career against UC Santa Barbara — may have damaged his NBA stock. But Parsons, if he's as aggressive as he was in chasing down rebounds in the second half of his senior season, can make up for a lot of that with workouts like the one Ford describes.
And let's hope he does.