where's marque?

[billiken_roy]

i just spent a few moments bringing up the summer league rosters for the nba at nba.com. i didnt see marque anywhere. there were a few teams that did not have their rosters listed. anyone heard anything as to what marque's next step might be basketball wise?

[NashvilleBilliken]

Roy, I did the same thing yesterday and did not see Marque's name anywhere. I was positive that he would get picked up by a team for the summer. I do not see how he could go from a potential second rounder to not making a summer team. He is lightning quick with the heart and work ethic rarely found in the NBA. Perhaps Marque thought it would be more beneficial to play overseas and did not stick around to see if he got picked up. Anybody know??

[billiken_roy]

my fear is that he is involved with a bad agent that isnt doing his job. i know i had heard that 4-5 teams wanted to give him a shot, surely the agent isnt stupid enough to be playing hardball before marque even makes a showing this summer?

i can see where possibly he might have just went straight to a foreign team though. quite possibly there would be guaranteed money there asap.

surely someone out there is "inside" enough to know.

[kwyjibo]

I too was looking at rosters a few days ago and did not see anything.

But I did learn something I never knew. Apparently Spoon's back-up if Perry went east was Tulsa's Antonio Reed (this is according to Clark Francis: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketba/skm/clark13.htm). He had some big games but mostly had bad freshman and senior years. That was a recruiting success.

[aj_arete]

is that Marque didn't show enough playmaking ability that is needed to play in the NBA. I have always seen him as 6'1 wing forward and never as a point guard. While he's a wonderous dribbling talent, I have rarely seen him find the open man in transition or within a half-court offense. It's just unfortunate that he wasn't four inches taller...

[thetorch]

My guess is Marque is going to Europe.

The problem with the summer leagues is if you play in them and then cannot make a roster spot you are screwed out of the Euro leagues. The Euro leagues set up their teams before the summer leagues are over so a guy like Marque has to make a choice, go for the sure thing in Europe or roll the dice in the states and end up having to play in the NBDL for pennies compared to what he could make overseas.

[Taj79]

Good points, well taken, aj ... also let's remember that at Prosser High in Chicago, Marque was a "three" ... a smallish small forward who probably blew by guys much taller than he. I still remember that when he was recruited to SLU by Spoon, there was talk that he had to "learn" to play the "one." I would close my argument here saying he never really got the assists skills of the "one" down in his career here --- reasons can be debated forever but do NOT solely resy on Marque's shoulders. And i would rank Marque in some of my top ten lists for Billiken players based on his closing run here. So it is not that I think badly of Marque and his skills. That's the reality of the NBA.

Now, as a very small six-footer in the nBA, without those assist skills, coupled with a questionable outside shot, and with all the speed already existing in the NBA, he just may be out in the cold.