2010 NBA Draft Preview: Xavier Henry

The former Putnam City star continued to impress basketball scouts in his lone college season.

Thursday, July 28th 2011, 5:39 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Jun 23, 2010 4:45 PM CDT

2010 NBA Draft previews from Oklahoma Sports:
- Latavious Williams
- James Anderson
- Tommy Mason-Griffin
- Tiny Gallon
- Willie Warren
- Ben Uzoh
- Jerome Jordan
- Ekpe Udoh
- Daniel Orton
- Xavier Henry

Dave Carty
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

He made his mark at Putnam City High School. He made his (brief) mark at Kansas.

Now, Oklahoma City native Xavier Henry is ready to move on to the National Basketball Association.

Though he was one-and-done with the Jayhawks last year, Henry showed enough to earn his weighty prospect status. The shooting guard averaged 13.4 points per game as a freshman for a Kansas team that earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

His proven ability to hit shots from anywhere on the floor means Henry is likely to be considered by several lottery teams during Thursday night’s NBA Draft and he’s not likely to be on the board after the first dozen or so picks are off the board.

While Henry doesn’t possess the same kind of jump-out-of-your-shoes athleticism that has led to some much hype with other prospects, he can flat out score and could be the second shooting guard off the board after Evan Turner of Ohio State.

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly which teams will target Henry. While he will be capable of scoring right away, his real production may come with time, which puts him somewhat in-between player and project status as a rookie.

Fittingly, his college career ended in his native city. Kansas was ousted by No. 9 Northern Iowa 69-67 at the Ford Center in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Henry will be off the board sooner rather than later, so unless some trades happen and the Thunder get a little lucky, don’t expect the next chapter of his career to occur in Oklahoma City.