Off guard Quincy Douby put up some big numbers in his career at Rutgers
By Sam Amick
Quincy Douby, with his Haitian heritage and his stick-skinny body, qualified as a typical high school sophomore six years ago. He didn't hit three-pointers at absurd rates, didn't score 60-plus points in a game twice or recruit his own way to a marvelous college career at Rutgers. That was all to come. Back then, he didn't even play basketball.
"It just wasn't his thing," said his agent, Keith Glass.
It is now. And as of Wednesday night, Douby is the Kings' thing, having been selected No. 19in the NBA draft. Douby, via phone from the home of his Grady High School coach in Marlboro N.J., said he was thrilled to be coming to Sacramento.
"Hard work pays off," said Douby, who once hit 18-of-21 three-pointers in a high school game. "I know that my (Rutgers) team overachieved. The Kings noticed that, noticed I was hungry and had the potential to get even better."
It's all he's done since first picking up a ball. Before he first played at the Brooklyn high school, Douby weighed approximately 125 pounds. He's now 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds, with a penchant for scoring that convinced Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie to make the selection.
But the pick only raised more questions about the future of shooting guard Bonzi Wells, who becomes a free agent Saturday and whom Petrie dubbed a top priority. In what will be a relatively weak free-agent market, Wells -- who made $8 million last season -- will likely be among the most sought-after talents. And that was before his superb playoff series against San Antonio raised his price tag. Petrie insisted Wells' impending status played little part in the selection, yet the fact remains that numerous teams with much more salary cap space than the Kings will likely bid for the soon-to-be 30-year-old.
"Not really," Petrie said of the Wells effect. "(Douby is) a totally different position player than Bonzi."
Petrie, as always, said he would exercise patience before retooling the roster.
"Unless there's (a trade) that really jumped out at you, we're probably going to be a little patient in terms of thinking about moving major parts until (the new coaching staff) had a chance to coach our team and get some sense of what they feel," he said.
Still, the Kings attained a security blanket of sorts for the position while adding an outside threat. In Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Ron Artest and Wells, the Kings are overloaded with players who operate in the post, and selecting a big man would have clogged matters more. After working out numerous point guards, they passed on two of the best -- Connecticut's Marcus Williams and Kentucky's Rajon Rondo.
"Some teams have had a fair amount of success playing two small guards in their backcourt for fairly significant portions of the game," Petrie said, citing New Orleans and Dallas. "You're seeing more and more of that, in terms of being able to get a more mobile quicker team out there that handles the ball and has some scoring potential as well."
Douby, who led the New York City Public School Athletic League with 35.6 points per game as a senior and also played at St. Thomas More Prep school (Connecticut), averaged 12.5 points per game as a freshman at Rutgers, which didn't recruit Douby.
As a sophomore, he averaged 15.1 points and as a junior averaged 25.4 points, sixth in the nation and tops in the Big East Conference.
"He hasn't even touched where he's going to go," Glass said. "And where he is now is pretty remarkable."
Some found it remarkable that Douby was still available when the Kings picked. Williams, who many dubbed the draft's best point guard, was bypassed by the Kings and 21 other teams, going to New Jersey at No. 22. The decision also surprised Douby, who worked out twice for the Kings.
"I was thinking they were going to go with Marcus Williams," Douby said. "When (the Kings) called me before the 19th pick, I was real excited. I kind of didn't believe it, so I wanted to hear (commissioner) David Stern say my name."
Now Kings coaches will be calling his name. Douby said he's eager to work on his two perceived weaknesses -- size and defense.
"My defense is improving," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and lie and say I'm a defensive stopper. A lot of that has to do with me being skinny, but I'm going to continue to add weight and work in the weight room and get the weight on me so I can defend really well."
The Douby file
• Full name: Quincy Douby • Birthplace: Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Birthdate: May 16, 1984
• Ht./Wt: 6-foot-3, 175
• High school: Grady High School (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
• College: Rutgers
COLLEGE STATISTICS
Season Min. Pts. Reb. Ast.
2003-04 25.4 12.5 1.9 1.7
2004-05 34.3 15.1 2.4 3.4
2005-06 36.7 25.4 4.3 3.1
What they're saying about Kings pick Quincy Douby
"Here's a pretty big surprise. The Kings have missed Bobby Jackson and needed a guy who can shoot and penetrate." -- Chad Ford, ESPN analyst
"Never heard of Douby before you started looking at mock drafts? That's OK. Go ask Syracuse if this slender shooter is the real deal. He torched the Orange for 41 points in establishing a career high this season, backing up to almost the hash mark when defenders tried picking him up further out. But Douby was no one-hit wonder: He scored at least 20 points in 24 of his last 29 collegiate games."
-- Chris Ekstrand, cnnsi.com
"I am ecstatic for Quincy that he was taken in the first round by Sacramento. Quincy worked extremely hard to put himself in this position, and I think he will be a terrific player in the NBA. This is, first and foremost, a very exciting and special day for Quincy, his family and friends."
-- Rutgers men's basketball coach Fred Hill
"Douby went much higher than expected and becomes another young perimeter addition for the Kings, joining recent picks Kevin Martin and Francisco García. The Big East's leading scorer last year, he's got the pedigree to contribute, provided he offsets his lack of size."
-- Tony Mejia, CBS Sportsline.com
"He's 6-2 1/2 barefoot and weights 175ish, but I've watched a lot of games in the playoffs in past several years, and if Rip Hamilton made a three, they did not deduct a point because he's skinny. There's no discount from what I understand. I don't know too much about basketball, but to me the object of the game is to put the ball in the hoop, and Quincy is pretty good at that last I checked."
-- Keith Glass, Douby's agent
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/14273063p-15083234c.html
By Sam Amick
Quincy Douby, with his Haitian heritage and his stick-skinny body, qualified as a typical high school sophomore six years ago. He didn't hit three-pointers at absurd rates, didn't score 60-plus points in a game twice or recruit his own way to a marvelous college career at Rutgers. That was all to come. Back then, he didn't even play basketball.
"It just wasn't his thing," said his agent, Keith Glass.
It is now. And as of Wednesday night, Douby is the Kings' thing, having been selected No. 19in the NBA draft. Douby, via phone from the home of his Grady High School coach in Marlboro N.J., said he was thrilled to be coming to Sacramento.
"Hard work pays off," said Douby, who once hit 18-of-21 three-pointers in a high school game. "I know that my (Rutgers) team overachieved. The Kings noticed that, noticed I was hungry and had the potential to get even better."
It's all he's done since first picking up a ball. Before he first played at the Brooklyn high school, Douby weighed approximately 125 pounds. He's now 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds, with a penchant for scoring that convinced Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie to make the selection.
But the pick only raised more questions about the future of shooting guard Bonzi Wells, who becomes a free agent Saturday and whom Petrie dubbed a top priority. In what will be a relatively weak free-agent market, Wells -- who made $8 million last season -- will likely be among the most sought-after talents. And that was before his superb playoff series against San Antonio raised his price tag. Petrie insisted Wells' impending status played little part in the selection, yet the fact remains that numerous teams with much more salary cap space than the Kings will likely bid for the soon-to-be 30-year-old.
"Not really," Petrie said of the Wells effect. "(Douby is) a totally different position player than Bonzi."
Petrie, as always, said he would exercise patience before retooling the roster.
"Unless there's (a trade) that really jumped out at you, we're probably going to be a little patient in terms of thinking about moving major parts until (the new coaching staff) had a chance to coach our team and get some sense of what they feel," he said.
Still, the Kings attained a security blanket of sorts for the position while adding an outside threat. In Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Ron Artest and Wells, the Kings are overloaded with players who operate in the post, and selecting a big man would have clogged matters more. After working out numerous point guards, they passed on two of the best -- Connecticut's Marcus Williams and Kentucky's Rajon Rondo.
"Some teams have had a fair amount of success playing two small guards in their backcourt for fairly significant portions of the game," Petrie said, citing New Orleans and Dallas. "You're seeing more and more of that, in terms of being able to get a more mobile quicker team out there that handles the ball and has some scoring potential as well."
Douby, who led the New York City Public School Athletic League with 35.6 points per game as a senior and also played at St. Thomas More Prep school (Connecticut), averaged 12.5 points per game as a freshman at Rutgers, which didn't recruit Douby.
As a sophomore, he averaged 15.1 points and as a junior averaged 25.4 points, sixth in the nation and tops in the Big East Conference.
"He hasn't even touched where he's going to go," Glass said. "And where he is now is pretty remarkable."
Some found it remarkable that Douby was still available when the Kings picked. Williams, who many dubbed the draft's best point guard, was bypassed by the Kings and 21 other teams, going to New Jersey at No. 22. The decision also surprised Douby, who worked out twice for the Kings.
"I was thinking they were going to go with Marcus Williams," Douby said. "When (the Kings) called me before the 19th pick, I was real excited. I kind of didn't believe it, so I wanted to hear (commissioner) David Stern say my name."
Now Kings coaches will be calling his name. Douby said he's eager to work on his two perceived weaknesses -- size and defense.
"My defense is improving," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and lie and say I'm a defensive stopper. A lot of that has to do with me being skinny, but I'm going to continue to add weight and work in the weight room and get the weight on me so I can defend really well."
The Douby file
• Full name: Quincy Douby • Birthplace: Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Birthdate: May 16, 1984
• Ht./Wt: 6-foot-3, 175
• High school: Grady High School (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
• College: Rutgers
COLLEGE STATISTICS
Season Min. Pts. Reb. Ast.
2003-04 25.4 12.5 1.9 1.7
2004-05 34.3 15.1 2.4 3.4
2005-06 36.7 25.4 4.3 3.1
What they're saying about Kings pick Quincy Douby
"Here's a pretty big surprise. The Kings have missed Bobby Jackson and needed a guy who can shoot and penetrate." -- Chad Ford, ESPN analyst
"Never heard of Douby before you started looking at mock drafts? That's OK. Go ask Syracuse if this slender shooter is the real deal. He torched the Orange for 41 points in establishing a career high this season, backing up to almost the hash mark when defenders tried picking him up further out. But Douby was no one-hit wonder: He scored at least 20 points in 24 of his last 29 collegiate games."
-- Chris Ekstrand, cnnsi.com
"I am ecstatic for Quincy that he was taken in the first round by Sacramento. Quincy worked extremely hard to put himself in this position, and I think he will be a terrific player in the NBA. This is, first and foremost, a very exciting and special day for Quincy, his family and friends."
-- Rutgers men's basketball coach Fred Hill
"Douby went much higher than expected and becomes another young perimeter addition for the Kings, joining recent picks Kevin Martin and Francisco García. The Big East's leading scorer last year, he's got the pedigree to contribute, provided he offsets his lack of size."
-- Tony Mejia, CBS Sportsline.com
"He's 6-2 1/2 barefoot and weights 175ish, but I've watched a lot of games in the playoffs in past several years, and if Rip Hamilton made a three, they did not deduct a point because he's skinny. There's no discount from what I understand. I don't know too much about basketball, but to me the object of the game is to put the ball in the hoop, and Quincy is pretty good at that last I checked."
-- Keith Glass, Douby's agent
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/14273063p-15083234c.html
