FanHouse O.J. Mayo

Raw Like Sushi was the name of a Neneh Cherry album. It also could end up being the title for the Hasheem Thabeet rookie highlight video.

Of course, if you think this guy is green now, Memphis coach Lionel Hollins says you should have been around for his first workout after the Grizzlies took the 7-foot-3, 267-pound Connecticut center with the No. 2 pick in last June's draft.

"He was really bad,'' Hollins said. "Even though he's a shot blocker, he only had to stand in the paint in college. Now you've got guys attacking you and how you have to go meet them, he knew none of that. He had no footwork. He had no jump hook. He had nothing. And I can say that out of all the rookies in this draft, he probably has come the farthest. He has the farthest to go, and he still has a long ways to go.''

FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in Revisiting the NBA Draft.

It's almost unfair to judge a draft after one year, but this is what we're going to do. The final edition of our Revisiting the Draft series examines the 2008 Draft and believe or not, there are teams already harboring regrets from their picks.

Despite the extensive scouting, workouts and interviews involved in the draft, teams still make major mistakes and these days, prospects don't get three years to develop. Of the 14 lottery picks in 2006, six have already changed teams and players such as Patrick O'Bryant and Mouhamed Sene are not guaranteed jobs next season.

The NBA waits for no one, especially if they are taking too long to make an impact. So while teams won't freely admit they made mistakes 12 months after draft night, they will privately admit they overestimated talent and heart, and sooner or later, that will cost front-office jobs.

Several years after allegations first arose that Reggie Bush accepted cash and gifts, several days after letting embattled basketball coach Tim Floyd 'quit' and a day after Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke slammed them for their silence, USC commented about the investigations.

Essentially, USC re-affirmed its commitment to silence until the investigation concludes but did take time to accuse several individuals of lying about their involvement in the investigation.

Whether it was arrogance, defiance or one last chance to kick start a fading coaching career, Tim Floyd knew exactly what he was getting into. And he had every chance to wiggle out of the trap when Rodney Guillory, a parasite known around the USC athletic department for his unscrupulous dealings with a Trojan basketball player, wandered into Floyd's office without an appointment three summers ago and offered him fool's gold.

"How would you like to have the best player in the country?'' Guillory said. "Have you heard of O.J. Mayo?''

It's June, a.k.a., a terrible time to find a quality basketball coach. But that will be USC's task after Tim Floyd's sudden resignation Tuesday amid a slew of allegations regarding the recruiting of star guard O.J. Mayo. Athletic director Mike Garrett (right) is used to hiring coaches on the fly. He fired Henry Bibby just four games into the 2004-2005 season, tabbed Jim Saia as interim coach for the season and then nabbed Floyd.

Garrett has time before having to go the interim route and there are some qualified coaches who either are unemployed or at mid-majors and would likely leave their schools and incoming recruiting classes for a job at a major school in a major conference. The USC athletic director has a history for going after tough gets and succeeding, but the question is whether the Trojans basketball program will be severely punished for the Mayo situation? Floyd was accused by former Mayo associate Louis Johnson of giving $1,000 to Rodney Guillory, an alleged street agent representing Mayo.

Update: USC has confirmed Tim Floyd's resignation. "I accept Tim's decision and wish him well," USC athletic director Mike Garrett said in a statement.

University of Southern California men's basketball coach Tim Floyd has reportedly resigned in the wake of an accusation that he gave $1,000 to a man who helped convince O.J. Mayo to enroll at USC.

The Clarion Ledger newspaper in Floyd's home state of Mississippi reports that Floyd sent USC athletic director Mike Garrett this letter:

It's been a forgone conclusion for awhile, but on Wednesday it became official: Derrick Rose is the NBA's 2009 Rookie of the Year. He received the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy during a press conference earlier this afternoon.

There were several impressive rookies this year but Rose was the run-away winner of the award, receiving 111 of a possible 120 first-place votes; O.J. Mayo (five first place votes), Brook Lopez (two) and Russell Westbrook (two) accounted for the rest.

It's trophy time in the NBA, and the FanHouse crew has submitted its ballots. Find out which players deserve to take home the hardware and which ones don't, in our NBA Awards series. Next up: Rookie of the Year.

Coming into the season, most projected the rookie of the Year race to be fairly hotly contested between Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley, the top two picks in the NBA draft. But it wasn't: while Beasley spent time learning to contribute coming off the bench, Rose became one of the leaders on a team that made its way back to the playoffs. As such, the young Bull was our unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year honors.

The end of the regular season is winding down, so it's time to start thinking about who's going to be taking home the awards. With the Grizzlies in town on Monday to face the Phoenix Suns -- and with neither team having anything to play for but pride at this point -- I got the chance to speak with Memphis' coach Lionel Hollins about who he thinks should win Rookie of the Year.

And to the surprise of absolutely no one, Hollins enthusiastically said O.J. Mayo (who just happens to be on his team) should be the clear cut choice.

Memphis Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins is 8-22 since taking over for Marc Iavaroni in late January. Iavaroni was fired after the Grizzlies started the season 11-30.

In case you're scoring at home, that gives Iavaroni a .268 winning percentage compared with Hollins' .266. But Hollins should get credit for at least one thing: He's not selling false hope like a lot of other coaches. In fact, he's not selling hope at all, really.

Hollins peddles reality.