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• For complete analysis of who’s in and out of the 2008 NBA draft, click here.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The first full day of the Orlando pre-draft camp gave us a few surprises in the games and more NBA rumors.
I spent the last 10 hours watching games and talking to NBA scouts and executives. Here is what they’re saying about Wednesday’s performances:
The best matchup of the night pitted UNC’s Ty Lawson versus Tennessee-Martin’s Lester Hudson. Lawson came in with the blue-chip pedigree but with a draft stock that’s taken a beating this year. Hudson came in with a small school background and a checkered past, but he had wowed scouts and executives in the early drills.
Hudson’s stock looked to be on the rise while Lawson’s seemed to be free-falling.
Both players came off the bench at the 10-minute mark and guarded each other. The verdict was an overwhelming knockout for Lawson, who dominated Hudson on both ends of the ball.Lawson’s tenacious defense forced Hudson into five early turnovers and a couple of bad shots. Meanwhile, Lawson kept pushing the ball and making things happen on the offensive end.
Hudson ended the game with four points on 2-for-6 shooting, with five assists and five turnovers.Lawson’s numbers weren’t spectacular — he had 10 points, four assists and shot 4-for-10 from the field — but several GMs walked away impressed with Lawson.
“He came out with great energy and played like he had something to prove,” one GM said. “He kicked Hudson’s [butt]. I think he helped himself.”
Even with Hudson’s poor performance, NBA executives still feel Hudson is going to be in the league. The Spurs met with him earlier in the day and several other teams are scheduled to interview him.
“Up until that first game, he showed great poise, athleticism and the ability to score from wherever,” one GM said. “I really think he has a shot at being a quality NBA player. He reminds me a little of Lindsey Hunter when he came into the league.”

sports.espn.go.com

Democrat Travis Childers, the chancery clerk of northeast Mississippi’s Prentiss County in Booneville, Miss. Childers will face Southaven, Miss., Mayor Greg Davis, who is a Republican, in a May 13 runoff to decide who will fill north Mississippi’s vacant congressional seat for a few months. (AP)
This northeast Mississippi city, best known as Elvis Presley’s birthplace, has become the site of a desperate last stand by House Republicans who want to keep their already-reeling caucus from truly being all shook up.
After losing two special elections in conservative-minded districts over the past two months, the GOP is now at risk of losing a seat in the heart of the Deep South - and is pouring all its resources into hanging on to it, including a rare campaign trail appearance by Vice President Cheney on Monday.
A third loss in Tuesday’s 1st District special election would prompt new predictions of electoral doom in November, hurt the party’s already flagging morale and usher in a new round of public finger-pointing among an already fractured GOP leadership.
Southern Democrats, turned off for decades by the party’s liberal-leaning leaders in Washington, seem to be coming home. This special election comes one week after Rep. Don Cazayoux (D-La.) picked up a House seat in the Baton Rouge area that Republicans had held for three decades.
“You offer Southerners a conservative Democrat on the issues and a fiscal conservative, then I think they’re understanding it now,” said Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.), who campaigned alongside Democratic nominee Travis Childers on Sunday. “They were fooled for about 12 years. What happened in 1994 is going to happen in reverse.”
The increasingly frantic hopes of the GOP rest on Greg Davis, the mayor of the Memphis suburb of Southaven, who is running against Childers to succeed former congressman and now-Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).

cbsnews.com