Villanova's Scottie Reynolds goes from All-American to undrafted
To understand how much the NBA draft is based on future potential instead of past production, consider these facts for a moment.
A little-known Senegalese forward who averaged 5.2 points a game in the French League last season was among the players drafted on Thursday night. A college star who averaged 18.5 points and 3.3 assists and led Villanova to a surprise Final Four berth in 2009 was not.
That Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds became the first AP first-team All-American to go undrafted since 1976 speaks to how little college stats actually matter in the minds of NBA scouts.
Reynolds was the best player in college basketball's most competitive conference as a senior, yet NBA teams are convinced he doesn't have the physical tools to succeed at the next level. The 6-foot-1 senior lacks the size or length of a prototypical NBA shooting guard, and doesn't have the explosiveness, vision or distribution skills necessary to play point guard.
[Photos: The best and worst of the 2010 draft fashions]
Although the other four first-team All-Americans were each selected in the first five picks on Thursday night, Reynolds is hardly the only successful collegiate star to be snubbed by the NBA.
Jon Scheyer and Brian Zoubek were two of the leading contributors to Duke's national title run three months ago, yet they went undrafted. Accomplished point guards Sherron Collins of Kansas and Jerome Randle of Cal met the same fate. Undersized forward Luke Harangody has averaged more than 20 points a game the past three seasons, yet it was a mild surprise when the Boston Celtics selected him with one of the final picks of the second round.
All hope isn't lost yet for Reynolds or his college peers. They'll each receive an offer to join an NBA franchise's summer-league roster, meaning they'll have a chance to prove they deserve to be invited to training camp in the fall.
[Photos: See a slideshow of the NBA Draft.]
Either Reynolds will prove his critics wrong and overcome his lack of size and quickness to flourish in the NBA, or he'll lick his wounds and accept a nice six-figure payday from a top European team. There are worse fallback options, right?
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