Lee Cummard now wants a peek
The Mountain West’s co-MVP will test the waters along with Trent Plaisted and see if the NBA has interest, it was announced this morning.
We had a hint this might happen two weeks ago when BYU coach Dave Rose, at a press conference for Plaisted, said he would now sit down with Cummard and discuss what was on his mind in coming out early.
Now starts the debate whether Plaisted or Cummard will even get a sniff in the draft. Seemingly, every day for the past four weeks, there have been underclassmen announcing they will put their name in for the draft. These players, if they do not secure an agent, will have a chance to withdraw their names in June, right before the draft and keep their college eligibility.
There are a ton of freshmen doing this.
I’ve always maintained, it isn’t the lure of the NBA that will keep Plaisted and Cummard from coming back to BYU for their senior seasons — it is overseas opportunities to make money. So, in the debate over whether or not they are NBA material, the bigger question, and more accurate question, should be, “are they able to make money as professional basketball players?”
You have to look no further than Travis Hansen, who has made stops in Spain and Russia and is earning a million a year now. Mark Bigelow is in Spain playing, making a living. Houston Rockets center Luis Scola, a native of Argentina, got his start playing in Spain with Hansen as teammates. Last year’s MWC MVP Keena Young is in Korea earning money.
No, if folks are going to debate this move, and they will, the issue is standard of living, earning power, and moving on with lives with wives and in the case of Cummard, a child.
I have a feeling both Cummard and Plaisted have received text messages, letters and phone calls for the better part of this year from agents who are telling them what they believe they can earn as professional basketball players — and it isn’t necessarily in the NBA.
No. they have not signed, to keep the door open, but they are getting all kinds of advice, and they trust some voices enough to act on what they say.
This NBA deal is a strategic move to help determine what people are thinking and how they are being evaluated in the pecking order, kind of a fact-finding move. It’s probably a smart thing to do, to find out answers to make the proper decision.
A quote: “I want to see where I stand against some of the best competition in the world and see what my options are at that level,” Cummard said in a press release issued this morning. “I’m not hiring an agent because I want to keep open the opportunity to stay at BYU, but I’m going after this 100 percent.
“I’m looking to improve myself and make the best decision I can.”