As all 30 NBA teams gather in Chicago for the pre-draft camp this week, some of the biggest names in college basketball will be there -- performing on the court, interviewing with executives and undergoing medical and fitness tests.
Among those on the official invite list are national player of the year Frank Kaminsky, as well as DeAngelo Russell, Justise Winslow, Willie Cauley-Stein and others.
On the periphery is Renardo Sidney, once a can't-miss prospect who went undrafted in 2012 and has since fallen off the NBA radar. His stay at Mississippi State shortened by an NCAA suspension, Sidney was unable to capitalize on a D-League tryout before venturing to Canada and Venezuela in the hopes of reviving his basketball career.
Now 25, Sidney held a private workout for eight NBA teams Tuesday night in Chicago – a ninth team saw him the day before – as he tries to mount an improbable comeback.
“I still believe I can hang with everybody in the NBA right now,” Sidney told the Boston Globe recently.
Friends and rivals from his 2009 high school class have made their marks in the NBA, including DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall. The tipping point for Sidney was the loss of a stillborn daughter last June.
“The Lord gave me this gift for a reason, and I feel like I let him down because I wasn't doing what I was supposed to do,” he said. “I had to change.”
Sidney hasn't made it all the way back physically from his long layoff, but the skills that made him such an intriguing prospect are still there – low-post moves, a smooth touch around the basket. After his weight ballooned to more than 300 pounds, the 6-10 Sidney was hoping to be in the 285-pound range for his workouts this week.
The best and perhaps most realistic outcome is simply a Summer League invite. If it materializes, it would be an opportunity he knows he can't afford to squander.
His agent, Zachary Charles, incidentally, has taken on another comeback cause – that of former Pacers center David Harrison, who also will be trying to secure a Summer League invite in the coming weeks. A first-round pick in the 2004 draft, Harrison lasted four seasons with the Pacers before playing three seasons in China. He told Yahoo Sports in March that all the money he made playing basketball is gone, and that he took a job at McDonald's two years ago.
Harrison's plan is to secure some D-League tryouts and hopefully get a look in Summer League. It's a cautionary tale for all the “can't-miss” prospects auditioning for NBA teams in Chicago this week.
With draft preparation under way and the conference finals around the corner, here's more news that's moving the needle:
Big Frank makes big impression: Check out Sam Vecenie's scouting report on Kaminsky, whose short chart looks awfully suitable to the NBA, as well as our prospect rankings and mock drafts.
Top seeds back in control? Could one night be the difference between a disappointing playoff exit and the kind of experience and resilience that all championship teams need to develop during their postseason journey? We'll know Wednesday night, when the top-seeded Hawks and Warriors return home after tying their second-round series at 2 with Game 4 victories on the road.
It turned out that the Warriors didn't need to play faster; they needed to be more patient. It was like watching a different offensive team in Game 4 than the one that was so disorganized and rushing shots in the previous two games.
What have we learned about the Hawks? They can mimic the Spurs all they want – from their front-office approach, to their head coach to their style of play on both sides – but there is no substitute for going through a postseason experience together as a team. Will the Hawks be Spurs-like and take command in Game 5, or will they falter again and give life to an opponent that doesn't need much external motivation to believe it can upset the East's No. 1 team – even without All-Star John Wall? Progressing but still questionable for Game 5, Wall is set to be examined by team doctors Wednesday to determine if he'll be available.
