Boston College Athletics
Jared Dudley Preparing For NBA Draft
June 19, 2007 | Men's Basketball
June 19, 2007
Boston College's All-America forward Jared Dudley has had quite the schedule since picking up his degree at the University's Commencement on May 21.
Dudley continued his pursuit of a professional basketball career at the 26th annual NBA Pre-Draft Camp in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., from May 29-June 1. Hosted at Disney's Wide World of Sports, the San Diego, Calif., native enjoyed a very productive camp.
DraftExpress (draftexpress.com) selected Dudley as its camp MVP. Below are two post-camp write-ups.
DraftExpress: Our staff's unanimous MVP, Jared Dudley embodies exactly the type of underrated role-player that NBA teams can seek out here to help them win games. He did a terrific job showing off the many facets of his game, crashing the boards with 14 rebounds in 40 minutes over the last two games, pushing the ball up the floor with terrific poise, dishing out some excellent assists, playing very smart, tough defense at the small forward position, and shooting the ball extremely well from 18-22 feet out. He played unselfish, winning basketball--shooting 60% from the field and 89% from the free throw line--showing outstanding leadership skills amongst his teammates and carrying Team Four on his back late in the last game when they needed some clutch points to pull off the victory. As it turns out, he didn't lead the strongest conference in America in points and rebounds while shooting 56% from the field and 44% from behind the arc and dishing out 3 assists per game for nothing. Who would have thought?
While most ACC player of the year award winners wouldn't come anywhere this event if not for the physical only portion of the camp, Dudley was here showing NBA executives how he can be of service to them next year. He certainly has his limitations--shot-creating ability, a lack of explosiveness around the rim, lateral quickness--but to his credit, he is very much aware of them and wants to be drafted by a team where he can minimize them in an effort to compliment other players and win games. He clearly has the basketball IQ to do so, already having "figured out" how to get the most of his skills. Now that he's figured out that he needs to abandon the college mentality of outmuscling the competition to outquicking them (he's already lost over 12 pounds), he's already improving his physical attributes, with even more room to go. His teammate Craig Smith at Boston College was underappreciated by draft gurus (DraftExpress included) similarly exactly one year ago, and went onto be one of the best rookies in the NBA this past season. We learned our lesson not to dismiss the non-prototypes even if they don't physically look exactly like most NBA superstars...will NBA GMs do the same?
NBADraft.net: Dudley Averages: 10.7 ppg, 12-20 FG (60.0%), 8-9 FT (88.9%), 5.0 RPG; Dudley reshaped his body between the end of the season and the pre-draft camp and it will do nothing but have positive affects on his draft stock. He looked quicker on his feet and his cardio appears improved as a result. He has worked extremely hard on adding an outside game and can hit the mid range shot with consistency. Dudley was said to be a guy some teams might even consider with a late first-round pick. More likely he'll end up in the early to mid second, but he brings a toughness and intensity that few players in this draft can match.
Since the end of camp, Dudley has continued to impress, traveling many miles to participate in workouts for NBA teams. Dudley's schedule so far:
Dudley's Workout Schedule (to date)
Date Workout for ...
June 5 Houston (in Orlando)
June 6 Miami
June 8 New York and New Jersey (in New York)
June 11 Washington
June 12 Philadelphia
June 14 Chicago
June 15 Charlotte
June 17 Seattle
June 18 Phoenix
"The whole process has been great," Dudley said. "I've had the chance to compete against many of the top prospects and I've had the chance to show what I can do.
"In the end, it's just my job to continue to work hard. On June 28, I'll find out what kind of impression I made on the NBA teams and their scouts."
The NBA Draft will be held on Thursday, June 28.
