BYU's Lee Cummard felt he had more to gain than
to lose.
His teammate, Trent Plaisted, was already on the NBA's radar, largely due to
his size. Cummard wanted to try and increase his stock.
``I wasn't well-known," The versatile BYU junior admitted. "My NBA stock wasn't
super-high."
Cummard has gone through two workouts - Houston and Sacramento - and he'll work out for Phoenix today. He also has a scheduled trip to Chicago on Friday.
Cummard was the Mountain West's Co-Player of the Year after averaging 15.8
points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists while shooting 57 percent from the field, 47
percent from three-point range and 86 percent from the line.
``Coach (Dave Rose) is handling it all with this process," Cummard said.
"Everything goes through him. Nothing happens without him knowing about it."
Cummard said he'll likely be back at BYU - unless a team gives him an assurance
from an NBA - which doesn't appear likely.
``And even then, I'm such a rookie in this process, I don't even know if I'd
trust it," he said. "I'd have to feel comfortable and the only way I'll feel
comfortable is if my coach feels comfortable."
Cummard, who measured at nearly 6-foot-6 with shoes and between 175-180 pounds
(he lost five pounds in the Houston workout), said the two areas he needs to work on for
next year are strength and his ballhandling.
GOING DOWN UNDER
If there's anyone that should go over to Australia for an overseas trip, it's J.P. Piper and Nicholls State.
Piper recently took his team, which could have three Aussie starters next season,
over to Australia and they went 4-0.
``I didn't expect to go over there and win all four games," Piper said.
Piper went over for two reasons - to give his current Australian players a
chance to play in front of friends and family at home and also in an attempt to
recruit future kids from the country.
The Colonels actually played against one player they have already signed,
Cameron McCallum, on the trip.
Piper said that three standouts were all Aussies - senior Ryan Bathie and
sophomores Anatoly Bose and Dominic Friend.
Junior point guard Michael Czepil, who suffered a torn ACL
after 13 games in the season, is still rehabbing and didn't play on the trip.
``He was our leading scorer when he got hurt and we were never the same after
losing him," Piper said. "At first, we thought his career might be over, but it
wasn't as bad as the surgeon thought. We're hoping he's back in October."
CLEANING HOUSE
I'm guessing Kyle Taber will be a captain for Tom Crean's Indiana Hoosiers this
year since he's the only returning scholarship player after Jordan Crawford decided
not to return.
Taber is a former walk-on who averaged 1.3 points last season.
Crean will have seven players on scholarship this season with four freshman,
two junior college players and Taber in the fold.
LEGENDS CLASSIC
The word I'm getting is that the four teams in the Legends Classic will be Pittsburgh, Mississippi State, Washington State and Texas Tech.
RANDOM NOTES: Former South Carolina
forward Chad Gray is transferring to Coastal Carolina. ... Kansas had its elite camp this past weekend and elite rising
senior Xavier Henry was in attendance. The Jayhawks also had Cheyenne (Nev.) point guard Elijah Johnson, sophomore Tobias Harris
and freshman Ryon Riggins, a freshman from Georgia. ... Southern Illinois-Edwardsville will join the Ohio
Valley Conference in its transition from Division II to Division 1. ... In case
you care, here's Kobe Bryant's response to the comments Boston Red Sox
loud-mouthed pitcher Curt Schilling put in his blog the other day after sitting
courtside for Game 2. Schilling basically ripped Bryant for the way he dealt
with his teammates on the court and on the bench. ``You're asking for my
response to it?," Bryant said. "Go, Yankees."