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Staten’s prospects cloudy entering tonight’s NBA draft

West Virginia’s Juwan Staten was a two-time All-Big 12 point guard, but measured at 5-11 in pre-draft workouts, he’s unlikely to be selected tonight.

 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Since June 24, 2010, the night Da’Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks became back-to-back second-rounders in the NBA draft, West Virginia hasn’t been spotted at the podium.

The drought figures to continue tonight inside Barclays Center, unless some team makes a surprising grab for Juwan Staten—the consummate explosive college point guard who, at 5-foot-11, simply doesn’t measure up to NBA profiles. (From the 400-plus players currently on NBA rosters, a total of five are listed at shorter than 6 feet.)

West Virginia joins Kansas State, Texas Tech and TCU as the only current Big 12 programs who haven’t had a single player drafted in the past four years.

It’s an easy guess as to which Big 12 team has produced the most picks during that span—it’s Kansas, with nine. Baylor sits next with five, followed by Texas (three) and Oklahoma State (two), with Iowa State and Oklahoma generating one each.

Back to Staten, for a moment. There’s faint buzz about Phoenix (at No. 44) or San Antonio (at 55th) using a late-slot pick on Staten, who reportedly has worked out for at least 10 teams. If he’s not among the 60 players drafted tonight, he’ll certainly land a free-agent opportunity to showcase his skills in the NBA summer league.

Some draftniks have opined Staten made a mistake by not coming out of college after his junior season, but those opinions appear superficially based on statistical diminishments. Staten scored more as a junior because he rarely left the court and had capable shooters to spread the floor. Despite reaching the Sweet 16 last season, West Virginia was deeply flawed in its halfcourt offense and opposing defenses clogged the lane to deprive Staten’s penetration.

Staten showed enough burst, handle and spring to finish at the rim in college. Whether he can navigate the lane against longer defenders in the NBA is for GMs and scouting directors to decide. He must prove he’s a better perimeter shooter than he showed in college, but the midrange game looks spot-on. And clearly there’s the savvy and confidence teams expect out of their point guard.

“I think I’m a player who can step in and help a team from Day One,” Staten told reporters in early June after working out for the Lakers. “I’ve been matched up against a lot of high-caliber guards, some first-round projected guards, and I’ve been doing pretty well.”

Lifelong dreams aside, not making an NBA roster would only be a temporary setback for Staten—about as temporary as hopping a flight to Greece, Spain or Italy to make hundreds of thousands in one of the top Euro leagues.