Marquette Golden Eagles sophomore guard Dominic James is likely to make himself eligible for the upcoming National Basketball Association draft, coach Tom Crean said on Monday night."The decision to declare will be very soon, and I would say from all accounts he's leaning in that direction," he said. "And I totally understand that and am very supportive of it. I feel we've done all the due diligence we need to do and now it's time to see where this process takes him."
The 5-foot-11 James is not expected to hire an agent, thus preserving his college eligibility should he not get the feedback he's looking for in the coming weeks. He said recently that he would remain in the draft only if he were to receive a guarantee he'd be selected in the first round.
James has until Sunday night to officially announce his intention to enter the draft and until June 18 to withdraw his name, should he choose to do so.
If James does indeed declare, the next order of business would be securing a spot in the NBA pre-draft camp, which runs from May 29-June 4 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Invitations are expected to be distributed from May 1-15.
There, he'd play a number of games in front of NBA officials who undoubtedly would be looking at not only his perimeter shooting but also his decision making at the point guard spot.
"That all comes down to the NBA people and what they feel," Crean said. "I would certainly try to do whatever I could do to help push for that. I would hope that the body of work he has had over two years would get him invited."
Following the pre-draft camp, underclassmen like James can then participate in workouts for individual NBA teams.
James led MU in scoring at 14.9 points per game and in assists with 4.9 this past season but struggled shooting the ball, hitting 38.4% of his shots overall, 27.2% of his three-pointers and 65.1% of his free throws.
He was also named first team all-Big East.
Courtesy of TODD ROSIAK of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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