NBA Dream Delayed; Brandon Roy Can Play

Brandon Roy (right), RivalsHoops.com's number 34 player in the class of 2002, is now eligible to play basketball this season for the Washington Huskies.

Roy was one of five high school players who declared for the 2002 NBA draft. Fortunately, the NCAA rules were changed effective last year so that Roy had the option to pursue college athletics if things didn't work out in the draft. This highly recruited player, who had signed with Washington in the fall 2001 NLI period, saw that the market wasn't favorable and withdrew his name from consideration. And since he hadn't done the one thing that would have squelched his options, i.e., sign with or take money from an agent, he was able to continue his non-pro career.

That option was not available to Lenny Cooke, DeAngelo Collins or Amare Stoudamire since all had signed with agents. For Stoudamire, his decision clearly has turned out to be the right one, since not only was he drafted in the first round by the Phoenix Suns, he is battling Houston's Yao Ming for NBA Rookie of the Year honors.

However, neither Collins or DeAngelo were selected thereby limiting their options to the NBDL, CBA or foreign leagues. Perhaps in time, things will work out for these two very talented atletes. The fifth prep who entered the draft, Giedrus Rinkevicius, had signed with Missouri but since he did not meet the academic qualification standards, is now competing at Collin County C.C. in Plano, Texas.

To young players, their advisors, parents, etc: Please remember, the NCAA rules are not always the friendliest in this area. For instance, as of now, the possibility that prep players have for continuing their college career is not open to underrgraduates picked in the draft.

The experience of ex-St. John's point guard Omar Cook really needs to be faced by any young man in high school or college who is considering skipping to the NBA, that is unless you're name is LeBron James or have similar "can't miss talent."

Cook, who entered the draft after his freshman year, was picked in the second round of the 2001 draft and stuck around that fall until he was waived by the Dallas Mavericks, his second team, on December 28th. He caught on with the Boston Celtics for a while. But now, Cook is in playing with the NBDL Fayetteville team.

But back to Roy. Perhaps because of the distractions of the NBA possibilty, he was not academically eligible for the first part of his freshman season at Washington. That changed this month when the NCAA ruled that he is now fully qualified. Roy officially enrolled at Washington Thursday Jan 16th after auditing classes since the winter quarter began on Jan. 6.

Roy is the third product of Seattle's Garfield High School on the current Husky basketball roster, joining sophomore guard Will Conroy (no relation) and freshman center Anthony Washington.

He averaged 22.3 points and 10.4 rebounds as a senior in 2002, including a career-best 38-point performance on Mar. 9 in his final prep outing. Roy's effort helped the Bulldogs claim the state's fourth-place trophy with a 71-70 victory over Snohomish.

Roy was a two-time All-Washington state selection in 2001 and 2002 and was named the KingCo Conference Most Valuable Player after both of those seasons.

So there is good news in the northwest both for the college and for this young man.