Thursday night marks the evening of one of my absolute favorite non-sports sports events: the NBA Draft. I don’t know what it is about the draft. It could be the crazy trades, crazy suits, or the crazy fans in attendance in New Jersey (which, ironically, no longer has a team).
What I think it is, though, is that the NBA Draft is one of the ultimate reality shows. Millions and millions of dollars are on the line. Fans are on the edges of their seats every five minutes. There is a drama unfolding for three hours where millions will be watching the draft play out and literally not one person knows how the final puzzle will look.
While I am sure many in Valparaiso and Northwest Indiana will watch this year's draft because they are deeply invested in the Anthony Davis sweepstakes and whether or not Austin Rivers falls to the Celtics, one thing about the draft that is special to many in the area regards former VHS star Robbie Hummel. If he’s drafted, Hummel would become the second Viking drafted into the NBA in the past 15 years and would be the third Region-ite to be drafted in as many drafts, with Luke Harangody in 2010 (Andrean | Notre Dame) and E'twaun Moore in 2011 (East Chicago Central | Purdue) each drafted in the past two years.
After a promising start to his college career, including a 1st-Team All Big-Ten selection his freshman year, it seemed clear he would be a first round pick. Unfortunately starting with his sophomore season, he suffered through a few “freakish” injuries. In his five seasons at Purdue, he tore his ACL twice and also played through a broken vertebrae. Even after going through those injuries he still made a run with a team in transition last year, leading the Boilermakers just a few inches away from upsetting Kansas in the second round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
After the long road through the NCAA, we’ve gotten to a point where it's unknown whether or not Hummel will be drafted Thursday night. And if you look to the experts, the people who are paid to pour their main concentration into analyzing the draft, you’ll get no help.
To be fair, figuring out how the second round of the NBA Draft will play out is a betting person’s nightmare. Teams buy, sell, and swap these late picks like it’s the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and a growing number of teams are using late-first and second round picks to own the rights to high-end European prospects who aren’t eligible to come over for a few years (See: Mirotic, Nikola).
ESPN’s Chad Ford has Hummel as the 60th best prospect in the 2012 NBA Draft, going 47th overall to the Utah Jazz. Keep in mind, Ford has done nearly 15 mock drafts this year alone. His analysis:
"Hummel is a Jazz player all the way. He is tough, has a terrific basketball IQ and can really shoot the basketball. The Jazz could use some help at the 3, and Hummel should be able to provide some immediate relief with the 47th pick."
Draft Express has Hummel at #81 in their Top 100 Draft Prospects but not on their mock draft. Draft Express has a full site devoted to covering the NBA Draft, scouting college players and european prospects alike to combine for their crazily-detailed database that includes each athlete’s measurements, all the day down to their body fat percentage.
SheridanHoops? Not on the board. HoopsHype? Not on the board.
The lack of consensus across experts shouldn’t be a concern for the former Boilermaker’s NBA hopes though. As Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star reported, Hummel has worked out for 13 NBA teams in the weeks leading up to the draft. Plus there is a lack of truly talented small forwards in the NBA, the position Hummel told Wells he’d likely play at the next level.
"At 6-8, you're not big enough to be a legitimate (power forward) unless you're a big bruiser, which I'm really not. I've always played on the perimeter. It depends on what the organization and coach wants me to play."
Looking at the league, aside from a few superstars (LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony), and a handful of second fiddles (Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala, Paul Pierce, Rudy Gay, Danny Granger), the NBA is filled with overpaid, older players (Shawn Marion, Hedo Turkoglu) at the small forward position. The market for a hard working, solid defending three-point specialist is nearly league-wide.
Plus, there is a long list of successful, long-lasting NBA players who were drafted in the second round or who went undrafted. Purdue fans need to look no further than The Great Brad Miller (undrafted, played 15 years) or Brian Cardinal (2nd round, entering 13th season) to go along with players like Carlos Boozer, Gilbert Arenas, or Monta Ellis.
To me, the NBA best comparison is Gordon Hayward, formerly of Butler, who now starts for the aforementioned Jazz. I see Hummel on the next level being a slightly slower, slightly older, better defending, and better shooting Hayward. Neither are particularly adept at driving to the basket or getting their own shot, but both can play within the game and contribute on a variety of levels.
All that said, come Thursday night, many in Valpo and Northwest Indiana will be watching. We don’t know what will happen, but above all else it will be exciting. And after all, isn’t that the best part of reality television?