Iman Shumpert’s parents want him to return to Georgia Tech. His new coach does, too.
Shumpert wants to wait and see. The second-team All-ACC guard, who declared for the NBA draft March 28, has not made up his mind and won’t until he works out for NBA teams May 7-8.
“He’s still 50-50,” Odis Shumpert II said Thursday.
Shumpert is expected to attend a workout with about 40 draft entrants in New Jersey that will attract scouts and officials from most, if not all, of the teams in the NBA.
May 8 is the deadline set by the NCAA for players to pull out of the draft and return to school, which Shumpert can do since he has not hired an agent. Odis Shumpert said he’ll have his son draft two letters, one for staying in the draft and another for coming back to Tech, that he can fax that night. The elder Shumpert said he won’t try to influence his son.
“I would love for him to go back and graduate, but he didn’t say, ‘Dad, you make the call,’” Odis Shumpert said.
Likewise, Tech coach Brian Gregory said he’ll support either decision Shumpert makes.
He thinks Shumpert could be an All-American if he returned.
“I think in our system and the way we play, he would have an unbelievable senior year,” Gregory said.
Shortly after declaring, Shumpert said that if he is projected to be a second-round pick after the workouts, he likely would return.
Ryan Blake, the NBA’s director of scouting, pegged Shumpert as second round to undrafted and advised that he should stay in school. A possible NBA lockout complicates matters, also, since second-round picks do not receive guaranteed contracts as first-rounders do.
“I like him. He’s a good player,” Blake said. “I think he still has concerns.”
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