Sports / Basketball |
Ohio State's Oden plans to enter draft(Houston Chronicle)Updated: 2007-04-20 16:37 Ohio State freshman Greg Oden will make himself available for the NBA draft Friday, a family friend said Thursday night. "There will be a release in the morning from Ohio State. Greg Oden will be hiring an agent," said Al Powell, who has been a party to meetings between Oden and two other Buckeyes freshmen stars considering the draft. As for the two others, Powell was less specific. "Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook will not be hiring an agent at this time," said Powell, a paid assistant coach at Dayton's Dunbar High School who helped coach all three players when they played AAU ball. If Conley and Cook do not hire agents, they'll retain the option of returning to school. Dunbar coach Pete Pullen — Cook's high school coach and the current coach of Oden's brother, Anthony — also said Oden would be announcing his intention to enter the draft Friday and that the other two players hadn't yet decided whether to hire agents. "I think Greg is making the right choice for him and his future,'' Pullen said. Oden, who turned 19 on Jan. 22, is a two-time national player of the year in high school who lived up to all of that promise after the center got a late start at Ohio State. He ended up leading the Buckeyes in scoring (15.7) and rebounding (9.6) per game and topped the Big Ten in shooting percentage (.616). His best outing of the season may have been his last, against the inside duo of Al Horford and Joachim Noah of mighty Florida. The Gators won their second straight national championship, 84-75, but never were able to put the brakes on Oden, who finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Led by the three freshmen, the Buckeyes went 35-4 to set a mark for victories, and won the Big Ten's regular-season and tournament titles. The decision to enter the draft is not irreversible until players sign with an agent. Players can work out for NBA teams and gauge interest — as long as they do not have an agent — and have until June 18 to withdraw their names from the draft pool. They could still retain their Ohio State eligibility at that point. The players are expected to be represented by Conley's father, Mike Conley Sr. He won the Olympic gold medal in the triple jump in 1992 in Barcelona. In addition to running a company — World Sport Chicago — that helped garner that city the U.S. bid for the 2016 Summer Games, he also has created another sports-representation company — Mac Management Group — and applied to the NBA to be a player agent. In other draft news, Nevada junior guards Marcelus Kemp and Ramon Sessions will enter the draft but won't hire agents. |
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