Posted: 6/30/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Brad Vest, Roxana Ryan Former Illinois basketball players Brian Randle (left) and Shaun Pruitt have joined NBA teams for summer leagues in an attempt to showcase their skills in hopes of making a team. Neither Randle or Pruitt were selected by an NBA team during Thursday's two-round draft, but they remain optimistic that they will play professional basketball.

Shaun Pruitt's and Brian Randle's dreams of hearing their names called in the NBA Draft did not come true on Thursday night, but the former Illini basketball players' hopes of playing in the NBA are still alive.

Pruitt reached an agreement to play with the New Orleans Hornets' summer league team July 11-20 in Las Vegas, while Randle will join former Illini teammate Dee Brown to play with the Seattle SuperSonics July 7-11 in Orlando. Randle said he has also had talks to play with the Atlanta Hawks during the Rocky Mountain Revue July 18-25 in Salt Lake City.

Randle said he hopes his athleticism and defensive prowess help him "find a niche" with an NBA team.

The Peoria, Ill., native averaged 9.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game for the Illini last season.

"I'm going to play to my game, play to my strengths," Randle said. "I'm not going to go and try to be Kobe (Bryant) or (Kevin Garnett) somebody who's going to put up 25 points and 15 rebounds. But if a team asks that of me, that's what I'm going to have to do."

Pruitt will have a five-game audition with the Western Conference semifinalist Hornets, who have a need for depth in the post. The Aurora, Ill., native averaged 12.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game last season with the Illini, both team highs.

"New Orleans is going to see a player they already really liked, but they are going to be surprised by the player they're getting, a much, much, much improved player," said Mike Naiditch, Pruitt's agent of Naiditch Entertainment.

Naiditch said Pruitt has already received a contract offer "in excess of $150,000" from an Eastern European team but turned it down to keep his options open, including making an NBA roster or receiving an offer from a Western European team.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools

The Daily Illini encourages on-topic discussion through article commenting on its articles and blogs. It is our policy not to delete any comments based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.

The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Comments containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from commenting on DailyIllini.com.

If you feel any post meets these conditions or merits review, please e-mail our editors at meonline@dailyillini.com.