John Shurna "ponders" entering NBA Draft

According to Scott Powers at ESPN:

Northwestern junior forward John Shurna is still weighing his options whether to test the NBA draft waters and will meet with Northwestern coach Bill Carmody later this week to discuss his future, according to a team spokesperson.

I'm pretty surprised by this info, and, as someone who hopes John Shurna's basketball career blossoms past his time here at NU, a little bit concerned. If I were an NBA team right now, I wouldn't consider John Shurna an NBA caliber player right now: I'd consider him an average 3-point specialist whose inability to play man-to-man defense is a large enough question mark to make him untouchable.

I don't think that's a fair assessment of how good Shurna can be as a player: he can do things with the ball off the dribble, and I was truly impressed this year by his athleticism in off-ball defending situations - he had several really nice weakside blocks over the course of the season .But right now, there's no NBA GM that would touch him. He's not a fringe option at this point in time: he's off the board.

I think next year if he keeps the shooting stroke up but also looks a bit sprier defensively, he'll be a much more attractive option, especially if NU has a good season. I'd be a little bit concerned from his perspective about his role in the offense next year - he'll be the team's leader and primary scorer, guys who are dominant scorers on a lot of college teams aren't necessarily the most attractive options when you get down in the 45-60th pick range and are looking for role players for your team. (Lots of guys score 30 in the D-League and don't get called up while good rebounders or passers might.) That said, Shurna's got too much to prove that he hasn't displayed yet.

If Shurna left NU for the draft, not only would he be pretty much demolishing NU's hopes for next year, he'd be making a bad personal decision. Of course, he could always declare for the draft, not hire an agent, and return if he goes undrafted - it's become somewhat of a chic thing to do since Randolph Morris successfully did so and signed with an NBA team the week Kentucky got knocked out of the NCAA Tournament, especially with the lockout looming - but that still leaves the scary option for us NU fans that a team does take a flyer on him with a late pick and we lose our best player.

That said, hey, dealing with issues real basketball programs face!