Thursday, April 29, 2010

N.C. State's Smith to test NBA draft waters

N.C. State center Tracy Smith has entered the NBA draft but has not hired an agent, the school announced this afternoon.

Smith, who completed his junior season last month, might not even be able to work out for NBA teams because of his academic schedule before the May 8 date by which underclassmen are allowed to pull out of the draft, according to a school news release. "I love playing basketball at NC State, but this would be a win-win situation for me if I am able to take advantage of it,” Smith said in a statement. “This would give me a great opportunity to see where I stack up against other NBA prospects.”

Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe said he supports Smith's decision.

“This is a great opportunity available to college players, and we support Tracy in taking advantage of it," Lowe said. "It provides a good experience for them to see what areas of their game need improvement.” Last season Smith was named to the All-ACC second-team. He led N.C. State in scoring and 16.5 points per game and rebounding at 7.3 points per game. He is field goal percentage of .654 led the ACC.

Smith had announced in late February that he would return to N.C. State as a senior. At that time, he said he wanted to graduate and then play professional basketball.

Underclassmen who have declared for the draft, but have not hired agents, can preserve their college eligibility if they withdraw their names from consideration for the draft by May 8.

Ken Tysiac

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good experience. No way in hell he goes. WAAYYYYYYY too much TV time and "sports talk" to enhance his image next year.

Although he might be scared his peak is a has been with Lo Brown, Leslie and Harrow around next year.

Anonymous said...

Hilarious this newspaper will only put the detrimental to NC State news out there.

Meanwhile, yesterday, they got a commitment from CJ Leslie, giving NC STATE a Top 5 recruiting class.

Anonymous said...

The key is "test". It is in his best interest to determine his value on the market, gain some positive attention and if it makes sense to come back and play for NC State, great! Please STAY TRACY!

Anonymous said...

206PM,

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/04/29/1404451/wolfpack-lands-a-gem-in-6-8-home.html

That article appeared on the site yesterday. Don't let facts get in the way of your small-minded press conspiracy theories, though.

704Champ said...

"That article appeared on the site yesterday."

Yesterday? Is that why its dated today? Don't let facts get in the way of State bashing though.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry. Tracy will be in a Wolfpack uniform next year. His only goal is to get his name out there for the NBA scouts to notice. This announcement was made almost a month ago on the Wolfpack internet boards. I wonder why it's taking so long to get out in the public? I've known for weeks...

John W. said...

There was an announcement of the Leslie commitment the day it happened. I'm sure that article is just a more complete version of the news that was posted later.

Charlotte's a UNC town, though. Can you really be surprised if they actually do start completely ignoring big NC State news?

Roy's paper said...

Their bias towards UNC has only created a downward spiral of mediocre journalist and wannabe's. This paper will continue its bankrupt reporting and be DQ'ed sooner than later.

At some point, they should realize that most UNC fans don't give a @#&* about sports. The bigger fanbase of NC State should be a better target audience, but too busy sniffing MJ's jock and giving ole Roy his daily HJ.

Anonymous said...

yeah Smith article in 28 font today while CJ Leslie article in 12 font yesterday and today-Cothran decomittment was in paper for 3 weeks -lets see how long Leslie commitment stays up-go back to kissing MJ BUTT observer-Tracy will be back next year and State will kick UNC A.. twice next year and thats all that matters
OBSERVER=UNC BUTT SNIFFERS

Anonymous said...

CJ article was online for less than 12 hours. All three (3) sentences of it.

Anonymous said...

I don't get it. You say you are going to stay, then stay. What is it with players changing their minds so sudden all of the time. Now that he is coming back, he will be a better player and go higher next year.
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