NBA teams don’t
speak English
Despite the disappointment of not hearing his name called during yesterday's NBA Draft, Carl English's dream of playing in the league remains alive.
The former Hawaii guard was not among the 58 players selected in the draft held at New York's Madison Square Garden, but his agent says he has already received offers for a possible free-agent deal.
Moments after the draft was completed, English's agent, Harold Cipin, began receiving calls from teams interested in signing the native of Newfoundland, Canada, as a free agent and having him play on their summer league teams.
"He was disappointed but determined," Cipin said. "It was a setback, but not a knock-out punch. There's still a lot of interest in him."
Cipin would not disclose which teams were interested and said he and English will look at the offers that come in over the next few days before making a decision.
"It could work to his advantage," Cipin said. "Being a free agent rather than a late second-round pick gives us an opportunity to shop him around a little more instead of dealing with one team."
English did not return phone calls last night.
English, who declared himself eligible for the draft after his junior season, was among 14 of the 30 early entrants who were not selected last night.
No players from Western Athletic Conference schools were taken in the draft.
English spent the evening watching the draft on television with his family and friends at the Indian Motorcycle Cafe and Lounge in Toronto.
English, who scored 1,259 points in three seasons at UH and helped the Rainbows win two WAC titles, worked out for NBA scouts at the pre-draft camp in Chicago earlier this month and had individual workouts with Indiana, Minnesota, Orlando, Atlanta, Toronto and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Atlanta brought him back for a second look on Wednesday, but ended up taking Boris Diaw of France in the first round and BYU's Travis Hansen in the second.
There was speculation that Toronto might take a chance on the Canadian prospect. As expected, the Raptors took Georgia Tech forward Chris Bosh with the fourth pick overall. They then used their second-round pick to select Ramon Van de Hare of Spain.
After close to four hours of waiting and hoping, the draft ended without English's name being called.
"Carl handled it with real class," said George Duffield, who works with Cipin at Slingshot Management International. "He expressed his disappointment certainly, but he knows it's never a sure thing when you're not a lottery pick. ... Carl's a guy who's always fought against the odds, and he'll do it again this time."
Hawaii coach Riley Wallace was among those surprised that English went undrafted. But after watching English persevere through personal tragedy and injury to become one of UH's most dynamic players, Wallace said he expects English to rebound quickly.
"All the NBA scouts were telling me he was a lock for the second round," Wallace said.
"It's just one of those things, you never know. ... You really, really feel sorry for him, but he's not down and out. I know Carl, he'll bounce back. He has his whole life."
English finds himself in a situation similar to the one former UH teammate Predrag Savovic faced after last year's draft. Savovic also endured draft-night disappointment, but eventually signed a free-agent contract with the Denver Nuggets.
"If you're not drafted in the first round, you're probably better off not to be drafted," Wallace said. "You can now pick your team, go the free-agency route and you can make sure you go to somebody who needs your skills.
"He won't quit. He'll be down a little bit, he's hurting because it's been his life, so we all have to continue to support him. He made that choice to go and we have to support him in that choice and just hope he can still fight his way off the canvas."
Notes: UNLV's Marcus Banks was the only first-round pick who played against UH last season. Banks was picked by Memphis with the 13th selection, but he and high schooler Kendrick Perkins were traded to Boston for Troy Bell and Dahntay Jones. Banks scored 22 points in the Runnin' Rebels' 85-68 loss to the Rainbows in the first round of the NIT. ... Minnesota's Rick Rickert, who entered the draft as a sophomore, was picked by the hometown Timberwolves late in the second round. Rickert scored 16 points in the Golden Gophers' 84-70 win over Hawaii in an NIT second-round game. ... Savovic made a brief appearance on ESPN's draft coverage. He served as an interpreter for the network and was on the interview platform in case No. 2 pick Darko Milicic needed help after being drafted by Detroit. But Milicic completed the interview on his own.
NBA Draft selections
At New York
Yesterday
First round
1. Cleveland, LeBron James, g, St. Vincent-St. Mary HS, Akron, Ohio.
2. Detroit (from Memphis), Darko Milicic, f, Hemofarm Vrsac (Serbia-Montenegro)
3. Denver, Carmelo Anthony, f, Syracuse.
4. Toronto, Chris Bosh, f, Georgia Tech.
5. Miami, Dwyane Wade, g, Marquette.
6. L.A. Clippers, Chris Kaman, c, Central Michigan.
7. Chicago, Kirk Hinrich, g, Kansas.
8. Milwaukee (from Atlanta), T.J. Ford, g, Texas.
9. New York, Mike Sweetney, f, Georgetown.
10. Washington, Jarvis Hayes, g, Georgia.
11. Golden State, Michael Pietrus, g, Pau Orthez (France).
12. Seattle, Nick Collison, f, Kansas.
13. a-Memphis (from Houston), Marcus Banks, g, UNLV.
14. Seattle (from Milwaukee), Luke Ridnour, g, Oregon.
15. Orlando, Reece Gaines, g, Louisville.
16. a-Boston, Troy Bell, g, Boston College.
17. Phoenix, Zarko Cabarkaba, f, Buducnost (Serbia-Montenegro).
18. New Orleans, David West, f, Xavier.
19. Utah, Aleksandar Pavlovic, g, Buducnost (Serbia-Montenegro).
20. a-Boston (from Philadelphia), Dahntay Jones, g, Duke.
21. Atlanta (from Indiana), Boris Diaw, g, Pau Orthez (France).
22. New Jersey, Zoran Planinic, g, Cibona Zagreb (Croatia).
23. Portland, Travis Outlaw, f, Starkville (Miss.) HS.
24. L.A. Lakers, Brian Cook, f, Illinois.
25. Detroit (from Detroit through Sacramento), Carlos Delfino, g, Skipper Bologna (Italy).
26. Minnesota, Ndudi Ebi, f, Westbury Christian HS, Houston.
27. a-Memphis (from Sacramento through Orlando), Kendrick Perkins, c, Clifton J. Ozen HS,
Beaumont, Texas.
28. b-San Antonio, Leandrinho Barbosa, g, Bauru Tilibra (Brazil).
29. Dallas, Josh Howard, f, Wake Forest.
Second round
30. New York (from Denver), Maciej Lampe, f, Universidad Complutense (Spain).
31. Cleveland, Jason Kapono, f, UCLA.
32. L.A. Lakers (from Toronto), Luke Walton, f, Arizona.
33. Miami, Jerome Beasley, c, North Dakota.
34. L.A. Clippers, Sofoklis Schortsanitis, f-c, Iralkis (Greece).
35. Milwaukee (from Memphis), Szymon Szewczyk, f, Braunschweig (Germany).
36. Chicago, Mario Austin, f, Mississippi State.
37. Atlanta, Travis Hansen, g, BYU.
38. Washington, Steve Blake, g, Maryland.
39. New York, Slavko Vranes, c, Buducnost (Serbia-Montenegro)
40. Golden State, Derrick Zimmerman, g, Mississippi State.
41. c-Seattle, Willie Green, g, Detroit.
42. Orlando, Zaur Pachulia, f, Ulker (Turkey).
43. d-Milwaukee, Keith Bogans, g, Kentucky.
44. Houston, Malick Badiane, f, Langen (Germany).
45. e-Chicago (from Phoenix), Matt Bonner, f, Florida.
46. Denver (from Boston), Sani Becirovic, g, Vitrus Bologna (Italy).
47. Utah, Maurice Williams, g, Alabama.
48. New Orleans, James Lang, c, Central Park Christian HS, Birmingham, Ala.
49. Indiana, James Jones, f, Miami
50. c-Philadelphia, Paccelis Morlende, g, Dijon (France).
51. f-New Jersey, Kyle Korver, f, Creighton.
52. Toronto (from L.A. Lakers), Remon Van de Hare, c, F.C. Barcelona (Spain).
53. Chicago (from Detroit through Miami), Tommy Smith, f, Arizona State.
54. Portland, Nedzad Sinanovic, c, Zenica Celik (Bosnia-Herzegovina).
55. Minnesota, Rick Rickert, c, Minnesota.
56. Boston (from Sacramento), Brandon Hunter, f, Ohio.
57. Dallas, Xue Yuyang, c, Hong Kong Flying Dragons (China).
58. Detroit (from San Antonio), Andres Gliniadakis, c, Greece.
a-Memphis and Boston traded selections.
b-Traded rights to Phoenix.
c-Seattle and Philadelphia traded selections.
d-Traded rights to Orlando.
e-Traded rights to Toronto.
f-Traded rights to Philadelphia.
