KU sophomore plans to enter NBA draft
Kansas sophomore Brandon Rush announced his intentions to enter the NBA draft during an exclusive interview Thursday evening with The Kansas City Star.
“I’m ready to take the next step,” Brandon Rush said. “I’m ready to make a better life for me and my family.”
Kansas is expected to issue a press release today announcing Brandon Rush’s decision. Brandon Rush, who is flying to Dallas today for a weekend vacation, said he will not have a news conference.
“I’m saying all that needs to be said right now,” said Brandon Rush, who led KU in scoring the last two seasons. “I’m just ready to get away for a little while and chill.”
Brandon Rush said he won’t decide whether to hire an agent until after the predraft camp May 28-June 2 in Orlando, Fla. If he doesn’t, Brandon Rush will be able to withdraw from the draft and return to KU if he fears he won’t be selected in the first round.
The deadline for Brandon Rush to withdraw and return to Kansas is June 18. The NBA draft is June 28.
“I could hire an agent, but if I do, it will be much later in the process,” said Brandon Rush, a Kansas City native. “Right now I want to keep my options open.
“I’m going into it with a free mind. I don’t have anything to lose. I can come back to school or I can stay (in the draft). It’s a plus-plus either way.”
Brandon Rush said he informed Kansas’ staff of his decision during a two-plus hour meeting Wednesday afternoon. Instead of announcing his intentions then, Brandon Rush said he and KU coach Bill Self agreed to wait a few days in case Brandon Rush had a change of heart.
Brandon Rush showed no signs of wavering during his 16-minute conversation with The Star on Thursday. He said he’s planning to fax his official draft entry form to NBA headquarters before leaving for Dallas this morning.
Other than Self and former summer-league coach John Walker, Rush said he didn’t ask for anyone’s advice when plotting his future.
Brandon Rush is the younger brother of JaRon and Kareem Rush, two of the greatest players in Kansas City high school history at Pembroke Hill. JaRon spent two seasons at UCLA. Kareem played three seasons at Missouri before being selected with the 20th overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft. After three-plus NBA seasons, Kareem spent the last year in Lithuania.
“This was my decision,” said Brandon Rush, 21. “I’m a grown man. I’ve got to start making decisions on my own. I’ll always be JaRon and Kareem’s little brother. But I’m out of their shadows now. I made my own name at Kansas.”
Most NBA analysts predict that Brandon Rush will be selected from No. 15 to No. 35 in this year’s draft. The top 30 picks are guaranteed two-year contracts. But any player selected after that is promised nothing. JaRon Rush left UCLA after his sophomore season and wasn’t drafted. Rush’s mother, Glenda, said she isn’t worried that her son is making a similar mistake.
“I’m comfortable with it,” she said. “I support him 100 percent. He and JaRon’s situations are different. I told JaRon not to go, and he did it anyway. I never told Brandon that. I think he’s going to be fine. I really do.”
In the past Brandon Rush has said he’d withdraw from the draft if he weren’t assured he’d be among the top 20 players selected. He backed off of that stance Thursday.
“I just want to end up on a team that’s a good fit for me, a team that sees my talent and is going to give me a chance,” Brandon Rush said.
This isn’t the first time Brandon Rush has made a run at the NBA. He entered the draft after his senior season of high school but withdrew when it became clear he wouldn’t be selected in the first round.
NBA coaches told him then that he needed to get stronger and work on his shooting. After two years of college, Brandon Rush feels comfortable with his game.
Walker, who has been Rush’s mentor since childhood, said he perceives Brandon Rush as one of the top five shooting guards in a 2007 draft class that may end up being one of the best in history.
An average of nine shooting guards have been taken in the first round of the draft since 2002 — and an average of 5.6 were selected in the top 20.
While there are other good shooting guards in this year’s class — Arron Afflalo, Morris Almond and Alando Tucker, to name a few — Rush certainly seems capable of holding his own. Brandon Rush’s athletic ability and versatility is hard to match. He shot 43.1 percent from three-point range last season and blossomed into one of the country’s top defenders. His 6-foot, 11-inch wingspan will also help.
The 6-6 Brandon Rush, who finished eighth in the Wooden Award voting, couldn’t have ended his sophomore season on a stronger note. His defensive effort in consecutive games against potential No. 1 pick Kevin Durant helped KU win the Big 12 regular-season crown and league tournament championship.
Rush made 23 of his 37 field-goal attempts — including nine of 11 three-pointers — during the NCAA Tournament, where KU fell to UCLA in the Elite Eight. With Rush leading the way, KU went a combined 58-13 and won two conference titles in two seasons.
“Trying to decide whether to leave this year wasn’t as tough as it was last year,” said Rush, who averaged 13.8 points. “Last year I was hoping we’d go a lot farther than we did. This was pretty easy. We went pretty far, and we had a great season. It wasn’t that tough to make a decision.”
Another factor for Brandon Rush was the fact that he’ll turn 22 on July 7. Returning to school — and aging another year — could hurt his stock.
Walker said Brandon Rush is entering the draft with the ideal mentality.
“He’s going into this with a lot of confidence,” Walker said. “He’s not going to be overwhelmed by his competition because he’s faced a lot of these guys before and done well against them. Plus, he’s been through this before so he’ll know what to expect.”
Walker pauses.
“I sat in the principal’s office with Brandon at Westport High School a while back and listened to the principal tell him he’d be nothing but a bum,” Walker said. “People said he’d never graduate. He did. People said he’d never qualify (for college). He did. They said he’d have trouble becoming a team player. He did (become a team player).
“This kid’s been proving people wrong his whole life.”
If his college career has indeed come to an end, Brandon Rush said he couldn’t be more pleased with his decision to attend Kansas. Along with becoming a better player, Brandon Rush said he’s also become a better person.
“I’m glad I ended up at Kansas,” Brandon Rush said. “I’ve learned so much from my coaches and teammates. I’ve changed in a lot of ways. More than anything, I’ve grown up.
“Hopefully I gave people other thoughts about me than what they’d heard before.”
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