Red Storm Forward Enters 2017 Draft
After star point guard Marcus LoVett reaffirmed his commitment to returning for his redshirt sophomore year, it seemed like the threat of offseason attrition by way of professional basketball was over for St. John’s. Then, Richard Freudenberg decided to make the jump to the pros in Europe, eventually inking a multi-year deal with a team in his native homeland of Germany.
Now another Johnnie is testing the pro basketball waters as Bashir Ahmed was one of over 100 underclassmen to submit an early entry application for the 2017 NBA Draft, the NBA announced last week. In total, 182 players — 137 from the college ranks and 45 international prospects — submitted paperwork to enter the draft early.
The deadline to submit your name for consideration passed on April 23, and the NBA announced the list shortly after with Ahmed appearing after completing his first season at St. John’s after spending two years at Hutchinson (K.S.) Community College where he became a First Team JUCO All-American. He finished his junior season as the Red Storm’s leading rebounder with 5.5 boards per game.
A capable scorer (13.4 ppg) at 6-foot-7, 210 pounds, decision-making has hurt Ahmed at times, leading to poor shooting efficiency (39 percent overall) and ball control (2.3 turnovers per game). He is ranked as the No. 5 Big East prospect, according to DraftExpress.com, but is not considered a candidate to hear his name on draft night.
The move to declare for the draft has become commonplace since 2015, when the NCAA allowed underclassmen to enter the draft process and still retain their eligibility by withdrawing before a deadline. Ahmed likely won’t be invited to the NBA Combine, which runs from May 9-14 in Chicago, so he’ll hope to schedule individual workouts with teams for feedback before probably removing his name from the draft pool by the May 24 cut-off date.
In case of the off-chance Ahmed ultimately stays in the draft and forgoes his senior season, St. John's will lose a 33-game starter and have a huge void to fill on the wing for the 2017-18 season.
