The deadline to declare yourself eligible for the NBA Draft was this past Sunday. Jonny Flynn is already well on his way to becoming a fringe lottery pick. Eric Devendorf officially signed with an agent today, as he said he would. And then there's Paul Harris, who we assume is going pro...but then again...
Paul did apparently enter his name into consideration before the draft deadline. Publicly, we haven't heard a peep out of him since he said "It's already out there so I might as well" after learning that Syracuse had released a statement saying he was going to test the NBA waters. After that, we never heard from Paul again.
Neither has Boeheim, apparently. Boeheim said today on Brent Axe's show that he hasn't heard from Paul and that he's missed multiple team meetings. For all intents and purposes, he's just assuming that Paul is gone.
Boeheim clearly has moved on. He has no qualms openly saying he thinks Harris is gone, which, has to sting if you're Paul Harris and you're still mulling your options. Boeheim has stopped fighting for Paul and seemed to have done so a long time back. Even if Paul decided not to go pro, would he still feel welcome at SU?
As far as we know, Paul doesn't have an agent yet. Then again, from what we know of Paul, he might be acting as his own agent. Don't put it past him. He remains on Chad Ford's list of available players with the caveat that he isn't signedt:
Harris is really a power forward trapped in a combo guard's body. An explosive athlete, he is a terrific rebounder for a guard and can be a big-time finisher when he attacks the basket. He also can be a lock-down, on-the-ball defender.
His lack of a consistent jump shot is a serious concern for NBA scouts, but Harris has enough raw talent to go late in the first round. However, he is more likely to go in the second round if he stays in the draft.
At this point, it seems like a longshot that Paul would return, especially if an NBA team was willing to take a shot on him with a 2nd round pick. And if he did return to college, how do we know at this point Paul would even want to come back to SU? Dare I say he might just transfer to a smaller school (Niagara?) where the spotlight is dimmer and he can put up the stats he was expected to post here? Just speculatin' here, but something tells me the Paul Harris Saga still has a couple chapters in it.