When the Andy Rautins training montage is eventually edited and set to the soundtrack of 80's synth music, there will be no state-of-the-art machines that measure strength and stamina.
No computers with arbitrarily-blinking lights.
No nameless scientists standing around nodding in agreement.
No uncomfortably short short-shorts.
No...whatever the hell this is.
No, if Andy Rautins has his way, he'll spend the next few months running the backroads of the Russian countryside, helping farmers right their tilted sleds and chopping enough wood to keep Moscow warm for a decade. He will do this because the simple truth is that when you look at any NBA mock draft, the Syracuse MVP (to us, at least) is not on any of them.
And so, don't be surprised when you hear that Andy is literally sleeping in a gym because he's working so hard to prove that he's NBA material. It comes with the territory.
In Dallas, Rautins is redefining himself for the NBA. This isn’t a job interview. Rather, a training ground. There aren’t any NBA teams stopping by. But with each 3-on-3 game against NBA players and each set of squats, Rautins is quietly polishing two specific areas of his game.
He played exclusively in a 2-3 zone at SU, so he’s drilling himself in man-to-man again. And after playing shooting guard throughout college, he’s handling the ball as much as possible. In the pros, he’ll need to. Six-foot-4 shooting guards aren’t in demand.
Andy will spend almost all of his free time at the Mark Cuban Heroes Basketball Center in Dallas where he's trying to beat the zone defense out of his body as well as focus more on the ball-handling skills that will make him more valuable to NBA teams. Rautins credits his play with the Canadian team for preparing him in both regards, as well as allowing him to "trades elbow shots with grown men in international play," which sounds delicious.
Regardless of his work here, chances are that Rautins will not hear his name called during the draft. However, he's a sure thing to get a Summer League invite and that's where he'll have a chance to show off these new-found skills. As well as trade elbows with grown men in a whole new way.
And because by now you're dying to watch it for the 3,267th time, here's the Rocky IV training montage: