Last year, Syracuse fans knew one of their players was going to be taken in the lottery and that another player had an outside shot at hearing his name called in the 2nd round. The 2010 NBA Draft is going to pan out in roughly the same manner, though instead of Jonny Flynn and Paul Harris, it will be Wes Johnson and, hopefully, Andy Rautins.
Even if Andrius doesn't get an NBA contract out of this, he's clearly racked up enough frequent flyer miles over the past month to fly the entire Rautins clan to Tahiti first-class. New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Sacramento, Minnesota, Portland, Detroit...you name the city, Andy Rautins probably shot basketballs and answered the same 7-8 questions while wearing a nondescript jersey of the local NBA team's colors while there. All for the chance to hear his name called Thursday night (or at least get an invite to Summer League shortly thereafter).
What are the odds? We saw quite a few people put Paul Harris on their mock draft board before Harris spent the evening without finding out his fate (and is, unfortunately, still waiting). How do the "experts" see Andy's chances? With the help of the Mock Draft Database, we check them out. The prospects don't seem too great.
Fanhouse - N/A
The Hoop Doctors - N/A
Draft Express - N/A
NBADraft.net - N/A
Flagrant Fouls - No. 52, Boston
HoopsWorld - No. 59, Orlando
BallinEurope - No. 38, New York
And so, we wait and see. There's no doubt Andy will be suiting up for someone this summer. He might not get there via Thursday night but he'll get there...