DePaul's Paul Reed Looks Forward To NBA Draft After Long Wait
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The NBA Draft is finally here next Wednesday.
It has been a long wait for players like Paul Reed of DePaul University, whose college season ended seven months ago.
But as CBS 2's Matt Zahn reported, Reed found a way to turn that negative into a positive for himself – both on and off the court.
"Given so much time, so much uncertainty – you know, lot of people can get like frustrated and not know what to with their time, but I chose to challenge myself – reading books, becoming smarter; more knowledgeable about the game and about business as well, and about just the human body and the brain; the mental aspects of the game," he said.
Reed has mentioned not getting his hopes up too much. But given how long the process has been, Zahn asked him if it has been a mental challenge to have to wait so long.
"Of course, of course," Reed said. "It's been like, OK it got pushed back the first time, and now it's like, then it got pushed back again, so it's like, what's going on? So I'm like, OK, starting preparing myself mentally for the next day, but I made it through."
Zahn asked Reed what the moment would mean for him when he does hear his name called for the NBA Draft.
"It will mean that all the hard work I put in; all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it was all worth it – all the practices my mom drove me to, all the extra training sessions she drove me to, all the early-morning workouts before school – all of that was worth it," he said.
Reed hopes to be the first Blue Demon drafted since Wilson Chandler in 2007. He said he has been told he will likely go in the 15 to 35 range.
The Bulls are one of the teams that have contacted him.
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