James getting ready
At long last, I was able to catch up with Dominic James earlier this week.
In between speaking with his agent about upcoming workouts for NBA teams and a workout session in Chicago at Tim Grover's A.T.T.A.C.K Athletics Training Center in Chicago, the soon-to-be-graduated senior guard provided a brief update with regard to what's been going on for him personally since the end of the season.
"My first priority was getting done with school," he said. "I had three finals on Friday, and I definitely wanted to make sure I finished out strong with my academics. That was my first priority. Then after that, I've really just been working on getting healthy, as far as rehabilitating my foot and getting that strong."
James, who signed with Bill Duffy & Associates, happened to be working out on Monday along with former teammate Jerel McNeal, Syracuse's Jonny Flynn and Paul Harris, Arizona's Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger and others.
"We've got a ton of guys here," he said. "It's a good workout."
Now that James has completed his courseload at MU, his top goal is undoubtedly getting himself as healthy as possible so that NBA teams that want to take a closer look at him have a true sense of what he brings to the table at the point.
James suffered a broken bone in his left foot early in a game against Connecticut on Feb. 25, and had surgery to insert a screw two days later.
He was unexpectedly cleared to play on March 21, the night before the Golden Eagles' game against Missouri in the second round of the NCAA tournament, but wound up having little impact in 17 scoreless minutes in an eventual MU loss.
James estimated he's around 75 percent recovered at this point
"It's still not 100 percent, but the more I do on it the stronger it gets and the better it feels," he said. "I'm just trying to rebuild the strength. A lot of it is mental, and I'm just trying to tell myself that I can do a lot on it.
"I definitely want to go into these workouts letting the teams know that I'm ready. I'm not going to use my injury as an excuse or a crutch; if I'm going to work out, I'm going to go full-throttle."
Of he, McNeal and Wesley Matthews, James is probably the best-known of MU's seniors to NBA teams. He's been on the radar screen ever since being named the Big East's rookie of the year in 2005-'06, and has a huge body of work which teams can judge.
Prior to his injury, James had seen his role shift from being a primary scorer to that of a more traditional pass-first point guard with McNeal, Matthews and Lazar Hayward as the Golden Eagles' top offensive threats. He appeared to embrace that role, as well as the role of being the team's top on-ball defender.
James has shown the ability to score in the past, but his perimeter shot remains a major weakness.
Unless he's able to absolutely blow a team or two out of the water with an individual workout, James is expected to go undrafted. If that indeed winds up being the case, his next step would likely be to latch on to a team or two in upcoming NBA summer leagues in an attempt to get noticed that way.
A solid showing in summer league could lead to an invitation to a team's training camp in the fall. Should that not work out, James could undoubtedly head overseas for a year, work on his game, and then give the NBA a shot again the following summer and fall.
Both McNeal and Matthews, meanwhile, are expected to work out for the Milwaukee Bucks next week.
Finally, McNeal is scheduled to throw out the first pitch at U.S. Cellular Field prior to a game between the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox on June 8.
That'll undoubtedly be a big thrill for McNeal, a native of Chicago's South Side and a huge White Sox fan growing up.
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