UPDATE (6/23): Hamilton was selected with the 56th pick in the NBA Draft and will join the Oklahoma City Thunder.
On Thursday, Daniel Hamilton could learn what his future will look like. Or he could face more uncertainty. Hamilton’s prospects on the eve of the NBA Draft are murky. Despite a strong statistical season during his sophomore — and final — year at UConn, he is not viewed as a top prospect by the multitude of draft “experts” occupying the internet.
The raw tools — a multipositional skill set, excellent defensive rebounding, a good feel for passing — paired with Hamilton’s basketball bloodlines, show off enough potential to make a first round pick within the realm of possibility.
The critiques, however — inconsistency, questionable strength and an unrefined shooting stroke — were amplified by a poor performance at the NBA Combine in May. The resulting consensus is that Hamilton would be fortunate to land in the second round of the draft.
Given the mild controversy of Hamilton’s decision to leave college, any selection in the draft could be deemed a victory. “Wherever I get drafted, I’m okay with it,” he told the Courant’s Dom Amore in April. However, unless a team falls in love with Hamilton enough to spend a first round pick to select him, the best-case scenario may be to fall out of the draft altogether.
Second round picks are not guaranteed contracts. The fortunate ones sign on with their new teams under NBA minimum deals, last through the summer league and find their way onto the end of an NBA bench. Once per decade or so, a Manu Ginobili rises from the second round to become a star. More frequently, these players are cut or stashed overseas. Most second round draft picks never play for the teams that selected them.
With this in mind, should Hamilton fall out of the first round, he should hope to be passed over completely. While there may be an ego hit watching 60 players get their names called, the freedom of an unrestricted beginning to a professional career is worth it.
Take two recent UConn examples. DeAndre Daniels was drafted. The Toronto Raptors selected the former Husky forward with the 37th pick in 2014. Daniels has yet to play in an NBA game. The Raptors stashed him in Australia, where he played well before battling injuries. His reward: a brief stint with the D-League’s Iowa Energy. Currently, Daniels’ career is entirely in the hands of the Raptors, who have yet to show any intention of putting him in a position to succeed professionally.
Conversely, former star guard Ryan Boatright went undrafted following the 2015 season. Despite starring at UConn, all 30 NBA teams deemed him unworthy of selection. Boatright’s answer was to join the New Jersey Nets’ summer league team, followed quickly by a stint with the Pistons who promptly sent him to the D-League.
The D-League is the worst possible landing place for a player without an NBA contract. The maximum D-League salary is worth a mere $25,000 per year. The only reason to ever play in the league is because the proximity to NBA teams arguably creates more visibility. This leads to additional problems where every player on the roster is forced to play an unnatural brand of basketball, in direct competition with his own teammates.
Boatright hung in for 20 games.
With the freedom to walk his own path, Boatright took off to Italy, where a former college star can earn up to $100,000 per year.
Another undrafted former UConn star, Jeff Adrien, played in a league in Spain before returning to America and capitalizing on summer league play and 10-day contracts en route to to earning over $3 million over 5 NBA seasons.
For Hamilton, going undrafted and choosing his own path would be better than landing in the last handful of draft picks. Hunting for his own set of ideal circumstances — be it an NBA team who likes him offering a summer league invite, or a lucrative career overseas — is the best-case scenario once the first 30 picks have been made.
