If you’re a college senior with NBA aspirations, like the University of Idaho’s own Kyle Barone, the most important three months of your life began on April 10 in Portsmouth, Va., at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (PIT).
Though it boasts alums like Earl Monroe, John Stockton and Scottie Pippen, the PIT is no longer the place to see the next Kobe Bryant or Kevin Durant. As blue collar professional basketball goes, the PIT is probably its epitome. Eight teams of eight college seniors, all with résumés more than 99 percent of the basketball playing world envies, will perform drills, but most importantly played a handful of games before NBA, NBDL and international scouts during the next couple of days. All 64 seniors seeking to leave an impression they have likely not yet made — the reason they came to Portsmouth in the first place.
Most occupations have annual career fairs anyone can attend in any region as often as you please. For all the luxuries of professional athletics, multiple career fairs is not one. If you’re playing in Portsmouth, chances are you’re not yet on the radar of many teams. So you’re not playing for a spot in the 2013 NBA Draft yet, but for the chance to earn invitations to individual workouts — which mostly take place in groups. Most participants enter and exit as NBA longshots, though success stories like Kyle O’Quinn from 2012 — a second-round pick for the Orlando Magic who earned a roster spot — still exist.
Going into PIT, Kyle Barone fits the profile of its average participant. NBAdraft.net and Draftexpress.com have yet to create Barone’s profile pages, few fans outside the Western Athletic Conference have heard his name, and no national publications covering PIT mention him as a player to watch. According to Barone, he has no individual workouts scheduled prior to PIT’s commencement. As far as 6-foot-10 conference players of the year go, it’s impossible to beat Barone’s national invisibility.
There’s reason to believe his anonymity will not last. A potential critique of Barone’s NBA potential has points he’ll need to dispel at the PIT — less perceived potential due to his age (23), at 6-foot-10 and 220 lbs according to ESPN.com, he’ll have to prove he’s both tough and athletic enough for NBA posts. Though not a fault of his own, no collegiate evidence of three-point range exists, and posts are increasingly expected to make deeper and deeper jump shots.
Despite questions he’ll have to answer, Barone more than earned his PIT invite. He has the size of an NBA power forward or overseas center, and improved statistically each season, with the biggest jump coming during his senior season. Barone upped his points per game average from 12.9 to 17.2 and his rebounds per game from eight to 9.7 despite putting up only 1.2 more shots and playing 1.2 more minutes per game. His free-throw percentage went from 63.9 to 78.2 percent, while his attempts went up almost two per game. In short, Barone became a dramatically more efficient player, ranking 14 in ESPN.com’s Player Efficiency Rating, ahead of future lottery picks like Indiana’s Victor Oladipo (18), UNLV’s Anthony Bennett (24), Georgetown’s Otto Porter (25) and Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel (39).
A self-described “late bloomer,” Barone looks like a player with some untapped potential who remains anonymous more for where he played than anything else.
Teaming with Texas A & M’s Elsen Turner, UNLV’s Anthony Marshall, Miami’s Durand Scott, Oregon’s E.J. Singler, Indiana’s Jordan Hulls, Ole Miss’ Murphy Holloway and Clemson’s Devin Booker, Barone’s future lies in the outcome of a job fair with stakes few can comprehend and fewer will ever experience. I wish him the best.
Brian Marceau can be reached at [email protected]