It wasn’t an ideal year for the DePaul Blue Demons as they finished in last place with a 16-16 record and a 3-15 Big East record. There was a bright spot for the Blue Demons in the 2019-20 season, and that was Junior, Paul Reed. The Junior out of Orlando, Florida, recorded a double-double with 15.1 points per game and 10.7 rebounds per game. Reed was also one of the best defensive players in the nation as he recorded 2.6 blocks and 1.9 steals. On March 28th, Reed declared for the NBA Draft via Instagram, then a couple of days later he appeared on The Fresh Take podcast with Greg Williams and talked about his decision.
“I have seen a whole lot of mock drafts and I kept seeing my name up there, then a lot of people were saying I could go, so why wait?”
In the latest mock drafts; NBADraft.net has Reed going to the New Orleans Pelicans with the 43rd pick, Kyle Boone of CBS Sports has Reed going to the New York Knicks at 28, then NBA Draft Room has Reed going to the Los Angeles Lakers with the 29th pick and compared him to Brice Johnson with range, lastly NBC Sports has Reed going 33rd.
So yeah, why wait? It makes sense for Reed to chase his dream with the NBA and he’s projected to be drafted and has already signed with an agency at Octagon. The only issue that’s facing Reed, and the rest of the NBA Draft class, is that everything is on pause and some facilities aren’t opened, but that’s not stopping the 6-foot-9 forward.
“I’ve been working out, chilling, hanging out with family. At first I was doing workouts at gyms, but everything got shut down, so I started doing stuff in the backyard or I would go on runs, but I would do push-ups, sit-ups, ab work and stuff.”
As a month has gone by since the interview, Reed has had opportunities to work in the gym and with other people.
With these workout sessions, Reed knows what he needs to work on in order to gain some buzz throughout the NBA Draft process.
“I need to get stronger, definitely need to get stronger, which is the most important thing, then probably my playmaking abilities, because I really wasn’t able to showcase everything at DePaul.”
Reed continues to get ready for the NBA Draft, but with the NBA season on pause and with delays to the scouting combine and other draft activities, he wants these teams to know a few things.
I’m a great kid. I’m a hard worker. I’m going to try and outwork everyone on the team because it’s a competition to me. I’m going to give it 110 percent everyday, I love basketball, I’m going to hoop and I’m going to go hard.
Teams are going to love Reed, because he’s such an intriguing power forward, who’ got good size, length, athleticism, defensive playmaking, defensive versatility and is a efficient scorer. He came .1 away in steals to join Shane Battier, Matisse Thybulle and Nerlens Noels in high-power conferences to average 2.0 blocks and steals in the same season.
Offensively, Reed has done great with close shooting and mid-range, but he saw a little bump in his three-point percentage as he shot 30.8 percent. There’s no cause of concern as he shot 40.5 percent from beyond the arc as a sophomore, so there’s promise to improve and maintain a solid outside shot. Paul Reed has a great chance of being the steal of the draft.
Coast to Coast Network 