Pitt stars Jamel Artis and Michael Young both went unselected in the NBA Draft. The pair will still get a chance to showcase their talents for the league, though, as both will play in the NBA Summer Leagues.
Young, the ACC's leading scorer this past season, will play for the Washington Wizards in the Las Vegas Summer League. Artis, meanwhile, was scheduled to hook up with the Miami Heat for both the Orlando and Las Vegas leagues. That has changed, though, with the New York Knicks offering him a better deal. Artis will play for the Knicks in the Summer League and then join the team for training camp in what is called a partially guaranteed deal since it sounds like the camp invite is automatic.
Former players that played internationally last year, James Robinson and Brad Wanamaker, will also get looks with the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder, respectively.
Of the four, Artis' case is the most interesting, obviously. The Knicks weren't mentioned in the gaggle of teams that I noticed had worked Artis out before the Draft, so I was initially confused about their apparent interest since I hadn't heard about it. But after running a quick search, I found that they did indeed have him in for a workout, looking at him back in the beginning of June. So many of those workouts happen that they're easy to miss.
So what is a partially-guaranteed contract? In short, it's getting a small amount of money and a preferred chance at making a team. The money, as this article indicates, isn't huge. But it is a great start for someone getting out of school and hoping to make it to the pros.
Getting into a training camp doesn't assure him a roster spot but it will give him an advantage of other players going into the summer leagues that don't have that opportunity. Artis still needs to make a good impression in that league even with the training camp invite but he's a little ahead of the game when it comes to a lot of the other undrafted players.
It's way too early to tell how this will work out for him. He needs to play on the summer league team and then perform well in camp. Frustratingly, his addition might be less tied to how he actually performs and will greatly depend on what else the team does by way of adding veterans or making trades, injuries, etc. Too much is up in the air right now to even come close to theorizing on a potential roster spot for him. Plenty is undecided but, at the very least, Artis will get a legitimate shot to play in the league. As an undrafted player, that's all you can really hope for.
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