By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
Mark Schmidt knows what his players hope to accomplish professionally after they leave St. Bonaventure.
“In order to win the Atlantic 10 or compete for Atlantic 10 titles, you need pros. You don’t need guys, after four years, you’re helping them find a job on Wall Street or something,” Schmidt remarked. “We want to try to help them get agents so they can continue to play basketball for a living.”
Schmidt’s five seniors are primed to join the professional ranks, and scouts from three NBA teams (the Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs) have visited practice this preseason. Center Osun Osunniyi and point guard Kyle Lofton, Bona’s all-conference First Team duo, are each projected to be selected in NBADraft.Net’s latest mock draft, Osunniyi ranked 57th and Lofton right behind him.
Lofton and Osunniyi would be the first pair of Bonaventure teammates to be selected in the NBA Draft since Greg Sanders and Glenn Hagan in 1978, but they both acknowledge they need to improve aspects of their games to realize that dream.
“I’ve been expanding my offensive game,” Osunniyi said. “I think my first three years here, everyone kind of understands, I knew what I was doing was just defensively and that’s kind of been it. But I think this offseason, I’ve kind of been trying to expand my offensive game and be able to help put points on the board more, not just playing defense.”
The 6-foot-10 center is more active in the Bonaventure offense than he was his freshman year, averaging two more field goal attempts a game last season than he did as a freshman. Osunniyi nonetheless attempted five or fewer field goals in eight of 21 outings. Texas alumnus Jericho Sims, the 58th pick in the 2021 draft by the Knicks, is a good example of a dominant defensive anchor who was not the primary offensive option.
“Future-wise, that’s what I’ve been hearing feedback, that they need to see my offensive game more and my body and my strength,” Osunniyi noted. “I’ve been putting on a lot of weight this summer and it’s been showing in practice. I feel like I’ve been getting a lot more confident on the offensive end of the floor.”
Lofton’s glaring weakness last year was his outside shooting, as he missed 31 of his first 34 3-pointers before improving to 36.6 percent from long range over the remainder of the season. He has made it abundantly clear that he plans on shooting his way out of any slumps, the kind of staunch determination that has defined his rise from unheralded prospect to Player of the Year candidate.
“A lot of scouts and agents are saying jump-shooting, obviously,” Lofton acknowledged. “I went through a slump last year, but I don’t really look at that. I know I can shoot and I’m gonna just keep shooting. I’m gonna show people that I really can shoot.
“Besides that, just showing more of my athleticism. I can jump, but a lot of people don’t really see that. It don’t help playing 40 minutes a game, but I feel like this year I can get a little bit of a break and I can show how athletic I am.”
Lofton, indeed, has relied on his point guard skills more than sheer athleticism; his only in-game dunk in 2020-21 came in the first half of the regular season finale against Dayton. Even with heavy legs, though, he averaged more points after halftime (8.2 second-half points per game) than in the first half (6.1 points per game) last season.
Whether or not Lofton and Osunniyi get drafted, they are more likely to call Penn Plaza their office than the Financial District.
Leave a Reply