WEST ORANGE, N.J. – The night Chris McCullough tore his ACL, and the next day, he traded texts with Jason Smith about how his body felt.

Smith, McCullough’s high school coach at Brewster (New Hampshire) Academy, didn’t think McCullough was headed to the NBA Draft.

Two months later, Smith started to think differently when his former player direct messaged him on Twitter, telling Smith he’d changed his phone number. That happened four or five times, Smith said, and indicated to him that McCullough was preparing to make a change.

On March 19, McCullough tweeted, “It’s a business that’s all.” Two weeks later, he declared for the draft.

“He felt he was ready,” Smith said, standing in a hallway off the West Orange High School gymnasium after coaching part of the Mary Kline Classic. “He has as high of a ceiling as any kid we’ve had at Brewster.”

From Smith, that’s high praise. He’s graduated eight eventual NBA players in his tenure, including TJ Warren, Mitch McGary and former top-five pick Thomas Robinson.

McCullough, 20, faces questions heading into the NBA Draft this Thursday at 7 p.m. at Barclays Center. There are concerns about his ACL, experience and maturity. But for each question mark, some teams see high upside. When McCullough watches the Draft from a Manhattan club – he’s hosting a party with former Syracuse teammate, and fellow draft hopeful, Rakeem Christmas – he’s hoping NBA general managers see potential, not past.

“(As an NBA GM) you see size, length, the ability to block shots and some potential as a shooter. You see youth and upside to grow into,” Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com said. “The risk is he might get injured again. He’s not ready to play at this point. But where he would be picked, I don’t think that’s a big deal. Few players are ready to play in the NBA right away.”

McCullough needs to develop as a shooter to mature into a stretch four, which will be his role, Givony said. He also needs to gain experience, learn nuances of the game and better his man-to-man defense.

McCullough was unavailable for comment for this story.

ESPN college basketball expert Jay Bilas said that McCullough played “very well” against lesser teams early in the season, but that some teams might not know what to make of those numbers.

“He’s got ability,” Bilas said. “…(Teams may) say, ‘What we saw, he’s got some potential and some areas to improve and as a late first-round pick or an early second-round pick, let him mature, stick him down in the D-League for a while.’ All that…could be really beneficial down the road.”

Givony sees McCullough’s name being called somewhere between selections 29 and 40. ESPN Insider Chad Ford ranked McCullough the 28th-best prospect available in the draft and wrote that one team will not let him fall out of the first round.

Despite being unable to work out, McCullough has reportedly interviewed with more than 20 teams. Teams are interested in getting to know the character of McCullough. He told the Nets Daily News that many teams, but particularly the Nets, asked him “personal questions.”

Smith has fielded such calls from more than 15 teams doing background research into McCullough and his time at Brewster, which ended early when he was dismissed from school for a rules violation.

“Even when he was dismissed from Brewster, he was accountable,” Smith. “A lot of times kids make mistakes and blame somebody else, but Chris is the exact opposite. I think that’s in a positive light with NBA teams.”

On Smith’s drive to the Mary Kline Classic, the Orlando Magic, which holds picks No. 5 and No. 50, called. As McCullough is neither a top pick nor expected to be there by the Magic’s second selection, Smith said they were doing background in case of a trade.

Whichever team drafts McCullough, they’ll hope to have figured out who, and what, they are getting.

“He has a lot of things to work on,” Givony said. “People think that every player drafted in the NBA will play for 10 years, but in reality it doesn’t really work that way. If you pick a guy at the end of the first-round or the second-round and he ends up being an NBA player, then you did a great job.”

Asst. Sports Editor Matt Schneidman contributed reporting to this story.

Published on June 23, 2015 at 10:45 pm

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR