He flirted with the idea of playing football, a notion squashed by reality. Not to mention that Carl Elliott isn’t ready to abandon basketball. So he’s plugged forward, working out for six different NBA teams, hoping one sees what his college coaches saw.
Just in case, however, there’s the college degree in sociology he’ll pick up in August. There’s also the European leagues.
It’s the life of a player on the fringe of being drafted in the NBA.
“I’m nervous because I don’t know what to expect,” said Elliott, a guard the past four seasons at George Washington University. “It’s weird to not know where you’re going, but that’s reality.”
Elliott likely will have to follow the path of GWU teammate Mike Hall, who was not drafted but eventually made the Wizards’ roster last season. To do so, Elliott, 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, will have to be invited to play for someone’s summer team.
“You have to try and make a name for yourself,” Hall said. “You didn’t get the exposure of going to an ACC school, so you have to show you belong. … You don’t have the luxury of an off-day.”
Said Elliott, “I don’t think [many teams] knew a lot about me. But some of the guys told me they watched a few of my games. That was a relief.”
Elliott, who had football scholarship offers in the Big Ten, worked out this spring for the New York Giants.
“I didn’t have enough time to prepare,” he said. “I went into it blindsided and from then on I knew it wasn’t me.”
But basketball, he and others believe, is his future.
“He’s a big powerful guard and his athleticism is something NBA teams will covet,” said GW assistant coach Greg Collucci. “They’ll see in practice that other guys can’t compete with his speed. He also has the intangibles.
“He’sdoing the right things. He’s just trying to get a look.”
