HE’LL BE BACK
Ponds pulls out name, returning to SJU
In the end, there were too many reasons to wait. Too many factors suggesting it was in Shamorie Ponds’s best interest to return to school. There was his age — he doesn’t turn 20 until next month — a weak draft class next year and the feedback from NBA teams, saying it would be prudent to be patient.
And so after going back and forth for weeks about whether to keep his name in the NBA draft, St. John’s star sophomore opted to return to school the day before the deadline to withdraw his name, according to his father, Shawn. He will be on campus for summer classes, which start Wednesday.
“It was a real hard decision,” Shawn said in a phone interview. “Ultimately, that’s his dream. He wanted to go to the NBA. But that’s a 19year-old kid. We explained to him, if it doesn’t happen this year, you still have another year. Best thing for you is ed- ucation. ... To get a degree in three years outweighed everything.”
Reason won out. The family came to a decision late Monday night. The smooth 6-foot-1 Brooklyn native will come back to St. John’s for his junior year, and will likely be the Big East Preseason Player of the Year after leading the conference in scoring at 21.6 points per game. He also averaged 5.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.3 steals, and keyed the Red Storm’s strong finish that included wins over national-champion Villanova and Duke.
He had workouts with the Nets, Jazz, Nuggets, Lakers, Cavaliers, and Celtics, though he was not invited to the NBA Scouting Combine.
All the teams said the same thing: Ponds, who is on pace to graduate in three years, would, at best, be a secondround pick. He should go back to school. Get stronger, eat better, develop further as a point guard. St. John’s coach Chris Mullin told the family the same things, based on his conversations with NBA personnel. He was involved throughout the process.
“You want to be a pro, now go act like a pro,” Shawn said he told his son. “He wasn’t receptive to the idea at first, but as we sat down and explained it to him, he understood.”