Undrafted Artis in favorable spot with N.Y. Knicks
the New York Knicks in the NBA’s summer league in Orlando, Fla., this week, aiming to showcase his talents in games comprised primarily of rookies, developing second-year players and others in search of a way into the league.
For Artis, it’s the next and most recent step in a journey that he’s hoping will end with a spot on an NBA roster for the 2017-18 season.
“I still think I bring any asset that any player that got drafted [offers],” Artis said. “I should have gotten drafted. But I’m in a good position right now with the Knicks. I’m in a great position, actually. I can only be thankful and grateful for the position I’m in now. I’ve just got to go out there and play hard.”
Artis finished his career as the Panthers’ No. 11 alltime scorer, climaxing in a senior season in which he averaged 18.2 points per game. That production, paired with a belief that elements of his game could translate to the next level, earned him opportunities at the combine and the Portsmouth Invitational, an annual tournament for the top seniors in college basketball.
Though Artis didn’t particularly care for the combine, he spent the ensuing weeks working out for 17 of the NBA’s 30 teams. The feedback he received was consistent.
“All teams said I’m an NBA player,” he said.
At the NBA draft in late June, that rosy outlook didn’t materialize. Artis entered the night expecting to be chosen in the second round but was not selected.
Emotionally, it was a temporary setback, but the sting of going undrafted comes with its own merits, namely that Artis and his agent, Daniel Hazan, could select a team based on his fit with that organization rather than being selected by a franchise and having no say in the matter.
In the early hours of the day after the draft, he exercised that power by agreeing to play for the Miami Heat’s summer league team. The next morning, however, the Knicks approached him with a partially guaranteed deal, granting him not only a spot on the club’s summer league team but also a training camp invitation in the fall. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
In three summer league games with the Knicks, Artis has made 10 of 22 shots, including a 5-for-12 mark from 3-point range, and averaged 9 points in 17.7 minutes per game.
Based on his conversations with teams during the pre-draft process, he projects as a shooting guard or small forward at the next level, with a rangy 6-foot-7 frame and a smooth outside jumper (he shot 39.2 on 3s as a senior). During summer league play, he hopes to exhibit everything those wing positions require while trying to prove that even as a 24year-old rookie — already making him older than two of the starters in the NBA All-Star game this past season — his game still has room to develop.
“These coaches and these staffs and these GMs, they know how well I can score,” Artis said. “I just want to show them things that other players don’t show on a daily basis, like competing hard, passing, talking to my teammates, and things like that. It’s a challenge every time you go out there and try to score and do all the other things.”
The summer league also provides Knicks coaches and executives with the chance to evaluate players such as Artis and how they could fit in the team’s broader plans.
“All these guys, they’re looking for that opportunity,” Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said. “We’re looking for a guy who can give us something. GMs and front offices always talk about ‘If I go with this guy, what can the coach use him for?’ ”
It’s a question that will follow Artis and others like him for the next several months, and his answer will determine whether he can secure a firm role in the NBA or perhaps even the GLeague, formerly the NBA Development League.
As for the question he was asked at the combine? Artis told the inquiring team he would like to be with his family — particularly his incarcerated twin brother, Jamaal — whenever it is he passes away.
For now, though, he is focused on the present and his immediate future, one in which he envisions himself taking the floor at Madison Square Garden with the Knicks.
“I have a major opportunity right now to prove myself as far as summer league and I’m in training camp officially,” Artis said. “It’s like I’m already set. I’m already ahead of most undrafted rookies. Right now, I have a major shot. I just have to go out there and do what I have to do.”
“These coaches and these staffs and these GMs, they know how well I can score. I just want to show them things that other players don’t show on a daily basis …” — Jamel Artis, Former Pitt star