Champagnie ready to test NBA draft
Former Pitt star knows work really begins after he is selected by his new team
For much of his life, and certainly over the past four months, Justin Champagnie has been carried by belief.
The former Pitt men’s basketball forward has long believed in himself, even when others didn’t.
It’s what transformed him from an overlooked recruit coming out of high school into a player who signed with an ACC school. Once there, it molded him into a firstteam all-ACC selection and the Panthers’ first All-American in a decade.
As he mulled the biggest decision of his young life this spring, it was that same belief that convinced him that, yes, he was readyto enter the NBA draft.
With the July 29 draft two weeks away, Champagnie is enteringa time of uncertainty with a sense of confidence. He doesn’t know what exactly awaits him. Will he be drafted? If so, where will he go? How will he fit with that team? Will he make the roster? But the very thing that kept him in the draft when he could haveeasily returned to school as a conquering hero is what is guiding him as he prepares for the moment that will potentially change his life.
“It doesn’t feel surreal yet,” Champagnie said Thursday on a video teleconference with reporters. “On July 29, it will feel more like it’s here. I’m excited. I feel how I felt when I first came to Pitt right now. I was excited to see how it all playsout, where I end up, how I end up playing and what happens in the future. I’m just really excited. I believein myself. That’s the biggest thing.”
It’s a feeling and sentiment that has carried him since Pitt’s season ended March 9 with a loss to Miami in the first round of the ACC tournament.
There was the initial decision to test the NBA draft process, a largely risk-free formality for many high-level, major-conference players. That was followed by a more consequential action two months after the last game of his sophomore season — signing with an agent and opting to forgo as many as three seasons of college basketball.
It wasn’t an easy or obvious call. Champagnie’s explosive performances and endless parade of double-doubles during the season had skyrocketed him up mock draft boards. In the final few weeks of the season, though, Pitt’s No. 2 and 3 scorers — Au’Diese Toney and Xavier Johnson — entered the transfer portal and without them, a visibly tired Champagnie saw his production slip. In those weeks, and in the months that followed, his draft status became more tenuous and his name began vanishing fromthose mock drafts.
Faced with that dilemma, he leaned on Panthers coach Jeff Capel, as well as Champagnie’s newly hired agent, for advice and insight from those in the NBA. Ultimately, the same feeling that overcame him when he chose to attend Pitt found its way back to him. He wasready to go.
“I just kind of knew it was time forme,” Champagnie said.
Since then, his life has become oneof constant motion.
In the weeks before the NBA draft combine, he worked out in Los Angeles, waking up around 5 a.m. every day before workouts and skill development. Over the past several months, he has met with what he estimated to be 11 teams, a group that off the top of his head included the Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves. At the combine, he was able to showcase some of what he might be able to provide at the next level, averaging 14 points and 10 rebounds in two five-on-five scrimmages while shooting 45.5% from the field.
Some questions understandably remain. In his meetings with various teams, outside shooting and ball-handling were oft-mentioned areas of needed improvement. Champagnie shot 31.1% from 3-point range last season, up from 26.2% as a freshman and while he doesn’t need to be a primary creator in the way that a point guard does, he does need to become someone who can open more offensive opportunities off the dribble.
Still, he has undeniable skills that, should they translate to the next level, would be valuable to any NBA team. He’s an exceptional rebounder, particularly for a player his size, with a quick bounce off the floor and an instinct that regularly leads him to be in the right spot at the right time. They were traits that were promisingly evident in thetwo combine scrimmages.
“People think you’ve got to change your whole game. No,” Champagnie said. “They’re always telling me what got me here is what I do best, so continue to do that and continueto be that dog.”
At 6-foot-6 without shoes, Champagnie will likely need to play on the wing in the NBA, a break from the more traditional low-post presence he was in college against shorter, less talented players. To do that, he’ll need to improve not only his 3-point shooting, but his lateral quickness, explosiveness off the dribble and defensive effectiveness against faster players. Should he make those strides, though, Champagnie said several teams have compared him favorably to Phoenix Suns forward Jae Crowder, who is a starter in the NBA Finals for the second time in as many seasons.
Whether he’ll be able to do that, of course, remains an all-important question. ESPN and Sports Illustrated didn’t have Champagnie included in their most recent mock drafts. The former had Champagnie ranked 74th on its draft big board — the draft has 60 total picks — while The Athletic had him 52nd in its draft prospect rankings released earlier this week.
With that murkiness has come a comforting degree of certainty. While he declined to name the team, Champagnie said he was given an assurance by a team that it will select him if he’s available, which would likely come in the draft’ssecond round.
“I don’t see my name not getting called,” Champagnie said. “I try to livelife in a positive sense. With the feedback I’ve gotten back, I don’t thinkthat’s going to be an issue.”
In the meantime, the work for Champagnie continues. He has scheduled workou with the Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks. He has been put in touch with NBA players like Pascal Siakam of the Raptors and Marcus Morris of the Los Angeles Clippers, the types of figures who have passed along insight about what to expect should he make the league.
“It’s rough, especially when you first get in there,” Champagnie said. “You’ve got to find your specific role on the team. You’ve got to do it for yourself and figure it out for yourself. At this point, it’s a job. It’s not like college.”
Though he’s leaving Pitt, he maintains a strong tie with the programand those in it.
He has spent long stretches the past few months on campus as he prepares for the draft. Before he made his final decision, Champagnie would be asked if he would transfer if he returned to college, a possibility he repeatedly shot down.“This is my home,” he would say. In many ways, it still is. He said he talks at least three times a week with sophomore point guard Femi Odukale, a fellow Brooklyn native he said is “like my brother,” and though the process was delayed by draft preparation this summer, Champagnie said he plans on earning his degree from the university.
“Justin will and always will be a part of our program, a part of my life,” Capel said earlier this month. “I love the dude. I’m happy for him, excitedfor him.”
The path to the NBA is one Champagnie will be traversing alone, at least for now. His twin brother, Julian, is returning to St. John’s after being dissatisfied with his combine performance and wanting to see what he can earn with college athletes now able to make money off of their name, imageand likeness.
Champagnie originally said he and his brother would make the same decision about their future. Circumstances change, though, and Champagnie believes in what’snext.
“It’s a long road. I know that for sure,” he said. “The work doesn’t stop when your name gets called. It doesn’t stop there. It’s got to keep going. I know it’s going to be rough. I’m going to be going against guys who have been playing in the league, guys who are stronger than me and move faster. It’s all about adapting. I feel like I’m pretty good at that.”