CHICAGO –– Of the more than 60 players here at the NBA Draft Combine, Villanova junior Josh Hart seems about as likely a candidate as anyone to return to campus next season.
Hart, who measured here at 6-foot-5 1/2 with shoes, has yet to hire an agent and can still pull his name out of the Draft by May 25. The junior is projected as the No. 43 pick in 2017 by DraftExpress.com.
“I want to be the guaranteed No. 1 overall pick [this year],” Hart joked here on Thursday.
“It’s 50-50 right now [on staying in the Draft],” he added on a more serious note. “It’s tough, I’m kind of torn. I have good situations either way, if I leave or if I come back. Both are great situations.”
Hart interviewed here with the Knicks, Washington, Oklahoma City, Portland, Indiana, Washington, Memphis, and Utah.
As for the Knicks, he said “there was a bunch of guys” in the interview, but not the Zenmaster,
“No, Phil [Jackson] wasn’t there,” Hart said of the Knicks’ President, who was not seen at Day One of the Combine.
He worked out for the Los Angeles Clippers before coming to the Combine and still has workouts with Philadelphia (Monday), Boston, San Antonio, and Atlanta.
Hart said he will wait until later this month after his individual workouts with teams to make a decision on his future.
“I work out with the Hawks on the 24th,” he said. “I’m going to come back that night. Hopefully my parents will come up that night [from Maryland], I’m going to talk to them over dinner. Hopefully talk to them on the 25th, talk to Coach [Jay] Wright, talk to Coach Baker [Dunleavy] and then see what’s best for my family and I.”
What are his plans if he leaves?
“The first thing, I’m going to get a dog,” he said, adding he would call a female dog “Nova.” “I’m going to get my little rottweiler. That’s something I want the most, but after that I’m going to take care of my parents. They’re in a small little two-bedroom apartment in Rockville, Md., and I want to move them into if not a house into just a bigger place. So that will be the first thing.”
Part of him wants to return to Villanova and contend for back-to-back NCAA championships.
“Definitely, definitely,” he said. “I think if I come back we can be a great team. You have Donte DiVincenzo is coming off that medical redshirt year. Eric Paschall is going to be really good.. Tim Delaney is coming back off a redshirt year. Omari Spellman and Dylan Painter are coming in as talented humble freshmen. And then obviously the guys that are coming back.
“So I definitely think we have a chance to repeat, that’s definitely going to factor into my decision. That’s definitely something I’m flirting with.”
But even if he leaves, he thinks Villanova will be strong.
“I think they’re going to be a top-5 team regardless,” he said. “Obviously, if I return I would love to be No. 1, but we don’t really care about rankings.
As for his coach, Wright has been linked to various NBA jobs since winning the NCAA championship next month, but Hart doesn’t expect him to follow Billy Donovan into the NBA — at least not right away.
“I can speak for next year, I know he’s not leaving,” Hart said. “If I come back and he leaves, I think me and him might have a little bit of a problem. But as of right now, I can’t see him leaving just with all the leave he has for Villanova and all the love we have for him.”
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Villanova’s Josh Hart ’50-50′ on Remaining in NBA Draft, Thinks Wildcats ‘Definitely Have a Chance to Repeat’Adam Zagoria
