Tyus Battle declares for NBA Draft, won't hire an agent - Syracuse.com

Syracuse, N.Y. -- Tyus Battle is entering his name in the 2018 NBA Draft and will not sign with an agent. Jonathan Givony of ESPN tweeted out the information and a source close to Battle confirmed it.

It had not been an easy decision to make for Syracuse's sophomore guard.

Battle has been considering the pros and cons of entering the draft since Duke eliminated Syracuse from the NCAA Tournament on March 23.

SU basketball equipment manager Dan Shworles measured out the NBA 3-point line and laid tape on the Melo Center floor marking the new distance so that Battle could practice from that distance. Battle's been working on his game, working on his shooting stroke, trying to determine whether he wanted to come back to Syracuse for his junior season. 

Syracuse, his dad has said, is a place he loves, a factor that weighed heavily in his decision. 

"You can't emphasize how much he loves Syracuse enough," Gary Battle said.

A serious student majoring in information management and technology, Battle made the all-ACC academic team this season. There is a chance, if he pushes himself over the summer and his subsequent semesters at SU, that Battle could graduate in three years. 

His grandmother, Catherine, who died on April 19, 2013, had asked that Tyus "try really hard to graduate" from college.  She worked as a school janitor and was so close to Tyus, he has her name tattooed on his chest.  When Gary Battle coached a youth basketball program, he would bring his boys - Tyus and Khalif - to play basketball in the gym while Catherine cleaned the school.

His dad had preferred he get his SU diploma, but the decision about whether to returnn to school or opt for the NBA Draft had always been Tyus's to make. Tyus Battle, of course, could finish his degree requirements at any time should he stay in the NBA Draft.

Gary Battle, steeped for years in the youth basketball scene, has plenty of basketball contacts and had done his homework, enlisting pertinent people who understood his son's pro basketball aspirations to share their knowledge of where Tyus might be drafted. Gary Battle sought frank assessments of what NBA people thought of his son.  He'd heard ranges for where Tyus might be drafted between No. 20 and No. 47.  

The family considered next year's draft, which is said to be significantly shallower than this year's, and tried to determine whether coming back to school would hurt or help Tyus's draft position. There is still no clear answer to that question. 

Tyus met a number of times with Boeheim, with whom he has a good relationship, to map out what would happen if he returned to the Orange. 

Tyus, who has long dreamed of playing in the NBA, had to determine whether he liked being in college - and everything it entailed - more than he desired a chance to start his professional basketball career. 

Tyus had long wanted to play in the NCAA Tournament and when the Orange made the field this season as the last team invited, then advanced to the Sweet 16, Battle got a taste of the postseason. Did he want to return to school, with a better, more experienced team, and compete for more NCAA Tournament riches? Or did he want to put his 6-foot-6 athletic frame to the test and prove he belonged with the best basketball players on earth?

Syracuse.com has had conversations with a handful of NBA people over the past couple weeks.  Those talks suggested Battle would not be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, though Givony, who authors perhaps the most respected mock draft, had Battle going No. 29 to the Brooklyn Nets in his latest projection.  (That spot in the draft is projected at more than $1.3 million in starting salary.)

NBA people like Battle's size, his athleticism and his scoring ability. He averaged 19.2 points on 32 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 40 percent shooting overall.  NBA scouts and executives are concerned about his lack of shooting efficiency, though they concede he was forced to shoulder a large scoring load last season. And too, they wonder what else he can provide an NBA franchise. Can he facilitate? Can he rebound better from the guard spot? Can he defend? 

Gary Battle said Tyus ultimately wasn't that concerned with where NBA teams might select him. His decision rested solely on whether he wanted to play professional basketball next season or whether he wanted to return to Syracuse.

"He's gotta do what he's gotta do," Gary Battle said.

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