Virginia junior Justin Anderson has decided to forgo his final year of eligibility and enter the NBA Draft. Anderson and the Cavaliers won their second straight outright ACC Regular Season Championship this season. The program won 30 games in consecutive years for the first time ever over the past two seasons.
“I have decided to leave the University of Virginia and enter the 2015 NBA Draft,” Anderson said in a news release. “It’s been a life-long dream of mine to play in the NBA and I’ve had an incredible experience here at UVa. It’s really difficult to say goodbye, but I feel I’m ready to make the next step in my basketball career at the professional level.”
Anderson is considered to be in the range of a late first-round pick to a second-round pick, based on multiple reports. ESPN cited several NBA executives as projecting Anderson as a first-round pick (click here).
NBADraft.net’s Aran Smith projected Anderson as the 22nd best player in his top 100 as of March 15. That same site had Anderson as the No. 3 ranked junior before the NCAA Tournament, ahead of Wisconsin’s Sam Dekker, for example, who declared for the draft after the Badgers’ run to the title game. Draftexpress.com currently rates Anderson as the No. 31 pick in its mock draft, which is the first pick of the second round (Minnesota). Sam Vecenie of CBS Sports placed Anderson 25th overall in the first round in his April 8 mock draft. That slot belongs to the San Antonio Spurs (click here).
Virginia has not produced a first-round draft pick since Cory Alexander was selected No. 29 in 1995. Coach Tony Bennett, however, steers his players to an undergraduate evaluation committee for unbiased feedback on their NBA prospects, as he detailed in this exclusive Sabre Q&A. Anderson obviously received a grade that he was comfortable with in order to declare for the draft.
Players outside of the lottery (picks 1-14) are slated to make between at least $1.6 million (No. 15) and $943,300 (No. 30) in guaranteed contract money under the rookie rules of the NBA collective bargaining agreement. Rookie deals in the NBA are for two years with team options in the third and fourth year; the pay range increases each year with more than a 50% increase in the team option years. With a new NBA television contract beginning with the start of the 2016 season, salaries across the NBA are set to rise. Entering the draft now means that players in this class will be possibly entertaining free agent offers as deals escalate later in the decade. Second-round picks do not receive guaranteed contracts like first-round picks, but those players often sign deals with guaranteed money as well (Virginia’s Joe Harris is a good example).
Anderson leaves Virginia after three increasingly productive years. As a freshman, Anderson started 17 games and averaged 7.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.2 blocked shots. He hit on 42% shooting (30.3% 3-point shooting). He finished that season off with a dynamic performance in the NIT where he averaged 19 points per game in three contests.
As a sophomore, Anderson shifted into a key reserve role and earned the ACC’s Sixth Man of the Year Award from the conference’s media. He averaged 7.8 points and 3.2 rebounds while making 40.7% of his shots (29.4% on 3-pointers). He helped the team sweep the ACC titles in the regular season and tournament as well as advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
As a junior, Anderson returned as a starter and made the most of the opportunity. He averaged 12.2 points and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 46.6% (45.2% on 3-pointers). He was the team’s leading scorer before he suffered a broken left pinky on Feb. 7. He did not return for the final eight regular season games, in part due to an appendectomy during the final week of the regular season. Before his injury, Anderson was leading the ACC in 3-point shooting at 48.4%. Anderson came back in the postseason and the team advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s round of 32. Along the way, Anderson earned second-team All-ACC recognition from both the media and the coaches. He also received second-team All-America honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Anderson’s departure leaves a significant amount of playing time up for grabs. He played an average of 24.1 minutes per outing during 98 games at UVa.
“I thank Justin for three great years at UVa,” head coach Tony Bennett said in a news release. “Justin has been an outstanding player, ambassador and role model for our program and we’ll miss him. He has worked hard on his game, and has earned this opportunity to realize his life-long dream of playing in the NBA. He helped us win a lot of games and will always be a part of the Virginia basketball family.”
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Nooooooooooo!! Not too many times you can say you have a legitimate chance to win a national championship as we would have had if JA returned. Nevertheless, he was the ultimate team player and always played with passion; something of which will be definitely missed next year. Best of luck JA!
I have two, fervent wishes for Justin. I hope he is a first-round selection because of the guaranteed money and multi-year component of the deal. I also hope he finds time to finish his work towards a degree at the University. I remember what Mike Scott said in answer to a fan question about his greatest moment at the University. Mike said it was getting his diploma.
Make the time, Justin, to join all of us who have become alums at the greatest college in the nation!
Go Simba! Go Hoos!!!