For the second spring in a row, Purdue's Caleb Swanigan will take part in the NBA Draft combine in Chicago, but this time in a much different position than he did d year ago.

A year ago at this time, Swanigan was coming off a productive, but uneven by his considerable standards, freshman season at Purdue, generally perceived as a player who might not have been drafted had he left school.

Today, coming off an All-America season dotted with too many superlatives to concisely list, the forward/center's stock is substantially stronger. This year is about enhancing stock more than it's about establishing it, more or less.

"He's going to weigh his options," Coach Matt Painter in recent weeks, "but I think he's in a great position."

Painter said as of April 12, he'd not heard from an NBA contact that suggested anything beside Swanigan's time being now, coming off a season in which he was a finalist for every relevant player-of-the-year award.

But that stock can still be strengthened, or solidified, as Swanigan delves into what figures to be a loaded draft.

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Consensus opinion is that Swanigan would certainly get drafted this year should be forego his final two seasons of eligibility at Purdue, which he's been widely expected to do from the day he opted to return last season.

Many online projections showing him right on the border between late first round and early second. First-round draft picks receive guaranteed multi-year contracts; some second-round picks do, at the discretion of the franchise, but they're not guaranteed.

Swanigan will have an oppportunity in Chicago to help put himself in the best position he can, coming off a season in which he couldn't have realistically done a whole lot more than he did.

"I tried to put my best foot forward," Swanigan told Fort Wayne's WANE this weekend, "and put my best foot forward every possession. That's pretty much all I wanted from myself, to go out there and play hard every night."

At the combine, Swanigan will not play in five-on-five games, in part because such loose format doesn't necessarily jibe particularly well with his strengths as a player.

"This year at the combine, I'm not playing," Swanigan told WANE, "but what I want to prove is to show the teams how dedicated I am throughout the interview process, get there, get measurements, things like that, and get acquainted with more NBA teams."

Again, Swanigan has been widely expected to enter the draft this season. Purdue has spent the better part of a year planning for it, in fact.

But the All-American has at least the door open to return by not immediately announcing he'd hire an agent - and yes, his personal circumstances on that front are unique due to the industry access his father, Roosevelt Barnes, holds. And sources have indicated that though it would still seem likely Swanigan would depart, the option to return is a viable consideration should Swanigan's draft stock not appear ideal in advance of the May 24 drop date.

"If there's an opportunity at the next level to go and help a team, I want to do that," Swanigan told WANE, "but if they don't feel like I can help, I (won't)."

Purdue juniors Vincent Edwards and Isaac Haas have also declared for the draft. Neither received an initial invite to the combine, though it stands to reason that their proximity to Chicago could have them on a stand-by list of sorts for the event should expected participants fall through or should organizers find themselves without enough able and willing bodies to fill the five-on-five slate.

This past weekend, Edwards and Haas each worked out for the Oklahoma City Thunder, then Edwards for the New Orleans Pelicans and Haas for the Boston Celtics, GoldandBlack.com has learned.

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