Rose has empathy for Painter

Lee Rose doesn't know Matt Painter personally, but can relate to what he is going through.

The former Purdue men's basketball coach, who led the Boilermakers to 50 victories in just two seasons from 1978-80, including a Big Ten title and NCAA Final Four appearance, remembers having to sweat out a decision of his junior center during the late spring of 1979.

Fortunately for Rose and Purdue's basketball fortunes, that center, Joe Barry Carroll, decided to remain in West Lafayette for his senior season. It resulted in a trip to the national semifinal game in Indianapolis and a third-place finish in the Big Dance.

The parallels that can be drawn between Carroll's situation and JaJuan Johnson's impending decision are far from straight lines. After all, Carroll was a third-team All-America selection who was projected to be a top-15 pick after his junior year in a draft that included Magic Johnson and technically Larry Bird, but no notable post players.

"We really thought we were going to lose him after his junior year," Rose said during a visit to West Lafayette April 30. "But Joe was a unique kid, he wanted his Purdue degree and was willing to wait a year to play in the NBA. It's not easy for kids to be patient today with the kind of money being thrown around.

"But our staff did the same thing that I am sure Coach Painter's staff is doing; we gathered as much information from NBA teams as we could so that Joe was as informed as possible when he made the call. We actually set up interviews for him with NBA teams, something you can't do today. Fortunately for Joe, he was rewarded a year later with being the top pick in the entire NBA draft."

Rose said saw Johnson and the Boilermakers play several times this season. Like everyone else, Rose is impressed with Johnson's upside, but said it would be impossible for him to evaluate Johnson's true NBA potential without seeing him much closer.

The former Boilermaker boss does know a thing or two about the NBA. He worked with the league in one form or another from 1987 through 2009. For the past 20 years, Rose has been one of the primary organizers of the NBA pre-draft camp in Chicago, which takes place later this month. His role was to oversee camp coaches and organize the floor and station work for the players, a position the 73-year old decided to relinquish so he could spend more time with his wife and family.

Rose is aware of some substantive changes in the way the pre-draft camp will be conducted, which could effect Johnson and E'Twaun Moore should they choose to enter the draft. For one, there will be little-to-no five-on-five scrimmaging in the Windy City as the NBA has decided it needs to better gauge the attention to detail of its potential draftees in individual drills and two-on-two/three-on-three situations.

"What the coaches found out is that guys who didn't scrimmage well would leave camp, especially if their agents thought things weren't going well," Rose said. "With an increased focus on drills, the thinking is that injuries and attrition will be cut down.

"Basically it comes down to this: all the guys that get invited to a camp like Chicago can play. What the teams have to determine is what kind of player is the prospect. Can he do the little things? Can he follow instructions? Does he fit into the team concept?"

Rose said it is hard to convince kids to wait a year if they think they are ready to play in the league, even if there is data to prove to the contrary.

"There aren't many players like Joe that made a decision based on so much analysis and introspection," Rose said. "It was a different time back then, but the issue is still the same today for the college coach … you want what is best for your kid in the long run, and want it for him into the future and not just to next year.

"Based on the kind of coach and person Matt Painter appears to be, I am sure he feels the same way about the two guys that are thinking of leaving early."

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