MORGANTOWN — After a while, the airports and gymnasiums sort of run together until they become one giant blur.
Shake hands with one coach on Tuesday, meet with yet another on Wednesday and then again Thursday; all of it eventually turns into a whirlwind.
This is now the life of former WVU men’s basketball standout Jevon Carter.
In a matter of just a few months, his life went from situated and scheduled to hectic and forever on the go, as he criss-crosses the country to work out for NBA teams looking to draft the former WVU point guard.
“Seven before this,” Carter told a media gathering following a pre-draft workout with the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday. “It’s getting hard to remember, honestly.”
The 76ers, who hold six picks in the June 21 draft — including three from Nos. 25-40, the range in which Carter is projected to be selected — were the eighth team that brought him in for a workout.
“I think it went pretty well,” Carter said. “I was just going as hard as I can and competing. I just went out there and showed what I can do. I’m just giving it all I got.”
Before working out in Philadelphia, Carter was invited to workouts with the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns.
He also worked out at the NBA Combine, in Chicago, last month, where he interviewed with the Detroit Pistons.
After Philadelphia, Carter has workouts scheduled with the Brooklyn Nets and Orlando Magic.
At the very least, the two-time NABC Defensive Player of the Year is a wanted man. In published reports, Carter was linked as a possible draft pick with the Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers.
Just where Carter falls and to which team is a true guessing game.
Two things work against him as a lottery pick:
Size. Carter was measured at 6-foot-1 1/2 with shoes at the combine.
The lack of a stellar outside shot. Carter shot 40.7 percent from the field in and 35.5 percent from 3-point range in his career.
Yet, his defensive energy, passing skills, ability to guard some of the top college guards and his overall knowledge of how to play make him an interesting enough prospect that some NBA teams might take a look at Carter late in the first round.
“I pride myself on getting stops,” Carter said. “I feel like basketball is played on both ends. You’ve got to be able to want to guard. That way teams can’t key on you like you’re the weak link. If somebody is keying on me like I’m the weak link, I’m going to take that very personally.”
There is another point of view on Carter’s NBA status, one provided by WVU men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins.
Huggins takes his vision of Carter’s professional career past the NBA draft with the idea that it makes little difference which team selects Carter, but rather how long Carter will stick in the league once being drafted.
“I can’t imagine some team not taking him in the first round,” Huggins said. “It’s a need basis, too, and there are a lot of factors, but I would be a little surprised if he wasn’t taken in the first round.
“He’s going to play. He’s going to play 10-12 years, whether he goes 19th overall or whether he goes 39th. I don’t have any doubt that’s he’s going to have a career in the NBA.”
