Spring Break
Waiting to go pro
Josh Carter did not plan on playing his senior year at Texas A&M, but he's glad he is
By: David Arno
Issue date: 11/13/08 Section: Sports
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"I decided to enter to see where I'd be, what teams thought about me, so I turned in a draft evaluation form," Carter said. "They called me and told me I'd be anywhere from the second round to undrafted."
The scouts told Carter he could do workouts and try to improve his position, but a return to A&M and college basketball began to look like a better prospect.
"You can't really beat playing college basketball for A&M," Carter said. "It's a great place to be, so I thought I'd pass up the workouts and the pre-draft camps, and just try to position myself better for next year."
Carter has enjoyed a strong 3-year career at A&M. He holds the school record for highest career 3-point field goal percentage at 42.5 percent, and during his sophomore year, co-led the nation in 3-point percentage at 50 percent.
"I was happy for him." junior guard Donald Sloan said about Carter declaring for the draft. "After the type of year he had his sophomore year, I kind of thought he'd do it then. I guess he thought he wasn't ready, and came back then. Last year he had another good year, and I was happy for him when he declared, but still wishing that he'd come back and help out the team."
Head Coach Mark Turgeon said he was in a difficult position when Carter declared for the draft. He knew Carter had NBA potential, but there were a few things he needed to work on before taking the next step. Turgeon said Carter benefited from hearing from NBA teams on how to develop certain aspects of his game.
"Being a new coach and having not recruited Josh, I really tried to give him the freedom to decide what he wanted to do," Turgeon said. "Had I recruited him, I probably wouldn't have let him because I didn't think he was ready. But he was coming off of a good NCAA tournament, he was feeling good about himself and in hindsight, it worked out well for us, because he was humbled by the situation.
"He has worked harder, and now he's on a mission to prove to [NBA teams] that he can play on that level."
Though he decided to return to A&M, Carter said declaring for the draft was an advantageous experience.
"[Preparing for the NBA Draft] was good," he said. "It got me working on things that I wasn't too good at, like ball-handling, defense, coming off of screens better, so I got to prepare myself more for this season and I'll be able to help my team in ways that I couldn't last year."
After getting tips from NBA teams on how to improve his game, Carter said he is glad to be back at A&M because he's been an Aggie fan since he was young.
"I grew up an Aggie, so to be able to play here longer is really good," Carter said. "Since sixth grade, I remember putting on my Christmas list, 'A&M stuff.' I don't really know how I became such a big A&M fan, it just seems like one day I woke up and I loved A&M. All I ever did was to want to watch football games in my A&M clothes."
Carter is one of two seniors on the 2008-2009 squad. Bryson Graham, the other senior, has had limited playing time during his A&M career because of a knee injury. After losing three seniors from the 2007-2008 team, the Aggies will need Carter to play a strong leadership role.
"I think he's a good leader. He leads by example," Sloan said. "He's not the most vocal guy, but he leads by showing us what to do. That's his role, seeing him do that it just rubs off on other people, and really gets everybody else going."
Josh Carter by the numbers
8 Carter hit eight 3-pointers in three different games during the 2006-2007 season.
1,098 Career points for Carter, No. 25 in Texas A&M history.
26 Points in the 2008 NCAA tournament game against BYU, tied a career-high.
50 Percent from the 3-point line in 2006-2007, No. 1 in the nation.
222 3-pointers made by Carter in his Texas A&M career.
11 3-pointers needed by Carter to break the school record of 232 by Bernard King.
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