Top Centers Considering Pro Decisions

Santa Ana Mater Dei center Jamal Sampson, who has signed a letter of intent to play at California, said Wednesday he is considering declaring himself eligible for the NBA draft because he isn’t “really into school.”

“I’m giving it a good consideration,” said Sampson, a 6-foot-11 center. “I had a few [coaches] ask around, and they said [I could go] middle of the first round or late in the first round. If I was guaranteed middle of the first round, I would give it a lot of consideration.”

Tyson Chandler, a 7-foot-1 senior at Compton Dominguez High who is regarded as a possible lottery pick, also is mulling his future.

High school players who make themselves available for the June 27 NBA draft must file a letter to the NBA commissioner’s office stating their intent to renounce college eligibility, NBA spokesman Peter Steber said. The letter must be received by the NBA commissioner’s office no later than 11:59 p.m. EST on May 13, said Steber, who added that the league will not release names of those who have declared until after May 13.

Steber said players can remove their names from the draft by June 20 without losing college eligibility as long as they have not hired an agent or violated other NCAA rules.

High school players are eligible for the draft if they have graduated or if their class has graduated, he said.

Despite media reports, Chandler, a McDonald’s All-American who averaged 26 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots this season, has yet to confirm whether he will turn pro.

Vernie Threadgill, Chandler’s mother, said Tuesday night that “he has not made his final decision.”

Chandler, who sat out the state regional final and Division II state championship game because of a severely sprained right ankle, had said that either a press conference would be held or a news release would be issued Monday through Dominguez. School officials, however, said they were not aware of either scenario. No press conference was held and a release was not issued.

Sampson made 71.3% of his shots this season and averaged 15.5 points, 10 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots for Division I state champion Mater Dei, but he sat out 11 games because of various foot ailments. Over the last two seasons, Sampson sat out 22 games and failed to develop into the superstar many expected him to be.

But he said NBA teams might still find him attractive because of his size and promise.

“A lot of people who come out, [NBA teams] judge them on potential, not at where they’re at now,” Sampson said. “A lot of people who have come out in recent years, Korleone Young and guys like that, I’m pretty much on the same level as they were and they were still first-rounders.”

(Young actually was selected in the second round of the 1998 draft by the Detroit Pistons. He has since been waived by the Philadelphia 76ers.)

Sampson said he expects to have surgery in early April to remove a bone spur in his right foot. Then he would attend draft camps “to see where I’m predicted to go.”

“If I can’t get myself ready to work out during the camps,” Sampson said, “I wouldn’t declare, I would go to college.”

Sampson said he has the qualifying grades and SAT score to enter California.