June 6, 2012

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Jared Cunningham left Oregon State after his junior season when he declared for the NBA Draft at a press conference at Gill Coliseum on April 9. The 6-foot-4 guard concluded his Beavers career with 11 school records, 13th all-time in scoring, second in steals and is expected to be the first Oregon State player drafted in the NBA since Corey Benjamin in 1998. Cunningham will provide an occasional blog about his road from student-athlete to professional basketball player before and after the draft, which is scheduled for June 28 and will be televised live on ESPN.

My life has been crazy since that press conference at Oregon State when I announced that I was declaring for the NBA Draft. There are times when I don't know what day it is and other times when I don't even know what city I'm in. What I do know is that I've been working out as hard as I can to get ready for the draft on June 28.

Press Conference
The decision to leave Oregon State was the hardest decision I've ever made. I already miss my teammates and coaches, and everybody in Corvallis. My dream has always been to play in the NBA and I felt like the time was right for me to pursue that dream. I remember sitting at the press conference with Coach Robinson and seeing all of the people in the room who were there to support me. It meant a lot that a bunch of my teammates, our coaches and other people from the athletic department were there. It was really cool that our athletic director came, too.

After the press conference, a lot of people were doubting me and saying it was a bad decision for me to leave. I can't believe some of the things people said to me on Twitter. That's when I knew I couldn't pay attention to what people say about me. I just felt like the time was right. I was comfortable with my decision and I know about my hard work and ability.

Los Angeles
Three days after my announcement, I went to L.A. and started working out at the Boys and Girls Club in Santa Monica. It was a new environment for me and I worked out three times a day. The first workout was at 8:00 in the morning when I did strength and conditioning and agility drills. The second workout was at 11:00 when I got on the court with Mitch Richmond and did workouts like shooting and skill work. Mitch played in the NBA for a long time for teams like Golden State, Sacramento and the Lakers and is one of the most underrated two guards to ever play the game. He knows what he's talking about. He's been through it and it was great to get the knowledge from him and learn things. I went to Compton for my third workout of the day around 4:00 when I did dribbling skills and contact stuff with one of the trainers from that area.

I went to a lot of the Clippers and Lakers games when I was in Los Angeles and that was cool to be around the guys after the games. I got to be around Blake Griffin and learn from him about what it's like being in the NBA. It was getting acclimated with the situation I want to be in. I also talked to Lamar Odom a little bit. He talked to me about being a combo guard in the league and adding extra value playing the one or two and told me to just compete every day. After a month and a half in L.A., I started working out two times a day so I wouldn't be drained for the workouts.

21st Birthday
I had my 21st birthday in L.A. My entire family came down and my older sister, Jade, graduated from Cal State Northridge on my birthday. My parents came down and we all went to dinner with my agent Sam Goldfeder and his family. The best birthday gift I got was seeing my sister graduate. I'll never forget that.

NBA Team Workouts
When it was time for me to start the workouts with the NBA teams, I wasn't nervous. I was more prepared than nervous. I was living with Luc Mbah a Moute who went to UCLA and is now with the Milwaukee Bucks. He told me what to do at the workouts and what to look for. There are only three or four players at each workout. The teams want to test how hard you can compete and put your skills in front of people watching you. There are a lot of 2-on-2 and 1-on-1 drills.

My first workout was with the Golden State Warriors. Jorge Gutierrez from California was there and I had a little bit of anger in me for him getting Pac-12 Player of the Year. So I wanted to go hard. I felt real good about that workout.

Then I went to Miami. It was the first time I traveled that far for a workout. Draymond Green from Michigan State, Royce White from Iowa State and Mike Scott from Virginia were there, too. I went and saw the ocean and just chilled there for a little bit and enjoyed the weather after the workout.

After Miami, I've been on the road for good. I went to Detroit, the Motor City, and it was fun there. They had a lot of interest in me as a person. Kim English from Missouri and Orlando Johnson from UC Santa Barbara were also there.

After Detroit I went to Cleveland. That went real well. I really like that city. I worked out against John Jenkins from Vanderbilt, Marquis Teague from Kentucky and Reggie Hamilton from Oakland who was the leading scorer in the nation last season. I talked to John Jenkins about the Legends Classic championship game when we lost to Vandy by two points. He said it was a hard game and they were lucky to win.

Then I went to Milwaukee. Tony Wroten from Washington was at that one and we caught up and talked about the game in the Pac-12 Tournament. We talked about how bad it was at the end of the game with the missed free throws. I'm glad we got the win. I didn't say anything to him about that. Jordan Taylor from Wisconsin and Darius Johnson-Odom from Marquette were also there.

After Milwaukee I came to Chicago and had a real good workout against some great players. I got to work out against Doron Lamb from Kentucky, John Jenkins again, Will Barton from Memphis and Hollis Thompson from Georgetown.

The teams thought my athleticism was great and my shooting was where I wanted it to be. I feel real good about all of the workouts and feel like I've helped myself a lot heading into the combine.

NBA Draft Combine
It was a great feeling when I got invited to the NBA Draft Combine. Only three players from the Pac-12 got invited; me and Tony Wroten and Terrence Ross from Washington. The biggest thing is to show your skills against other great players going into the draft. The general managers, scouts and pro players get to see what they want to see. They want to see how everybody measures up. I'm ready to show everyone what I can do and excited for the opportunity.

I'm glad it's on television so Beaver fans can watch me and see all of the hard work I've been doing. I think it's cool that Coach Robinson is coming to support me. I'm glad he can come down. That means a lot to me.

Thank you, Beaver Nation
I sent a video thanking everybody for the Benny Award I got for Best Performance. It was cool to receive a Benny. I plan on going back to Corvallis in July for a couple of days to see some people and the coaches and team. I'll always be a Beaver and I hope to make all of you proud.

Go Beavs!

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