Pruitt gives it his best shot in preparation of NBA draft

Tim Grover isn't in the false- hope business.

He's in the business of turning fine basketball players - guys such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade - into multimillionaires, NBA champions and international icons.

Or, in the case of 2004 West Aurora High School graduate Shaun Pruitt, the 43-year-old founder and owner of Attack Athletics has been paid $10,000 to turn a guy who wasn't ranked among the Big Ten's top 15 players this season (by the league's coaches) into an NBA-worthy specimen.

During three months of daily workouts at Attack's spacious new state-of-the-art facility on Chicago's West Side - he started less than two weeks after Illinois' season ended in the Big Ten tournament final - Pruitt slashed 15 pounds of fat, added 5 feet of range to his jump shot and defended guys like LeBron James and Antoine Walker during the gym's celebrated afternoon run.

More Coverage Video Shaun Pruitt talks about the NBA draft Stories NBA stars, draft prospects work out at Attack Athletics [6/26/08] But has the 6-foot-9, 240-pound Pruitt done enough to hear his name announced during today's NBA draft?"He's come a long way, he really has," Grover said Wednesday. "I honestly feel Shaun has the potential to make an NBA roster now. With all the progress he has made in a short period of time - and he continues to progress - I think he has a legitimate shot."He will be ... if he doesn't make a roster, he will be one of the last individuals that's cut. A team will be like, 'Should we keep him? Should we not?' because he does all the intangibles. He runs the floor. He'll sacrifice his body. He plays defense. He's extremely annoying on the court for his opponent."Grover said six teams called to get his unvarnished opinion on Pruitt.At the same time, Pruitt has flown to Indianapolis, Toronto and Seattle (twice) for official workouts and interviews.He battled with Kansas' Darrell Arthur and LSU's Anthony Randolph at Indiana, went head to head with Florida's Marreese Speights at Toronto, and matched up with Georgetown's Roy Hibbert and Memphis' Joey Dorsey at Seattle.All five of those guys figure to hear their names tonight. How did Pruitt fare against them?His agent, Mike Naiditch of Chicago, received feedback like this:" 'Shaun showed very good effort and aggressiveness, he competed with this group,' " said Naiditch, reading e-mails on his BlackBerry. " 'He played hard and gave good effort. He's done a good job of changing his body.' "After weighing at much as 255 pounds during his senior year at Illinois, Pruitt was down to 242 for the Orlando predraft camp late last month."We gave him two lists of food, 'YES' and 'NO,'" Grover said with a smile. Pruitt lost the rest of the weight during his extensive workouts, which began every weekday by 9 a.m.After working on skills for more than an hour with Grover or personal trainers Bruce Prince and Malcolm Price - on Wednesday he showcased unprecedented extension on his jumper - Pruitt would head into the weight room.Then there would be time for a massage and some lunch before starting his afternoon workout.Has it been enough?"I'm just nervous," Pruitt said. "There's so many good guys in the draft. But there's nothing I can do about it (now). Just relax."Though he watches the NBA draft every year, Pruitt hasn't decided whether to sit in front of the TV or go to the movies to get away from it all."There's a lot at stake, but there's really not," Pruitt said. "Because going in the second round sometimes is the same as not being drafted anyway (because it's non-guaranteed money)."But it would mean a lot, honestly, to get my name called." 512360Former Illinois center Shaun Pruitt does one of his last workouts prior to the NBA draft at the Attack complex in Chicago.Mark Welsh | Staff Photographer