The NBA Draft was more than a little unpredictable this year. Starting with the Cleveland Cavaliers picking Anthony Bennett out of UNLV (my pick would have been Georgetown’s Otto Porter). That set off a lot of changes up and down the draft. Plenty of trades. But at the number 12 spot, Oklahoma stood pat and took Steven Adams as many expected.

Adams, the 7-foot center who spent one season at Pitt after emigrating from New Zealand, is the fifth Pitt player to be selected in the first round of the NBA draft and the first since Vonteego Cummings in 1999. The other Panthers taken in round one were Charles Smith and Jerome Lane in 1988 and Eric Mobley in 1994. He is the first Pitt freshman to be selected in the first round.

Adams is the fifth player coached by Jamie Dixon to be selected in the draft, following DeJuan Blair and Sam Young (second round in 2009), Aaron Gray (second round in 2007) and Chris Taft (second round in 2005).

Selfishly, I would have loved for Adams to stay at Pitt another year. Yes, he would have further developed, but I’m not convinced that he would have gone much higher in the draft in 2014. (Not to mention the possibility of injuries.)

Not because of how he would be used at Pitt. Or as some want to believe that Dixon would waste him. It’s simply the numbers.

The 2014 draft already looks loaded. It will have players like Andrew Wiggins, Marcus Smart, Jabari Parker, Julius Randle, Mitch McGary, Glenn Robinson, James McAdoo, the usual slew of one-and-dones from Kentucky, Euro players we know nothing about, and plenty of others. 2014 is shaping up to be one of those high talent draft years.

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Apparently the tryout with the Baltimore Ravens didn’t work out for Tino Sunseri. That won’t deter him from following his dream. Even it it takes him to the Great White North. Cue it up:

Can’t believe there was never an actual video made.

Sunseri is trying to make the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. Credit for noting this to Cardiac Hill.

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Don’t forget, today is National Networking Day for Pitt. Hopefully you have something happening in your area. Unfortunately, nothing here in the Cleveland area. If you are involved, feel free to leave specific info about your city’s event in the comments below.

Jester Weah has wheels.

With graduation from Madison (Wis.) Memorial High School and his first class at Pitt awaiting come June, Weah will try to make Wisconsin track and field history Friday and Saturday at the state championships at Wisconsin-Lacrosse University. He is the No. 1 seed in the 100-meter run and No. 3 in the 200, with school-record times of 10.59 and 21.94 seconds — in his first full year of running track.

“That’s crazy to think about,” Weah said.

He’s 6-3, 190 pounds and can run like that. Can’t say he doesn’t have the raw tools. It would be nice in a few years to have Wisconsin fans wondering how they missed a kid in their own town.

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Darrell Strong:

I told my mother 7yrs ago I would come back and get my degree prior to leaving school early to chase… instagram.com/p/YqEbMnGMIK/

— Darrell Strong (@DarrellStrong82) April 28, 2013

Congratulations.

Lets go pitt!!!! instagram.com/p/YqQ7gGGMNL/

— Darrell Strong (@DarrellStrong82) April 28, 2013

Over the years I’ve made no secret of my love of good beer. Along with bourbon, Scotch, and assorted other spirits. This past summer, after years of whining about wanting to do it, I finally started doing some homebrewing. I’m enjoying it, and now engaging in the predictable lament of not having enough time to do it as often as I would like. Brewing has a fair amount of gap. Time to idly daydream while waiting for the next step. There’s plenty of time to fantasize about doing it fulltime. Trying to make a living at it. Even the crappiest homebrewer has those daydreams.

One of the readers — usd121 — is actually living that dream. He is the head brewer at Voodoo Brewery in Meadville, PA.

Curt is debuting his first beer on Thursday. It is an IPA named HTP.

For those that can’t figure out the acronym, that’s Hail To Pitt.

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If you are a senior who goes undrafted by the NBA, the odds are stacked heavily against making it. Maybe there’s a chance in the summer leagues, but more likely you would find yourself either playing in the NBDL trying to get a crack. Maybe scoring the occasional 10-day contract because injuries have piled up to such a degree at the parent club that they need a body, or the team is trying so hard to tank they bring up guys who they figure can’t compete.

The smart play is to immediately look to the overseas leagues to start making money. Earn a good living for a while playing the game you love. You can earn a much better rate of pay, and one would like to hope start saving some to plan for the future. Trying to crack the NBA is more dream.

You do it, because when you were a kid playing. Whether in high school, college or even on the street; you dreamed of suiting up for your team in the NBA. To play on what is the biggest stage. Where everyone could see you play. Even if you are on the fringe of the NBA, making the leauge minimum as opposed to a bigger deal you could get in Europe or Russia.

Brad Wanamaker knows getting to the NBA is not as likely, but he’s going to stick with the poor pay of the NBDL a while longer.

Wanamaker knows sooner or later that he’ll have to make a decision on whether to chase the money or the dream of playing in the NBA.

“I’m only 22, and I feel like I have a lot of basketball ahead of me,” Wanamaker said. “I have a lot of time to make money. Right now, I’m still chasing my dream.”

He even left playing overseas to join the NBDL Austin Toros after the lockout ended for this year.

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Congratulations to Dom DeCicco and Henry Hynoski. Now that the NFL Lockout is finished, NFL teams are permitted to sign undrafted free agents. Today is the first day that players can officially sign

DeCicco will get a chance with the Chicago Bears.

“I knew my time would eventually come,” he said, pointing out that waiting for the lockout to end was difficult.

“The only (thing) I can compare it to is when you play a bad game and you want that next week to come so bad so you can prove yourself.”

DeCicco, who played on one PIAA champion and two WPIAL title winners at Thomas Jefferson, said he had calls from the Steelers, Bills, Bears and Saints on Monday. He chose the Bears because they brought him to Chicago for a pre-draft visit and he developed a relationship with linebackers coach Bob Babich of Aliquippa and scout Rex Hogan.

“It made the most sense, even though they weren’t offering the most money,” he said.

Hynoski will take a shot with the New Jersey Giants — after a little debate.

It’s the July recruiting period. That means Coach Dixon and assistants Brandin Knight and Bill Barton are out watching kids at tournaments all over the place. Twitter updates when sited by the various media folks also watching. Right now, so many players that Pitt is potentially pursuing for 2012 (2 scholarships), 2013 (2 scholarships) and 2014 (3 scholarships).

It’s nice seeing Pitt listed in the mix with players that have big name interest, but at this point in the recruiting cycle it is hard to be sure how realistic some are — especially for 2014 recruits. There are actually some good recruits from Pittsburgh on the radar. Granted, James Young, is going to HS in NJ, but he is a kid from the Pittsburgh area.

Still, some of it are from the kids themselves just rattling off names of schools they heard from. Not even always with confirmed offers. The compliment is seeing Pitt listed among the top teams at least looking at the kids.

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Yes, there is a looming dearth of news, so this gets posted with more than simply part of a round-up.

The NFL Lockout may continue, but LeSean McCoy carried forward with his second annual community day in Harrisburg.

McCoy’s second annual event was highlighted by the basketball tournament and other activities.

McCoy, who held a bowling tournament Friday night to benefit Alzheimer’s research, said he has been working out, mainly in Miami, under the direction of a trainer affiliated with his agent, Drew Rosenhaus.

“It’s so tough now, with the lockout,” he said. “I really can’t work out with my teammates. Good weather [in Miami], I’ve gotten some of that bad weight off.”

And in case you really thought the running back with two years in the NFL really had any influence with the Eagles in drafting Dion Lewis — no.

McCoy said he was very happy to see the Eagles draft his successor at Pitt, Dion Lewis, although he clarified he was just joking when he tweeted after the draft that he had advised Andy Reid to take Lewis.

The charity bowling took place in Palmyra, to raise money for ALS research.

Big Pitt event the other night. Athletics at Pitt: The Forefront of a Century of Change.

Many former Panther greats were in attendance, including Tony Dorsett (Pitt’s only Heisman Trophy winner), Larry Fitzgerald (first sophomore to win the Walter Camp Award and a unanimous first team All American selection), and track star Trecia-Kaye Smith (15-time NCAA Champion).

Individuals such as Bobby Grier (first African-American ever to play in the Sugar Bowl) and Hugh Green (three-time All American; winner of the Maxwell Award) shared the red carpet walk from the dais to the main stage with more recent Panthers such as women’s basketball standouts Lorri Johnson (all-time leading scorer) and Jennifer Bruce Scott (second leading scorer in history).

Short films narrated by broadcast pioneer Jack Whitaker and CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield – who was in attendance – and former Panther star Mark May brought to light the path of African-Americans in sport at Pitt. Costas conducted a question and answer with several former athletes, including all-time leading men’s basketball scorer and shot blocker Charles Smith and two-time Olympic gold medalist Roger Kingdom.

All former athletes in attendance were asked to sign a commemorative banner which will be placed on display in the Petersen Events Center.

The event culminated a dream for dinner chair Herb Douglas. The 89-year old, the oldest living former Panther athlete, had a vision of gathering as many generations together for one evening to celebrate the past 100 years and embrace the future. Douglas was the 1948 Olympic bronze medal winner in the long jump.

There’s a list of some of the former greats of Pitt athletics who attended the event. The collection of photographs could stand to have some captions, but I’m sure you can recognize plenty of people in the images.

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Did you know that today is Pitt’s Media Day? And I didn’t get an invite. Shocking, I know. Well, that means there should be some more local stories tomorrow. In the mean time, here are some other things to note.

Everyone has probably seen, read and digested the Jamie Dixon piece from the P-G over the weekend. Nice one. I hope Coach Dixon stays a long time at Pitt, not just because he is an excellent coach and appears to be a great guy. But because it would mean Pitt basketball is still thriving. Check out Pitt Script’s take on things.

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Greetings from NYC.

I’m looking over the Nike itinerary and part of the time is a chance for 1-on-1 interviews with the presenters.

As Ruben Brown is presenting the Pitt unis, I now have to figure out what to say to him other than, “Gee, you sure are big.”

Suggestions welcome.

Summer time. Summer camps. Some mornings go better than others to get them moving. No children died today, but emotional scarring may have taken place.

Chris McKillop, the older brother of Scott McKillop and a good player in his own right at Pitt, has been looking at getting into coaching.

The 25-year-old was brought aboard as a graduate assistant to coach the defensive line at Duquesne this year. Last season, he served as a football intern, assisting with linebackers, special teams, strength and conditioning and equipment management at Division II West Virginia Wesleyan.

“At a smaller, Division II school like that, every coach has a bunch of responsibilities,” McKillop said. “It was a good experience. I got to see what it’s like. Now, I see things from a different perspective.”

He’s also taking a graduate program in sports leadership. Something that can aid for the administrative side of things.

Relating to a McKillop, Scott has been in town to help out at some of the  camps Coach Wannstedt has been running this year. He was in for the 7-on-7 passing camps. As was D.J. Dinkins — who despite being a journeyman NFL player making the minimum — continues to work in whatever community he is based to help kids.

Current and former players were also involved with the youth camp, including D.J. Dinkins, backup tight end for the Super Bowl-winning New Orleans Saints and a former Panther.

“I think it’s great that these boys can come out and just run around and have fun,” Dinkins said. “Through all the publicity and hype that football gets, it’s still just a game.”

Scott McKillop, a more recent Pitt alumnus, also made an appearance at the camp. McKillop is now a reserve/special teams linebacker with the San Francisco 49ers.

“I think it’s awesome,” he said of the camp. “Anytime you can start kids at a young age and get them exposed to football, and show them how fun it is, when they get older they’ll be a step ahead of other kids.”

Very, very interesting about these camps.

That’s why the Pitt coaching staff has changed its philosophy on the prospect camps this year. At a time when many college camps are seeing a decline in attendance because of the economy, the Panthers had almost 300 more players attend their June prospect camps this year than last.

The fix was simple. Wannstedt invited 65 to 70 coaches from more than 40 universities — from the Mid-American Conference, Division I-AA, Division II and Division III schools — to work with and scout players at the camp. As a result, more high school players had an opportunity to get recruited.

“We’d get 100 or 200 kids here [in camp] and, really, we might only be interested in four or five and maybe one we’d offer a scholarship,” Wannstedt said. “That just didn’t sit right with me. I thought we could make the experience better for the players and really make the camps something that could help more kids play college football.

“We can only take 15 to 25 kids every year but there are an awful lot of really good football players out there who we’d bring to our camps and I felt like we could do a better job to make the camps something that would be helpful to them and help them get a shot that maybe they wouldn’t get otherwise.”

Now, beyond the cool thing of simply making more kids available to be evaluated to other programs, this is a brilliant goodwill program in the area.

You not only make the camp more than just learning for the kids, and an opportunity to be seen. You have them going back to their high schools talking about it. How Pitt and the coaches gave them opportunities.

Then there is the goodwill with the lower 1-A schools that get to take part. They know Pitt and Coach Wannstedt are helping them, and saving them some vital recruiting budget money. They can get a chance to evaluate and review more possible kids without having to go out as much on the recruiting trail. They can hone in on others. That goodwill can only help Pitt when it comes to getting the non-con games on the schedule later.

Also have to love how Coach Wannstedt puts all the money to the assistants rather than his own pocket.

Finally, congrats to Nate Byham for signing a deal with the 49ers.

The San Francisco 49ers have signed rookie tight end Nate Byham to a four-year deal.

The team announced the deal with its sixth-round pick Monday. Byham is the fourth of San Francisco’s eight draft picks to sign a contract.

DeJuan Blair was back in Pittsburgh for a few days while his basketball camp was happening.  Blair lends his name to the camp and makes appearances, but leaves to operations to those that know what they are doing. That said, he was there each day and had fun.

“It was pretty cool,” said Anthony Pettko, 10, of Mt. Lebanon, wearing the No. 45 San Antonio Spurs jersey of his favorite NBA player. “A couple of my friends got to play him one-on-one. He took it easy on them.”

Blair, the former Pitt star who just finished his rookie season with the Spurs, is hosting his own youth basketball camp at Robert Morris University.

The four-day camp, run by Five-Star Basketball, opened Tuesday for boys and girls ages 9 through 18.

“It was amazing,” Blair said. “They couldn’t believe I was playing with them and interacting with them like I was. It was as fun for me as it was for them.”

Then it was time to head back to San Antonio briefly before heading to Vegas for NBA summer league — which starts today.

The only Spur to play in all 82 regular-season games last season, Blair was given a summer assignment by head coach Gregg Popovich: Develop a jumper, and learn how Spurs power forwards defend.

Summer league will seem a lot like summer school.

“Pop told me he wanted me to learn the four, and that’s what I want to do,” Blair said. “It’s all about developing, so the more I can play, the more I can get better.”

Not long after the Spurs were swept from the second round of the playoffs by the Suns, Blair was back in the gym working with Spurs shooting coach Chip Engelland.

“I’ve put a lot of time in, almost every day in the summer,” Blair said. “I’m just trying to get a shot to add on to my game and try to get quicker and try to get my body down.”

Blair had the option of going easier. Staying in San Antonio and just working with the coaches on developing his game. Instead Blair insisted on going to summer league.

Initially, the Spurs were leaning toward keeping Blair home to focus on individual workouts. Blair, an NBA All-Rookie selection last season, had other plans.

“He wanted to play,” said Dell Demps, the Spurs’ director of player personnel and de facto GM of the summer league team. “The one good thing about DeJuan is he wants to get better. For him to want to come play in this, I think it says a lot about his commitment to getting better.”

It’s not just a credit to Blair’s work ethic, but a smart move on his part to make sure he doesn’t find himself crowded out of the Spurs’ frontcourt. Tiago Splitter is finally joining the Spurs. That is addition to Tim Duncan, Antonio McDyess, Matt Bonner and Blair. Minutes could be tougher this year.

A couple alumni stories.

The first, and closest, is on Chevy Troutman visiting in Pittsburgh while off from playing European basketball.

“It’s a lot different,” he said. “I still do the pick and roll. A lot of times, I play defense on big guys, but I switch out on guards a lot. Sometimes, I’ll guard the best wing player or shooter because I’m versatile.

“I went overseas to explore my face-up game. It’s a lot more fun. It’s a little more freedom for me. I basically call my shots. I’m one of the leaders. It’s nice.”

In Italian Serie A each team is allowed three American players. Adapting to a different style of basketball was challenging at first, but Troutman has developed into one of the league’s top players.

“The coaches over there, they let you do what you do best,” he said. “If you try something new, they don’t care too much. The Americans are supposed to be the guys that make things happen. We have a lot of pressure on us to make things happen as opposed to being in a team-oriented situation like we had at Pitt. For an American over there, it’s either you [produce] or you go home.”

Troutman is back in Pittsburgh for the next few weeks before heading back to Italy. He plays pickup games with Pitt players at the Petersen Events Center and has not ruled out playing in the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Pro-Am, which continues until the third week of July.

He is in a good situation overseas with money and the game. He also doesn’t have to worry about an impending lockout in the NBA. Yet another Pitt player of recent years who seems to want to come back and be around the program.

Meanwhile, further removed in time from his playing days at Pitt, Rod Brookin is trying to get back to high school basketball coaching in his hometown.

Although Brookin’s been out of the coaching biz for a handful of years — he piloted the Burgettstown High School program for two seasons at the beginning of the century and spent one season at the Community College of Allegheny County — he’s always been tuned in back home.

“I never lost touch with what was going on in Steelton,” said Brookin, who scored 1,047 career points during a four-year run at Pitt (1986-90) that included three NCAA tournament appearances. “I knew when they were winning, I knew when they were losing, I knew when things weren’t going well.

“There’s some things you don’t forget. You may forget how to play, but you never forget how to coach the game to kids,” Brookin added. “I learned that from [former Steel-High coach] Jack Hoerner all the way up to [Pitt coach] Paul Evans. When I was at Pitt, my assistant coach was John Calipari.

“They told me you’re going to forget how to play, because you’re going to get old. So, before your mind goes, get into coaching. Looking at that, when I walk into the gym [at Steel-High], I see that scoring list up there and my name is up top. The reason why my name is there is I had great teachers.”

Good luck to Rod. He seems quite sincere about this, and wanting to help the kids beyond simply being a coach.