Bill Duffy distinctly remembers when he realized Demetris Nichols could be an NBA player.

‘I saw him last summer working out in Chicago with 12 NBA players and he fit right in,’ said Duffy, Nichols’ agent. ‘That’s when he showed me what he was capable of.’

That’s when Duffy took a vested interest in the budding Syracuse star. Two weeks ago, Nichols returned the favor.

Nichols picked Duffy’s firm, BDA Sports, which also represents former SU stars Carmelo Anthony and Hakim Warrick as well as NBA names like Yao Ming, Steve Nash, Tayshaun Prince and Leandro Barbosa, as his representation headed into the NBA Draft.

In a phone interview from California, Duffy said he would be surprised if Nichols wasn’t selected in the draft, which takes place June 28 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

‘We’ve been watching him mature throughout his four-year career,’ Duffy said. ‘He’s a 6-foot-7 player who can shoot the ball.’

Nichols led the Big East in scoring this past season, with 18.9 points per game and started games all four years at Syracuse. He was an honorable mention All-American team member as voted by the Associated Press.

Numerous attempts to contact Nichols through BDA Sports were unsuccessful.

Duffy is especially enamored with Nichols’ seemingly effortless ability to shoot the ball from deep. Nichols was a career 35.8 percent shooter from 3-point range in his four years at SU, but during his senior season, that rate climbed to 41.7 percent. Nichols finished his career with the third-most made 3-pointers in Syracuse history, trailing only Gerry McNamara and Preston Shumpert.

Syracuse has not had a player selected in the NBA Draft since Warrick in 2005. Currently there are only four former SU players in the NBA – Warrick, Anthony, Wizards center Etan Thomas and Clippers guard Jason Hart.

Duffy thinks NBA talent scouts undervalue Nichols.

‘People like him,’ Duffy said. ‘But I think he may be drafted lower than he probably should.’

Online mock drafts put Nichols at various points in the second round and Duffy can see his client landing anywhere in the second. Chad Ford of ESPN.com has Nichols ranked No. 57 in his list of top 100 prospects. There are 60 picks in the draft.

Duffy admits it’s much too early to predict exact draft positions, but there are some advantages to being a second-round pick.

‘If you’re a second-rounder, there’s less pressure, and you can be an overachiever,’ Duffy said. ‘And it works the other way, too.’

The contracts are also shorter for second rounders, so if one plays well, he becomes a free agent sooner and can theoretically earn the bigger payday – the second contract – before a first-round pick.

Duffy specifically mentioned second-round picks Michael Redd and Monta Ellis as examples of players with talent who surprised evaluators and scouts once they actually made it to the NBA and impressed.

But that doesn’t mean there’s work to do.

‘I think he will be quite a talent in the NBA when he figures it out,’ Duffy said.

Those five words, ‘when he figures it out,’ open questions about Nichols’ ball-handling skills, perhaps the greatest knock on Nichols ever since he stepped foot on campus.

Duffy acknowledged that’s what he wants Nichols to focus most on – showing that he’s more than a one-dimensional player who can just shoot the ball. He said Nichols has a sort of athleticism that NBA teams look for. He just needs to refine it.

‘There’s always a lot to figure out (when adjusting to the NBA game),’ Duffy said. ‘The tempo is a major adjustment. You’re required to handle the ball more.’

Duffy said there could definitely be improvement in Nichols’ ball-handling skills. Still, he said, there’s a lot to be said about a four-year starter that has matured and progressed each year in a complex system, such as SU head coach Jim Boeheim’s 2-3 zone defense.

‘He’s a great example as someone who he struggled his freshman year, in-and-out, played some,’ Boeheim said after Nichols’ game-winning shot at Providence on Feb. 24. ‘In and out his sophomore year. His answer to that is, ‘I’m going to work harder.’ Those are the guys who are successful. The guys who give up and leave are never successful.’

Duffy said he initially met with Nichols and his mother, Janice Mallory, and fell in love with both. His message to the soft-spoken Nichols was simple.

‘I told him, first of all, we believed in him,’ Duffy recollected.

Apparently, that’s enough for a player who has lived behind the limelight his entire college career. Duffy said Nichols would train in New York City or Chicago after school is finished and before the draft takes place. The focus now is to ready Nichols for the process of the draft and auditioning for potential NBA suitors, while always working on the ball-handling skills.

Said Duffy: ‘I think he’ll be a guy who scores a lot of points in the NBA.’

Published on May 6, 2007 at 12:00 pm