Following Jazz workout, Jeremy Senglin out to follow in Weber State's NBA lineage


7 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Jeremy Senglin stepped off the plane at Salt Lake City International Airport, and the native of Arlington, Texas, took a look around.

The mountains to the east. The salt flats to the west. A familiar home in Ogden a few extra miles to the north. A couple of local basketball fans even recognized him as he left the terminal.

“It felt like home here,” Senglin said.

All it needed for him to totally feel at home was a spot on the roster of his first NBA team next to his “best friend,” Jazz rookie Joel Bolomboy. Utah was his eighth workout, just one day after he put shots up at the practice facility of the Atlanta Hawks. He also took trips to New York, Brooklyn, Detroit and Los Angeles, among others, and tried to prove that he can do more than score for an NBA franchise.

That will be the challenge of the 6-foot-2 Senglin, who averaged 21.2 points and 2.9 assists per game as a senior at Weber State in 2017. The two-time All-Big Sky Conference first-team selection left the Wildcats as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,078 career points, a pair of NCAA Tournament bids and 345 3-pointers — more than any other player in Big Sky history. “I’ve shown them that I can shoot the ball beyond college range,” Senglin said. “I shoot it the same way, and that’s what I’ve been showing them while playing on the ball, as well.”

Shooting won’t be a concern, Jazz vice president of player personnel Walt Perrin said; it’s the other areas of being an NBA point guard that might trouble NBA teams.

“He shot it well, played hard and played good defense. I thought he had a good workout,” Perrin said. “We’re seeing smaller point guards and shooting guards in the league. Some coaches utilize them in the best possible way to help them win. I guess it varies, depending on the franchise and what they look for in terms of size and position.”

Photo: Robert Casey, Weber State Athletics
Photo: Robert Casey, Weber State Athletics

Senglin’s size illustrates he’s probably a point guard — but it’s hard to overlook his outside shots.

A lot of NBA teams and draft experts said the same thing about another Wildcat when he came out of college — Damian Lillard, an All-Star who has taken the league by storm at Portland.

Weber State coach Randy Rahe coached them both — and he believes Senglin has what is necessary to be an NBA talent.

“Most NBA point guards have to be able to score,” Rahe said. “There are very few distributors who can’t score. Damian was in the same boat when he came out, and people wondered. But he did it, and made that transition.

“Jeremy is an elite shooter, and I think he can do it, too.”

The Wildcats have a history of NBA success, which doesn’t hurt Senglin’s chances at an NBA contract. Senglin has spoken with Bolomboy nearly every day since putting up shots at the prestigious Portsmouth Invitational, while Lillard reaches out to the recent Weber State alum “probably more than he should,” Senglin said.

Weber State may be a mid-major program in name. But the Wildcats have a proven habit of sticking together. Case in point: when Senglin worked out with the Jazz, the entire coaching staff followed him into the Zion’s Bank Basketball Center.

In other words, it’s a Wildcat family, and the benefits of family are paying off for Senglin, a formerly under-recruited guard in the Dallas/Fort Worth area who only saw interest from Lehigh, North Texas and Texas Tech before signing with Weber State.

“If you’ve got a history of having guys who make the league and do well, it helps. That’s helped Jeremy get more looks, and I don’t think there’s any question that people are starting to see us,” Rahe said. “Teams want to have a hard look at them, and I think it helps a lot.”

Coming from a small school isn’t a bad thing in the NBA, either.

“Scottie Pippen was from a small school,” Perrin said. “If they can play, we’ll try to find them.”

And if he doesn’t hear his name called on draft night, Senglin isn’t prepared to give up on his dream of playing in the NBA just yet.

“If I don’t hear my name on draft night, that’s not the end of the road,” he said. “Everybody wants to hear their name called, but it’s not the breaking point if you don’t. I’m never going to get anything handed to me.”

Related Story

Photos

Related stories

Most recent Sports stories

Related topics

SportsUtah JazzWeber State Wildcats
Sean Walker

    ARE YOU GAME?

    From first downs to buzzer beaters, get KSL.com’s top sports stories delivered to your inbox weekly.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast