A lot has gone on in John Shurna’s life in the three months since Northwestern fell to Washington in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.
The senior forward went to New Orleans, where he won the 2012 State Farm College 3-Point Championship on March 30. He found time to finish his degree, graduating with a double major in sociology and learning and organizational change. However, Shurna has also traversed the United States working out for nine different NBA teams. In fact, he missed the weekend’s graduation festivities because of a work out in Los Angeles.
“It’s been fun,” Shurna said. “Had an opportunity to finish things off in New Orleans with the 3-point contest and the senior all-star game, which was a great experience. Then, I picked an agent, finished up school and been working out so I’ve been staying busy.”
The process is not entirely new to Shurna, who explored his draft options after his junior year in 2011. While he waited for a long time before finally deciding to return to Evanston for his final year, Shurna said he took a lot from his experiences last year into his adventure this summer.
“There’s always something to work on,” Shurna said. “You just got to keep working hard and try to get better every day. This is a fun experience and you just have to love competing every day.”
Shurna’s skills on the court have gotten him noticed from many teams in the NBA. He said a lot of teams have told him how much he has surprised them with his abilities. Despite Shurna’s success in college, teams have said they see even more potential in him.
The players Shurna has worked out with have also been impressed with how the Wildcats’ all-time leading scorer has performed. Harrison Barnes, a projected-top-10 pick out of the University of North Carolina, said Shurna can “flat-out shoot the ball.”
“He’s very skilled,” Barnes said. “He’s definitely worked a lot on putting the ball on the floor and he’s a very good player.”
For Shurna, the opportunity to go up against players like Barnes helps to push him to his limits. Shurna said he has enjoyed competing against the top collegiate players on more of an individual basis, saying he would want nothing less than to go against the best. The, what Shurna called “terrific opportunity”, of going against players of this caliber has also allowed Shurna to gauge where he stands compared with the elite players in this draft.
Despite rewriting the record book during his four years at NU, questions still surround Shurna and his ability to take his talents to the pro level. After playing a multitude of positions including center for the Cats last season, no one is sure where Shurna will play at the next level, although he projects himself as a small forward with the ability to stretch to play power forward. Another issue is that no NBA teams run the Princeton offense NU coach Bill Carmody runs.
Shurna said he envisions himself in the beginning of his career as someone who can come off the bench and hit shots and make all the small hustles plays, a player every team needs. However, in the long run, Shurna said there were a lot of benefits to playing in the Princeton offense that can help him evolve into a more complete player.
“A positive out of the Princeton offense was that you have to be an all-around basketball player,” Shurna said. “In order to have success, you have to dribble, pass, shoot and read defenders. That shows good all-around basketball skills. I’ll be able to show that I’ve got a great base set and that I have a lot of potential as well.”
With nine work outs already under his belt and more to come in the days leading up to the NBA Draft on June 28, Shurna is not letting himself get too confident about being one of the 60 names called that night.
“I’m just grateful for the opportunity to be invited (to work out),” Shurna said. “I just want to go in and compete and give it my all and at the end of the day, that’s all you can do.”
