Will draft be dream or nightmare?

JamesOn Curry could one day look back on June 28 as the night he realized his NBA dreams.

Those in NBA circles, however, predict the Oklahoma State guard will remember this year's NBA Draft as more of a nightmare.

Multiple league sources said Monday that Curry is a borderline draft pick at best and would have been better off returning to Stillwater for his senior year with the Cowboys instead of keeping his name in the 2007 draft.

"I'm just not sure he'll even get drafted,” said one Western Conference scout, speaking on the condition of anonymity. NBA teams generally prohibit their scouting departments from speaking to the media.

The 6-foot-3 Curry, the scout said, is not a pure enough point guard for the NBA and is undersized for the shooting guard position.

"He's undersized, and he's never shown any point guard talent at all and that scares people off,” the scout said. "I think a lot of (teams) figured he would play for another year and improve.”

According to an ESPN.com report citing league sources, Curry is under the impression that he has a guarantee from the Chicago Bulls to select him with the 49th pick. But one Western Conference general manager said such a guarantee is unusual.

"I don't see that as standard practice,” the GM said.

"I would think that this early and this far away from the draft is pretty speculative. He must have a lot of confidence or feel pretty strongly that he has a place to go. But promises in the second round like that are really rare.”

Hornets guard Chris Paul, who is good friends with Curry in part because of their North Carolina roots, said Curry could make it in the league but must work on his ball handling.

"People can speculate, but I think as a player, only you know if you're ready to make that commitment to go to the next level,” said Paul, who left Wake Forest after his sophomore season.

"He's just really going to have to find his niche. Whatever team he goes to, he's going to have to adjust to what they need. If they need him to score, he's going to have to do that. But if they need him to be a floor general, then he's going to have to do that.”