He sat alone in a Milwaukee hotel room on Wednesday night, tired and a bit frustrated.
Spencer Dinwiddie’s day started in Denver and included a stop in Milwaukee to interview with the NBA’s Bucks. He was then supposed to catch a flight to Washington, D.C., to visit the Wizards, but the flight was canceled.
Already, Dinwiddie’s pro career has hit a little turbulence.
Nothing to worry about, though. During the past few weeks, the former Colorado star has had a smooth ride as he prepares for what could be a life-changing night on June 26. That night, he hopes to be one of the 60 players selected in the NBA Draft, ideally much earlier than many of his peers.
“All this traveling, it’s not easy, but it’s something that needs to be done for the pre-draft process,” Dinwiddie said. “I’m going through it. I’m trying to enjoy it. I’m trying to cherish it, because it’s a process you only do once, but at the same time I keep it all in perspective.”
Thursday marked five months since Dinwiddie tore the ACL in his left knee during Colorado’s game at Washington on Jan. 12. He spent the next three and a half months debating whether to return to CU for his senior year or pursue his dream of playing in the NBA before deciding in late April to chase his dream.
Since his decision, Dinwiddie has been in Houston working out with specialist Russ Paine. Although still unable to work out for teams, Dinwiddie’s feeling great physically.
“I’ve been able to really focus on my knee and spend my whole day and all my time and effort on getting better,” he said. “I think that shows in my progress.
“I don’t really have any restrictions, as far as types of movement. The only thing I really have left to do is get the explosion back in the leg, but that’s as expected five months post-op.”
At the NBA Draft combine in Chicago in mid-May, Dinwiddie did a lot of talking. He couldn’t work out, but said he interviewed with about half the teams in the NBA.
“Some people go to the combine and get only a couple of interviews and some people get a lot of interviews,” he said. “I was blessed to have 15 of them at the combine, which is a lot.”
Dinwiddie’s first interview came with the Golden State Warriors. He walked in the room and the first person he saw was Hall of Famer Jerry West, a Los Angeles Lakers legend and currently an adviser for the Warriors.
“When I opened the door and Jerry West was standing there, I got kind of nervous for a second, but it turned out being a really loose, conversational type of interview,” said Dinwiddie, a life-long Lakers fan. “When I got relaxed with that first interview, talking with a legend, pretty much the rest of them were easy.”
His string of job interviews is now continuing through this nine-city tour. After Milwaukee and Washington, D.C., Dinwiddie was scheduled to visit the Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder and Atlanta Hawks.
Dinwiddie said he gets the sense that most teams aren’t worried about his injury.
“For the most part, it seems like everybody thought I was progressing great and that I should be all right,” he said. “Nobody really seemed scared about it. Everybody seemed confident in who I am.”
A quick tour of mock drafts posted online suggest that Dinwiddie is climbing the draft boards. While those mock drafts can’t be taken too seriously, Dinwiddie has recently been projected by some in one of the final few spots of the first round.
“I like that,” he said. “That’s a good thing, but that’s all projection.”
Dinwiddie’s main concern is improving his health and, hopefully, making a good impression on the teams he visits.
“When they select me, it’ll have to be based on tape and body of work and all of that, and if they believe in me as a player and a person,” he said.
Nobody knows where Dinwiddie will land in the draft, but just two weeks ahead of his big night, Dinwiddie felt confident.
“It seems like I’ve got interest from a broad range of the league, which is good,” he said.
Contact BuffZone.com Writer Brian Howell at howellb@dailycamera.com or on Twitter: @BrianHowell33.