22 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2
f
thing, and those around Hammons say they've seen a
greater effort level, a sustained urgency about him in re-
cent months, ever since he made the call in the spring to
return to Purdue for his junior season instead of making
what could easily have been an ill-fated early jump to the
NBA.
They've seen leadership.
Haas has been good for Hammons and Hammons for
Haas.
"He looks up to me sometimes, I think," Hammons
said of Haas. "I know I can't let him down."
Purdue needs everything from Hammons, from num-
bers to effort to consistency of personality and presence.
It needs its centerpiece to stand tall.
If he does, chances are his days in West Lafayette are
numbered.
Hammons clearly made the prudent decision return-
ing to school for his junior season; there was no guar-
antee he'd have been drafted into a situation that would
have offered much in the way of assurance. He might not
be on an NBA roster right now had he left.
Now, he has a chance to make his own assurances, to
live up to that potential, the very topic that follows him
around.
"I'm just looking at it like, 'I need to do well this year,'"
Hammons said of his timeline for pursuing a profession-
al future. "I know everybody else is saying, 'This is proba-
bly his last year.' It all depends on the season, if I'm ready
or not."
Maybe the best-case scenario for all involved would be
for Hammons to leave Purdue after this coming season.
It would mean he had the sort of year those around
him have seen coming.
And, considering his inextricable link to his team's
chances, it would probably mean Purdue won.
j
Trent Johnson, Agent
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