<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Rudy Gay is back in action on and off the court and now has representation to boot. The former UConn forward, expected to be one of the top picks in the NBA draft June 28, signed Wednesday with Octagon and agent Lance Young. And Octagon, led by managing director Jeff Austin, is big time. In addition to representing Mia Hamm, Davis Love III, John Elway, Steve Yzerman and the Dutchess of York, the McLean, Va., firm also represents NBA players such as Kirk Hinrich, Chris Mihm, David West and newly named rookie of the year Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets. Gay got the word on Octagon from Paul. "From the relationship we had, I met Lance and the guys through Chris, not while I was still in college though," Gay said laughing by phone Wednesday. "I know he's had a lot of success with them." In turn, Octagon and Young are hoping to have the same success with Gay as they did Paul in his first season. Young talked about Gay's potential and that there are a number of teams seeing his client and LSU's Tyrus Thomas, Gonzaga's Adam Morrison, Washington's Brandon Roy or Andrea Bargnani from Italy as the No. 1 pick June 28. Currently, nbadraft.net has Gay going as the No. 5 pick to the Toronto Raptors, where he would join another former UConn player, Charlie Villanueva, who finished second to Paul in the rookie voting. And about a week ago, Gay, the unanimous No. 1 on most mock draft boards available at the start of the 2005-06 season, set out to distinguish himself from the rest. In a regimen similar to the one Villanueva had around this time last year that helped vault him to a surprising No. 7 pick, Gay is set up in an apartment in Washington, enduring a two-hour, all-basketball workout in the morning and another two-hour strength and conditioning workout in the early evening. And once or twice a week, the Baltimore native heads over to the Verizon Center and takes about 100 shots. "The main goal was to get him in a setting away from his family and friends where he could concentrate on basketball 24-7," Young said. There is also a chef that comes to Gay's apartment and prepares his food, mostly pasta and protein meals. Young said Gay needs to add about 10 pounds to his 220-pound body. When the season ended, the 6-foot-9 Gay was apparently so stressed over whether he should come back to school or not - and having to go through the process of hiring an agent, that he lost about seven pounds. Still, no one doubts Gay's potential. He's extremely versatile for his size. A slasher who can bang the three-pointer, though his mid-range game could be better. And he can block shots with his long arms but his defense overall also could be better. Still, he has the potential to be the best rookie in the league next season because he could fill out a stat sheet like few other players did last season. He's 19 - he turns 20 in August - and still growing into his body. But at times last season, Gay, unselfish almost to a fault, didn't consistently play with the killer instinct that's required to be successful in the NBA. That could be one of the reasons he has slipped on some draft boards. Gay, however, is a much better player than the one who averaged 15.2 points and 6.4 rebounds. "I told him that he was stud at [Archbishop] Spalding and he was a stud his first year at UConn. He didn't take a step back last season but it wasn't great," Young said. "Now he can come back and prove to people that he is the player people think he is." That's part of Gay's motivation, along with not being able to help lift UConn into the Final Four. "I think you have to use all of that as motivation, you know?" Gay said. "Just prove to people what I'm about and the other thing is I'm about 20 minutes from George Mason and every time I see that green and yellow I'm ready to play basketball."</div> Source
