VITALS: 6-4, 170, Southern California OVERVIEW: Pruitt continued to hone his playmaking skills, averaging 4.3 assists in his junior season after handing out 3.1 as a sophomore. That may explain his four-point drop in scoring - from 16.9 ppg to 12.5 last season. While he is a streaky 3-point shooter, his percentage dipped from .450 to .380 to .350 during his three seasons with the Trojans. Pruitt scored a season-high 26 points against Washington State. As a sophomore, he went over 30 points three times, including a career-high 36 against Loyola Marymount. Missed the first 11 games of his junior season because of academic issues. LIKELY DRAFT POSITION: 24-33 COMPARATIVE UPSIDE: Derek Harper COMPARATIVE DOWNSIDE: Bobby Jackson ROLE PROJECTION: Backup point guard who should be a combo guard. POSITIVES: Pruitt has good size and athletic ability for point guard. He has a good first step to the basket and is a respectable perimeter shooter. His ball-handling has improved since he began playing more minutes at the point his last two seasons. Pruitt is unselfish and looks for teammates. Defensively, he has a lot of promise because of his quick feet and long arms. He should be effective in keeping the other team's point guard from driving into the lane. SHORTCOMINGS: Pruitt is another in a long line of players who will be trying to make the transition from being primarily a scorer to a point guard. The good news is that Pruitt started to make that transition in college and won't be trying to make the switch cold in the NBA. The bad news is that Pruitt still doesn't create shots for teammates as easily as he can create an opening for his own shot. His shooting mechanics are solid, but he had mixed results last year and was streaky from 3-point range.
