In today's NBA, if you aren't drafted in the first round, you are all but a free agent hoping to land a team. There is no guaranteed money and your chances of making it are slim. Sure you have examples of guys making it, like Carlos Boozer, Mo Williams and Guilbert Arenas, but you have way too many that don't make it. In fact, most of the second round picks seemed to be European guys that won't come over to the states for 3-5 more years.

Needless to say, it's a disappointment if you aren't selected in the first round. That's why it was pretty shocking to see a guy like Chris Douglas-Roberts (CDR) not go in the first round. Wasn't it just April that Kansas employed the box and one defense, with CDR being the main target to defend? And now, not one but two (Derrick Rose, Joey Dorsey) teammates were selected ahead of him in the draft. Immediately as the draft was moving into the second round, I was reminded of a guy who in similar circumstances from a decade earlier.

I thought back to 1995. I thought back to Scotty Thurman. See if this doesn't sound familiar to the CDR story:

After a college career full of team and individual accolades, Thurman never saw the big time. His 43.2 percent career 3-point shooting, pair of first team All-SEC selections and national championship-winning 3-pointer in 1994 didn't count for enough to scouts. He was 6-foot-6 with a silky-smooth jumper and a history of performing in the clutch. But while his teammate and friend Corliss Williamson was taken in the lottery, Thurman became one of the biggest names to not have his name called by the commissioner.

Couldn't you replace SEC with Conference USA? And how about silky smooth jumper gets changed to nice mid-range game?

The similarities are there. Thurman was a great scorer for Arkansas, but he was a little bit undersized. By undersized, I'm talking about strength. Thurman had a teammate that was a lottery pick. Thurman and his Arkansas Razorbacks were in the championship game. (Although the Razorbacks did win it in 1994.)

I do realize that Thurman wasn't drafted at all, while CDR was. However, getting selected in the second round doesn't count for much these days. You could argue that not getting selected at all might be just as good, because you can try to make a team that needs help at your position.

According to Thurman, he received bad advice. He was told he would be a 1st round pick and only later did he get the information that he might fall into the second round. And not many people thought it was a bad idea when CDR decided to enter into the draft.

I've tried hard to find out what happened to CDR to drop him in the draft. The best I can tell, teams were scared off by his lack of strength and his unorthodox shooting style. Maybe he'll catch on with the Grizzlies or another NBA team. Or he could have a career similar to Thurman's, which included:

Thurman's rookie season was spent playing for the Shreveport Storm and Sioux City Skyforce of the CBA. Thurman said he played well late in the year for Sioux City, but he battled depression all season.

Waiting for the NBA to call and playing for peanuts was too much for him to take, so he took his game overseas. Thurman played in Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Cyprus, Yugoslavia and Jordan. He also suited up for the ABA's Arkansas Rimrockers in their inaugural season in 2004-05.

Which isn't an awful career actual, sans the depression part of it. Many of these guys collect great paychecks tax free. Sure it's not the dream, but its better than the alternative.

And there is no guarantee that staying another year would have improved his draft status. Could he have had a better year and improved it? I doubt it.