Xavier Silas Declares for NBA Draft

Excerpt from the Dekalb Daily Chronicle:

Xavier Silas declared himself eligible for the NBA draft, but will not hire an agent, the Northern Illinois junior guard confirmed to the Daily Chronicle on Saturday.

Silas said he is keeping an open mind about the process and left open the possibility of returning to school. His return to NIU looks like a realistic possibility as he isn't projected to be selected by any draft analysts.

"It's my junior year and I think I can definitely play at the next level," Silas said. "So I wanted to see how I could get assessed and evaluated and see what teams were thinking."

Asked what his next step is, Silas said it was possible he would head out to San Francisco, to work with with trainer Frank Matrisciano like he did this past summer. But he wasn't sure on that yet, either.

"We're thinking about that," he said. "I have to talk with my dad (James Silas) and confirm it to see what's going to go on. I'm not sure. I don't even know when we're thinking about doing it. I haven't talked with my dad yet. We'll make that decision as a family."

Silas said that if he comes back to school, he still has a few things to prove that could help him in the 2011 NBA draft.

"I think we could have had a better season last year," Silas said. "But, we didn't. We went on that 10-game losing streak. I think coming back and showing that I can lead a team to a conference championship is big for me individually and is big for the program. Coming back wouldn't be bad at all."