Phil Booth is not the kind of basketball player who gets drafted. It’s not a knock on his abilities, nor is it an indictment against what he showed during his collegiate career. During a five-year stint at Villanova, Booth played in a school record 148 games. He is the ninth player in the program’s history to accrue more than 1,500 points and 300 assists, showed the ability to do whatever the Wildcats needed on a given night on offense, earned praise for his defensive acumen, and has a pair of national championships under his belt, including a team-high 20-point outing off the bench in Villanova’s win over North Carolina in 2016.
None of this changes the fact that Booth will turn 24 one day before the calendar turns to 2020. The later part of the second round, where Booth would be projected to go if he made his way into various projections, is oftentimes used to take flyers on high-ceiling, low-floor players, or draft-and-stash guys who may never play in an NBA game.
Booth knows this and is undeterred. He’ll be at home in Maryland, watching the festivities on Thursday night while surrounded by his immediate family. The hope is that his name will get called by deputy commissioner Mark Tatum in the second round, but if not, Booth is ready for whatever comes next.
“That’s how it works, the draft is like that, the young and potential,” Booth told Dime. “Some teams know what you can do already, guys play in college basketball for so long so … I know my journey or path could be different and it doesn’t really affect me as long as I have a chance or an opportunity to prove myself day in and day out, that’s all that really counts.”
Even if he doesn’t get the call until after the draft ends and teams are looking for free agents and players to fill out their Summer League rosters, there is a place in the league for a steady hand like Booth.
While his favorite player is Portland guard C.J. McCollum, he says he can see himself in a role similar to Denver’s Monte Morris or Indiana’s Cory Joseph, a pair of productive options off the bench who can come in and keep an offense moving.
They’re also dudes whose paths to the league have featured stops in the G League, where they had to grind and scratch and claw on their path back to the NBA. When asked about how he would crack into a team’s rotation early in his career, Booth cited his willingness to do just that.
“Know how to play hard, what it takes to win, how to play within a team system, play with different guys on the court,” Booth says. “And just whatever the team needs that day, being able to bring it, whether it’s energy, whether it’s defense or shooting, whatever the case may be.”
It helps that Booth comes to the league from a program that has emphasized all of this over the years, and as a result, has turned into a bit of a pro factory. Outside of his junior year, in which he was limited to three games due to a knee injury and had to redshirt, Booth has always found his way onto the floor for the Wildcats, playing in at least 33 games during each of his four healthy seasons.
He’s been tasked with scoring on one end and checking an opposing team’s top guard option on the other, playing in a number of marquee games, whether they were in the NCAA Tournament, Big East Tournament, or really any game where the stakes are higher due to the success the Wildcats achieved during his tenure. Booth believes this is to his benefit, as he’s had to learn how to always stay “locked in.”
In his eyes, the best example of his came in he 2019 Big East championship game against Seton Hall. Booth’s shot wasn’t quite falling, while Pirates star guard and unanimous All-Big East first-team selection Myles Powell got scorching hot. Eventually, he was asked to check Powell while shouldering his workload on offense.
Behind 16 points from their veteran guard, Villanova ended up winning, 74-72.
“Coach [Jay] Wright demands so much out of you,” Booth says. “He really pushes you to be the best player you can be, not just offensively, but defensively. And he wants you to be a well-rounded player that doesn’t have weaknesses, so he makes you work on all aspects of your game. I feel like that’s what a lot of the guys in the NBA, they don’t have any weaknesses, those guys are complete players that really know how to play the game.”
Now, the hope is that all this experience and refinement that has come from his time in Philly will lead to a productive NBA career. There’s certainly interest in what he brings to the table — Booth says he’s worked out for the Lakers, Pistons, Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Hawks, Mavericks, Pacers, Celtics, Knicks, and Sixers during the pre-draft process, and has made it a point to follow the “universal” advice he’s received from coaches and former teammates that made it to the pros to “always look to be aggressive and assertive.”
Even if he doesn’t hear his name called on Thursday night, Booth believes he has a lengthy NBA career ahead of him. All he needs now is for one team to give him a shot.
