With Corey Sanders declaring early for the NBA draft, we decided to take a look back at Quincy Douby the last hoops player to declare early for the NBA.
Douby played multiple years in the NBA for the Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors ranging from 2006-09 before making the jump to play overseas. He is now playing basketball in the Lebanese Basketball League for Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut and averaged 21.2ppg, 1.9rpg, and 3.6 apg this past season.
We caught up with Douby to talk about his time playing overseas this season and much more.
“I actually just got done playing in Lebanon,” Douby told TheKnightReport. “I just got back home a couple weeks ago. It’s pretty good playing basketball over there. They have about three Americans per team. It is a pretty competitive league and I also had a former teammate of mine from when I was with the Sacramento Kings, Donte Greene, playing with me too. It was cool to play with him over there it made it a little easier for me.”
The Scarlet Knights 6th leading scorer all-time remembers a lot about his playing days back in Piscataway, but he misses one thing more then ever.
“I miss playing in the RAC the most,” Douby said. “You know how the crowd was and everything back then. It was definitely the hardest place to play in the Big East.”
New Rutgers men's basketball head coach Steve Pikiell is just finised up his third year with the school, and so far he’s done a good job in Douby’s eyes.
“I actually got a chance to meet coach Pikiell in person at the Hall of Fame,” said Douby. “I think it is really cool what is doing for the program, changing it around and such. He definitely has those guys playing harder and they are competing every single game. I can see that coach Pikiell is coaching them all really well and getting the most out of those guys.”
Now that Sanders, a junior, has declared for the draft, we asked Douby what are his thoughts on Sanders making the league.
“From the little I’ve seen of Corey, I think he is talented and can definitely play in the NBA,” Douby stated. “He just needs to get in the right situation and sign with the right team. He could be a guy off the bench as a spark plug type of player. He’s got a lot of energy and he’s very athletic. I think coming in with a second unit he’d do real good and contribute to whatever team he’s with.”
Douby went on to say what type of advice he would give Sanders about playing in the league.
“I would tell him that he’s just got to prepare to be in the NBA,” said Douby. “You have to prepare for every single game, and watch a lot of film cause the whole league is competitive. Also I’d tell him to be prepared for that lifestyle too cause you get a lot of money playing in the NBA and you travel all over the country. I’d just say to make sure that he is making the right decisions both on and off the court.”
Now that the season is over Douby is back home already training for next season. However it doesn’t sound like Douby has many more seasons left before retirement.
“I’m hoping to stop by sometime in the future,” Douby said. “I’m actually finishing up taking some online classes, so maybe in the next couple years I’ll be more free. I think I’m going to retire in the next two years, so I’ll be more available to make some more games and stuff.”
