Mississippi State forward Renardo Sidney likely won’t be brought back to the team for his senior season, a source close to the program told SNY.tv Sunday.
Sidney, a 6-foot-10 junior who has battled weight and attitude issues for most of his career, will likely seek a professional paycheck although it’s possible he could transfer.
When asked if he would be chosen in the 2012 NBA Draft, one veteran NBA scout said flatly, “No.”
That would seem to leave options like playing overseas or in the NBA D-League.
Sidney, averaging 9.8 points and 4.9 rebounds in 21.8 minutes, is listed at 260 pounds, but the source said he’s probably closer to 310.
“I don’t think more criticism can be thrown out at him than what he has had over the last year and a half,” MSU coach Rick Stansbury recently told the Clarion-Ledger. “I don’t think that affects him any more because his game is better; everything about him is better. There’s not much you can say that hasn’t been said about him.”
Long regarded as a highly talented, yet enigmatic player, Sidney shows flashes of brilliance followed by huge letdowns.
“He would be unstoppable if he was able to go out there and do what he does for 35 minutes,” teammate Arnett Moultrie, the SEC’s leading rebounder, told the Clarion-Ledger. “He would pretty much be unstoppable.”
Sidney worked out last summer with veteran NBA coach John Lucas, and told SNY.tv in November that Lucas once called him a “whale.”
He also conceded that he had lost the love of the game during his freshman season when he had to sit out because of an NCAA investigation into his housing status and gained 30 pounds.
Sidney said then he was “just getting the love [of the game] back” and wasn’t worried about his critics.
“I’m just working every day, man,” he said then. “I’m not worried about the critics. I’m not worried about what people say.
“I just go to work every day try to get in better condition, try to get a ‘W’ for my team.”
Photo: Clarion-Ledger
