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Booker Woodfox has one rule, grounded in common sense, when it comes to his basketball future.
“I don't want to go where there's wars,'' he says.
That aside, the former Creighton star is open to a number of offers he has received from international teams. Woodfox said his agent has received offers from teams in Germany, France, Italy and others.
Woodfox expects to decide in the “next two or three weeks'' where he'll start his professional career.
“My agent says you don't want to jump at the first offer,'' Woodfox said, “in case something better pops up.''
While he's excited about the chance to play for pay, Woodfox said, it's not just about the money.
“I don't want to make it sound that I could care less about the money, but I just want to play basketball,'' he said. “You have only so many years you can play before your knees give out or you get hurt.
“I just want to go somewhere that I can play. It really doesn't matter to me.''
Woodfox said he knew after his final game for Creighton last March that the next step in his basketball career probably would take him overseas. The 6-foot-1 guard worked out for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks before the recent draft.
He said the Bucks' workout went particularly well, but that he was told by the organization that his game needed some more seasoning.
“They told me that I needed a year or two overseas,'' he said. “They want to see me run at the point, and I've never really played point guard. Well, I did back in high school, but it's totally different once you get to college and pro ball.
“They told me just to work on my entire game.''
The best part of Woodfox's game is his shooting. He finished last season second in the nation in 3-point field-goal accuracy (47.6 percent) while averaging 15.8 points for a Creighton team that won 27 games and shared the Missouri Valley regular-season championship.
The Valley named Woodfox its player of the year, and he wound up earning All-America honorable mention from the Associated Press.
Pretty heady stuff for a guy who isn't the biggest, fastest or strongest player ever to put on a Creighton uniform.
“When I came to Creighton, I was just worried about playing and getting some minutes here and there,'' he said. “Nobody thought I could play D-I. I knew I could, but I never even thought I could do some of the things I did. I thought I'd just be an average player, someone that could help a team.
“But I know if I couldn't shoot it, none of this would have been possible. It's all about shooting the ball, and I've always been able to do that.''
Woodfox plans to be in Omaha until around mid-August, working out with his former Creighton teammates. He said he's noticed a difference in many of them since they started ramping up their conditioning work.
Woodfox has even participated in the workouts a time or two.
“They're tough, but I can see improvements on every single guy,'' Woodfox said. “For example, Kaleb (Korver). He couldn't dunk before like he's dunking now. Cavel (Witter), I don't know if he could slap the backboard on a layup. Now he's getting up there and dunking.
“Everybody's a little stronger, everyone's a little quicker. It's working.''
Contact the writer:
679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com
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