Monson: Uncertain future for BYU's Lee Cummard

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Former BYU guard Lee Cummard gained 15 pounds in the past month by consuming 5,000 calories per day supplied by a chef at a Phoenix training center. The 6-foot-6,190-pound Cummard eats three big meals and three snacks per day.

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Lee Cummard is a long way from fat, and maybe even a longer way from fat city.

His quest, though, for a shot at pro basketball in general, and the NBA in particular, runs, he believes, straight through his gullet. He wants to be bigger, able to initiate and receive and withstand more contact out on the floor.

The former BYU Cougar has spackled 15 pounds on his 6-foot-6 frame, all the way up to 190 pounds, making the addition in about four weeks, by way of a daily intake of 5,000 calories, supplied by a chef at a Phoenix training center that is shoveling fruit, vegetables, chicken, fish, turkey, all kinds of carbs and protein shakes down his mug.

He eats three big meals and three snacks a day, between two hours of lifting, and three hours of stretching, training, and flexibility therapy. And a few more hours on the court, shooting and working his game with former NBA players Frank Johnson and Eddie Johnson.

The extra weight, he says, has not limited his movement. And he'll look to gain more.

Since the Cougars last outing -- a loss in the NCAA Tournament in March -- Cummard has been seen by nearly every NBA team, having played at large combine-like camps in Minnesota and New Jersey, and in 12 individual workouts. He's taken nearly 20 trips to various locations for his auditions, spending hours at airports from coast to coast.

Now, he awaits Thursday night's NBA Draft, hoping that some team somewhere will take a chance on

They say he would have been better off coming out after his junior season, when he was more impressive, having built a reputation for solid, long-limbed defense and crafty offense. They say he tired out through his senior year and lacked the same energy and push from the previous season. They say he is a borderline NBA talent.

You saw him play for four years. You decide.

"I think I add some value to an NBA roster," he says. "The plan is to go full steam at making an NBA team. If you don't get drafted, usually an interested team picks you up for a summer league roster."

That covers reaching for the stars.

As for keeping his Nikes on the ground, Cummard will also be talking to foreign clubs, saying: "They have teams in every country."

France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Turkey, Egypt, Estonia.

"Right now, I just want to keep playing as much as I can," he says. "I love the game. I love working hard. ... In Lee Cummard's perfect world, basketball will be part of my life for another 10 years. That's it."

Other than his wife and son, the basketball in his hand might be his only constant.

The worst of it now is all the other uncertainty. After spending four years in Provo, he has no clue where he might end up next.

"It plays with some athletes' minds," he says. "I don't like to get bothered by things out of my hands. I'll just do what I do. When I asked [former Cougar] Trent [Plaisted] about it, that's what he said, 'Just do what you do. Don't worry about things. Just go play. Have fun.' "

Cummard is two classes short of his business degree at BYU, and he says he plans on finishing those classes, between all the balling he'll be doing.

He says he's glad he went to BYU, he has no regrets, despite never winning an NCAA Tournament game, and that the experience prepared him for whatever it is he faces next.

What he faces now, what he'll face Thursday night, is the unknown.

The only familiar thing will be the feel of the Spalding in his hands, same as it ever was, and the challenge, wherever it comes, to do something productive with it.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Monson and Graham Show" weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on 1280 AM The Zone. He can be reached at gmonson@sltrib.com.