Cory Jefferson is always, it seems, willing to take a gamble

One thing that comes through in Steven Simineri's profile of Cory Jefferson is how he's willing to take a gamble or two to reach his goal. Here's a list...

--He chose Baylor University after high school, knowing that the program already had two future pro's in Quincy Acy and Epke Udoh were already entrenched in the Bears program. He was red-shirted and It took him till his junior year to get playing time but then he excelled, becoming one of the Big 12's best players.

--He decided to take his chances in the NBA Draft, refusing teams' requests to go overseas first. He could have gone higher than No. 60 --and last-- if he had. In fact, three teams told him they would have taken him earlier  Instead, he resigned himself to going undrafted and had plans to try out for the Mavericks if he hadn't been drafted.

--He took his chances with the Nets, playing in the summer league and averaging numbers good enough to get him a partially guaranteed ($75,000) deal, which won't become a fully guaranteed half million dollars for another two weeks ... January 10.

--Oh yeah, in the waning minutes of the nationally televised game against the Bulls,he took a three-pointer that, as Simineri describes it, "landed well short of the hoop and prompted TV commentators to question whether the basket had moved."  He picked up the embarrassing pieces and the next game, his first and only NBA start, he scored 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the Nets' win over Philly.

“Interesting week,” Jefferson told Simineri. “I tweeted later you just got to love the NBA. Like I shot the air-ball in Chicago and then next game I had a good game playing against the Sixers and then another good game in Charlotte. So in basketball you have plenty of opportunities to make up for whatever you do that’s wrong.”

That, sports fans, is the definition of a gambler and so far, it's working for him.

• Nets Rookie Cory Jefferson’s On The Pursuit Of Relevancy…. - Steven Simineri - Double G Sports