Who is Xavier Silas?

A few days ago Scott Powers of ESPN's Chicago Colleges Report posted a blog entry about former Northern Illinois guard, Xavier Silas, being promised a training camp invite by our very own Philadelphia Sixers.

After going undrafted last week, Silas was asked by the Philadelphia 76ers to pass on any overseas offers and wait to attend their veteran training camp whenever the league resolves its collective bargaining agreement.

Last week's draft left many Sixers fans alike feeling underwhelmed. The words boring, predictable, disappointing and lackluster have been used to describe last Thursday's events. Let's not act like an unwritten promise to a 23 year-old undrafted free agent – who ranked 99 on Draft Express' top 100 prospects – to come to a training camp that may not even happen, prior to a season that may not happen will relieve the stank from the Sixers draft, but based on a couple minutes of surfing the web, Silas already seems more entertaining and intriguing than Nikola Vucevic and Lavoy Allen combined. 

Make the jump to learn more about the X-man.

The 23 year-old measured 6'5" in shoes, 196 pounds, 4.6% body fat, with a 6'8.5" wingspan and a 37.5" vertical. In 26 games at Northern Illinois Silas averaged 22 points per game with respectable percentages of .459/.431/.851. And for all you advanced stats guys, he recorded an impressive True Shooting percentage of 59.8, along with an equally impressive 13.2 defensive rebound percentage from a guard.

The negative: The Huskies were actually +82 points when Silas was on the bench. His 4 turnovers per game probably contributed to Silas' negative +/-.  

Here are two interviews with Silas via Hoops World and one following a workout with the Sacramento Kings. Xavier seems like a real charismatic, confident and well-spoken dude. He mentions defense, effort and toughness multiple times as things he wants to bring to an NBA team.

In case you were wondering Xavier did indeed workout for the Sixers and he documented the outfit he wore to the workout in this YouTube video, ensuring the viewers that "if you look good, you feel good, and you play good". 

Speaking of looking good, feeling good and playing good Xavier documented his outfit on YouTube before nearly all of his workouts. The video below is probably my favorite of the series:

We shall see if the Sixers' "promise" to Silas will ever come to fruition with the lockout, combined with training camp (if it happens) being so far away. If Silas does end up in Sixers camp the chances he actually makes the roster are probably small, but he's an interesting guy to keep an eye on. Follow him on Twitter @XavierSilas. Here's a sample tweet:

Have a handful of swagger that's too much to handle. Saturate your dreams with a confidence in your life and your new found plan. Cut drama.

And who knows, maybe he'll be this year's Jodie Meeks (a second-rounder in 2009), or Anthony Morrow, who also went undrafted. His combination of size, shooting ability (although his form is a little weird) and character could earn him a spot on some NBA team. Why not the Sixers?

Can you tell it's the lockout yet?