Montrezl Harrell to Declare for 2015 NBA Draft: Latest Details and Reaction

Louisville forward Montrezl Harrell has reportedly decided to forgo his senior season with the Cardinals in order to enter the 2015 NBA draft.

Head coach Rick Pitino provided the news Monday, adding that Terry Rozier will also declare, via ESPN's Jeff Goodman.

Harrell made noticeable strides during his time at Louisville. He's always possessed a nice combination of athleticism and power. Turning those raw tools into basketball skill took some time, which is probably why he made the right decision to return for another year last spring.

Jeff Greer of The Courier-Journal passed along comments from the forward ahead of the NCAA tournament. He was happy with the progress he made this season at the collegiate level.

"I don't have any regrets coming back ... I felt like I only got better coming back with my college career," Harrell said. "I've improved in so many different areas that I wasn't able to do last year. My progression throughout the season has been exactly where I want it to be."

He worked to add more variety to his offensive game. It's still very much a work in progress from the mid-range and beyond, though. He also continued his work in terms of protecting the rim.

The biggest question for Harrell, however, is his size. At 6'8'', he's going to be giving up length to most of the interior players he faces off against in the NBA. His all-around game isn't strong enough, especially on the offensive end, to play small forward regularly.

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Whether he can make up for that with his athleticism is something talent evaluators will likely debate ad nauseam leading up to the draft. In the meantime, Harrell should continue to work on becoming more consistent with his jump shot.

All told, the Louisville forward should come off the board somewhere in the middle of Round 1. He's probably best suited for operating off the bench early in his career while continuing to develop his game. It remains to be seen how long that will take.

If everything progresses as his future NBA team hopes, perhaps he'll find a niche and crack the starting lineup regularly in a couple of years.  

In the short term, he'll be focused on bolstering his draft stock as much as possible.