Kansas guard Sherron Collins is all smiles heading back to the huddle during a timeout against Texas A&M in the second half on March 12 in Kansas City, Mo.

Sherron Collins is more than halfway to beginning a career in the NBA.

The former Kansas University point guard, who was not selected in the league’s 2010 draft, on Friday signed a two-year non-guaranteed deal with the Charlotte Bobcats.

It guarantees the 5-foot-11 Collins a spot at preseason camp — and a fighting chance to make the NBA minimum $473,000 during the 2010-11 season.

“Sherron had a productive summer league (with Bobcats) and showed some of the qualities he displayed while at Kansas,” Charlotte general manager Rod Higgins said Friday in announcing the deal. “He has a competitive nature and comes from a very successful program. He’s going to have an opportunity to compete for a roster spot.”

Collins joins returning backup D.J. Augustin and Shaun Livingston, who signed a free-agent deal last month. The Bobcats, whose payroll is close to the luxury-tax threshold, didn’t try to re-sign Raymond Felton, and he went to New York.

“I got the right call, and this is a team I really want to be a part of,” Collins said. “Especially with the lack of point guards that they have, I think I’ll fit in well.”

Collins’ deal has two triggers before January that if he’s still on the roster would allow him to make the full amount of his league-minimum contract. If he’s still on the team in January, he receives the maximum amount.

In the Bobcats’ final summer-league game at Orlando earlier this summer, Collins scored 32 points, hitting seven of 11 three-point shots. Over four summer-league games, Collins averaged 12.5 points and 2.8 assists, shooting .615 from three-point range.

Collins was a consensus first-team All-American at Kansas in 2009-10, and he won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith award as the best college player under 6 feet tall.

Collins recently received an offer to play for KK Partizan, a team located in Serbia. That may have sped up the negotiations with Charlotte. His stock dropped before the NBA Draft because of concerns about his weight and a groin injury that forced him to cancel several pre-draft workouts with teams.

Cole signs, too: Former KU center Cole Aldrich has signed his contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Aldrich was the No. 11 overall pick in the NBA Draft in June before being traded from the New Orleans Hornets to the Thunder. He’s the first of the four rookies acquired by Oklahoma City on draft night to sign.

Under league rules set by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Thunder hold Aldrich’s rights for guaranteed seasons and have the option to renew his contract for two subsequent seasons through 2013-14. Based on the rookie-scale contract structure for 2010-11 first-round picks, Aldrich is entitled to a first-year salary of $1,772,100.

League rules, however, permit teams to sign first-round picks for as little as 80 percent of the scale or as much as 120 percent. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, per team policy, but depending on the percentage that was agreed upon, Aldrich’s first-year salary could be anywhere between $1,417,680 and $2,126,520.

Aldrich averaged 11.3 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.5 blocks during his junior season at Kansas.

Twins impress: KU’s Marcus and Markieff Morris, Josh Selby, Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor are in Chicago this weekend as camp counselors at the Adidas Nations Experience.

“Based on what we’ve seen today, KU fans don’t need to sweat too much about Cole Aldrich leaving early. The Morris twins have been outstanding,” Draftexpress.com’s Jonathan Givony wrote on Twitter after scouting Friday’s camp games.

“Markieff Morris is more athletic than his brother Marcus but isn’t as good an all-around player. Has had some good moments here regardless. Marcus Morris is going to have a great season for Kansas. He’s so polished and has improved his basketball IQ significantly. (He) does everything,” Givony added.

Selby posted on his Twitter on Friday that he dunked “on a 7-5 dude.”

More on Selby: Maeshon Witherspoon, the mother of KU freshman guard Josh Selby, told the Baltimore Sun what she told the Journal-World about the NCAA’s not yet clearing her son to play college basketball.

“He’s not worried at all. We don’t foresee any problems that Josh won’t be cleared,” she told the paper, adding that the NCAA’s probe “is just protocol.”

The NCAA is looking into Selby’s relationship with family friend Robert Frazier, the business manager of Carmelo Anthony who advised the family during the recruiting process.

Gary Parrish of CBSsports.com writes that these types of investigations may be stepped up in the future. He indicated in his column on Friday that the NCAA’s Basketball Focus Group has been making hires.

“Truth is, I think the NCAA was embarrassed by the Derrick Rose situation at Memphis, and by O.J. Mayo and Reggie Bush at Southern California,” Parrish wrote. “And can you imagine how the NCAA must’ve felt when it recognized John Wall was connected to a former certified agent and cleared him anyway only to watch the same former certified agent help secure a shoe deal for Wall almost immediately after the eventual No. 1 pick announced his decision to turn pro?

“That was a mockery of the system, and the NCAA has had enough. It doesn’t mean members of the enforcement staff will catch every cheater or be able to prove everything they think they know, but it does mean they’re going to make it more difficult than ever for prospects with questions to be certified. If nothing else, they’ve already shown that much.”