Honestly, I am fine with him leaving if he gets drafted. Makes our sell to top big man prospects that much easier.
2020 NBA Draft
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Honestly, I am fine with him leaving if he gets drafted. Makes our sell to top big man prospects that much easier.
I don't see it. Kofi has almost zero outside game, which is what the NBA is all about these days. Look what happened against Garza, I think he'd be foolish to leave now. He'd languish on someone's bench at best. He'll get a lot better playing 30+ minutes in Champaign.
Agreed....just being selfish
Maybe some NBA GM’s are looking for a banger (trying to zig while others zag)?
Completely agree, however, if I got told I was going to get drafted even if it was 2nd round there is a 0% chance I am coming back to school.
Why? Players do that all the time to work themselves up into the first round or higher to get more money and guaranteed 2 year deals. I dont think Kofi is in the first round but he certainly could be and even a potential lottery pick where the pay off of staying in school would be worth it if he can achieve that. I realize it is a gamble but players do it for money and to enjoy college. If Kofi or anyone was a lottery pick he could make more in two years than he likely would in 5 or many more. The Running back at Clemson did exactly that this year and is going back to school. I would stay and bet on myself if i were in Kofi's shoes. I think he can get firmly in the first round and if that is the case come back for a year or even two. It is his choice. If he were a lottery pick like Meyers Id say go in a instant. If Meyers had been forecast as a second rounder i think he would have stayed in school for the reasons i mentioned.
IMO you would be foolish, unless your ceiling was the 2nd round. 2nd round means no guarantees. Kofi's ceiling is much, much higher than that.
sacraig
- The desert
It certainly helps our team next year if he is on the roster, but it helps our program more in the long term if we start showing more guys making the league, especially ones that originally were expected to be multi-year players who developed faster than expected in our program.
Kofi (successfully) leaving for the NBA is a good thing.
3 point girl
- texas
Yeah, who wants to be BMOC, hang out with my Buds, & maybe go to a final four when I can travel around in the GLeague & spend the night in 2 star hotel rooms alone.
I think Kofi needs two years and Miller one. Add Max. And, call it a year.
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
I get what you're saying, but you are vastly underestimating the level of thirst some hoops groupies have.
Also, $35k for 5 months of work and the chance to work your way up and into the starting lineup of an NBA team/going abroad to play > the BMOC experience. This is a business. That's how players view it and it's why so many guys go play overseas instead of sticking around for a degree.
The fans are the nostalgic ones.
3 point girl
- texas
Have never seen any GLeague groupies up in Frisco texas where the teams play lmao. For every Kendrick Nunn that makes it out of the Gleague into an NBA starting lineup there are at least 200 or more yearly who dont even sniff it. I have a lot of friends who have kids that play in Europe & that would be nice if in the right place. But again, some of these teams in Russia, etc would not be where I would think you would want to play vs Uof I another year.
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
There are plenty of groupies out in Elgin for the Windy City Bulls, but we've got a few more heads than Frisco, TX when you start factoring in all the other suburbs, too.
For the bolded, that's your opinion and I think it's orange-tinted. The fact is that plenty of young men opt to go play internationally rather than stay for a full four years of college basketball, despite the fact that a lot of those places leave a lot to be desired in terms of salary and chance for advancement. It only goes to show that these young men aren't thinking of it the way we do as fans. For us, we want them to stay and keep our team strong because we love the team. They want a career and are placing that first, even if the chances are miniscule.
Truthfully, I'd give my own children the same advice. If they had a talent that could lead to a career and didn't require a college degree, and they had an opportunity to pursue that career with a reasonable reassurance of success, I'd tell them to go for it. That chance may never come around again, but you could always re-enroll to finish your degree. Same thing for basketball players, no matter how you slice it.
Between the Kofi discussion on this thread (and Ayo ones previously) and the Whitney thread, all I can think of is a gerbil wheel. He shouldn't go, take the money, GLeague, lottery pick, guaranteed first rounder, playing overseas, missing best time of his life, etc. The kids are going to do what they're going to do. Some will get good advice, some won't. Some will make decisions that work out for them and some decisions won't work out well. Guess I need to stick to the game/post-game threads and reading only the recruiting posts on this thread. Have to say I'm very excited about being in on 6 of the top 18 2021 recruits. Reel them in BU.
I agree. But does it really matter if he goes this year or next (all things being equal, that is, he doesn't get injured and he does get better as a player with another year under his belt)?
Why is it that so many on this board have our guys leaving to play pro ball anywhere whether it is the NBA, G League, Europe, etc.? Last year, it was Giorgi, this year Kofi, next year someone else. I get Ayo maybe Kofi if he is for sure a first rounder but otherwise no. Other schools have guys equally as talented or better, are they talking about their guys leaving?
He has a littler brother?!Plus Tyler Ulis' little brother.
Deleted member 17568
D
Guest
Going abroad to play is most definitely not necessarily better than the BMOC experience/education. There are a lot of rough leagues overseas.
Probably yes.
Is Garza getting drafted?
I would think he’d at least get picked in the 2nd round... no?
How great is it that we even have this problem, or feel the need to have this discussion? A few years ago we could’ve only hoped that we had the caliber of talent to have to worry....
TheFameProtector
- Champaign
I'm curious what you're basing the above information on...mostly a hunch? You've said it a couple times, but have you looked at the talent/rankings for the upcoming class of freshmen and their draft stock and then tallied what Kofi would need to bring to the table to be a lottery pick, or have you just focused on the potential financial payoff if that were to happen? There are tons of wing players that are (currently) viewed highly by scouts that will be eligible for the 2021 draft. Meanwhile, you have a NBA team that just recently decided they don't even need a center in the modern NBA to be good (the Rockets). This is why I question the argument that he'll be able to substantially improve his draft stock -- it's already stifled by the position he plays and his lack of perimeter mobility, two things he (probably) won't be able to change. If he can start nailing threes and make teams think he's a beefier Brook Lopez, then perhaps his stock substantially improves. But what if teams think he's Caleb Swanigan and he's right back where he started (minus one year) or even worse due to the strength of next year's draft?
I'm not saying that he should leave this year or that he'll even have much draft stock at the end of the year, just emphasizing the amount of factors that go into a decision like this. It's easy to think that improvement is linear and that improvement is linearly correlated with draft position, but both of those are not necessarily true, particularly when it applies to a true 5.
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