Illini in the Pros

#701      

nichi

N
nichi
TCTORNADO said:
Kofi's making $400,000 in Japan with a lot of tax advantages plus free housing. He turned down Utah's offer to join their G League team. It was clearly time for Kofi to leave. He will always be remembered for the banners he helped bring to the SFC. Thanks for your time as an Illini.
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I am not sure what turning down G league pay had to do with it. It's not like he was offered a two way contract. Those are now pretty good deals.

I don't have any inside knowledge, but do hear rumors. It appears he could have earned more than that in NIL money. There is also the value of the UI scholarship and the long-term value of a UI degree.

It also appears he and his family may have been under the illusion he was going to be drafted and get a deal similar to what Ayo got.

From a purely monetary standpoint; I can't say it's clear it all it was time for him to leave.

From a basketball standpoint, he also expressed doubts whether another year or two of college ball would further prepare him to reach his NBA goal. I don't know how playing in Japan figures in that.

Without more Kofi specific information, I can't say for sure if he made the best possible decision. I can say it is clearly not clear. For old school low post bigs in general; I would say stay in school, max out free education, max out NIL -- unless they at least project to be drafted with a two way deal or better; then consider it.
 
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#702      

RockfordIllini

R
RockfordIllini
nichi said:
I am not sure what turning down G league pay had to do with it. It's not like he was offered a two way contract. Those are now pretty good deals.

I don't have any inside knowledge, but do hear rumors. It appears he could have earned more than that in NIL money. There is also the value of the UI scholarship and the long-term value of a UI degree.

It also appears he and his family may have been under the illusion he was going to be drafted and get a deal similar to what Ayo got.

From a purely monetary standpoint; I can't say it's clear it all it was time for him to leave.

From a basketball standpoint, he also expressed doubts whether another year or two of college ball would further prepare him to reach his NBA goal. I don't know how playing in Japan figures in that.

Without more Kofi specific information, I can't say for sure if he made the best possible decision. I can say it is clearly not clear. For old school low post bigs in general; I would say stay in school, max out free education, max out NIL -- unless they at least project to be drafted with a two way deal or better; then consider it.
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Agree on Japan not helping Kofi with the NBA. Based on the highlights I’ve seen he’s simply backing down physically inferior players similar to what he did here. No one in the NBA is going to pay him to do that. His blueprint should be Mitchell Robinson, Andre Drummond, and a couple of other guys. Set the hardest screens and rebound everything. If he was elite at those 2 things he would get more serious looks in the NBA. Although I kinda doubt if he will ever stick, just look at what Boston did to Embid yesterday and what the Lakers are likely to do to Jokic this round. Just really hard for guys that size to guard NBA caliber athletes on the perimeter. And those 2 have MVP level offensive skill sets. Much short of that, it’s really hard to keep bigs like Kofi on the floor.
 
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#704      

champaignchris

C
champaignchris
RockfordIllini said:
Agree on Japan helping Kofi with the NBA. Based on the highlights I’ve seen he’s simply backing down physically inferior players similar to what he did here. No one in the NBA is going to pay him to do that. His blueprint should be Mitchell Robinson, Andre Drummond, and a couple of other guys. Set the hardest screens and rebound everything. If he was elite at those 2 things he would get more serious looks in the NBA. Although I kinda doubt if he will ever stick, just look at what Boston did to Embid yesterday and what the Lakers are likely to do to Jokic this round. Just really hard for guys that size to guard NBA caliber athletes on the perimeter. And those 2 have MVP level offensive skill sets. Much short of that, it’s really hard to keep bigs like Kofi on the floor.
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On the converse side, would Kofi have been able to improve much at Illinois?

He went 20 and 10 in 30 minutes a game his junior year. How much could he have added to that? There are only so many minutes and so many possessions a game.

The hack-a-Kof tactics we saw that last year would have only continued, and he’d be dragging half the opposing team to the free throw line 15 times a night on those nights the Big 10 officials actually decided to call fouls. Not sure he’d have been able to work on his passing and face-to-the-basket game much.
 
#705      

RockfordIllini

R
RockfordIllini
champaignchris said:
On the converse side, would Kofi have been able to improve much at Illinois?

He went 20 and 10 in 30 minutes a game his junior year. How much could he have added to that? There are only so many minutes and so many possessions a game.

The hack-a-Kof tactics we saw that last year would have only continued, and he’d be dragging half the opposing team to the free throw line 15 times a night on those nights the Big 10 officials actually decided to call fouls. Not sure he’d have been able to work on his passing and face-to-the-basket game much.
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Fair. Not suggesting he should have come back for another year as I agree it would have been more overpowering smaller defenders/getting hacked to death.

I guess I was suggesting that G League might give him a better shot at developing the skills he needs, even if it’s less $$ than Japan.

And if he was purely chasing dollars, we probably offered him the biggest paycheck.