Illini in the Pros

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#701      
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
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
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
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.
 
#711      
Homecoming 2019
viking6888 said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1665061411439902721
Player of the Day: Ayo Dosunmu
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Bowing Down Waynes World GIF
 
#713      
chiefini
IlliniKat91 said:
I'll be forever grateful that this man chose to be an Illini. Not just for one year, but for three. What an absolute pleasure to watch him suit up for the Orange and Blue and develop.
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Well said, Kat. Ayo’s always been a fantastic representative of not only our Illini basketball program, but our University of Illinois as a what a student athlete should be. From the moment of his reveal through his playing career on and off the court, Ayo and his family have been nothing but class. I’m so happy he chose Illinois.
 
#714      
LGIllini
Ayo will always be one of my favorites right up there with Kenny Battle, Frank Williams and Dee Brown. Is there any word on his contract for next year? Is there a deadline by which the Bulls need to make a qualifying offer or is he already a free agent? Selfishly hoping the Bulls resign him, but maybe there's a team where he can get more playing time next season.
 
#715      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
LGIllini said:
Is there any word on his contract for next year? Is there a deadline by which the Bulls need to make a qualifying offer or is he already a free agent? Selfishly hoping the Bulls resign him, but maybe there's a team where he can get more playing time next season.
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June 29 is the last day teams can make qualifying offers to players eligible for restricted free agency. Because he started 51 games, his qualifying offer increased from $3 million to $5.2 million. Both he and Coby White are RFAs (White's qualifying offer is about $7.7 million). AK has said he wants to sign both but that may not be tenable since neither is a great option as a point guard and the Bulls are going to need to address that position in the offseason as well.
 
#717      
Fr8trn16
IlliniFaninHoosierLand said:
June 29 is the last day teams can make qualifying offers to players eligible for restricted free agency. Because he started 51 games, his qualifying offer increased from $3 million to $5.2 million. Both he and Coby White are RFAs (White's qualifying offer is about $7.7 million). AK has said he wants to sign both but that may not be tenable since neither is a great option as a point guard and the Bulls are going to need to address that position in the offseason as well.
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They need to let Ayo be the starter at point and let him develop and continue to get comfortable. Encourage him to take on more of a scoring role; and allowing him to do that will only help the Bulls team grow stronger. They need to play Drummond more also. Vucevic doesn't play defense at all. That is really hurting the team. He has to give more of an effort defensively and rebounding wise, or he needs to leave. My opinion.
 
#719      
Chickenmane
Fr8trn16 said:
They need to let Ayo be the starter at point and let him develop and continue to get comfortable. Encourage him to take on more of a scoring role; and allowing him to do that will only help the Bulls team grow stronger. They need to play Drummond more also. Vucevic doesn't play defense at all. That is really hurting the team. He has to give more of an effort defensively and rebounding wise, or he needs to leave. My opinion.
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Im afraid the days of the bulls starting Ayo at PG are over, if anything the bulls improved when Ayo stopped playing with the starters.

If we are being honest Ayo just need to work on skills (mostly shooting) that will keep him in the league before he should be concerned with starting again.
 
#720      
DocMorgan
Fr8trn16 said:
They need to let Ayo be the starter at point and let him develop and continue to get comfortable. Encourage him to take on more of a scoring role; and allowing him to do that will only help the Bulls team grow stronger. They need to play Drummond more also. Vucevic doesn't play defense at all. That is really hurting the team. He has to give more of an effort defensively and rebounding wise, or he needs to leave. My opinion.
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Love Ayo, but he doesn’t have the handles to be a starting PG in the NBA.
 
#721      
Fr8trn16
Chickenmane said:
Im afraid the days of the bulls starting Ayo at PG are over, if anything the bulls improved when Ayo stopped playing with the starters.

If we are being honest Ayo just need to work on skills (mostly shooting) that will keep him in the league before he should be concerned with starting again.
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I disagree. I felt the Bulls played better with Ayo starting and we always did better defensively and offensively. When he was out the game we always allowed the other team to go on runs. It was never on Ayo why the team defense was poor. Yes he needs to work on shooting the 3 from the corner better, but the offense being run where he has to always spot up in the corner is not working. Allow him to run the point and pull up from the top of the key and other areas more. He was never just a spot up shooter. And Ayo definitely can run the point and drop dimes. He needs players that can run with him. The Bulls need to play faster. That ball stopping, slow offensive game doesn't work well. The Bulls young players want to get out and run, and that's when we're at our best! Start Ayo Bulls please!
 
#724      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
Fr8trn16 said:
I disagree. I felt the Bulls played better with Ayo starting and we always did better defensively and offensively. When he was out the game we always allowed the other team to go on runs. It was never on Ayo why the team defense was poor. Yes he needs to work on shooting the 3 from the corner better, but the offense being run where he has to always spot up in the corner is not working. Allow him to run the point and pull up from the top of the key and other areas more. He was never just a spot up shooter. And Ayo definitely can run the point and drop dimes. He needs players that can run with him. The Bulls need to play faster. That ball stopping, slow offensive game doesn't work well. The Bulls young players want to get out and run, and that's when we're at our best! Start Ayo Bulls please!
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Look, I know you love Ayo and I love what he did for the program here too, but sometimes you have to be realistic about things and look at it without orange tinted glasses. This isn't about getting the playing time to develop into a PG. Being a college PG and an NBA caliber PG are too vastly different things. He hasn't shown himself to be an NBA quality starting PG. Teams don't respect him when he tries to shoot behind the 3 point line because he's not consistent enough (and he was not used as a 3-point shooter here at a high enough level to even consider him being a "good" college 3 point shooter). Ayo is a player probably better served being on a team with lower expectations like Charlotte where he'd be given time to develop on a team that doesn't have postseason aspirations anytime soon. Even with how poorly constructed the Bulls roster is in spots, they still expect to be at least fighting for a playoff spot if not at least in the play-in (and yes I know that sounds sad but it is what it is).
 
#725      
Fr8trn16
IlliniFaninHoosierLand said:
Look, I know you love Ayo and I love what he did for the program here too, but sometimes you have to be realistic about things and look at it without orange tinted glasses. This isn't about getting the playing time to develop into a PG. Being a college PG and an NBA caliber PG are too vastly different things. He hasn't shown himself to be an NBA quality starting PG. Teams don't respect him when he tries to shoot behind the 3 point line because he's not consistent enough (and he was not used as a 3-point shooter here at a high enough level to even consider him being a "good" college 3 point shooter). Ayo is a player probably better served being on a team with lower expectations like Charlotte where he'd be given time to develop on a team that doesn't have postseason aspirations anytime soon. Even with how poorly constructed the Bulls roster is in spots, they still expect to be at least fighting for a playoff spot if not at least in the play-in (and yes I know that sounds sad but it is what it is).
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I respect your opinion, however I do disagree with Ayo needing to play with a team with lower expectations. I do love Ayo as a player and even more as a person. I've been a Bulls fan for my entire life and I'm not just looking at this through orange tinted glasses. Ayo made the Rising-Stars all rookie team twice. He has played very well or else that would have not been the case. He has been voted in by his peers as being one of the better players in the NBA coming up and as stated, a rising star. So he deserves the credit for his achievements and hard work. He has excelled at every level he's ever played and he will do the same here. The Bulls always give away our best players and they go elsewhere and become Stars!
 
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