Matthews, Brazdeikis, Poole Into Draft Process
Michigan issued a press release on this year's edition of NBA Draft Russian Roulette:
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan men's basketball players Charles Matthews, Jordan Poole and Ignas Brazdeikis announced today (Tuesday, April 9) they will all declare for early entry into the 2019 NBA Draft. All three Wolverines intend to sign with agents, who will work with the U-M coaching staff to assist student athletes through the evaluation and pre-draft processes.
"Charles, Jordan and Iggy have all decided to take the next steps in pursuing their dreams of playing in the NBA," said Beilein. "The new process is a unique experience and one that my staff and I will assist in every way we can. We want each of them to utilize this opportunity to get more feedback so they can make the best decision possible for themselves and their families. All three are remarkable young men with amazing futures in front on them."
Under newly adopted NCAA rules, college players are allowed to retain the services of an agent during the evaluation process. If they choose to return to school, they must end the relationship with the agent and they will not lose any eligibility. Additionally, players can also now return to school after going undrafted without losing eligibility, but only if they have participated in the NBA combine.
Bold mine, as this doesn't quite close the door on a return. Buuuuuut… yeah, this sounds extremely bad. Matthews is and has been gone and that's both fine and something the program planned for. Potentially losing both Poole and Brazdeikis to murky pro prospects would be tough to recover from. The chances of that just spiked.
[After THE JUMP: do not read]
This sounds very much like Iggy's out. This is not a test the waters scenario:
Michigan freshman Ignas Brazdeikis will hire an agent and enter the 2019 NBA draft, he told ESPN on Tuesday.
"As long as I can remember, I've wanted to be an NBA player -- not just an NBA player, but an NBA All-Star," Brazdeikis said. "My intent is to be drafted this year as high as I can be and start my journey."
Brazdeikis is headed for the second round, per any draft ranking you care to poke, but he's already 20 and has relatively limited upside left to explore. It is vaguely plausible that he could bomb at the combine and change his mind. But it's a distant chance.
Poole is less definitive. From the press release:
"The last two years here at Michigan have been amazing and filled with so many memories," said Poole. "I've not only become a better player but a better individual. Being able to play in the NBA has always been my dream since I was young. I am confident that with my faith in God and hard work that I, and my family, are prepared to look at all options and make the right decision for the next step of my playing career."
If rampant rumors of Poole's unhappiness turn out to be true he, too, could head for the second round of the draft and hope to break through.
Michigan's been approaching the last few months like attrition is coming so they're not entirely caught out here, but even so their options to fill at least one and maybe up to three scholarship slots right now are Franz Wagner, Lester Quinones, and various grad transfers they've reached out to. Now that Michigan has 30 additional high-usage minutes to tout to folks maybe some more names emerge.
I said this in another thread, Izzo really gets in his players ears to stay. Beilein is up front at all times, and encourages all of his players to weigh all of their options.
How many times have you heard Izzo publicly speak about desperately needing a second NC to validate his own legacy? Different motives.
You would think how Beilein does it would help with reqcruiting, but 5 Stars would rather play for an angry dwarf that constantly berates them and manipulates them in to staying longer than they should. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ever hear his past/present players talk about him? Not that that matters right lol
April 10th, 2019 at 11:53 AM ^
Well of course his players have nice things to say about the guy. Wouldn’t you say nice things about the guy that covered up all the bad stuff you did?
Are you actually trying to convince me that Izzo isn’t an asshole based on what the assholes he coached have to say about him?
Your glasses- they are tinted a lil' maize and blue there bub lol
Because I think Izzo is an entitled asshole?
Have you been reading about the systemic cover up of rape/wrong-doing at MSU that he helped propagate?
Why are you going to bat for him? Your glasses - they seem to be at the wrong fan site. RCMB this is not.
Exactly, which coach do you think will give you a fair and honest assessment of your skills and prospects? Izzo or Beilein? I feel like Beilein genuinely cares about his players and probably goes out of his way to help them, even if they might not be 100% ready for the pros. He would never put his own needs ahead of his players. Izzo on the other hand...
Based on what we see and hear publicly I'm with you, but Izzo's players really do seem to love him. Listen to what Draymond Green says about Izzo, for example: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25796191/when-s-get-tough-draymond-green-hears-tom-izzo
Izzo cares about his players. He just cares about himself 1st.
Do you have any proof for this besides kids staying?
Severely exploited? What a joke. My severely exploited niece is playing volleyball on a partial scholarship at a Pac-12 school. She doesn't know she is severely exploited, apparently, because she's pretty happy to be there and not in the freezing Midwest. The severely exploited football players I knew in school all landed great jobs when they graduated. I'm sure it was because when it said "letterman" on their resumes the companies felt sorry for their severely exploited asses and hired them. Now they are successful and talk about their days at Michigan like they were the best days of their lives. I guess they don't know they were severely exploited either. Iggy is so fucking severely exploited that nobody heard of him a year ago and now after playing college hoops on a national stage he's going to turn pro and probably make millions playing a sport he loves. It sure pisses me off that the University of Michigan would exploit these guys like this. Give me a break.
Your niece and her team likely aren't bringing in millions of dollars for the university though. And billions of dollars for the NCAA, TV networks, advertisers, execs, etc. They probably don't sell her jersey in the bookstore.
There's exploitation going on in college sports, don't fool yourself. All the basketball players and football players may have perks and opportunities but that doesn't change the fact that there is big money in college sports and the players see none of it.
I swam in college. We were a successful team. I was also grateful each year, because having a swim team isnt a right, and it was made possible by revenue bringing sports.
Oh, I see. So it's only SOME college athletes that are severely exploited? Got it.
LOL, I'm not fooling myself and you're not fooling me either. I obviously don't buy into this BS, but if you want to feel sorry for them, then good for you.
Yeah, some kids are exploited, and it's almost entirely football and basketball players.
Your daughter isn't being exploited. I wasn't either.
I'm sure you also don't go on message boards and comment about college volleyball. Or spend $100 to go watch a volleyball game. Or buy volleyball jerseys that have no names on them but just so happen to be your daughters number.
You do make a valid point about there being opportunities provided that others do not get. But that doesn't apply to the 1% of college athletes that we're talking about that rake in money for the schools.
I disagree that anyone is being exploited. The athletes that are good enough are preparing for a career in professional sports. The athletes that aren't are getting a discounted or free education and lessons in teamwork that are unmatched.
BTW, any money that is "raked in" is raked right out again by non-revenue sports. The schools aren't making any money.
When someone has a unique talent but is not adequately compensated for that talent but someone else is compensated for it, that's called exploitation. Whether its pro wrestling or the music business or college sports - if you have talent and do work, you should get paid fairly for it.
I say it everytime - Jim Delany and Mark Emmert get paid millions of dollars a year. And yet I've never paid a dime to see them take a shot or make a tackle.
Well there's the difference then. I happen to think they are adequately compensated. And guess what? If they don't, then they can turn pro and get what the market will bear.
Dude, this is kind of embarrassing.
Michigan has arguably been the superior program over the past 9 years (they've been better and more successful 5 of those 9 years).
MSU no longer has "recruiting power" over us. At least, none that actually matters. The few players that were highly touted that they've landed recently weren't great college players and were as much a waste of Izzo's time and energy (Davis, Bridges, Jackson) as they produced for their program.
Beilein does extremely well recruiting and developing the right guys. We will once again be a top 10 team next year even if none of these guys come back.
Enjoy it.
Foolhardy to denigrate their recruiting. Focusing on what our coach has accomplished prior to getting prime recruits and being rewarded by his success with our current recruiting prowess should be the goal. This whole msu sucks at everything is frankly loser mentality. Give credit and recognize talent we face, or get cocky and lose 3 times, 2 for a banner. Or are we still blaming refs or??
April 10th, 2019 at 12:29 AM ^
At no point did any of this make sense.
Who is getting cocky? If you think it's me, are you saying that me pointing out that Michigan has been on par or better as a program for the last 9 years, which is fact (count the wins and the accomplishments), is causing us to lose games or something?
MSU is a great program, too. No part of my post said they weren't. Congrats to them. They were a better team this year, slightly. No argument there.
All I said is their edge in recruiting, which has only been to get a couple more one-and-dones in the past couple years, didn't help them be a better team or program. This year's final four, and Villanova's recent success, Michigan's recent success, UVA recent success, Gonzaga's recent success, and any number of other examples shows that developing four stars for three years is just as good as getting one and done's and sometimes better. That's the point. Their nominal recruiting edge doesn't matter when it comes to results. Jay Wright and Tony Bennet have far inferior recruiting by standard metrics to Kentucky but both Nova and Uva have arguably as good or better programs.
The difference between Michigan and MSU is similar.
Michigan gets perfect recruits for their program and system, Michigan has excellent coaching and Michigan has become a perennial final four contender (the only two years in the past 7 in which they didn't contend for a final four, i.e. make the sweet sixteen with an excellent chance at a final four were the two years Caris was hurt).
I'm just saying that the whining about MSU is embarrassing. It's 00s thinking. Both are great programs!
As long as you believe everything you are writing, my opinion (or facts for that matter) are irrelevant. Cheers.
N/A (doubled)
Now next year looks poopy :(
I hope all of their dreams come true. All three seem like good dudes.
Yes.. and Beilein will reload. Maybe he can find 1 Chris Beard type transfer. Just would be nice if some of the kids he develops would do a payback and stick around a bit longer as a gesture of support.
What evil spell is Izzo casting when his guys actually hurt themselves by sticking around forever?
God dammit! You're supposed to be angry! If not at Poole and Iggy, at least at Izzo!
I can't recall many people leaving early and getting on an NBA squad. More power to them I guess, wish they stayed a bit longer but can't fault someone for pursuing their dreams.
Thanks for playing and giving your all to MICHIGAN!
Is it April Fools Day?
I thought if you sign with an agent, you can't come back? So I think this does close the door on any of them returning...
EDIT: Nevermind, can't read apparently.
But this really sucks. If they're all gone, idk where our offense is going to come from besides Livers, X, and Teske
It's an incredibly short post, and the relevant part is literally bolded... come on, man...
New rules in the past year.
Beilein can sell 1) prepare you for NBA with many reference points & 2) available playing time. This is opportunity for the rest of the current freshman class to make 2nd year improvements which can translate to playing time. If I were one of the freshmen, I'm double down on summer effort much like Teske did last summer.
Only surprise to me is Poole. Mathews was a given. Iggy being named freshman of the year in the Big Ten & selected as an All American made his decision inevitable. Not sure Poole will be happy playing in the G league.
I still think Poole will be back. In a way it seems like common sense to at least put yourself out there on the NBA meat market and get a solid evaluation so that if you do go back to college you know what they are really looking at. Thankfully the kids now have the option.
Despite some of the late clashing with Beilein and certain morons in the fan base, he seemed like a kid who really enjoys college life and his friends on the team.
In other news Cassius Winston is coming back and has been pre-approved for an extra two years of eligibility to stay in East Lansing until he is Robbie Hummel's age.
Sometimes I feel totally fine with a player leaving early - Mo, Burke, THJ, Stauskas, and GRIII were all guys who hit their reasonable college ceiling here, and had nothing more to prove. Morris, McGary (although he really had no choice), and more recently football players like Gary just leave a feeling that we never got to see them as what they could have been at Michigan.
I don't fault anybody for wanting to go get paid, but right now Iggy and Poole definitely fall into the latter category. If we had won the B1G, or B1G tournament, or made the Final Four, it might feel different. This whole season, while great in many ways, does look empty in hindsight given what could have been.
My main hope for next year now isn't any titles . . . it's just to win at least 24 games. If so Simpson and Teske will leave with the most wins of any Michigan class, and that would be something to be proud of on its own, even if no banners go up.
At some point you have to wonder if JB or something else about this environment wears on these guys. You can't argue with the success we've had, but for one reason or another our players seem to almost universally jump at their first opportunity to leave. This extends all the way back to the Darius Morris days.
I'll never blame an individual for looking out for themselves, and the fact that these kids don't (legally) make money when they're in college is a sham given the revenue they generate. But with that said, not every school is losing fringe 2nd round players to the draft every year the way we seem to.
Calling BS on this. Encouraging 20 year old kids to do what's best for them, as opposed to what's best for the fanbase or the coach seems like the kind of class-act move we'd expect from Beilein. Never heard a single former player badmouth him.
Who are the past "fringe" second rounders of whom you speak? Hardaway, Morris, GRIII? Not fringe.
We're generally not losing fringe second-round players. Morris left too soon, but Michigan has generally been losing first-rounders to the draft, which makes sense. Of the three that have declared, only Poole doesn't make sense to me as a departure (both Iggy and Matthews are old enough that it's now or never, and Matthews could easily have left last season and didn't).
Trey Burke, for example, had one foot out the door (and apparently all of his stuff packed in trash bags!) and came back and took us to the title game. DJ Wilson left and got drafted in the first round, very sensible. I think you're imagining a trend that isn't there.
Yeah, seriously what is OP smoking? Just because everyone around here thought Wilson was not going to get drafted in the first round does not mean that he was a fringe 2nd rounder. It only shows how little people here know about NBA draft.
If Poole get drafted, he should go. If not, he can always come back. I would do exactly the same if I was in Poole's shoes.
Let the attacks on their skills and character commence.
Why all the pessimistic Debbie Downers?
Didn't Matthews test the waters last year and still come back?
Yes, he did.
Just like Wagner came back the previous year after testing the waters.
McGary and GR3 came back after considering a departure following their freshman seasons (and neither improved their stock).
Burke had his bags packed and came back to lead us to the national title game.
I don't know why we do this every time someone declares, especially when no one has yet made a bad decision to leave (the most borderline was Darrius Morris but he earned contracts with the Lakers his first two seasons and has career earnings of $2.4M while getting every opportunity to earn long term contract).
Iggy and Poole could very well return. It’s smart for them to engage in this process.
I just hope they ultimately listen to the experts whatever that recommendation may be.
For the "everything checks out, nothing to see here" crowd please explain what happens to us vs MSU. Tillman ate our lunch, hit 3s, and is a big dude and is getting ready for summer camp in East Lansing. Seriously DJ didn't make 3RD TEAM big ten and got drafted. I am not begrudging the players at all. They need to get paid the minute they play in front of a TV audience. I just don't understand why the better team this year is safe from the NBA and we get decimated.
They could have said that last year though right? The better team kept their underclassmen, the inferior team lost two lottery picks.
It's just about the construction of the team. They were better (by the tiniest of margins, btw) because they had smart, veteran players like we did last year. We had more talented players but they didn't know the game as well (Poole and Iggy).
Same as them last year. They had more talent but weren't as good of a team.
Every time it looks like this program is on the verge of becoming a death machine, surprise NBA attrition seems to set us back a few years. DJ Wilson, Mo Wagner, Glen Robinson III, Mitch McGary, Tim Hardaway Jr., and now some combination of these three all going pro with eligibility left to be picked at best in the back half of the first round.
I get why, NBA bench checks are still sweet, but it's getting tiresome when Izzo can keep these kinds of guys around for four years.
I do sort of wonder with Poole if after a month or two and he gets a "you should go back to college" grade from the NBA draft commission, cooler heads prevail and everyone realizes he can either start getting on a bus to the Ft. Wayne Mad Antz or stick around for another year and get high-leverage minutes on a good college team.
Iggy and Matthews I sort of knew were gone; the only thought I had with Iggy was if he pulled a Wagner and came back to improve on a couple of smaller areas like defensive positioning and rebounding. But honestly, he's got a good outside shot and he's so old there isn't a reason to stick around.
Wish all three luck.
Not optimal.
NBA plays looser defense, more free style offense so maybe those guys will fair ok there.
For UM, looks like a rebuild year. MSU is the hands down favorite for the conference now.
Early optimistic outlook for UM could be maybe beating MSU once and win a game or two in the tournament.
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