ESPN's List of College Coaches Who Best Prep Players for NBA
Lists Beilein at #3 and Izzo at #4.
Portion related to Beilein:
3) John Beilein, Michigan Wolverines: He’s starting to churn out NBA guys lately -- Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., and Nik Stauskas, Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson III this year. “Player development,” said one NBA scout. “Bottom line. He works on players' individual games. There’s a lot of shooting, of course, but every practice he takes 20 or so minutes to focus on getting guys better.”
Link ($): http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/jeff-goodman/post/_/id/3703/best-colleg…
How the hell Izzo made the top five I have no idea.
He puts out
The media still buy into Izzo's FF appearances from when he could use the Martin scandal against Michgan to recruit whoever he wanted in the state and region.
Funny how the NBA hasn't been beating his door down this year: at least Izzo isn't fooling everybody anymore...
izzo's ranking should mystify anyone with a brain. but it is what it is.
one thing for sure is that izzo's streak of every 4 year player reaching at least final four has just ended. and the way the rules have begun to change on the defensive end to encourage more offense, izzo needs to adapt or risk MSU becoming even less relevant in march.
This guy must not have looked at, ya know, actual players that Izzo has coached and their NBA results. For a guy who has been coaching for almost 20 years at MSU, and has gotten top tier high school talent for most of that time, the dearth of NBA success is pretty compelling,
http://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/colleges.cgi?college=michiganst
Beat me to it!
You get bonus points when every player is hurt
Yeah, not really sure where this comes from. Look at basketball-reference.com and you see a whole lotta nothing punctuated by a couple of barely-there kids (Richardson and Z-Bo) plus Green and Peterson who actually made an impact in the NBA. And considering that's over nearly 20 years, I'm not buying the story about him producing NBA talent.
Unidentified NBA Scout, off the record: Izzo preps some weird guys, man.
Where is Calipari?
Taking a bunch of top 10 players and getting them drafted a year later doesn't deserve much credit
Press like this certainly can't hurt Beilein's chances with recruits.
Michigan assistant coaches should be putting this list in front of every recruit. The recruits can decide for themselves the voracity of ESPN as a rating service, but it can't hurt at all I'd say.
So with Ben Howland not being, you know, a college coach righ now. That makes Beilein #2 for actual coaches coaching basketball right?
Izzo at #4 with...Draymond Green? And Shannon Brown like a decade ago? You're better off going to Lehigh or Murray St.
Hard to figure this list. According to Wikipedia (I'm too lazy to do real reasearch)- 13 guys who played for Izzo @ State were HS All Americans of one flavor or another.
He's had 13 guys go to the NBA - this list:
Jamie Feick, Mateen Cleaves, Morris Peterson, Jason Richardson, Zach Randolph, Andre Hutson, Charlie Bell (Undrafted but played), Marcus Taylor, Erazem Lorbek, Alan Anderson, Shannon Brown, Maurice Ager, Paul Davis, Goran Suton, Draymond Green
pretty sure he never played in the NBA
As pointed out by others, Suton was drafted (2nd round, 50th overall), but cut in the preseason. He's been playing in Europe.
Last year MSU had a whopping 4 players in the NBA.
ZBo, who is 32, and declining, despite being a good player.
Alan Anderson, who is 31, and has been in and out of the NBA over his career. He actually played a career high 78 games last year primarily because of the plague of injuries the Nets suffered
Shannon Brown, who is 28, and was survivng of 10 day contracts with multiple teams. He is on his way out of the league.
Draymond, who is their only young player in the league.
Over the course of his career Izzo has had something like 13 guys get drafted into the NBA. That's it. With all of the talent he brings in and with MSU's track record of success over that period of time, that's a pretty low number.
After this year's draft, Beilein will be at 7 guys getting drafted in 7 years at Michigan. Izzo will be up to 15 in 19 years at State.
There was a time in the early to mid 2000s when you could have said Izzo was pumping out NBA players, but he hasn't done much of that over the last 7 or 8 years.
Since the 2006 draft just 2 MSU players have been drafted, Goran suton, who never played a single game in the NBA, and Draymond Green, both were 2nd round picks. When Gary Harris is selected in the 1st round this year, it will be the first time an MSU player was selected in the 1st round since Maurice Ager was selected 28th overall in 2006.
I will say that Green is an interesting case though. Coming out of HS he was a 3/4 star guy and was not considered a top 100 player. However, he did earn the B1G player of the year award while being considered a first team all-american as a senior. So I suppose in that situation you can say Izzo developed a guy to a point that was beyond expectations, but only at the college level. Plus it took an entire four years.
Draymond always did seem like a good guy so I wish him the best, but I just can't imagine him having a long NBA career. So if he does end up out of the league soon, Izzo better pray Harris and Payne don't flame out, especially since they were 5 star guys. If that happens, I can't imagine any top recruit with NBA aspirations would want to play for Izzo.
the author is considering Harris and Payne, seeing as Stauskas, Robinson and McGary were mentioned. I do agree with your sentiment though.
some reasonable perspective is in order. I agree that Tom doesn't have a great record for prepping players for the NBA--I don't think his style of play is particularly conducive. But in addition to the players you mention, there are Randolph and Anderson--and even Richardson (who was hurt all season, but still on a roster). Plus he will have two 1st rounders this season with Appling having a chance to make a roster as well. And, on the other end, Beilein didn't send many to the pros until recently---which only reinforces that it is not much of a standard by which to judge coaches.
THESE ESPN LISTS ARE SO FREAKING...wait...what? Belein is #3? These articles are great for the program!
How is Izzo anywhere on that list? We've been good for like 5 years and already have more players in the NBA than State, and most of State's guys are old fogies like ZBo, or just barely hanging on like Shannon Brown.
This is the list of MSU players that played a game in the NBA last year:
Zach Randolph - 32 years old, went pro in 2001
Alan Anderson - 31 years old, went pro in 2005
Shannon Brown - 28 years old, went pro in 2006
Draymond Green - 24 years old, went pro in 2012
Here is the list of Michigan players that played a game in the NBA last year:
Jamal Crawford - 34 years old, went pro in 2000
Manny Harris - 24 years old, went pro in 2010
Darius Morris - 23 years old, went pro in 2011
Timy Hardaway Jr. - 22 years old, went pro in 2013
Trey Burke - 21 years old, went pro in 2013
So we've already got 1 more player in the NBA despite being shit for a decade and Izzo's dominance. At the end of this draft we'll be up even more because Stauskas, GRIII, and McGary are all going to get drafted for us, while Payne and Harris are going to get drafted for them.
Next year Caris is projected as a top 20 pick, and the only person who even has a shot as getting picked for them is Branden Dawson floating out there with a 2nd round grade.
If there is one thing you can legitimately criticize Izzo for, it's not producing NBA talent. The fact that Michigan has already passed him on that front should be alarming for MSU fans.
1) Jamal Crawford is immensely removed from John Beilein.
2) The important thng about Beilein is that he not only puts people into the association, but he puts unknown/low-rated recruits in. How many people predicted, when they were recruited, that THJ, Burke, Stauskas and Levert would even be sniffed by the NBA? That's what makes JB great.
It clearly states players still in the NBA from Michigan. Not guys Beilein has coached.
Crawford or not, his point is more than valid.
Izzo produces players for HIS program, which is fine...but he's not a developer of NBA talent. Coach K used to be like this for the most part as well. Once he got Kyrie Irving that ended.
It's not necessarily a bad thing, they win, they're great coaches.
But it definitely is a fact. Especially with Izzo.
The problem is, in today's society, kids want the quickest route to the NBA. Look at UK. Duke and Kansas have both adjusted as well.
Izzo is still so HIS system and he hasn't landed the McGary's and the Parker's. I even look at Gary Harris, he seemed like a potential 1-and-done guy and then he went to play for Izzo and he never really did THAT much.
Izzo will be fine because there are still guys that can wait for the NBA and just want solid coaching. However, in this era of short attention spans, multitasking, social media....with today's athlete. Guys llike Izzo and Dean Smith are dinosaurs.
This is why I LOVE Beilein, he's truly the best of both worlds. Take Izzo and take Calipari and they're on opposite ends. Beilein is squarely in the middle (after you wash all the sleaze off from those 2).
Hoiberg at 5??
I don't have an Insider account, but I would be interested in their rationale for Hoiberg actually. I can't think of anyone other than Royce White when it comes to the draft history of the Cyclones under Hoiberg's watch, and while I am sure that list will grow under him, from the look of things, I would like to know why he is up there.
he has had one guy with perceieved talent that got drafted in Royce White and somehow managed him for two entire years. He has another guy (Diante Garrett) in the league who was mediocre before Hoiberg got there and is no getting minutes. Then he has DeAndre Kane who no one had heard of in a position to be drafted and I would contend that if he were 4 years younger, he's in the lottery. Add to that, Melvin Ejim who was purely an effort guy for two years and was just the Big 12 POY as a senior and you have a pattern. He is making players better. George Niang will be a guy everyone overlooked and he will get drafted. Then you have Monte Morris.
Who Best Prep Players For Life After College Basketball
There are lots of college basketball players who might be very good college players, but who never will get the chance to play in the NBA, despite their desire to make it there. The coaches who prepare those players for life after college basketball ends deserve credit, too. I have a feeling that John Beilein would rank high on that list also.
tell me something i don't know, espn.
Which is nice.
...but his players were hurt.