Iggy gone
Bummer. Would have loved to see him for another year but best of luck
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26480272/michigan-freshman-brazdeikis-entering-nba-draft
Damn, sucks to lose him, would have loved to see this group run it back next year, but best of luck to him!
Good luck, Iggy! Thank you for your efforts this year. May you have a long and prosperous pro career.
best of luck to him.
one and done seems really awkward for a beilein team.
Even more awkward was that he didn't have that great of a tournament. I feel like his draft stock is based on potential but I also don't feel like he did anything to boost himself after losing to MSU in the B1G tournament. I don't watch the NBA so I'm not sure how long it takes freshman to adjust to the pros?
We'll see - Best of luck!
Welp. Hiring an agent, it's over.
I'm bearish on his chances, unfortunately. And I thought he really had a chance to grow and excel next season here.
Oh well. Good luck.
I think you can actually hire an agent and come back (new rule this year).
but seems like his heart set
You can work with an agent and retain eligibility so long as they are on an approved list.
But yeah, the language in his quotes is pretty danged specific.
"My intent is to get drafted as high as I can" sounds both certain and... kinda realistic? Like, he's ok leaving even if he gets shunted to the second round, because it's the next step for him.
That sounds just like what a lot of other players say.
I don't doubt that Iggy intends to go if he gets drafted, but he still has a decision or two to make. He hasn't gone through workouts and gotten feedback yet. They may not go the way he thinks they will.
He still has to earn an invite to the combine. They mostly go to players the NBA thinks will get drafted. Under the new rules, players that go through the combine can return to school even if they stay in the draft as long as they don't get picked.
That rule should lead to more players staying in, which means borderline prospects are less likely to get drafted. Is Iggy a borderline prospect? I don't know the answer. He doesn't seem like a first rounder.
Sorry to see him go but he would have benefited greatly from a second season. His handle needs more work. This is like if Mo Wagner left after his second season. Mo played himself into the first round. Is Iggy a first round pick?
This is a good comparison. And to answer your question, I see no way that Ignas is a first round pick in the 2019 draft.
Zero chance IMO
I remember an article from a while back with NBA executives candidly speaking about players, and one said that Iggy was a high-floor, low-ceiling guy. He doesn't have the lateral quickness to stick with a lot of the guys in the league, but can get to the rim and create his own shot so that's his value and his drawback. I'm not sure what coming back for another year would do for his knocks, but it would definitely have been nice to see a further-refined Iggy next year. Best of luck to him!
He is limited athletically, I don't think additional time in college will improve that significantly. Refining his ball handling and improving his court vision, while helpful, would not change his draft status much.
While Michigan would have greatly benefited to have him back one more year with the improvements mentioned above, there is no great upside to staying if his core goal is the NBA. He simply can not improve enough on the core trait which will hold him back.
I wonder if he was born in Lithuania and grew up in Canada?
And he writes with his Lithuanian hand, but shoots Canadian-handed. I might be mixing and matching his fun facts. Maybe it was his right hand fought in the UFC, and his left hand didn't mind being the bad guy on the court. Something like that.
Must be trying to get back to Lithuania with this move.
Or maybe,
Born in Arizona,
Moved to Babylonia
Ugh, next season is going to rough on offense if the Poole rumors are true.
Aside from one tweet from Poole’s dad, where are these rumors coming from?
I've read from one reputable source that he's being told he's likely a first round pick. And another says he might transfer. Basically, he's out the door as well.
He's hiring an agent too. Could come back but doubtful. Source: UMich Bball twitter.
I see this as a positive. With the Freshmen class coming in, it is probably the correct decision.
Other than his dad venting on twitter, what rumors are there? I don't think we can read too much into stuff that we haven't heard yet.
Nonetheless we have some serious concerns. Our 1 and our 5 are excellent college players, but they appear to have a ceiling that already limits the offensive potential of the team. Iggy, though flawed, was clearly our best offensive player.
Honestly, I'm concerned whether Poole comes back or not. Livers is clearly a useful piece, but he needs some strong offensive players around him to unlock what he does.
Honestly, our roster was kind of shaping up to be unwieldy for the next couple of years, and the pieces were not really coming into focus that well. I never want any productive good player to leave as it creates more questions, but Beilein struck me as becoming very frustrated with this team last year and was playing far too short of a bench. It seemed the composition of players was kind of boxing him in and he seemed creatively stunted. I think this is a development that could be painful short term but pay dividends in the long view.
I got the same sense. I'm really wondering who, if any, makes the sophomore jump. I'm hoping DDJ can play the 2, and *maybe* we see Nunez harness his flamethrower abilities in meaningful minutes? I don't want to shoulder all of my hope on a freshman again, but man did Iggy make it fun.
We lost to one team that didn't make the final four in the last 3 months of the season and finished with our best KenPom efficiency rating of all time. I think Coach B was MORE than happy with this team.
That is not the sense that I got.
Well, Poole has now declared. Though his quote from the Michigan release suggests that he's still retaining the option of returning.
Thank you Iggy for all the memories and effort. We will be rooting for you and watching you. All the best
In all honesty there weren't that many memories.
We ran Villanova and UNC out of the building and went on a 17 game winning streak to start the season, those are pretty great memories. Iggy was the only guy who could consistently score and TT too. But don't let me stop you (and this is what our fanbase always does) from immediately turning your back on 20 year olds who make decisions in their own best interests that the fans don't like.
Oh my god settle down.
C'mon, man. I get that you're being "real" but you have to realize that this post just looks selfish and silly at best.
It was.... a joke. Some people on here are just flipping out and want to direct their anger somewhere. That's fine.
(if you have to explain that it was a joke ... it probably wasn't a good very one)
Best of luck to him, grateful for what we got from him, best of luck at the next level.
And hello Franz...?
Would be nice. Michigan is also expected to get the last visit from Lester Quinones.
A little puzzling given the dramatic difference between being a first round pick and a second round pick. I would think this is going to cost him money in the long run.
Good luck Iggy. Enjoyed having someone who pissed off opposing crowds as much as you did.
I'd like to think that he'd grow to be a first-round pick, but the truth is that there's no guarantee that his game would transform enough to improve his draft stock next season, especially at his advanced age for a freshman.
a.) i wish him the best.
b.) i think this is a mistake. i would not be surprised if he doesn't go even in the 2nd round. he is college good, but did not flash NBA good to me. hope he proves me way wrong, but i think this is not a wise decision.
I think he is NBA good. We did not space the floor worth a damn last year. He was impressive from deep even though he basically had a hand in his face on every shot, was a surprisingly athletic rebounder and finisher. He is a tank too.
I would call him “NBA functional” maybe. I just don’t see the explosive athleticism that you typically associate with NBA players. Not impossible, but his skills will really have to sharpen to adequately compensate.
i think he's more like NBA 'marginal/average'. he's not extraordinarily fast/tall/shooter/assists in a league where every guy is the best at one or more of those things. i want to be wrong, but compared to the guys in the show, i just don't see it.
"NBA marginal" is a better description. I concede. :)
Well, shit.
Honestly didn't see this one coming. His outside shot was extremely shaky, and he turned the ball over a lot when he tried to get his own offense in half court sets. Seems like he could've worked his way into a much better prospect.
20.45 yrs draft age, that I think about says it.
Go get that money King