Report: Burke And Hardaway To Go Pro After This Season [UPDATED WITH MULTIPLE DENIALS] Comment Count

Ace



Melanie Maxwell/AnnArbor.com

Darren Heitner, a sports business writer for Forbes as well as a sports and entertainment attorney, reports via Twitter that both Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. are headed to the NBA after this season:

Burke's reported departure, of course, comes as no surprise. Hardaway was considered a 50/50 shot—even though he's been projected as either a late first-round or second-round pick, the upside (from an NBA perspective) of him returning for a senior season seemed marginal at best.

Of course, we learned last year that one report (or several, even) does not guarantee a player's departure. In this case, though, Heitner appears to be going on a lot more than an empty dorm room—he's tweeting a considerable amount of specific information about potential agent choices.

UPDATE: Burke's mother issues a denial of the report, saying that her son has yet to make a decision:

UPDATE II: The plot thickens:

UPDATE III: As reader SFBlue points out, Heitner has a bit of a checkered history when it comes to his journalistic credibility. Considering it's pretty clear he didn't do his due diligence in reporting this story—a call should've been placed to the Burke and Hardaway families, at the very least—perhaps it's best we pretend this never happened.

Comments

Indiana Blue

April 4th, 2013 at 1:25 PM ^

on this "rumor".  In case Mr. Heitner forgot, both these players have a rather BIG game to play in just 2 days.  True or not ... guess he just wanted to be the "story-breaker" ... ass.

Go Blue!

 

Lucky Socks

April 4th, 2013 at 2:37 PM ^

The more likely scenario was that both players leave.  It always was, especially considering out success this postseason.

Scenario 1:  His "source" and this Darren guy make a safe bet.  One week later they get to say "told ya so."

Scenario 2:  His "source" and this Darren guy make a safe bet.  One week later one or both return.  Nobody remembers who Darren is and he goes back to being a guy on twitter with gelled hair.  

hectinez

April 4th, 2013 at 3:06 PM ^

Oh go figure... Darren Heitner, hereonafter "the Douchebag" who conveniently released the information today about Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway, Jr. going pro after this season holds two degrees from the University of Florida and works for the University of Indiana. Can you say SORE LOSER!

1464

April 4th, 2013 at 2:10 PM ^

Opposite opposite effect.  As in, there is no effect.  Our team wants to win just as bad as before.  They will still be equally qualified to do so.  When stuff like this comes up, it is a distraction to us as fans, not to players.  Anyone who has played a sport can tell you that in crunch time, everything outside of the field of play leaves your mind.

Hell, even in practice I left everything behind me.  Athletes have an innate ability to focus on sports.  We win if we would have won, we lose if we would have lost.  I don't think stuff like this has any bearing on the outcome.  They won't want it any more or less.  They won't have the wind knocked out of us and lose focus on the competition.

Still, a tiny part of me was holding onto the hope that we'd field this entire team again next year, stupid as it may have been.

yossarians tree

April 4th, 2013 at 2:16 PM ^

Sorry but this is the imaginings of some lonely douchebag "reporter" for all we know. Anyone can speculate on anything, and if there are sports agents looking to get their names in print, I think it's fair to say they would make all kinds of shit up. It might be true, but then I might leak tomorrow that I'm dating Kate Upton. Would that make the cover page of MGoBlog?

Hogwash! Balderdash!

5677lwjl

April 4th, 2013 at 1:28 PM ^

not that surprising. theres no real benefit of them staying another year. we can only be grateful that we had the oppurtunity to watch them as long as we did considering the whole one and done fiasco that goes on.

JeepinBen

April 4th, 2013 at 1:34 PM ^

I still want to win it all, as I'm sure the players do. But, I mean... look at the side bar "Would winning it all make leaving easier?"

These players are at the Final 4. They may win it all. After a year like that, it'd be stupid* NOT to leave.

*Lewan stupid. As in freaking awesome for Michigan fans, but common sense says go pro

SAvoodoo

April 4th, 2013 at 1:35 PM ^

My questions is, if you're Heitner, why not post this? Really what does he have to lose? He posts this and is right, he's awesome, gets credibility etc.  He posts this and is wrong, he's still some obscure guy posting for forbes sports page.  The fact that this "report" made front page MGoBlog is surprising to me but maybe I'm just a bit uppity today.

Edit: Plus this guy is a "professor at IU" and "double gator". He sucks.

snoopblue

April 4th, 2013 at 1:33 PM ^

Can we destroy this jerk off reporter? Who knows who is source is, he's clearly taking advantage of the situation and knows that distracting knows is bigger news. We are on the verge of basketball national championship and anything standing in the way should be steamrolled and destroyed. This really fucking pisses me off, I am really hoping this son of a bitch gets whats coming.

WolvinLA2

April 4th, 2013 at 2:19 PM ^

But why? Does he owe us fans anything as a reporter? Does news stop because a team has games coming up?

If he's just spreading a rumor or his sources aren't legitimate, then I'd agree with you a little more, but this guy is just doing his job, and it appears he's doing it pretty well. Why are we blaming him?

BlueInWisconsin

April 4th, 2013 at 1:35 PM ^

How joyless Mr Heitner's existance must be.  Does this really need to be trumpeted right now?  Does this information matter to anyone?  All this serves is to distract and disappoint at the exact moment when everyone is excited about the Final Four. You, Mr Heitner, are a jerk.  Next time wait a week before raining on everyone's parade.

Lucky Socks

April 4th, 2013 at 2:46 PM ^

Ask Durrell Summers how returning for his senior year helped him out.  Most juniors have reached their potential.  He also has a pretty good chance at improving if he's playing basketball for a living next year, if you ask me.  

As a 30-40 prospect there's a good chance he'll get a roster shot.  From there nothing is a guarantee.  

allezbleu

April 4th, 2013 at 3:54 PM ^

cite specific cases to make blanket statements about whether coming back is good or bad.

It depends on the player it depends on the player it depends on the player.

Personally, THJ will have the opportunity to take a much heavier scoring load next year. If he's confident that he can tighten his handle in the offseason, develop more of a driving game  and become more consistent, than this outweighs the drawbacks of being a year older. And his stock would be improved by coming back.

And honestly, I don't think this final 4 run is going to help THJ's stock much. I don't think it really ever does unless you alpha dog your team to success (Burke) or blow up (McGary). Especially if he's been scouted heavily for the last 3 years. He's a known quanitity to scouts. 

wolverine77

April 4th, 2013 at 1:36 PM ^

Does anyone else find it interesting that Mark Bartlestein, big time agent and Josh's dad, isn't on that list? I get that Tim might have an in with this agent or something because of his dad, but you'd imagine that Bartlestein would be involved. Strikes me as a little odd.

jmblue

April 4th, 2013 at 3:09 PM ^

There may be NCAA issues there - they may not want to jeopardize anyone's eligibilty on the team by making contact with them before they leave school.  

I don't like that this guy is specifically naming the agent that he thinks THJ will sign with.  He's hinting that there has been contact.  As long as Tim hasn't signed or accepted anything, it's OK . . . but i'm sure Beilein doesn't appreciate this coming up right now.

 

 

WolvinLA2

April 4th, 2013 at 4:17 PM ^

But I'm not talking about anyone getting on contact while in school. But if I were Burke or Hardaway or Darius Morris, etc. I'd be thinking, "that agent is one of the top agents in the NBA and he not only played college basketball, but he played at Michigan so I'll give him a nice hard look."

If I were in their shoes, "he went to Michigan" and "Kobe thinks he's good enough" are all the reasons I'd need.

AC1997

April 4th, 2013 at 1:39 PM ^

I thought this was the expected outcome from day one anyway, so it doesn't bother me much.  Hardaway has nothing left to gain staying another year and Burke nearly left last year before he was the consensus best player in the country.  About the only thing that would have changed my opinion would have been if they didn't fulfill the team goals.  With the Final Four now the incentive to stay is minimal at best. 

The only question for me has been GR3.  For any of us that watched him closely we know how far he has to grow as a player and what his limitations are, despite how good he has been.  I can't figure out why he projects so high on draft boards and want to see him stay.  But when you DO project that high, two of your teammates are leaving, and you will go out having played in the final four I can see the motivation.  Let's hope he stays.

As sad as I will be to see Hardaway and Burke leave, I'm really excited for Irvin and Walton - both of whom are ranked far higher as high school kids and seem perfect fits for the system. 

Stauskasforthree63

April 4th, 2013 at 1:39 PM ^

These boys know better than to make this distraction when they have a huge weekend coming up. Let alone start speaking to agents. I call shenanigans from this troll looking dick.

FreddieMercuryHayes

April 4th, 2013 at 1:41 PM ^

I'm really surprised you put this on the front page.  This isn't some UM or major college basketball insider.  And the way he cites his information makes me think he's talking to some agens who talke to someone in the Burke/Hardaway camp.  Which means nothing.  Obviously Burke has been gone for a while, but let's hold off on the rumors at this point until, as someone pointed out in the other tread, someone more reputabible than the equivalent of a Bleacher Report guy who covers sports buisness talks about some agents.

snoopblue

April 4th, 2013 at 1:42 PM ^

He is a Florida undergrad and Law school alum, works at IU as a professor (he graduated in 2010 and is already a professor?). Seems like he's sleazed his way into every next opportunity. His website http://darrenheitner.com/ seems scumbag-ish, nevin-shapiro-esque (I think it just reminds me of Miami, but I am angry right now, so bear with me). He is sports agent, bottom-line. Nick Saban press conference footage, I need you.

kehnonymous

April 4th, 2013 at 1:43 PM ^

It's bad form to quote oneself, but as I posted in the MGoBoard thread:

When you see an article from Forbes' website, divorce yourself from the notion you had of the respected finance magazine.  Forbes.com has a similar model to Bleacher Report and HuffPo when it comes to their articles - it's basically a contributed content farm model that incentivizes page-clicks. Forbes hosts 1,000 authors blogging about ten times that many topics - the Forbes brand gives them a certain cachet but I'd question how thoroughly they're fact-checked.  I wouldn't be surprised if the rumors are true (did anyone think Trey was staying?), but I would be equally unsurprised if this was a case of a guy floating a dubiously sourced hot tip to get page clicks.

(h/t: http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/173743/what-the-forbes-model-of-contributed-content-means-for-journalism/)

Blue and Joe

April 4th, 2013 at 1:46 PM ^

I had a slim hope that Hardaway would stay for his senior year, but I'm not surprised. Both have accomplished basically everything they could here. I won't be upset when they leave.

GR3 on the other hand...

snoopblue

April 4th, 2013 at 1:57 PM ^

I guess I understand why people are upset that some jackass that will seemingly say anything for anyone to get ahead has his "reporting" based on questionable sources posted on the front page. (Run on sentence? yessir) The way I see it, if it's floating around about Michigan Basketball the week of the Final Four, it deserves to be posted. If anything, enough people will see it and be angry enough to wreck this guy or at least find his source. Maybe some alumni (or even a Fab 5 player) could come to our team's defense. Even better would be Tim and Trey clearing this up. Unfortunately, this "reporter/lawyer" won and got what he wanted the minute that tweet was sent and there is nothing we can do about it. Distraction created.

Twitter is turning into a "15 minute finder" where anyone can say anythingrisk-free and see if it turns into anything or not.

ontarioblue

April 4th, 2013 at 1:58 PM ^

and adds to his credibility by throwing in the names of agents he knows or has heard of.  These two will do what they have to do at the end of the Tournament.  They aren't going to give some yahoo this story days before the Final 4.

Profwoot

April 4th, 2013 at 1:59 PM ^

I don't blame Hardaway, but I do think he could really shine next year when Burke's gone, which could result in a net increase in his draft stock despite being a year older.

Still, I expect Zak Irvin to step right in and fill that spot, along with some help from LeVert. They should still be a very solid team next year.

BobUfer

April 4th, 2013 at 2:08 PM ^

 

Two thoughts on this:

1) If true (and it's not that hard to beleive), I'm not sure you can blame the messenger for the timing.  He's just a reporter "doing his job" (in this case, looking for page clicks).  Whoever leaked the information from each player's camp would be to blame.

2) If this report is completely fabricated in an effort to attract said clicks, it is likely still true that Burke and THJ do leave.  As the reporter, why not add some fluff about agent selections to sound more credible?  In the end, he can still say that he was the first to "break" the story of them leaving, even if the agent stuff turns out to be wrong.