Wilson and Wagner projected late first round in several mocks.
Can't blame them for taking the money.
The issue is IF there is money. Won't be if not drafted in first round.
I checked 9 mock drafts. SI had DJ as the 29th pick, and Chad Ford had Moe as the 25th pick. That was it. The other 7 boards did not have either listed and many of them had two rounds. This is not going to be a thing.
So by "several mocks" the OP really meant 1 or 2.
Damn.
Yup I saw the same thing. +1, + more if I could
Cripes.
25 years ago, it was a major rarity for an underclassman to declare unless he was a lock to be a lottery pick. Now, most players projected anywhere in the first round will declare, and some will if they're projected to be drafted at all!
And is it really a money thing? When adjusted for inflation, rookie contracts in '92 were much larger than modern rookie contracts.
No, not just a money thing. It's the chance to make some money (which by all accounts is still millions) PLUS better coaching, no practice time restrictions, better competition. The latter three quite possibly yielding a better overall player in 1-2 years time than staying in college.
For those in professional sports, time is the biggest enemy. You only have a small window where you have to thread the needle of your physical peak and a team's propensity to pay for your service. Going early arguably widens that gap, by however little, while providing what's not small amounts of income.
Tell that to Mitch McGary. Look going early has a lot of risks that people on this board largely ignore and say "follow the money".
If you are deemed a project, as both Wagner and Wilson would be at this stage, the risk you run is someone else taking your spot as a free agent, next year's draft, etc. Once you bounce out of the league, really hard to bounce back in.
There is a draft every year, and the good teams that draft at the end of the 1st round are usually only looking to fill 1-2 positions and many times take the same type of player in back to back years and the best player will earn a spot towards the end of his 1st contract.
Also, playing games is the best way to improve significantly. Everyone talks about practice restrictions, but that is only with a coach present. These guys are free to shoot as many jumpers and practice all they want on their own. Any player will tell you the best way to improve is game experience. The best recent example of this is Draymond Green. It's hard to develop when all you do is practice and don't play.
"Tell that to Mitch McGary."
What?
McGary should have gone a year EARLIER.
Whenever he went, he was going to bust. If he'd gone a year earlier, he makes more money. If he stayed a year more, he makes less.
A couple of thoughts:
First as to the better coaching argument - is that really true? Certainly, if they're playing right away for the NBA franchise, they'll have the best coaching in the world. But what if they're sent to the D-League for a year or more? Can we really say they'd be getting better coaching there? Does the D-League attract top-level coaching talent? I doubt it. What do D-League coaches make in salary anyway? I can't imagine it'd be anywhere close to what Division 1 coaches make.
Second of all, what is true today about what you're saying that wasn't true 25 years ago? I gather I'm just yelling at clouds here.
Yes. It is really true.
If you're talking about my first response point, you believe that they get better coaching in the D-league? Seriously? Without looking it up, can you name three D-league coaches?
If you're talking about my second response point, I didn't ask if it was true. I asked what about what he said WASN'T true 25 years ago.
I was being flippant but you actually said, "first as to the better coaching argument, is that true?" But since you asked, yes I can name a few D-League coaches. Stackhouse, Ken McDonald, and Nick Nurse. And a few others.
So no, in the D-League they would not get such superior coaching. But I also don't think there is much of a chance that either would be in the D-League and as an overall statement, yes, the NBA coaching as a whole is better than college in my opinion.
or the quality of most of the games I've seen.
I don't think making the jump this year would be good for either of them. The draft is too deep. Wait a year and potentially become lottery picks (ala Trey Burke).
Rookie salaries go up 45% next year.
The CBA for the rookie salary cap changes and it makes financial sense for these guys to stay another year. If they can raise their stock even a little bit with the new salary cap it could mean a lot more money for each.
Now this year's class is weak for big men and next year's is supposed to be really really strong for big men, so there's a chance that they could hurt their stock by staying. I'd say it's about 75% that each of them stay. Which means there's a little worse than a 50-50 chance we lose 1 of them.
And yeah, as someone stated, I fully expect both to declare, but not sign agents and then go to the NBA combine.
kids who are boardline projected 1st round picks usually end up going late in the second round because there's always a couple teams who take a flyer on some Euro player no one has ever heard of.
"boardline"... that hurts to read
I love it. The OP, a poster that generates relevant & usefull content on a fairly consistent basis, is being downvoted for bringing unpleasant news to the board. What's even funnier (to me anyways) is that he says in the post itself "I would think that both have lottery potential with a strong campaign next year so it will be interesting to see how this decision plays out" so he clearly is NOT suggesting they should do so but is still downvoted for having the audacity to bring unpleasnt news here.
I know just how he feels. This year I made two predictions during football season that were roundly mocked and downvoted. #1 - that the MSU game would be closer than predicted (it was) and that we stood a very good chance of losing a night game at Iowa (we did). God forbid anybody says anything that isnt all roses and ice cream sunday's.
Sorry Michigan Man 14 - you being the messenger meant you needed to be shot. Nothing personal.
we don't talk about MGoPoints
This seems overly dramatic. At the writing of this post, all of 5 people have downvoted the OP and I see no comments mocking or criticizing the post or poster. That doesn't show me that the "hive" is upset over something being posted that isn't "roses and ice cream" here.
I think you're looking to complain here when it's not really warranted.
When I wrote the post the votes were 0 up and 4 down. I was the first one to upvote the thread.
"I think Mo Bamba is coming to Michigan!!" with no source. Hopeful news = +1
"It may make financial sense for DJ and Moe to go pro this year" boooooo -1
It happens all the time, though I'd argue the number of negs (4 at the moment) is dwarfed by the number of people who have opened this thread (probably hundreds)
ice cream sundaes*
What is the point of these posts? No mock draft is remotely accurate at this point, and the variation between sources is enormous. The OP is citing SI I believe. But other places like DraftExpress and ESPN don't have DJ Wilson in the 1st round. Same with Wagner. ESPN has him in the borderline 1st round, but the other sites don't even have him in the Draft this year.
Most of this is not going to be sorted out for at least a month until the NBA Combine and team workouts. With the new early entry rules, players can still return to college after that if they have not hired an agent. The NBA combine and team workouts are in May. So should we have useless daily/weekly posts on this until then? Might as well wait until the combine and see what the reports are coming out of that. I think the writing is on the wall that at least one or possibly both of Wilson and Wagner will see how they stack up at the NBA Combine and make a decision based on that.
And the OP has no links in his post. If you are going to make one of these posts, at least summarize where the players stand on each of the major sites: DraftExpress/Vertical, ESPN, SI, etc.
or maybe the downvotes are for the clickbait title and misleading premise that Wagner and Wilson are in the first round on SEVERAL mock drafts, when in reality it is 2 of 11.
predicted the Iowa loss. I wouldn't consider yourself Nostrodamus.
Yeah right. A lot of people may have thought it but I can tell you not a lot of people were saying it. And 95% of the board it seemed didnt like me posting it - especially when I referenced our past failures in Iowa and particularly under the lights cause "the past means nothing" according to many people around here.
He cites the SI draft for DJ Wilson and Chard Ford's draft for Moe Wagner. He doesn't mention any other drafts.
So why did he characterize 2 drafts as "several" in his title? It's clickbait.
More importantly, this is repeat information. This info was already known and shared.
If I had my way, I would downvote him to Bolivia.
1) Mock drafts are crap.
2) If you're projected as a late 1st round pick by said mock drafts you are almost assuredly a 2nd round pick come draft night.
Sam Webb maintains both are coming back, and that's good enough for me.
They've got to do whatever they think is best for them. Even if you're projected as a second round pick, that's a lot of money to any kid. But I think they'd do well to give themselves another year. Especially considering this is supposed to be a very deep draft class. Come back next year and play your way into being a potential lottery pick.
If Wagner played throughout the season like he played against Louisville, Purdue and Wisconsin, there wouldn't be a doubt in my mind that he ought to go pro. The overall consistency wasn't there this year, but I think he can be that guy throughout the season next year. Same with Wilson.
I also hope, for selfish reasons, that they stay. With them, we're conference title contenders and possibly more. Without them, it could be a struggle just to make the tournament.
$20K in the D League with no guarantee at all of higher pay days is not a lot of money.