Wilson Staying in Draft
Just came out.
"Sources tell DraftExpress that D.J. Wilson is keeping his name in the 2017 NBA Draft and will not return to Michigan."
Wilson is going to be taken before the 30th pick. He's the exact thing that teams are looking for in a center in today's NBA. While there is a load of centers that are slotted as a late first rounders right now, none of them have his upside as a perimeter player that has a chance to play passable post defense. TJ Leaf can play in an NBA offense, but he's so bad defensively even Don Nelson would limit his exposure.
Thomas Bryant, Bam Adebayo, Ivan Rabb, Isiah Hartenstein, even Harry Giles... all of these guys will be NBA players, but they will be used primarily to absorb minutes and the pounding that comes during the 82 game season. In the playoffs, you need to spread the floor and play defense, and I don't see another big with Wilson's upside to do both.
Shocking for this program to lose a guy to the NBA with no obvious replacement ready.
I wish DJ the best, I just wish it didn't have to come at the expense of another Sweet 16 type season for Michigan.
can be 60% of Derrick Walton, and Wagner takes the expected steps forward, I think it could still be that. Wilson coming back was going to take that to Final Four aspirations.
Dumb decision, but we should be used to that by now.
5 million dollars over 4 years to play for free with no guarantee that your stock will ever be that high again? What if he gets hurt, regresses in skill, gets arrested, or literally any of the other 100 things that will hurt stock? Seems pretty smart to me.
A hit for sure, thanks for your season. Now B's gotta' groom some big men to take on those Spartan trolls who'll expect to run rampant next year.
Wagner has a lot to handle defensively now. We all know he is a monster on offense, but he's very sub par defensively and on the glass. Wilson was the only rim protector we had, his loss will be felt in the paint wy more than on offense.
Hopefully Teske and Davis can step up in the rim protecting role.
At some people (not here necessarily) worrying about how the defense and rebounding on this 17-18 version will be bad.
...Um, what else is new??
I don't agree with the decision, but of course it's his to make.
So best of luck D.J. I hope you get drafted in the first round, and have a long and happy career in the NBA. Prove all of us naysayers wrong!
And I don't pretend to know the variables. But exploding out of nowhere as he did, he may just feel the need to capitalize. Will miss him. Loved his game and felt a lot of pleasure at how he proved the naysayers wrong. Score another one for John Beilein.
Good for him
......Fuck
It's a deep draft, but honestly how often does a kid move up after testing the waters and coming back.
The top end of the first round is always full of one and done guys.
It sucks for Michigan, but wish him the best. Make that money, kid.
My level of interest in college basketball each year is decreasing for many reasons... And the NBA is just getting reduced to Golden State vs Cleveland. Everything in the name of money.
Local high school basketball is the best.
The poor quality of fundamentals/play, shrinking level of scoring, horrific officating and general lack of commitment of top players (not blaming them) staying in school for more than one good season all are hurting the game and ratings. The tourney does relatively well because people can gamble on it.
When you watch to D2, D3, HIgh school hoops it's all about representing your school and often the teamwork that results in playing several years together.
I used to be on the other side of the argument when explaining to my European friends why American college sports were great. NOBODY pays to watches university sports there.
What is the credibility of this source? If he's staying, why hasn't he said so? Perhaps I am grasping at straws here, but I am not giving up yet.
On his twitter.
He's gone man. Sorry.
I hope Jon Teske has an unbelievable off-season. Going to need big time contributions from him next year.
We just went from a top 15-20 type team to a team you'd expect to get like an 8-10 seed and maybe win a game in the tournament.
Put a wrap on the season then.
I think they went from a top 10 team to a top 20 team. Still very capable of getting a 6 seed IMO.
You just NEVER KNOW how a season will go. Wilson could have came back and regressed or got hurt. Beilein's teams are always unpredictable, someone we didn't expect will come out of nowhere.
With Dj Wilson, Mo Wagner, Charles Matthews, MAR, and Simmons as our starting 5 we would've been top 10 easy. National Championship contender for sure.
Without DJ Wilson its a huge question mark as our other big men besides Wagner arent going to have much expierence at all
Wilson red shirted, then had a season where he wasn't a factor, then had a good season. He played over 30 minutes a game and averaged 11 and 5. He showed potential, but it wasn't like he was going to average 20 and 10 next season. I think he would have been good for 14 and 6 with 2 blocks a game if he improved his aggresiveness.
Would he have improved his game? Absolutely. Would he have improved his draft stock? Probably not all that much, and he is already 21 years old, he'd be 22 for the draft next year and 23 half way through his rookie season. The NBA draft is weird, they draft on potential and Wilson at 22 in the minds of NBA people wouldn't have much room to grow. While I don't think he would have hurt his stock, he just might have.
22 year olds don't get drafted in the first round that often. And although overall this class is deeper, next year's class has a lot more high quality big men than this years. There are about 10 One and Done C/PFs in this year's freshman class. Porter, Bama, and Ayton will be top 5 picks. Jackson, Robinson, Knox, Vanderbilt, Washington, Richards, and McCoy are all possible lottery picks. That's 10 players 6-9 and above who would most likly go ahead of Wilson next year. Add to that Williams from A&M and Wilson was probably not going to be able to move into the top 10 big men much less overall players.
I think Wilson got god advice even though I am disappointed he is leaving.
*sigh* I think it's a mistake. Not an unexpected one but a mistake nonetheless. That said, it's not my life or my decision. Good luck DJ.
It is not a mistakte. It may be in some of your minds as a Michigan fan being selfish, but it is not a mistake for DJ and his family. Go get your money, grow and begin to play well, and get a huge 2nd contract, like Hardaway is now.
If it is about getting a quick contract and money, but maybe a short NBA career than it may not be a mistake.
It IS a mistake if he doesnt go in the 1st round. Thats not me being a "Selfish michigan fan" thats just the fact of the matter
Swanigan is staying in the draft. Player of the Year, but he's not a first rounder. Didn't help himself much at all by staying.
Who's telling that lie? I bet anybody here tickets to a game that he goes in the first round and not at the end.
Be back in play now a
Scholly available per Sam Webb
This sucks
I was so ready to pencil in Michigan for National Champs if Wagner and Wilson came back
How so? Obviously he'd improve with another year at Michigan. One of the biggest question marks around Wilson was his small sample size and inconsistent play so another year at Michigan would eliminate those
Most importantly he is a borderline 1st round pick this year. May fall to the 2nd round. This draft is deep where as next years is expected to have much less talent so he'd move up by default.
He would certainly be drafted higher next year than this year where hes not even guaranteed a 1st round pick
Another year at Michigan means he would be a year older. DJ is already older than a lot of guys in the draft at 21. He would also risk injury, and he's been injured before. Right now he appears to have a first round guarantee from the Jazz, which probably has a very small chance of falling through, but some are projecting that he could get picked higher. Also, the Jazz have two late first round picks, so that probably means the "guarantee" is a little safer. Bottom line is that right now it looks like DJ has a 90+% chance of getting a contract worth 2+ million dollars. How can you fault him for not turning that down?
I trust Coach B has had contingency plans in place for quite some time. Looking foirward to another exciting season with some new faces on the court.