Does DJ Wilson Still Have a First Round Promise?
When Wilson declared for the draft, most of us surmised that he had a first round promise -- the assumption was that it was from the Utah Jazz.
However, this article says that word is around the league is that DJ has (had?) a promise from the Nets. https://www.netsdaily.com/2017/6/22/15852426/did-nets-promise-d-j-wilso…
The (potential) problem is that the Nets had two first-round picks, numbers 23 and 27. They traded the 27th pick to the Lakers yesterday in a deal that involved their getting D'Angelo Russell (boo Ohio State). Which is leading some to question whether the Nets "promise" applied to the 23rd or 27th pick, and whether it is still good.
Hopefully a nonissue--most mocks have DJ solidly in the first round, whether to Nets or someone else. But it would obviously be worst case scenario if he leaves Michigan believing that he is a guaranteed first-round lock, only to fall to the second round.
Pre-draft promises are not binding and he could fall into the 2nd round or out of the draft entirely. His gamble may work but it's still a gamble.
yeah should have stayed in school and passed on hundreds of thousands of dollars playing a game he loves.
People are way too eager to either bash his decision when he slips out of the first round or to justify it when he is selected in the first round. It's his decision and he already made it haha let the man live.
I just cannot get through this day unless I know that DJ has a first round promise!
You're telling me that nobody here has any NBA insider info?
This is MGoBlog fergodsakes!
"Way too eager?" Puh-leeze.
If he is drafted in the first round, the decision was great. If he isn't and doesn't catch on with anyone for a guaranteed contract, the decision was terrible. We'll find out soon enough. I am hoping he does get that first round guaranteed money of at least $2.7 million over two years.
I just think it was a gamble but he may win in the end. I have no skin in the game but he does.
that's a false statement. he could return to school and try to increase the amount of money he would make playing the game he loves. there is nothing that says he would give up his dream by returning. he would only gamble how much $ he makes a year later.
Things happen. For all we know he could have returned only to suffer a serious injury.
Now he'll at least be able to work on his game full-time.
If that's the metric to use to make a decision, then why go to college at all? You can just as easily get injured in your first two years as your last two years.
NBA won't let you...
Well, technically you don't have to go to college. You just have to be a year removed from high school
the one-and-done rule is bad and anti-labor and needs to be eliminated immediately.
And a bunch of guys forced to go to college for 1 year because the NBA decreed it so would agree.
In Wilson's case, he already missed a season due to injury. I think he was back practicing by the end of that season, but still. That experience may have influenced his decision.
IMO he would never be a top ten pick whether he went back to school for another year or not. He is a 20's or 30's pick. He will do well and already has.
Next year's draft isn't as deep. With improvement, he probably could have found his way into the lottery.
No one outside of MGOBLOG believes that.
Go take a look at how many 22-year-olds have gone in the lottery over the last decade. It won't take you long.
is at least two of them.
I think he just turned 60.
This is said literally every year, and every year new guys appear that get drafted unexpectedly. Wilson made the right choice for him, and there's no reason to think (a) he would have improved so much that he would have been a lottery choice based on merits, and (b) that anyone would draft him in the lottery even if he did improve.
Why not? Both Trey Burke and Nik Stauskas vastly improved their draft stock after another season.
If your best possible bet for a season is the late first round its a legitimate decision to think about.
I like DJ a lot but he was never going to become a lottery player.
I'm sure people thought that about Stauskas and Burke as well.
With improvement in a less-loaded class, he could have easily been a lottery pick next year.
In the NBA with the rookie wage scale as it is, your first NBA contract, no matter where you are drafted, isn't going to be too big as far as NBA contracts go. Guys want to get into the league and get to their second contract. That is where the top dollar is at.
The NBA drafts on potential. DJ would be coming back for his fourth year and have no potential as he would be a known entity. All the mock drafts I have seen are primarily 1-2 year college players. Then you have a total of five projected first round picks that have been in college 3 or more years.
Or he could return and get hurt and lose it all.
I'm sure you would love to turn down a $1 million salary per year for three years (as the #30 pick would make) to work for free for a year. With only the POTENTIAL to make more money. But you could end up making less...or making nothing at all.
It sure is easy to gamble with other people's money. But let's be honest. If it were really presented to you, you're not gambling a $1 million per year salary to work for free. Neither did DJ. And neither do most athletes. At the end of the day, it's entirely THEIR decision. He chose the money. More power to him. He's going to make more in his rookie season than the average American makes in 20 years ($50,000 salary). And you think he should gamble with that.
He's free to make any choice he wants. We'll see how it ends up.
Ends up being picked 17th. Made the best decision for him and it worked out
its not a false statement. stop acting like u wouldn't jump at the same opportunity. i cant stand idiot fans saying "so and so would make more money coming back." you have zero proof thats true. take the money and opportunity.
After trading Lopez, the Nets need a big.
So between the 2 Jazz picks and this Brooklyn pick, it seems likely he gets selected in that range.
He has a guarantee from Utah, not that they have to keep it. The Lakers are also very interested in him late in the first.
simply don't see how teams could give a player projected somewhere in the 20-30 range a "guarantee" or "promise" about anything given how much shuffling and bartering goes on right around draft day. I could see teams telling a player that they are very high on them and to take that for what its worth, but these certainly aren't contractual agreements we are talking about here and I think it would be foolish to rely on something like that in a decision to declare.
It's not that strange. It's just a promise that if they're there, they'll pick them. The fact that he's had at minimum 2-3 teams say they'd pick him in the 23-27 range makes it a pretty safe bet. Especially when he's projected in that range no matter what.
This is a bad post and you should feel bad
We're all rooting for DJ and the OP asks an interesting question if this trade hurts our player. It's a legit question especially for off season. To your point though the title and first sentence could potentially be interpreted as bashing DJ. I don't see it though.
We'll all find out during the draft tonight...the speculation is pointless
Agreed. We should never speculate about future events as we will find out the outcome in the future.
never say never...
I guess we better never see you on here speculating about anything since it is pointless. Is analysis after the fact okay or is it pointless because we can't change the past? Should we not talk about the upcoming season of Michigan football because only living in the moment is relevant? GTFO
Speculating about promises man...we're talking about PROMISES. gtfo lol
Thanks. Not sure why I'm getting bashed for this post. I saw an article I thought was interesting questioning whether DJ's first round promise might fall through because of intervening events and thought that was worth sharing with the board. Not sure how anyone could read my post as bashing DJ or his decision to declare, and I don't see how my heading was misleading in any way.
I just think the whole idea of the "first round promise" is very stupid
We'll find out tonight
It was a promise! You can't just break a promise.
Depends if it was a pinky promise.
I heard the nets had their fingers crossed the whole time
Amen! Twitter is abuzz that they may have triple stamped a double stamp. Big, if true.
This was linked in the most recent Unverified Voracity
Short answer, likely yes in the first round, who knows if there's a promise..
But that doesn't mean he won't get drafted there. No team will promise a potential late round guy a spot. Lots of shuffling occurs during the round...