Statesman Confirms Tristan Thompson Will Enter the NBA Draft

Great call on this two weeks ago, Trips. Though I privately hoped you were wrong.
 
Tristan was out the door some time ago, and the decisions of Perry Jones, Harrison Barnes, Jared Sullinger to not enter the draft is a guarantee that he won’t double back. At minimum, he’s a mid-1st rounder. Show some skill improvements and strength gains and he’s lottery.
 
From a purely developmental perspective, I think he could use another year of college, some maturation in his game, and some time under Todd Wright, but the financial calculus is understandable. Of course, he might find himself locked out and playing his first year of basketball in Italy.

Great post. I wonder how ready Julien Lewis or Sheldon McClellan are to being the primary scorer. Hell, Stacey Poole at UK was ranked similarly and couldn’t get his ass off the bench. If not, Barnes can and should be going with a 3 guard lineup of Brown, Joseph, and Kabongo, given that Brown is probably your only shot creating scorer. Now if Joseph doesn’t come back…FML.

The one thing I’m hanging my hat on is Kabongo staying two years. Maybe the new NBA CBA forces him to, maybe he just wants to stick around one more year. It puts the Texas fan in an uncomfortable position to be rooting for Myck to do well, but not too well. Basically, don’t pull a Tristan, kid.

Hope springs eternal. A sophomore Kabongo can absolutely lead us to F4/NC. Throw in two seasoned guards in Joseph/Brown, a capable wing from either McClellan/Lewis (where art thou, Shawn Williams/iPowers?), and a solid 4 inside with either Holmes/Thomas. Then add your Jared Sullinger interlocking puzzle piece: Big Cameron Ridley. And whatever else Barnes conjures up in the ’12 class (LJ Rose? Marcus Smart?). Make it happen, Rick.

jc25 -
 
There used to be a time when an undersized point guards were pretty much guaranteed to give you at least three years, but the NBA rule changes have had a pretty profound impact. The lack of hand checking and favorable offensive rulings in general have changed the calculus. I still think it’s reasonable to believe that we’ll get 2 out of Kabongo.

I predict we go 5-7 next year.

To your point Scipio I believe I heard a TNT analyst mention that half the NBA point guards today are 6’2" or smaller.

We’re gonna need a lot from Chapman. More than Matt Hill-type contributions. Hopefully he’s spent the last year slowly morphing himself into (insert awesome white post player here). For old times sake I’ll throw out Paul Mokeski. Remember that dude? We had a cute name for him back then, “the big ugly white guy”.

Anyway, gonna need a lot from Chapman.

I wouldn’t count on two years from Kabongo. He’s athletic with good size. He shoots it halfway decently next season and he’s a lottery pick in the 2012 draft.

nordberg,

I was on a flight a few years ago and sat next to Mokeski when he was an assistant for the Mavericks. Talked hoops for two hours. Nice guy…. but your pet name for him does apply.

I’m going to spend the next few months hoping Wangmene takes some ballet and origami over the summer. He’s shown from the FT line that he has a nice shooting touch, but that’s the only place I’ve seen it.

If he can find an offense, losing TT won’t hurt as much. If Wangmene has any dreams of playing in the NBA, he’s going to get his audition next fall.

1. {Hell mid-majors figure out a way to win this way as a matter of survival. I} They have coaches that believe in running an organized offense to maximize the talent of a team, versus individuals, our random screen, pretend to run the Jazz offense does not work with mid major size.

2. I thought 2 years ago that Barnes was going to be able to raise his status with the ability to take one of the two teams (2010 or 2011) to the final four. 2010 he had three senior starters, three 5 star players, J’Covan, etc. 2011’s team had 2 starting seniors and once again, three 5 star players. More seniority than either Connecticut or Kentucky this year. Chance blown, and now we must rebuild.

3. Based on what I have seen of Kabongo (impressive), Lexi will not be able to play as he cannot catch a pass, Chapman must rise to the occasion. I would get the young players a lot of playing time and see if they can develop during the year.

all this 1 and done reminds me of the En Vogue song, “Never gonna get it”

I’d take 4 years of B+ talent over this super ego train we’re currently on.

Scip -

FWIW, of the little I’ve seen on both ballplayers, I like UK’s Marquis Teague a mite better than Kabongo. Teague is a better penetrating scorer and less prone to turnovers. Also, he’ll have Calipari teaching him. However, Kabongo does look like a better pure facilitator than Teague. Both will really need to work on their 3 point shot to stretch the defense.

Chad Ford and others have Kabongo as a potential lottery pick in ‘12, for exactly the reasons you laid out. I hope to Shuttlesworth that we get two years out of Kabongo, but if the CBA is the status quo I wouldn’t hold my breath on it.

“I’d take 4 years of B+ talent over this super ego train we’re currently on.”

I catch myself feeling the same way, but is there any program in the country that purposefully recruits less talented players? Meaning, is there any team that would turn away Durant, Aldridge, Augustin, Thompson, etc in favor of B+ talent?

“…but is there any program in the country that purposefully recruits less talented players?”

I don’t know if it’s exactly “turning away” talent, but after Zach Randolph/Marcus Taylor, Tom Izzo supposedly shifted emphasis towards recruiting talent that he’d have a better shot at coaching for a few years.

I’m torn on the issue. I hate the jilted-lover feeling that I get every time one of those guys declares early, but it’s a lot more fun to watch them wearing burnt orange than watching chico vasquez, kris clack, and brandy perryman run the three-man-weave from the top of the key.

Well, we can always hope he doesn’t hire an agent, and then hope for an NBA strike. Of all the major sports, I’ll miss the NBA the least.

So, whaddaya think Trips? Can they be Villanova 2009? (Reynolds, Stokes, Fisher & Friends)

mpayne: You’re right about Izzo. For all his FF magic, Izzo has averaged about two wins per year fewer than Barnes since that happened.

jc, I like the way you think. I need to, today. Although I’ve been working my way back toward fanhood since Trips ripped out my heart and stomped on it.

It makes sense for both to go.

I think TT can rebound and play D in the NBA year one and will develop into a solid all around PF in a couple of seasons.

Hamilton on the other hand is a bust if he’s picked in the first round. I never liked his game against a defender with equal size and thats all he’s going to see. I think he’s a 3 point specialist and nothing more.

Are you talking about Nova playing small? Because they went even smaller than that a few years before 09. Starting 4 guards…Rany Foye, Allen Ray, Kyle Lowry, and that white dude.

Obviously Wang and Chap will get the early nod to start, but that Nova team was a lot of fun to watch. Foye being able to play the 4 spot – sort of – allowed them to get away with it. Jay Wright was a witch that year. (even though i believe we beat em in austin)

Semi-related — what do you guys think about the 1st years of James, Pittman and Bradley in the league? Is it obvious yet if Pittman will ever be a contributor or Bradley will get bounced?

Toronto Sun reporting Cory Joseph is entering NBA Draft.

FML.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/04/22/gta-hoops-trio-enter-nba-draft

This Joseph news is pretty damning, IMO.

Yep, I guess my buddy was right about Cory. What the fuck is he thinking? He’s not one and done or two and done for that matter. Where’s he going to play? Who’s he going to guard?

As for Bob’s question, can we play small? Sure, we can absolutely play that style, but our staff will have to be willing to play higher possession games while relying on trading rebounds for forced turnovers, especially against bigger teams. Will we do it is the better question?

Not that this has anything to do with anything, but I’ve read that the NCAA is strongly considering a declaration period for basketball that is much like football… you’ll have 10 days after the championship game to say if you’re in or out. No testing the water, no workouts. And if you say you’re in, it’s over.

If this happens, CJ may as well declare, because he won’t be able to get an evaluation next year.

Just mulling it over, it’s hard for me to foresee implementing this unless they have some sort of guarantee from the NBA regarding the second year.

Trips, I remember hearing that back when Clyde Drexler left early (after three years… those were the days), there was a bit of a delay on the day of the announcement. It seemed that Hakeem Olajuwon got wind of this and decided that he would declare as well. Clyde and others had to talk him down, so to speak.

I think this is kind of what’s happening here. Thompson’s on his way out, his buddies know it, and they don’t want to be left behind. They might end up being left behind, but not because they didn’t try.

Bob in Houston:

The NCAA is such a joke, of course they’re going to pass a stupid rule like that. That way they can avoid dealing with any of the actual problems with the sport. You know like street agents, and pretty much anything John Calipari is doing.

If Joseph is NBA ready, then I’m going to declare. Seriously?

Barnes is handcuffed with dealing with one-and-dones because there’s no fucking way he could devise a functioning offense with 3-4 year players that aren’t next level talents. He knows this.

Ransom, I think the same thing but I always ask myself, who was the better player, Bradley or Joseph?

I’ll take Joseph all day. Less highlights more production.

Bradley was much, much better defensively. On the offensive end, he got neutered. That is one of the all-time mysteries of Texas basketball.