NBAdraft.net has Irvin going 29th to Atlanta. Honestly I feel like this is a real possibility. Zak ended the season quite strong. He went home for a stretch this summer, which I think will be very positive for him mentally. Everyone expecting all our guys to have breakout sophomore seasons is a bit unrealistic. I think he is primed for big things in his junior campaign.
How realistic does everyone feel about Zak possibly leaving after next season and opening up a scholarship (c’mon Bridges and Winston, we want you both!)? I see Walton as our only senior starter in 2017.
If Zak is a first rounder, we will have had a very good season. He did show a lot of growth by the end of last season. If he picks up at that level to start this season, first round is very possible.
To me on some level, only X many spots are already taken in the first round this far out from the next draft. Those are mostly the lottery level slots. After that, the rest of the first round can be chalked up to whichever players show themselves well over the season and have some of the expected length/height for a position in the NBA. To that end, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Irvin jump to the draft presuming he stays healthy.
I absolutely think he can be a first rounder, but it will require him to combine the best aspects of his first two seasons. If he can regain his shooting touch from his freshman year, while maintaining all the things he figured out at the end of his sophomore season, then he falls somewhere between THjr and Stauskas, both first rounders. I think he also has the potential to improve as a defender, especially if someone steps up at the 4, so the he can match up againsts 3s.
The last 5-10 games for Zak were amazing. Seeing the court, penetrating and finding the open guy, finishing (w/o getting blocked). Signs look good, but the only thing I’d say is that he did all of that as “the guy”. With Caris and DW back on the court, how do they share the ball/coexist? Caris is very ball dominant, DW is the point, Zak was effective in that role and how do they all mesh when on the court together. More than the Wagner/Robinson/Chatman/Doyle/etc improvements, I think the ability of the core 3 to create for others, especially on non-3s will be the factor that determines our success this season. if it works, we do well, zak does well, recruiting does well, etc, but “assists on 2s” by those 3 will be a big metric
Zak is somehow effective even though he is not crafty at all. However, he has no chance, in my opinion, to experience even limited success in the nba if he can not learn how to be more deceptive.
That looks about right. I can see him having a THJr like season and getting about the same draft consideration. I agree he needs to diversify his game somewhat, but I think he has the ability to do that as shown by the end of the season.
If Zak is a first rounder, we will have had a very good season. He did show a lot of growth by the end of last season. If he picks up at that level to start this season, first round is very possible.
Well said! When he really got challenged by the coaches, he responded quite well. He has turned the corner and will be ready to go this season.
I think levert was only ball dominate because the team was playing so poorly he had to try and do it solo. A lot of time they just stood there and wAtched him because they all were struggling so bad. The old levert from soph year played great team ball and within himself.
I expect with the improvements and confidence from a few young guys and Irvin,plus a healthy spike and Walton,that levert will dribble and go one on one a lot less. I hope so at least or we are going to underachieve this year. This team could reach great heights if they mesh well and share the ball accordingly, especially on offense. A lot of seriously good weapons.
I think levert was only ball dominate because the team was playing so poorly he had to try and do it solo. A lot of time they just stood there and watched him because they all were struggling so bad.
He couldn’t really rely on guys because they weren’t making shots and probably weren’t that in tune with the offense early on. It didn’t help that Walton was slowed by the foot injury. Things got out of wack. He kicked it out plenty of times and we were missing wide open shots. He is definitely not a selfish player. We had a bunch of guys develop and Irvin really matured. The guys around him are now ready. Things were actually starting to click just before he went down. Levert and Walton are your go to guy closers in the last few minutes -we had numerous leads that we needed Levert and Walton to close out.
If he can continue the way he was playing at the end of last season, he has the potential, but he needs to bring his shooting back up. He shot 42.5% on threes as a freshman, and only 35.5% as a sophomore. That probably was due in part to what was going on around him, but it’s a pretty precipitous drop, and 35.5 % is not an eyebrow raiser. He’s not going to attract NBA attention with his ball handling or his defense.
If he can continue the way he was playing at the end of last season, he has the potential, but he needs to bring his shooting back up. He shot 42.5% on threes as a freshman, and only 35.5% as a sophomore. That probably was due in part to what was going on around him, but it's a pretty precipitous drop, and 35.5 % is not an eyebrow raiser. He's not going to attract NBA attention with his ball handling or his defense.
Yep, bad defender. He needs to continue to improve on the trajectory he had at the end of last season to be a first rounder IMO. Gotta remember that foreign prospects are usually rising in the winter or spring because scouts and draft analysts don’t know as much about them as college prospects at this point in time. If he’s a first rounder, that means he had a great season, and Michigan too.
One thing to keep in mind is that NBADraft.net isn't what it once was. Draftexpress is BY FAR better in regards to mock drafts and information.
Definitely cool to see Irvin get the recognition as a potential first round pick but most people don’t see him as a 1st rounder next draft.
He’s not.
He was putting up 1st team All Big Ten level numbers over the final month of the season last year. If that development carries over, I don’t see why he can’t be a late 1st round pick.
His defense and lateral quickness is below average, he can’t handle the ball against any focused defensive pressure, his creating ability in the pros will be zero, and his usage rate this year will be nowhere near the last ten games of the 14-15 season with Caris on full NBA audition. Not to mention the fact that his shot can be wildly inconsistent and erratic. Nothing about his game suggest two guard success, let alone an undersized wing candidate that couldn’t guard Matt D.
Are you having a bad day?!? Wow, pretty scathing assessment. I like Zak a lot, as I do, quite frankly, all of our players, but even more than previously, I will be rooting for him even more intensely in the hope you’ll be eating a lot of crow. Go Blue!!!
There’s a chasm of a difference between rooting and “liking” our players as a part of a successful year. This thread is about Zak being a potential 1st rounder, which he will not be. His obvious deficiencies do not translate into an NBA GM selecting him in the 1st round and offering guaranteed money. That doesn’t preclude me from hoping his game continues to progress for the benefit of this years team however. His challenge will be to produce more with less opportunities this season. If Caris and Derek are completely healthy all year, I have a concern that he will regress to being a spot up shooter with limited continued growth in his all around game. There is zero chance he will have the ball in his hands as much as he did in the last 10 games of last season. That was borne out of pure necessity due to injuries and depth.
“A chasm of difference.” Wow, chezaroo, impressive. Listen, carefully, unless you are an NBA GM or a person who played for several years in the NBA and has a clue as to that about which you are speaking, you simply don’t have the credibility, in my opinion, to make a definitive statement that “his obvious deficiencies do not translate into an NBA GM selecting him in the first round.” When you become an NBA GM perhaps you can say that you, as an NBA GM, wouldn’t select him in the first round, but since that’s not likely to happen any time soon, it’s rather a moot point. Now, before you ask if I’m having a “bad day,” please understand that I’m really getting tired of posters who, in all likelihood, couldn’t carry these players’ gym bags but think they have the right to become so critical of our players on message boards, and who love to point out those players’ “obvious deficiencies.” Finally, you’re more than welcome to attack me. I really don’t care, so have at it, but I’m done with this discussion as I really dislike it when message board time is taken up with unnecessary argument and bravado, almost as much as I hate unfair criticism of our players or recruits. Again, Go Blue!!! Oh, Dylan, I know, no personal attacks. Delete me if you must!
I don’t really see it happening but I am not a draft guy (I cannot bring myself to say words like “upside”) so maybe I will be surprised. As someone said earlier, his shooting % needs to bounce back. That said, I’d prefer if Zak stayed four years. We’re gonna need him.