Why would Bridges come back? Seriously. For the most part in just about every mock he’s being projected into the lottery. Looking forward to the following year I’m not sure he’s going to jump much higher at all. What an odd call unless he just loves Izzo and/or E.L.
Maybe he just loves being on campus and wants to make a run next year? That’s really the only reason. Financially, doesn’t make the most sense, but he’s gotta do what makes him happy.
someone should tweet a picture of OG Anunoby on crutches to him
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I think wanting to make a run and loving his teammates are the biggest reasons, and I doubt his stock will rise much at all (it might even fall) but I also have a hard time looking at a kid with the natural talent he has and seeing why he couldn’t crack the top 10 of the draft.
Fultz, Ball, Jackson, Tatum, Monk, Fox, Isaac is a pretty loaded year. If MSU were to actually make a deep run and Miles can develop a little bit as a playmaker, I think it could work out. Also not that there’s a huge difference but he was playing the “4” spot primarily all season. With Jaren Jackson and Ward back, I expect he will slide a spot down. Will that hurt or help him, who knows.
Also OG is projected 16th overall in the draft this year even after the injury. He wasn’t projected that high coming out as a freshman was he?
I wonder if he’s maybe just postponing the agent part of this until after the combine. With his physical gifts he’s going to show out at the combine and IMO could rise above some of the top names. He won’t top Fultz, Jackson, Tatum, Monk but I wonder if Ball is going to drop a bit and I’d argue depending upon team need he could jump some combination of monk/fox/isaac.
Unlike Sparty, I’m not a fan of Quality Losses.
It’s good for the teams that can beat MSU, not sure it helps those that get beat by the Spartans.
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Good ole Chad Ford lol
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My point isn’t that teams should lose to them, it’s that having a couple of great teams in the league can pull everyone up. If MSU can win some quality games in the non-conference then when you beat them at home it provides a boost.
This year the league had a lot of parity, but there were basically no great top-10 type of teams all year.
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Only downsides of this… 1) staggering/sliding out 1y of income, which in the grand scheme may be worth a fair amount on the 15y cash flow statement, but not so much as to alter one’s college/life experience if he is legitimately good and his performance wasn’t a fluke, and 2) risk of severe injury which is something he can get insurance for to at least set him up for life after his 20y old season.
Kid has been thinking/expecting NBA for years to the point where its an eventuality/a matter of when. Our guys with exception of maybe Mitch/Glenn, didn’t enter college with that “eventuality” mindset and have to think about every opportunity as one that may evaporate.
They are going to be good and will have a high ceiling. I would think this would make Bowen less likely though? Ward-Jackson-Bridges-Langford-Cassius? When Bowen could probably start at AZ or really anywhere else on his list.
… And fully agree with Dylan’s take. If MSU rips through whoever they play in the ACC game (top 1-2 in ACC most likely), and/or champions classic, everyone looks better by extension.
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Could someone explain the financial benefit to being drafter in the 5-9, as opposed to the 10-15 spots? I guess I dont know much about rookie contracts. It sure seems like simply liking college and wanting to win big, next year, would be the reasons to come back. But also wondering if he’s also anticipating a weaker draft, which could bump up his draft spot.
someone else will answer this way more scientifically, but the first year-4th year dollar value is probably in the range of 1M/yr difference in salary. that is material, but not earth shattering. Where this starts to hit the total present value of his career is one less year of prime earning (think first years of second contract) b/c the end date of anyone’s earnings is probably somewhat fixed. Basically he will lose one prime earning year from not starting the “minimum wage” contract earlier and getting it over with. I’d guess on a present value basis that is probably something in the area of 10M, but on a total present value of something around 125M presuming he is a legit NBA starter.
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The bigger argument to go earlier isn’t even about the first rookie (scaled) contract (http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/info/rookie_scale)… it’s about accelerating the clock until you can get your second contract.
It is those second contracts that make you rich. For example, KCP made something close to 3mil per year since he was drafted, but is looking at potentially some kind of huge 100 million $ contract this offseason (I believe).
The sooner you can make those contracts that aren’t on the rookie pay scale, the more money that you are going to make.
Basically what @JVS said above.
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The guaranteed money for 3 years of being the #10 pick is virtually equal to 2 years of being the #5 pick.
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But then, as a Michigan fan specifically, it becomes the question of risk/reward and likelihood of beating MSU +/- Bridges. I think I would prefer Bridges left, making it more likely that we beat them. If they are a top-5 team, and we dont beat them, would beating a team that beat MSU (ex: we beat Purdue, Purdue beats MSU) really be that much of a boost, compared to MSU being just a top 25 team?
Maybe there is a more mathematical/metrics way of figuring this out, but I think I’d rather our games vs MSU be coin-flips against a top 25 team, than hopeful upset bids against a top-5 team.
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Hmm… seeding delta from [2 great losses] vs [1 good win, 1 good loss] and residual benefit of wins against other teams gaining in strength. this would be interesting to dig into.
emotionally, i’d rather he was gone. just don’t like them in the “top 5 narrative”
^^^Yupp. Trying so hard to steer away from just being salty that he is going to make our rivals better. I’ll have a much easier time getting over it if DJ and Moe come back, or if we get Bamba; otherwise, I’ll be left waving my clenched fist at the unfairness of it all.
Also for the seeding delta, the hypothetical win-likelihood % of +/- Bridges would be cool to know ahead of time. But we will only get one half of those %s, based on what Bridges decides, and not for several months.
Bridges is returning to MSU. Why couldn’t he just leave 
Ugh, it’s going to be a terrible offseason for B1G projections/narratives. I get that Bamba coming would be an even bigger boon than Bridges staying, but JB really deserves an unlikely come/leave/stay decision to fall his way.
At least football makes sense again 
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I guess I just don’t get the point of worrying all summer because MSU is projected as a top-5 team when Michigan isn’t going to play them until Jan or Feb (although I guess potentially one week in December now right?).
They were a preseason top-10 team last year and look how that worked out.
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I know for a fact that Jackson committed to MSU with the thought that Bridges would be gone. It’ll be fun to see how this all plays out.
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