Wouldn’t the counterargument be that we don’t have complete info about where he would be drafted?
I definitely understand the downside, but it is sometimes hard to say because we have incomplete info. It’s easy to say he would have been drafted in X spot, but the reality is he could have been 15 spots behind that for all we know.
I struggle with this sometimes because it is so uncertain. Someone like Terq Smith … It is easy to say WOW what a huge mistake to return to school and now he went undrafted. The reality is he maybe would have went undrafted last year too And, if we’re being honest, that’s probably why he came back to school.
Totally fair! There was a narrative out there that passed my smell test (which is worth very little admittedly) that Clingan was a climber based on tournament play and valuation in select analytic models. That could be very wrong though, of course!
At least nominally Clingan is going to be shooting threes next year. That could be a way to improve his stock compared to Edey, who never had this chatter.
Pretty sure Hunter Dickinson was the only person who believed that Hunter Dickinson was going to be a second round pick.
Clingan is way closer to the mold of 7-footer that will have some value in the NBA IMO. Somewhere between Edey (probably early second round ceiling) and Kessler, IMO.
You’re not wrong but Clingan’s athleticism isn’t great IMO. I still think he’s not as mobile on defense as many think he is. As I said, he moves well for his size but he doesn’t move well to be able to defend in the NBA IMO. Kessler is a decent athlete but Kessler moves better than Clingan IMO.
He also was a freshman. The jump Kessler made from year 1 to year 2 was huge. I also was saying he is way more athletic than HD, wasn’t saying Clingan has tremendous athleticism.
Clingan has already garnered more draft hype than Edey/Tshibwe/Dickinson/whoever else combined. No he’s not quick but he’s quicker than about anyone his size(and all of the guys above), as you said.
He’s not gonna be switching screens in the NBA but he looks like he can be an elite drop coverage guy ala like Prime Brook Lopez. Some shades of Gobert
It’s just basically a rec league. yes it’s inflated cause no one is playing defense really except for trying not to be put on a mixtape
in recent years especially, it’s kind of just turned into an MSU showcase. Michigan players rarely went, and now just flat out don’t at all while about every MSU player does
I think a couple summers ago adrien Nunez was putting up some crazy stats in moneyball. That should give you any indication to how not competitive that league is
The Moneyball teams are set up where each one has two MSU guys, maybe one other decent smaller level D1 or D2 player and then the rest of the players on each is some local guy who hasn’t played in a few years or played at Lansing Community College for a semester
Turns into a stats showcase for the MSU guys.
I went last year and the only things you can glean from it are physical statures of the players. Like seeing Jaxon Kohler be two inches shorter than a kid I went to high school with that never played anything above Community College quickly informed me to backtrack on my Kohler hype. Or sometimes you can tell that a guy just isn’t good. Holloman was awful last year - bunch of airballs, just couldn’t take advantage of the open gym setting even.
Carr Booker and Fears all physically look the part from the sounds of it. Fears is small but but really bouncy. Booker’s pretty skinny. Kohler is noticeably slimmer which is interesting. Nothing else that matters will be seen really.
And, if we’re being honest, that’s probably why he came back to school.
