Ha ha. He should have never gambled on himself.
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Shoulda left after his freshman year. Woulda got that guaranteed 1st round contract.
And I don’t think he raises his stock by staying in school another year or two. He was projected lottery in 2013 draft because of potential. 3-4 years in school and your potential is slowly fading away if you’re not really diversifying your game (which I don’t think he would have done in our offense). I think he’s just fine. He’s been collecting money and won’t ever be out of a job in basketball if he’s healthy. And he’ll have enough money to go back to school if he wants to get his degree.
Congrats GRIII, I’m glad you proved your naysayers wrong.
Congrats GRIII, I'm glad you proved your naysayers wrong.
I’m happy to be proven wrong. Granted I was not against him leaving when he did but I didn’t think he’d last past a year. Glad he got a deal.
There are instances where staying in School will help develop your game and there are instances where you need “24/7” NBA coaching to develop your game.
GR3 needed 24/7 individual attention. He made the right move by not coming back.
He hasn’t proved anybody wrong at all. He has yet to play a full season on any NBA team with PT… He has DNP all over his name on the active rosters. Basically he is getting a cup of coffee in the league right now, he will likely see considerable time in the D-League next year. Right now all he has going for him in the NBA is athleticism (good body) and solid defensive ability. He has a very long ways to go!
It definitely depends on your measure of success. I never loved gr3’s game (he is a very incomplete player imo) and he might never get many minutes,but fighting for a spot, and earning an nba contract is f’ing huge! I wish him luck! He always seemed like a great guy.
Being in the lower 33 percent of the nba for 5-10 years is a huge accomplishment. If at his peak of his career he earns the ninth man or better then good for him.
I wouldn’t call Manny Harris or Darius Morris NBA careers a major success. Has anyone seen Ballers? These guys are the man from high school to college, lots of people pry to them, if they can rattle off 4-5 million in their careers. If they choose to spend it incorrectly or quickly or don’t invest that money will be gone in a decade with the lives these guys live. GR3 will never hurt for money but the aforementioned guys did not and are not having successful NBA careers.
I wouldn't call Manny Harris or Darius Morris NBA careers a major success. Has anyone seen Ballers? These guys are the man from high school to college, lots of people pry to them, if they can rattle off 4-5 million in their careers. If they choose to spend it incorrectly or quickly or don't invest that money will be gone in a decade with the lives these guys live. GR3 will never hurt for money but the aforementioned guys did not and are not having successful NBA careers.
Depends on what you define as a successful NBA career. Darius Morris has been in the NBA every year since he was drafted (just got waived by the Nets I believe, not sure if he’ll latch onto another team). And he got to spend a couple years in the NBA in front of his family. As a second rounder, I bet you a four year career in the NBA is probably above the average.
When discussing whether GRIII made the “right” decision, you have to look at the alternative scenario. Assuming NBA money is the goal, you have to ask how likely it was that GRIII would’ve put himself in a significantly better position with another year (or two) in college. And whether he was ready, physically and mentally, to show his stuff. You can’t simply look at his career stats and say it was the wrong decision. Would it have been better if he had stayed?
GRIII will be in the NBA pretty much the first full three seasons, and seemingly more (depending on the details of the Indiana contract), after leaving. It’s not like Michigan had a great year last year. Though of course things could’ve gone a lot differently if he had stayed and the injuries hadn’t happened. Overall, it’s at least hard to call his decision to leave bad, at least it seems to me.
I guess you would need to ask Darius Morris and GR3 if they believe they made good decisions. I have a hard time imagining they have regrets. Truthfully, I don’t understand what point you are trying to make alwaysblue23. Do we define success as these players becoming all stars? Starters? Contributors? Practice players? I doubt anybody believed gr3 would start but that is ok because he is filling a NEED (and getting paid for it) in the most difficult league in the world. What do you expect from these guys? Is it ok for them (or us) to feel proud of their hard work and accomplishments?
From my perspective…Successful NBA players are guys who are contributors for 5+ years. GR3 has yet to really contribute any year. McGary was a successful contributor in year one in OKC. Sorry I guess I have high regards. GR3 is a great athlete who was a very good college player and now is a fringe player in the NBA barely making rosters and not contributing in games by getting the DNP. I’m not hating on the dude, he’s a Michigan guy, but I’m being honest. A guy who has a very successful NBA career is Jamal Crawford. That’s 10+ years in the league contributing. Manny, Darius, Sims, Robinson Jr, Hunter none of them had successful NBA careers. Darius is the closest of the bunch but really has been cut too much.
Pretty high standard there… Certainly not really something that can always be reached by staying in college longer. What percentage of people that meet that standard played 4? 3? years of college ball?
Pretty high standard there... Certainly not really something that can always be reached by staying in college longer. What percentage of people that meet that standard played 4? 3? years of college ball?
Just looking at the 2009 and 2010 NBA drafts combined, there were 65 juniors and seniors drafted. 29 are still in the NBA, 36 are playing in foreign leagues or done with basketball. 8 of 12 upperclassmen drafted in the lottery are still in the league. Which means that 21 of 53 drafted throughout the rest of the draft are still in the NBA.
I think most can agree that even if GR3 made improvements by staying in school, he wasn’t going to lift his draft stock from 2nd round back to the lottery. Maaaaybe he squeezes back into the first round as a junior or senior.
Personally, I think he’s most likely going to be out of the league w/in 5 years. And it will have nothing to do with him leaving school early.
I dunno, if you get an NBA contract for at least 4 years, seems like a pretty good deal to me. While I think he could have improved his GAME during an extra year at Michigan, I strongly doubt that it would have translated to a better draft position or more minutes – especially when exceptionally raw players like Oubre get drafted so high on the basis of youth, hype and athleticism alone. An NIT year (or no post-season at all) could have done more harm than good. If I were GR3, I’d jockey to get into that dunk contest. He could turn heads just like his less likeable teammate did.
But I think he was right to go when he did… At least the UM fanbase generally seems to want the best for its players and their careers. On the Kentucky blogs, it seems like everyone is trying to push Tyler Ulis into the draft without a parachute just to make space for Dennis Smith or some other alpha PG. Kinda sad actually.
I do want to see him do well in the league. But the truth is I didn’t want to see him go when he did for two reasons.
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I always thought if he stayed that Mitch would have as well. I thought that team was going to be the bomb. We all know how that turned out. Up in smoke.
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I really think he would have improved. We give JB all the credit in the world for what he does for the unknown 3* from backwater high. Why don’t we think Jordan/JB/Alexander/Sanderson wouldn’t have helped GR3 with his game as well?
I do want to see him do well in the league. But the truth is I didn't want to see him go when he did for two reasons.
I always thought if he stayed that Mitch would have as well. I thought that team was going to be the bomb. We all know how that turned out. Up in smoke.
I really think he would have improved. We give JB all the credit in the world for what he does for the unknown 3* from backwater high. Why don’t we think Jordan/JB/Alexander/Sanderson wouldn’t have helped GR3 with his game as well?
On point number 3, there’s a limit to how much time Jordan JB and Alexander can spend working with GR3. In the NBA, there is no limit. He can get all the attention he wants.