Well, Poole is not one of those people. Seriously. If he were, there’d be no question that he’d be drafted high, and there would be no issue.
Leaving the door open for Poole until the end of May is not necessarily doing what’s best for us if he ends up leaving after making us twiddle our thumbs for another six weeks while all of the players we might have gotten to replace him get snatched up by other teams.
Nothing would be “pulled”. Poole has left his spot and offered no guarantees that he would be back. If by the time he’s done fence-sitting at our expense we’ve filled those spots with guys who ARE giving us guarantees, then he simply doesn’t get it back.
You talk about doing best for us… I have no doubt that giving away a scholarship while someone is going through the draft process would be much worse for us in the long term
The other side of that is being stuck two spots short, and undernanned at the 2/3, doing worse in the season and the tournament next season, and seeing our recruiting suffer for that.
I am sure the communication between JB and JP is just fine. They will communicate through the process and both sides will make decisions accordingly. If JP has announced that he is not coming back, for sure, then no problem because JB is working on replacing him. If JP is testing his very real professional prospects then no problem because JB will communicate with JP and we will respond accordingly in a timely way. There is zero chance we are going to frame what JP is doing as simply vacating spot. Unless he actually is vacating his spot. In which case it does not matter as JB will respond accordingly by searching for a replacement presently.
These kids testing their draft potential is normal. It would be highly abnormal for a program to make the testing of draft potential a bad thing for the kids. Any program would be insane if they had a policy of yanking the scholarships of borderline pros who are testing their potential for the NBA.
Complete speculation on my part, but I get the sense that there may be some middle ground between “I’m gone” and “I’m gone if…” for JP that makes this hard. JB’s quote about not being invited to the combine telling a player where they stand sort of fits in with that. “Im gone if I’m drafted anywhere” is the sense I’m getting…but what about the very real possibility that it doesn’t happen this year.
Beilein encourages his players to go through the draft process, does he not? Wagner and Matthews are just two of his players that declared for the draft and returned.
Saying Poole can’t go through the draft process without losing his roster spot ignores how things actually work. It’s possible that Poole has told Beilein that he’s not returning, no matter what. Otherwise, you can’t simply boot him off the team for doing what many others have done.
Are people looking at these potential pros, who are testing the waters, differently because of the rule change that now allows an undrafted ncaa player to return to college?
That rule change isn’t in effect this year. The NCAA approved it but it is dependent on some NBPA rule changes. When it goes into effect, it will only be for players who are invited to the combine.
Thank you.
I trust this “rule” applies to Iggy as well. [because we pretty much know what you think of Poole]
I don’t buy the narrative that JB and Poole both know that he’s gone for sure. If he knows he’s staying in it’d be to his benefit to announce that to get NBA teams to take a harder look at him earlier. Right now there’s a ton of guys the NBA views as having one foot in the draft only that they’re waiting to fully evaluate.
Exactly. In this scenario there is absolutely no benefit for Poole to appear outwardly undecided while actually being decisively bold in secret.
Sure there is. Hypothetically he has made his mind up that he wants to leave Michigan. If he gets his evaluation back and it says that he is clearly not ready to go to the NBA (presuming that’s his goal), then he can then explore transfer options. There is no point dealing with the headache (and presumable lost support from Michigan) if he gets an evaluation back that says that he should stay in the draft. It is just messier to try and juggle a potential transfer and trying to go to the NBA simultaneously. I am guessing that JB is completely in the loop in all of this and that we, the public, are in the dark. Poole has nothing to gain about being candid about his situation (see all the public outcry about this situation already to date) and would only add fuel to the fire.
Yes. The undecided route has a benefit but my comment was in regard to the notion put forth that Poole has absolutely decided he is leaving but JB and Poole are keeping his bold decision a secret.
Are we talking about different things? I actually whole-heartedly believe my “hypothetical” situation to be true. I believe that Poole has made his mind up (and some circumstantial evidence and hear-say would agree) that he is leaving Michigan and he is hoping that the next situation is the NBA. If that doesnt work then he is transferring
If transferring was a realistic preferred option, part of me wonders if he would have just gone that route instead of the draft. Couldn’t he lose out on schools that may be interested in him immediately by delaying a transfer announcement?
Sitting out a year due to transferring only delays the ultimate goal of reaching the NBA. What if he gets injured in that year? What if he sits out a year and has a mediocre year in 2020-21? He’s now 2 years older, less “potential” and maybe sees his stock dip.
I think it makes more sense to come back to Michigan if the review from NBA scouts is not where he would like it to be.
@buckets12 I dont think Jordan Poole will be at a loss for high major programs looking for his services. He could replace any number of early draft entries from other schools who are going to be in the same position as Michigan would be in this situation.
@sknight to be clear, I dont hold the opinion that this is Poole’s best path to the NBA. I just believe that this is his view of the situation. I agree with your assessment of what the I would do in his shoes
Like I said, Poole has 2 not so great options in front of him. His best outcome (but maybe not option) IMO (and it isn’t even close) is to come back to Michigan and work his tail off this summer to get his game where it should be. JB made some very telling comments on the Hugh Show yesterday. Essentially, if a player wants to play within the system and be part of the team and focused on the team vs the NBA or other things, we want them. I think JB had a difficult year this past year in many respects.