The question for me is if either Iggy or Poole get first round grades, whether or not NBA GMs/scouts look at either of their games and say, “Yes, we will use a first round draft pick on him.” I go back-and-forth with that for both of them. I surely think both would be done well with a year back in college, Brazdeikis more so than Poole, but both are still the proper amount of moldable (is that a word?) and polished for teams to shift into their own images to fit their composition.
The key words being “at this stage of development.”
They are going to continue to develop. That’s the reason.
Both have struggled now that they’ve reached the top of the opponents scouting report. Poole especially.
Tougher defensive attention necessitates ability to counter known tendencies. Results lacking so far.
Poole hasn’t really improved this season- he’s just played more minutes this year but his efficiency stats are very similar. Its not a guarantee a player will get better.
This is an incredibly weak draft however and it won’t take much from evaluators to seduce Iggy and Poole.
Still believe both will declare but are second round choices in subpar class to me.
Great year for Charles to be leaving though.
It might be true that Poole is at the same place statistically, I don’t know, and I am not going to bother checking out. I see a ton of improvement in Poole.
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I see improvement, too–especially on defense–but he has also shown playmaking abilities I don’t think we saw last year. That said, he has been pretty erratic, and his shot has disappeared on him at times; the burst to real stardom that maybe some of us expected after last year’s promise. . .
With these players, you always hope they’ll stick around long enough to really shine for a whole season on a Beilein team. They may have other plans.
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Poole faces the same challenge as Iggy regarding assist rate. I agree that his playmaking has improved, but it’s not easy to get evidence of that because his assist rate is hampered by 2 of his 3 kickout options being Simpson and Matthews.
I’d expect NBA scouts to be able to see that.
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ESPN’s latest mock draft does not have a single Michigan player listed.
Top 100–Matthews 61, Poole 65, Brazdeikis 84.
Trending downward recently. Just don’t know who Poole or Iggy could guard on the next level. No real physical gifts to speak of that would enhance their abilities to defend.
Sam Vecenie Article:
Interesting evaluation on Iggy for those of you who subscribe to The Athletic. Three anonymous college coaches give their opinions on possible Freshmen leaving this year.
“Most of these freshmen are not quite good enough to make an impact in the NBA right now, but will the lack of depth in the 2019 draft push them to making a decision to leave?”
Such an historically weak weak draft this year.
Iggy capsule evaluation from article by one coach:
“He definitely should be there multiple years. He’s a smart scorer, uses angles. Can obviously shoot it. Doesn’t really turn it over. But I think you’ve seen in conference that it’s mostly straight-line driving. He doesn’t have much bounce, and he doesn’t really have a way to counter what you do on defense. He plays hard. Hits the defensive glass.
“He can’t stay with his man athletically (on defense). You can drive him and get past. I know he had the great start to the year, but Big Ten play has been tougher for him. (Joe) Wieskamp at Iowa doesn’t get any publicity, but I think I’d take him because he affects the game all over the court more.”
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Wonder who that coach is.
I believe it’s an assistant coach. Anonymous.
Yeah I like playing the guessing game. Which team did Wieskamp torch to create such a glowing, unprompted report? Northwestern?
They are from NBA coaches
Almost positive they are from college assistants. Kind of an odd angle IMO. Makes for some juicy quotes I suppose.
Yeah they’re from college assistants.
Wieskamp 6-6 from three versus Illinois.
Shooting 45% from three on year.
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