Let's say that all of our rookies( Robinson, Jones, Motiejunas, White)all decided to stay another year in whatever situation they were in. Where would they be ranked in this years draft? Seeing that this a weaker draft than recent years, i would say that they would all at least go in the top ten. Robinson and Jones would be top 5, imo. What do you all think?
For instance, with Jones Kentucky would have gone to the NCAA tourney instead of the NIT and they probably would have advanced a bit. Possibly even won again.
The more i think about it, Jones would have probably been in the running for top pick of the draft. He was already being rated at the top of the draft in 2011, but made the decision to stay another year in which he ended up deferring to Davis. We all know, Noel is no Anthony Davis.
There's no way Jones would have been top 5 this year. He was already on the downslide in prospect rankings and another year would've helper very little. The potential of others would've been drafted ahead of Tjones
No, it's not. Nerlens Noel and Ben McLemore are guaranteed to go before him. Now Terrance Jones on the other hand....he could've easily been the #1 overall pick (considering he's a lesser Howard and all).
Are you assuming they played a year in the NBA, and then WENT BACK, or if you are asking if they were coming out this year, and they played with their respective colleges/Euro teams this last season? Assuming its the later, here are my thoughts- -If T. Jones was on last years Kentucky team, he would have been in a much larger role than the season before he was drafted, and should be a top 5 pick. Jones would be one of the few college "stars" coming out in this draft. Im gonna go out there and say he could be a candidate for possibly the #1 pick. -Motiejunas coming out of this draft would almost certainly be a lottery pick. There aren't any other players coming out of this draft with that much intriguing talent other than him, and Noel. I view his upside even more than that of C. Zeller & much more than Len. -Robinson, Im not so sure his role with Kansas would have been as large playing alongside McLemore, but I do think he would have still found his way in the lottery. -White... who knows but if he played, looked, and most importantly acted like he did this season, but at Iowa State, I guarantee you not only would he have not been drafted, but he most likely would have been banned from the NCAA after week two. The point of the story though is that he DIDN'T act the way he did in College so he actually had high draft stock because of it.... so there is no point in even ranking him.
The only one I'll keep is Motiejunas. He's the only one who wants to learn, improve and has passion for the game. I also like Terrence Jones but I think Motiejunas be better. The rest need to get cut or traded, especially Royce White. I don't understand why is he still on the team.
They could get hurt TJ was hurt this year for a while. If Kentucky still does not make NCAA because he can not play in the strech or play badly in the strech, what will be his draft position? DMo still get play in EU, so there is always concern he may not joint NBA. I think they prob hold their draft position.
I actually think Royce would have been picked in the top ten this year because he was playing at that level in college. He already had a comfortable setup at Iowa St and he would have been more comfortable after one more season. Who knows, one more season might have helped him transition better to the league.
Sure, but are you judging him if he was in this years draft and he performed/acted etc. as he did BEFORE the NBA? The whole point of judging how players would have ranked in future drafts is now knowing who they are and having a larger sample size of what kind of players they will end up being. Our rookies have now been more exposed. This years incoming draft class has not been. Your comparing apples and oranges. As for Royce, Im not sure what another season in college would have done for him IF it forced him to behave and stay in shape. If he performed, and acted exactly the way he did the season before, sure I could see him going higher in the draft than last year, but he would have had the same red flags as before if not more with more time in college to have his personality, work ethic, and major flaws in his basketball game exposed.
