🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Whether any of us like it or not, we are living in a college basketball world where players use college merely as a stepping stone to the next level.

I wish we could induce writer Mike DeCourcy to write this story about Kansas. After all, he references two of our past OADs that should have stayed in school in his recent story:

Some of Kentucky's NBA Draft entrants should have trusted Calipari to take them further ↗

The problem at Kansas is that we have no sports media guys writing this kind of intelligent story about Kansas. When we get attention about our players it is always the hype stories that do nothing but fuel early departures for young Kansas players. Take in point, Kelly Oubre.

The focus of this story is directed at Trey Lyles and Devin Booker... two Kentucky OADs that decided like Kelly, to enter the draft this summer. All 3 of these players are of a similar cut. They all have plenty of upside potential to become solid NBA players. They have what so many other NBA hopefuls have. But they will have to fight it out for only a few bench spots left on teams. They have to hope they find themselves on the right team where openings are possible. For a large part, they don't control their own futures (which will largely fall into destiny's fate of the situations that will come their way).

All that hard work to get to this position, and then gamble it away on hope and fantasy.

What bothered me most about losing Kelly was how quick he announced. He really didn't seem to care what other college players were deciding after him. Turns out 7 Kentucky players are leaving and 2 to 3 from Duke. So Kelly might have all 10 of these guys ahead of him. That leaves 20 more spots available for a guaranteed contract. Obtaining a guaranteed contract should be the lowest bar set for players coming out early. It also matters where they fall in that Top 30 first round, because the set scale pay changes drastically through those positions.

We all know that the real prize for players is obtaining a second contract. In order to have that opportunity, players have to show (beyond reasonable doubt) that they offer enough to a team to hold a spot. They have a better likelihood of getting to this higher level if their first contract was on the high end of the scale, because teams have to invest more of their team salary purse, hence will invest more focus and energy in lifting a player's game. And those second contracts are costly so it is easier for them to accept a player if they already have his past salary fairly high (taking up room) in their salary structure. The larger the jump in salary, the harder it is to accomplish because those dollars have to come from somewhere in their team budget.

@drgnslayr Huh. Solid post. I guess Im not worried if Oubre will stick or not. Ben and Wigs are doing just fine and I see Oubre being in between those two, in terms of upside.

@Lulufulu Ben was selected 7th in the 2013 draft; Wigs, 1st, 2014. If Kelly should become a lottery pick, he should be okay, too. However, if he falls below the lottery, he's in for more of a rougher road to secure the millions which those two players were guaranteed. Right now, his selection number looks shaky.

@REHawk My mind set is, you can't lose what you dont already have. Regardless where Oubre gets picked in the first round, he's gonna be set for life if he is smart with his money. I think he'll be able to contribute pretty well his rookie season, somewhere around what Ben did his rookie season.

I have a good feeling that Kelly will make it. I just think he's taking a lot of unnecessary risk. This is just a feeling I have. I think he would have had an explosive year this next year and he would have jumped to a Top 10 pick. Hopefully Kelly spoke to the right people who can properly assess the risk in his decision and he carefully made his decision.

@drgnslayr If the new draft plan takes effect for the 2016 draft imagine the recruiting and late signing mess that will create. Player could declare for the draft and have until late May to undeclare and return to school.

@brooksmd They might need to push back the late signing date?

@drgnslayr I agree with you completely on Oubre. I felt that he most definitely should return. He's the kind of kid that could explode into an all-american, top 5 pick. There's a big difference in top 5 money, and 15-20 money if he slips a bit. McLemore got picked 7th and I think Oubre has more tools and skills than McLemore. I know it's hard to turn down the money in the mid-first (probably the lowest he'd go), but I think he should have stayed. A better business decision.

A nice afternoon watching KU hoops is tough to top, but watching the Royals put it to the Angels again with the Masters on as well is a pretty good afternoon.

@HighEliteMajor