Thursday, March 11, 2004
Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
St. Joes has finally fallen and the daily back watch is on for Okafor. Two college stars that decided to hold off on the pros for another year and give it the old college try once again. Was it a good decision for them? Yes and no. Ok, for Nelson, yes; for Okafor, no. But humor me and read the rest of this post ok?
Nelson was going to be a late first rounder and may have slipped into the 2nd round. Now he’s everybody’s darling, the player of the year on a regular season undefeated team, and likely headed to the lottery. Of course his team just got smacked and he could slip big in the draft as soon as people realize that he shops at Baby Gap. But still, he has helped himself in the draft and had a blast doing it.
Perhaps the same could be said for Okafor, but I don’t think he helped himself that much. He’s been predicted to be a top 2 or 3 pick. If he had gone last year, he would likely have gone top 5. Not much of a jump. Now throw in his recent back problems. We all admire him for trying to play through pain and be a warrior, but a back isn’t something you want to mess with, especially for the Big East Tourney which really isn’t going to mean a whole lot come dance time. If he aggravates that back at all in the next month, he’s going to slip big time in the draft and cost himself a lot of money, maybe millions.
And I don’t want to hear about how its good for any player to stay in college as long as possible. Good for who exactly? If a player can go first round, they’ll make enough guaranteed money that even if they got cut after one game, they could easily pay for an education after basketball. I understand that some players benefit from another year of experience. It worked for Jameer. In my opinion, it was totally unnecessary and potentially very damaging for Okafor.
Learning doesn’t end at the classroom, so I hope Luol Deng, Ben Gordon and others are taking notes.
