The Rebuilding Illini?
Could this be the new nickname of the Fighting Illini men's basketball team we have grown to love this year. It certainly seems like it.
Dee Brown announced yesterday that he will enter his name into the NBA Draft without hiring an agent. The surprising part of his announcement was that he will likely leave even if he is not a first round draft pick. Sad news for sure, but probably the best decision for Dee. I think it would be difficult for him to improve his stock any more next year considering the depleted talent the team will have and the move to PG he would have to make. Still, it seems so risky for a guy that was born to play college basketball to give up one more year in order to try and make an NBA roster with no guarantee. On Mark Tupper's blog he echoes my concern, that Dee will be scrambling trying to make a roster spot in Turkey before it is all over. I surely hope Dee changes his mind and decides to come back. Maybe he is just saying the obvious, if you are going to put your name out there for the draft, you better try like hell to make a good impression and prove you belong there. You wouldn't want to enter workouts with the mindset that you are just there to show off before going back to school.
So what does this mean for next year if Dee leaves? The recruiting class coming in is marginal at best according to recruiting analysts. Chet Frazier would have to play point, and it is very hard for freshman to play the point and be successful. All you have to do is look at the struggles of Kiwane Garris and Frank Williams in their frehsman seasons. There has been a chance that we could land Brandon Rush, a 6'6 wing man who is in prep school and is down to either picking Illinois, Oklahoma, or the NBA. If Dee jumps, kiss Rush good bye. That will leave us with James Augustine, a pretty good stable of forwards, a shaky Rich McBride at SG, and an unproven Brian Randle on the wing. Ouch.
I do have faith in Bruce Weber's ability to get extrordinary effort from his players, but I guess part of me was hoping that fate would allow Dee and Deron to come back and let our magic keep flowing. It looks more ane more like a rebuilding year as the days tick by.
Dee Brown announced yesterday that he will enter his name into the NBA Draft without hiring an agent. The surprising part of his announcement was that he will likely leave even if he is not a first round draft pick. Sad news for sure, but probably the best decision for Dee. I think it would be difficult for him to improve his stock any more next year considering the depleted talent the team will have and the move to PG he would have to make. Still, it seems so risky for a guy that was born to play college basketball to give up one more year in order to try and make an NBA roster with no guarantee. On Mark Tupper's blog he echoes my concern, that Dee will be scrambling trying to make a roster spot in Turkey before it is all over. I surely hope Dee changes his mind and decides to come back. Maybe he is just saying the obvious, if you are going to put your name out there for the draft, you better try like hell to make a good impression and prove you belong there. You wouldn't want to enter workouts with the mindset that you are just there to show off before going back to school.
So what does this mean for next year if Dee leaves? The recruiting class coming in is marginal at best according to recruiting analysts. Chet Frazier would have to play point, and it is very hard for freshman to play the point and be successful. All you have to do is look at the struggles of Kiwane Garris and Frank Williams in their frehsman seasons. There has been a chance that we could land Brandon Rush, a 6'6 wing man who is in prep school and is down to either picking Illinois, Oklahoma, or the NBA. If Dee jumps, kiss Rush good bye. That will leave us with James Augustine, a pretty good stable of forwards, a shaky Rich McBride at SG, and an unproven Brian Randle on the wing. Ouch.
I do have faith in Bruce Weber's ability to get extrordinary effort from his players, but I guess part of me was hoping that fate would allow Dee and Deron to come back and let our magic keep flowing. It looks more ane more like a rebuilding year as the days tick by.
posted by GT at 6:20 AM
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