DeAndre Daniels will declare for NBA Draft

[Joobie]

I would have been more surprised to hear that he was staying. I saw a mock draft yesterday which has him going 40th (Bazz was 24th). Must admit, D was one of my favorites & while I'm very sad to see him go, I wish him all the best in his new career.

 

[CL82]

I wish DeAndre all the best. I suspect the glut of Kentucky players opting to return may have been a deciding factor. I look forward to to watching him develop. He's a talented kid.

 

[Strummer]

Another Husky starts the climb up the great mountain.

Godspeed young man. I literally got choked up a bit here thinking about it. Forget about projected blah blah blah. Keep working your ass off like you did as a Husky for 3 remarkable years, and you'll find a path to the apex, whether its the easy path or otherwise.

 

[willie99]

thanks for choosing UConn DD, wishing you all the best

good luck

somebody had to go, we always lose an underclassman after winning the title, it's tradition

 

[Gilligan]

I've seen the comments that people think I'm biased. You guys have to look at the facts and what is said by a lot of NBA scouts and I have spoken to a lot of them at the games..Daniels big thing is his wiry frame and his inconsistency. He is going to have to work extremely hard and being inconsistent during the season sent up smoke signals on whether he has that drive. Don't get me wrong His upside is high but a lot think he should stay in school for his final year. 6-10 good games at the end of the season shows his upside but on overall body of work during the year. He is average.

 

[2north]

I wish him the best of luck but honestly I think he made a mistake. He is a borderline 1st round pick this year according to just about everyone. I think he should have come back, been the focus of the offense, had a big year, and could have potentially been a lottery pick in next year's draft which will be significantly less talented.

I disagree thinking at most he moves up into the mid first round. But with his age, he'll be 23 next year, teams will view that as a negative. Even if he does spend some time in the D-League it's not as bad as it used to be or when it was the CBA. Some good talent has come out of the D-league; Lin, Barea, Gortat, et al.

Best of luck to DD.

 

[G0UCONN]

Bad news...good move....good luck Deandre.

 

[NYC_HUSKY22]

Thank you and good luck, DeAndre..

 

[ChrisSmith]

Congrats to DeAndre for taking the next step towards pursuing his dream. Thanks for 3 good years.

I'm sorry a few posters on this board either lack the capability to consider the various factors, or are only thinking of their own interests as fans.

 

[johnhuskies95]

I've seen the comments that people think I'm biased. You guys have to look at the facts and what is said by a lot of NBA scouts and I have spoken to a lot of them at the games..Daniels big thing is his wiry frame and his inconsistency. He is going to have to work extremely hard and being inconsistent during the season sent up smoke signals on whether he has that drive. Don't get me wrong His upside is high but a lot think he should stay in school for his final year. 6-10 good games at the end of the season shows his upside but on overall body of work during the year. He is average.

What if being inconsistent is just the type of player he is? You guys saying it's a bad decision are acting like it's a sure thing that he comes back and dominates and becomes a lottery pick. There's absolutely no guarantee of that.

Do you have any idea how fun-hating good you have to be to be selected as a lottery pick when you're a senior? In the last 5 years there have been a total of 5 seniors selected in the lottery.

 

[DogMania]

Sad to hear that he won't be back, but I felt it was 50/50 with him. He could have certainly improved his draft stock by returning if he performed at a high level more consistently next season, but there were risks with that. If he didn't improve much, the perception would be his ceiling is not very high. If he got injured that would obviously hurt him. Hopefully he'll kill it on his team workouts and impress enough teams that will battle on taking him somewhere in the first round. He certainly showed some big time NBA skills such as that mid-range fall-away J he knocked down a few times during the NC run with players in his face. His handle definitely improved as the season went on, showing he can score some off the bounce. I still can't get that baseline jam out of my head that he threw down at the beginning of the Championship game that set the tone for the rest of the night.

Good luck, Deandre! We'll miss you. Thanks for being a huge part of netting us NC #4!

 

[sledog]

good luck. He'd be a beast in next years draft if he came back.. Hope his destination isn't Turkey. Exiting UC as a champ is one thing, but more important where you enter next the next cycle.

 

[huskypantz]

I'll be rooting for him to go high.

Thinking Denver Nuggets?

 

[NotADimeBack]

Aww… the sleeping giant is gone… I'll always follow & be a fan of his at the next level. Thanks for the memories DD

 

[zls44]

I actually lean towards agreeing with DeAndre's decision (not that it matters).

The idea of him coming back and improving his stock is based on NCAA DeAndre being full-season DeAndre. That's a lot to expect from any player, especially one as inconsistent as he was in his career.

Great kid, wonderful career, perfect guy to represent the program. All the best for him. He's earned it.

 

[James]

I always loved when he got interview, and he was always like "We just tried to get it done for husky nation". This is a great narrative, highly touted prospect comes into a wild situation right before Ollie's hire, works his way into the first round of the nba draft WHILE winning a CHIP.

 

[UConn17]

A big thank you on a wonderful career and best of luck in the NBA Deandre!!! We want the best

 

[UConnDan97]

Congrats to DD and all the best in the NBA. He gave us a lot of good moments, but I'm always going to remember him for the monster dunk early in the championship game against Kentucky. It was the moment I knew for sure that the game would be ours...

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspo...ndre-daniels-puts-one-down-on-kentucky-video/

 

[tentoes4rings]

Am I the only one who doesn't feel this way at all? He's a talented scorer with height who can shoot the rock, just needs more killer instinct, the way he knocks down that turnaround fade in the high post... He could be late lottery no problem next year if he performed as the guy for us next year.

You're not the only one. Like aceboon said, I also said during the tourney run that if DD played so well that we won a championship, it would be worth losing him to the NBA. If the projections are accurate though, I think a guy like Deandre who struggles with confidence at times and still needs to add a good amount of strength is taking a big chance if he's not a lock for a guaranteed contract.

He's a great kid and I wish him the absolute best but as a borderline 1st round pick I feel he had a lot to gain by adding weight and dominating during his senior season. He has lottery pick potential and may have pushed his chips to the center of the table a year early.

 

[buddy]

Am I the only one who doesn't feel this way at all? He's a talented scorer with height who can shoot the rock, just needs more killer instinct, the way he knocks down that turnaround fade in the high post... He could be late lottery no problem next year if he performed as the guy for us next year.

I wish him luck, but I think he should have stayed. He will probably end up in the D league for a while and then who knows? Hope he does finish his degree. He is going to need it.

 

[Leebo]

I wish him luck, but I think he should have stayed. He will probably end up in the D league for a while and then who knows? Hope he does finish his degree. He is going to need it.

I trust that he wouldn't be going if he wasn't confident in getting picked in the first round. We'll know soon enough.

 

[intlzncster]

I wish him luck, but I think he should have stayed. He will probably end up in the D league for a while and then who knows? Hope he does finish his degree. He is going to need it.

Huh? At the very least, he'll be able to play in Europe. Many guys make millions in Europe over the course of a career.

Kid can get his degree in 10 years if he wants (like Taliek and TR).

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

You're not the only one. Like aceboon said, I also said during the tourney run that if DD played so well that we won a championship, it would be worth losing him to the NBA. If the projections are accurate though, I think a guy like Deandre who struggles with confidence at times and still needs to add a good amount of strength is taking a big chance if he's not a lock for a guaranteed contract.

He's a great kid and I wish him the absolute best but as a borderline 1st round pick I feel he had a lot to gain by adding weight and dominating during his senior season. He has lottery pick potential and may have pushed his chips to the center of the table a year early.

Hopefully he ends up like another Cali guy Phil Ivey when he pushes the chips to the center of the table. High risk/high reward for DD with this move. It will all come down to his individual workouts. Dinwiddie & Daniels both could have benefited from additional time and feedback.

 

[huskyharry]

UConn runs on DD....kid needs to sign a contract with Dunkin Donuts asap...thanks for the chip Deandre and I hope celts grab you and bazz haha he just needs to get his handle better and I believe he could be a great NBA player

Possible similar players: Trevor Ariza and Otto Porter of the Wizards (Ariza used to be about DD's weight when he played for the Lakers), Corey Brewer from the Wolves...all are good defenders and DD's offensive skill set is actually better than all three in some areas.

 

[CAHUSKY]

I wish him luck, but I think he should have stayed. He will probably end up in the D league for a while and then who knows? Hope he does finish his degree. He is going to need it.

While everyone should finish their degree, I completed the last 6 units of my Uconn BA in December after a 23 year break, your comment is snarky and bullspit. DD, at minimum, will likely make more playing overseas than most of us will earn in a lifetime. Best case, he makes that in the next 3 years in the NBA. no need for those kind of chicken sh@t comments in my humble opinion.