I really hope Mullins comes back | Page 2 | The Boneyard

I really hope Mullins comes back

The calculus has changed dramatically with NIL.

Liam just barely snuck into the first round and spent the season in the G League and in my opinion he had a more NBA body and game.

I'm not one to say someone 'needs' to come back but I think there is something to be said about developing in real live game situations where you're a bigger fish in a smaller pond.

You could probably count on one hand the number of kids who would turn down the NBA to stay in college for more money for a year or two. NBA is their dream if they get drafted they'll still be a millionaire. Follow your dreams.
 
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The NBA draft is all about potential. And Mullins showed more than enough potential throughout the season. It would be a shock -albeit a pleasant one- if he comes back. Luckily, it’s now a long, long process with tons of time for him to make the best decision for himself and his basketball life.
It absolutely is but I wonder if you asked Liam McNeeely who like Mullins was a 5 star recruit and is where Mullins is likely to be drafted if he comes out, if he would rather have been at UCONN or having played 30 games, started 0, has been averaging 12 minutes, 4 points in Charlotte making his 2.8 Million. I wonder if you really ask him his honest opinion what he would have preferred. If you ask me, especially with NIL and how times have changed, I'd have stuck around and tried to improve my draft stock, earned some money, maybe not 2.8Mil. I understand too how going early optimizes their earning potential but sometimes it's better to stick around. I know this is all likely a moot point as Mullins is likely going just wondering if it really is in his best interest to leave now or stick around.
 
You could probably count on one hand, the number of kids who would turn down the NBA to stay in college for more money for a year or two. NBA is their dream if they get drafted they'll still be a millionaire. Follow your dreams.

You don't think Clingan or Karaban would have been picked after their freshman or sophomore years respectively? That's two.
 
If you are guaranteed to be a 1st round pick, you go. Period. Full stop.

I remember some on this board saying Thabeet needed to come back and he was drafted 2nd. Made 17m dollars over 5 years (probably 30m in today’s money) and changed his life forever.

Players drafted in the first round can improve in the G league playing against other pros while making several million dollars. Some people seem to think Braylon will be better prepared for the league by putting up 25pts against DePaul in December.
Eh, idk about going if you're simply guaranteed 1st round if you're a player like Mullins. For most college guys being guaranteed 1st round means you go, but Mullins is not most players. He can easily play himself into the lottery for next year's draft if he comes back, but he's not guaranteed lottery if he goes now as we saw with McNeeley.
 
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If he misses that shot against Duke I think there would be a decent chance, but I can't see it happening now.
I think they should go if a career is waiting for them. But cmon! Is it odd that 90% if our draftees go to charlotte? It’s a conspiracy. If he projects to go to a dumpster team I pray he stays.
 
You think NBA teams want completely polished players that have nothing much to improve in their game to draft? It's all about upside and youth. There's a reason 4 year seniors rarely get drafted in the lottery anymore.
This is not breaking news, if you follow basketball you should know about this.
You must be an expert
 
I've been wrong before, but I don't see how he's drafted in the 1st round.

He's a shooter that had far subpar shooting the last quarter of the season.
 
He's not. But that's not how it works anymore.
Meh, we've seen more and more guys stay an extra year since NIL. And some of the smarter drafting teams – Memphis being the most obvious, as they've taken Edey, Cam and Coward in the past two drafts – are no longer prioritizing youth as much as talent + fit, irrespective of age.

Bet they take Lendebourg top 10.

Anyway, it's a copycat league and if one team's had success doing it, five more are about to start doing it and 10 more beyond that are thinking of doing it.

I hope Mullins stays.
 
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You could probably count on one hand the number of kids who would turn down the NBA to stay in college for more money for a year or two. NBA is their dream if they get drafted they'll still be a millionaire. Follow your dreams.
Follow your dreams for sure but for some players there is a non-zero chance they could be riding a bus to play in Sioux Falls or someplace like that in the G League for the majority of their rookie year. At 19 years old doing that at a professional level with older men might not sound as appealing as still making a few million and playing one more year of college. NIL does make the decision more challenging for some, not all people.
 
You don’t know ball and/or you’re a troll, but I’ll provide an honest reply even though your posts rarely deserve it.

Of course he is ready, the point of drafting most one-and-done freshmen is you take what they flash in college and develop them into the pro potential they’ve got.

He’s in a great position where there’s no wrong choice and I’m sure his people who’ll help guide him to make the best choice for him once more information comes in about his draft projection.
This 💯
 
Watch what happens and apology accepted in advance.
What are you even blabbing about? Only thing to apologize for is your terrible takes. But coming from someone that's admitted they don't even know how metrics work, guess I shouldn't be surprised.
 
What are you even blabbing about? Only thing to apologize for is your terrible takes. But coming from someone that's admitted they don't even know how metrics work, guess I shouldn't be surprised.
You shooing him to the NBA with your eagle eye and “knowledge of metrics” is the only thing that will be deemed terrible.
 
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You shooing him to the NBA with your eagle eye and “knowledge of metrics” is the only thing that will be deemed terrible.
Hey NBA teams, RuffRuff here is the next undiscovered jewel in NBA talent evaluation. Sign him before it's too late! He's already an expert at comparing NBA prospects from different draft classes. 😆
 
Clingan, yes. But it was his plan to stay two years.
Do we know that wasn't the plan for Mullins? I could have sworn there was talk last year that the Mullins family wasn't in any rush and assumed he might be here for two years and then that all stopped in fall when Hurley started calling him a OAD. At least that was my perception of it.
 
So many people in this thread saying "he's not ready, he'll come back!" when they really mean "I wish it were the 80s when college stars stayed 3-4 years."

That's fine. You're allowed to be nostalgic for a different era of basketball. But it doesn't change the reality that the way it works is different from how you wish it worked.

Mullins is almost certainly not ready to be an NBA contributor next year, and definitely not physically. Hell, Jordan Hawkins was a year further developed, accomplished more while here, was drafted higher than Mullins is projected to be, and has still been a bust.

The NBA drafts on potential. If Mullins comes back, there is much, much greater risk that he performs only "OK" and falls off the board entirely than that he balls out and becomes a lotto pick. That's the only calculus that he and his family/agent are making right now.

It sucks, but that's how it works.
 
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You don’t know ball and/or you’re a troll, but I’ll provide an honest reply even though your posts rarely deserve it.

Of course he is ready, the point of drafting most one-and-done freshmen is you take what they flash in college and develop them into the pro potential they’ve got.

He’s in a great position where there’s no wrong choice and I’m sure his people who’ll help guide him to make the best choice for him once more information comes in about his draft projection.
You are talking to a deaf ear who pretends to know the game but the more he types the more you can read through the repeating of basketball articles etc.
He will be insufferable with his Michigan victory. Wonder who he will bandwagon next season.
 
Funny enough, currently driving through Braylon’s hometown on Rte 70 on the drive home. Not much to see but flat farmland.
 
Dan will talk to people in the NBA and they will provide Braylon with information to make the decision. One thing we've learned from Dan is that he's not going to put UConn's interests ahead of the player interests. I think there's a legit decision to made here, in part because this class is so strong it will push Mullins down from where he'd go next year. He'd be our best player.
 
There is an article behind a paywall in the Athletic about this

NBA front offices are now saying it makes more sense, and are now assuming, anyone projected to be drafted 20th or later will be staying in college because of NIL

So if he goes he will be an outlier
 
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