Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Meeks gonna test the NBA Draft Waters

Kentucky sharpshooter Jodie Meeks has announced he will enter the NBA draft (but not hire an agent) which leaves open the possibility of returning to KY for his senior year.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2009/news/story?id=4049308

I'm torn on this one. My first reaction was "Good" thinking it can only help Vanderbilt by getting arguable the best player in the League out of our way as soon as possible. However this also opens up yet another scholarship for new Coach John Calipari to use to get some uber recruit who would have otherwise ended up at Memphis. The one good thing is Calipari doesn't know if he will have the scholarship available until sometime after the draft which limits his options.

What do you guys think? Good thing? Bad thing? What about Patterson? Do you think he leaves as well? Do either of these guys fit in Calipari's drive/dripple offense or whatever its called?

5 comments:

Anything but Gatorade said...

Obviously my opinion is biased, but I'm torn, too. On one hand I think Jodie's as good as he's going to be right now, so he should make the leap in terms of his own personal interest. On the other I feel that he will probably best suited out of all of Kentucky's roster for Calipari's dribble-drive motion offense in that he's a strong ball handler, a great finisher, very good shooter, and is good in one-on-one situations. All of those things spell success in the DDM, and I'd love to see him play in a system that really allows him to thrive.

For Kentucky fans, it's sort of a win-win scenario except we lose a known quantity on our team.

I don't think Patterson's going anywhere.

Stanimal said...

As much as I hate to say it, the only player that I can really see "jumping" for the draft is Patterson, and he's been fairly clear in the past he doesn't want to go.

First of all, Patterson is the only one who's likely to be a lottery pick. Meeks isn't very highly projected, falling at the end of the first round beginning of the second round. That's too much risk to give up your elligibility for. The same goes for Calethas from Florida.

This doesn't mean that either of those players couldn't earn their way up to lottery status with another year. It just means that they probably need another year of college exposure before they make the jump. Patterson could go right now because of his upside, but as Bob said, it seems he wants to wait it out.

Douglas James said...

Any chance Calipari is pushing either of these guys to leave so he can get "his" players into the system quicker? This is pure speculation on my behalf but seems like something that could happen.

Anything but Gatorade said...

He might be pushing on a couple, but not Meeks or Patterson.

Michael Porter just announced he's not coming back for his senior season, and DeMarcus Cousins has committed to play for Kentucky next year. Things move fast in Lexington these days.

Anonymous said...

who cares. we're going to sweep them no matter who they have. i feel it. john jenkins era begin!