Heron

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

I didn’t know it was a real possibility that he left to try the NBA. He’s a great player, but would probably benefit from another year in college, because I don’t think his draft stock will be high enough to go in the actual draft. I didn’t know he was really considering leaving until I heard his comments about discussing it with his family tonight... thoughts? 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,652]

His stock might’ve actually been higher if he left before the season than after 

team ball probably lowered his ceiling than anybody else’s this year, he went from a pretty likely draft pick to off many boards since freshman year. Not saying that’s bad but it’d probably serve him better to at least leave on a year where his job will be easier and he’ll have more chances for easier buckets as next year should provide

[Sani-Freeze 552]

I love the guy, but he tends to disappear for really long stretches in a game. I agree his draft prospects would have been better last year. Needs to come back for one more season. 

[Tiger 8,818]

Anybody got some quotes/links?

He likely won't get drafted this year, but I'm not sure if another year in college does get him drafted unless he just explodes and averages 20-22 ppg next year which may be difficult if Wiley and Purifoy come back and then add in another ball handler like Doughty. A lot of times times it seems like the more film you have the more it hurts you in regards to the NBA draft.

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

15 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Anybody got some quotes/links?

He likely won't get drafted this year, but I'm not sure if another year in college does get him drafted unless he just explodes and averages 20-22 ppg next year which may be difficult if Wiley and Purifoy come back and then add in another ball handler like Doughty. A lot of times times it seems like the more film you have the more it hurts you in regards to the NBA draft.

I have no quote, just saw it on twitter and didn’t know there were rumblings that might happen 

[Gowebb11 9,313]

Heron needs to seriously upgrade his basketball IQ before he tries the NBA. Decision making hurt our team as much as anything down the stretch and MH (and several of his teammates) needs another year to refine that part of his game in my opinion  

[casatiger 513]

Biggest issue I see is that he is a tweener.   6'5" shooting guard in the NBA is good but he is more of a slasher small forward type.  If Bryce had those measurables with his shooting ability then he would be highly thought of.  And reciprocally if Heron had Bryces shooting ability he would be highly thought of as well.  Heron needs to work on his three or grow 2-3 inches. I would say another year at Auburn with a big time focus on shooting would be helpful. 

[AuburnNTexas 7,134]

After this tourney a lot of his weaknesses showed up. He was not able to carry the team when we were cold.  He and this team need an inside presence if for no other reason then to get the outside shooters better shots. Against top notch talent he was not bale to produce. he will not go in first two rounds based on the fact that he basically disappeared when it counted.

As other have said he needs to work on his three and we have to find an inside scorer to keep other teams honest.

[AUGoo 2,659]

I'm not sure you can make much of this year's performances.  All but the point guards seemed to be playing out of position against bigger teams.  Not only were we one of the youngest teams in the NCAA, we were one of the shortest- particularly after losing AMc.  

[boomstick 1,315]

Since Heron came to Auburn, the talk has been he'd play 1-2 years and leave for the draft. Not sure if that was a sales pitch by Person and Pearl or a plan by his parents or where that thought came from. Now, we're through with year 2, and IMO he's not ready for the NBA. He will definitely enter his name into the draft pool and go through the combine and workouts and get feedback. The biggest questions I have is what they do with the feedback and how does he see his situation at Auburn moving forward. Do they take the information given and follow it or forge their own path if the feedback doesn't stack up to the plan/dream? And does Heron look at Auburn and the system and the depth chart and think it could further help his game to get to the next level? Those are probably question we don't and won't know the answers to for a while.

Here's the draft schedule timeline.

2018 NBA Draft

April 11-14
Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (Portsmouth, VA)

April 22
NBA Early Entry Eligibility Deadline (11:59 p.m. ET)

May 15
NBA Draft Lottery (Chicago)

May 16-20
NBA Draft Combine 2018 (Chicago)

June 11 
NBA Draft Early Entry Entrant Withdrawal Deadline (5 p.m. ET)

June 21 
NBA Draft 2018

[AuburnNTexas 7,134]

2 hours ago, boomstick said:

Since Heron came to Auburn, the talk has been he'd play 1-2 years and leave for the draft. Not sure if that was a sales pitch by Person and Pearl or a plan by his parents or where that thought came from. Now, we're through with year 2, and IMO he's not ready for the NBA. He will definitely enter his name into the draft pool and go through the combine and workouts and get feedback. The biggest questions I have is what they do with the feedback and how does he see his situation at Auburn moving forward. Do they take the information given and follow it or forge their own path if the feedback doesn't stack up to the plan/dream? And does Heron look at Auburn and the system and the depth chart and think it could further help his game to get to the next level? Those are probably question we don't and won't know the answers to for a while.

Here's the draft schedule timeline.

2018 NBA Draft

April 11-14
Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (Portsmouth, VA)

April 22
NBA Early Entry Eligibility Deadline (11:59 p.m. ET)

May 15
NBA Draft Lottery (Chicago)

May 16-20
NBA Draft Combine 2018 (Chicago)

June 11 
NBA Draft Early Entry Entrant Withdrawal Deadline (5 p.m. ET)

June 21 
NBA Draft 2018

Thank you for this information. In reading this I am assuming Wiley, Purifoy and Heron will put their names in play by April 22nd. Any that don't put them in can't be considered in the Draft. May 16th -through 20th they would go through the combine and hopefully get an honest evaluation as to their NBA draft stock. After that they have till June 11th to back out of the draft.  Assuming that nothing changes and that Pearl will be back next year any that don't put their name in by April 22nd we can probably assume will be back and any that drop out by June 11th will probably be back.

So far Wiley has been cleared by NCAA for next year does anybody know how much longer before the NCAA rules on Purifoy. I can't believe that there has been any new information on Purifoy's transgressions in months. It seems like NCAA needs to pull the trigger and let the young man know if he has or does not have a future in College basketball and if he does when he would be allowed to come back. he really needs to know this before June 11th so he can make an informed decision. If NCAA continues to delay in making a ruling, even if Purifoy does not show up well at the combine I would expect him to look at playing overseas if he does not have an answer from NCAA before June 11th. The NCAA is supposed to protect the integrity of the game and the student athletes. They have already shown that they can't protect the integrity of the game by looking the other way for many years with the transgressions of multiple schools and if they continue delaying a decision on Purifoy until after June 11th deadline they will also prove that they are not interested in protecting the student athlete either.

[boomstick 1,315]

1 hour ago, AuburnNTexas said:

Thank you for this information. In reading this I am assuming Wiley, Purifoy and Heron will put their names in play by April 22nd. Any that don't put them in can't be considered in the Draft. May 16th -through 20th they would go through the combine and hopefully get an honest evaluation as to their NBA draft stock. After that they have till June 11th to back out of the draft.  Assuming that nothing changes and that Pearl will be back next year any that don't put their name in by April 22nd we can probably assume will be back and any that drop out by June 11th will probably be back.

So far Wiley has been cleared by NCAA for next year does anybody know how much longer before the NCAA rules on Purifoy. I can't believe that there has been any new information on Purifoy's transgressions in months. It seems like NCAA needs to pull the trigger and let the young man know if he has or does not have a future in College basketball and if he does when he would be allowed to come back. he really needs to know this before June 11th so he can make an informed decision. If NCAA continues to delay in making a ruling, even if Purifoy does not show up well at the combine I would expect him to look at playing overseas if he does not have an answer from NCAA before June 11th. The NCAA is supposed to protect the integrity of the game and the student athletes. They have already shown that they can't protect the integrity of the game by looking the other way for many years with the transgressions of multiple schools and if they continue delaying a decision on Purifoy until after June 11th deadline they will also prove that they are not interested in protecting the student athlete either.

On the timeline, you are correct. Anybody that wants to be considered has to do so by April 22nd. They also cannot sign with an agent. And once they get feedback, they have until June 11th to decide. I'll be curious if we have any other guys that look to go through the draft process like Bryce or someone off the radar like Dunbar.

On Purifoy, I've heard some talk that he will be eligible to play next year and that Auburn may already know the decision from the NCAA. Nothing has been officially reported though that I've seen. 

[AU64 10,122]

6 hours ago, AuburnNTexas said:

After this tourney a lot of his weaknesses showed up. He was not able to carry the team when we were cold.  He and this team need an inside presence if for no other reason then to get the outside shooters better shots. Against top notch talent he was not bale to produce. he will not go in first two rounds based on the fact that he basically disappeared when it counted.

As other have said he needs to work on his three and we have to find an inside scorer to keep other teams honest.

What ever reason one choses to explain it...AU is not a good shooting team....our stats are way down in the NCAA listings...250th in FG and 140 in 3 PT shooting so It's amazing they won as many games at they did.  

And as BP pointed out in the post game yesterday,  several players were reluctant to take open shots and I recall Heron passing up a number of opportunities at the 3 point line and then trying to go inside which did not work out well for him in most cases with Clemson packing the middle.    I don't see any our guys able to shoot at NBA level.  Any of our players hoping to have an NBA future need to really improve on their shooting....

[KolchakAU85 430]

He may "test the waters" by asking the NBA to assess his game film, but the NBA will tell him to stay put at Auburn.  He's definitely not ready for the NBA, and may never be.

[alexava 6,973]

1 hour ago, AU64 said:

What ever reason one choses to explain it...AU is not a good shooting team....our stats are way down in the NCAA listings...250th in FG and 140 in 3 PT shooting so It's amazing they won as many games at they did.  

And as BP pointed out in the post game yesterday,  several players were reluctant to take open shots and I recall Heron passing up a number of opportunities at the 3 point line and then trying to go inside which did not work out well for him in most cases with Clemson packing the middle.    I don't see any our guys able to shoot at NBA level.  Any of our players hoping to have an NBA future need to really improve on their shooting....

I bet those rankings were MUCH better 5 weeks ago. 

[alexava 6,973]

Heron won’t make an NBA team if he goes now. May not ever make it. But certainly not now. 

[gr82be 14,422]

21 minutes ago, alexava said:

Heron won’t make an NBA team if he goes now. May not ever make it. But certainly not now. 

I love what the guys accomplished but I didn't see NBA talent. I saw teamwork and execution for 3/4 of the season and then sadly it was done. They played so well the first game without AM that I kept hoping to see that again. 

[AU64 10,122]

1 hour ago, alexava said:

I bet those rankings were MUCH better 5 weeks ago. 

No doubt.....checked the stats and the Georgia game on Feb 10 was the last game where the team shot well.....and after that, the averages were trending down the rest of the season.  They were lights out against TAMU, Vandy and Georgia....and the next game with UK and thereafter, the shooting was irregular and nobody was consistent from then on.  And,  recall that when AMac was still playing in the South Carolina game we were down by nearly 30 points in the first half...looked like the Clemson game yesterday.   We made a run but could not turn the corner.  

The last good shooting game was at Georgia and the 9 or so games after that were a struggle with long cold streaks and some amazing comebacks but nothing consistent. Makes me wonder if something happened in early Feb that changed things......other than AMac getting hurt..

[alexava 6,973]

1 hour ago, AU64 said:

No doubt.....checked the stats and the Georgia game on Feb 10 was the last game where the team shot well.....and after that, the averages were trending down the rest of the season.  They were lights out against TAMU, Vandy and Georgia....and the next game with UK and thereafter, the shooting was irregular and nobody was consistent from then on.  And,  recall that when AMac was still playing in the South Carolina game we were down by nearly 30 points in the first half...looked like the Clemson game yesterday.   We made a run but could not turn the corner.  

The last good shooting game was at Georgia and the 9 or so games after that were a struggle with long cold streaks and some amazing comebacks but nothing consistent. Makes me wonder if something happened in early Feb that changed things......other than AMac getting hurt..

May have 64. I think some of us overplay the AMac injury. It was devastating but he didn't cause our guards to go cold. Part of it was how other teams defended us too. UF kinda showed how to defend us. but that Clemson loss was a nightmare. I think they could have drubbed  us by 60 if it paid to. that is kinda what i expected all year. THat is why i refuse to be disappointed with the season. All in all it was awesome.

[The Plainsman 948]

Heron has serious talent,. But needs to work on his overall ball handling skills. 

[AUMASTERS 555]

11 minutes ago, alexava said:

May have 64. I think some of us overplay the AMac injury. It was devastating but he didn't cause our guards to go cold. Part of it was how other teams defended us too. UF kinda showed how to defend us. but that Clemson loss was a nightmare. I think they could have drubbed  us by 60 if it paid to. that is kinda what i expected all year. THat is why i refuse to be disappointed with the season. All in all it was awesome.

AMac's ability to shoot 3's thus pulling the other team's big men out with him freed up the middle for Heron and Brown to get inside for easier baskets; when AMac went out the middle closed up, and so did our outside shooting.

[AU64 10,122]

4 minutes ago, AUMASTERS said:

AMac's ability to shoot 3's thus pulling the other team's big men out with him freed up the middle for Heron and Brown to get inside for easier baskets; when AMac went out the middle closed up, and so did our outside shooting.

That was a factor but the shots were still available and our guys just put up brick after brick.   What did hurt was when they took away Harper's driving layups 

[AUMASTERS 555]

2 minutes ago, AU64 said:

That was a factor but the shots were still available and our guys just put up brick after brick.   What did hurt was when they took away Harper's driving layups 

There were games when Harper looked like the guards from Clemson yesterday, and there were games you thought what in the hell is he doing ? 

[AU64 10,122]

21 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

Heron needs to seriously upgrade his basketball IQ before he tries the NBA. Decision making hurt our team as much as anything down the stretch and MH (and several of his teammates) needs another year to refine that part of his game in my opinion  

He's a great young man and fine ball player but is having difficulty finding the right place.   JMO but as far as the NBA is concerned he does not seem to have guard skills (ball handling issues) and not big enough to be a SF and if you look at the stats, he's about an average shooter.    Probably, college is the place for him the next couple years.  .

[AuburnNTexas 7,134]

I think the real issue started when Bryce Brown initially hurt his shoulder and then his ankle. He basically had one Bryce Brown type game after that.  It affected his defense so we lost numerous easy baskets, it affected his lift, and after a few bad games I am sure it affected his confidence. He was our one pure shooter on the team. When he was hitting it opened up so many other players. His tough D would force guards to try and get rid of the ball often near half court where Murray and Heron would have defensive advantages against bigger men out on the floor. They would get steals that led to easy baskets.  Those easy baskets besides scoring allowed us to setup on defense for the next series.  Next you add McLemore injury and it was more that just his loss but it affected the whole rotation and forced more players to play out of their normal position. Okeke played really well for a freshman but asking him to play 5 for long stretches was to much it got him away from his slashing on O you quit seeing the quick slash and finger roll.

As good as Heron is and he is better than McLemore we could have replaced him easier than McLemore because Okeke and Dunbar both fit that Role better than the 5.  The position of the injured player hurt the most as we were already thin there with no backups beside Horace who plays hard and is a great short duration sub but is not a starting SEC 5. 

When you loose your best shooter (Brown) he was there physically but injury impaired him, your best perimeter defender (Brown again) and your center it makes a team of over achievers average at best. All of this impacted Harper the most he couldn't rely on Brown in the same way as before and McLemore scoring. McLemore scored three ways once or twice a game hitting the three bring the big man outside with him, then a quick flash from outside beating his big man with his speed usually ending in a dunk that got the team fired up and put backs. he shot right at 40% from 3PT range and 53% overall about 8 points a game 2-3 blocked shots a game and he forced a bunch of missed shots that often led to fast break easy baskets.

The loss of easy baskets was the biggest reason for the change after Brown  and McLemore injuries. Those baskets change the whole dynamic of the game both offensively and defensively.