Chuma Okeke draft discussion

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

I know it won’t happen, but I really wish Chuma would show up at tip off like

 

[Tiger 8,823]

Darius Garland still projected top 10 but his injury occurred back in October or November

[AuburnArch13 185]

On 3/31/2019 at 12:03 PM, Tiger said:

Darius Garland still projected top 10 but his injury occurred back in October or November

Yeah, unfortunately for Chuma I think the timing makes a difference. While it’s not definitive by any means, Bruce was taking on Dan Patrick like he think Chuma will be back, saying he “would have gone in the late first round” and that now it “will probably have to wait a year”. 

 

Even them though, it’s no guarantee he’s ready to go before conference play. ACLs are tough stuff.

[Tiger 8,823]

13 hours ago, AuburnArch13 said:

Yeah, unfortunately for Chuma I think the timing makes a difference. While it’s not definitive by any means, Bruce was taking on Dan Patrick like he think Chuma will be back, saying he “would have gone in the late first round” and that now it “will probably have to wait a year”. 

 

Even them though, it’s no guarantee he’s ready to go before conference play. ACLs are tough stuff.

There's a chance he may not even be himself till a full year after he's ready next season. So where does that put him? Such a tough situation. I feel awful for the kid and his family, this happened 3 months away from their lives changing forever.

[doverstutts 1,643]

13 hours ago, AuburnArch13 said:

Even them though, it’s no guarantee he’s ready to go before conference play. ACLs are tough stuff.

no need to rush him, it will give okoro and williams a chance to learn on the job....i know they will play different roles, but i am anxious to see those two

[alexava 6,973]

43 minutes ago, Tiger said:

There's a chance he may not even be himself till a full year after he's ready next season. So where does that put him? Such a tough situation. I feel awful for the kid and his family, this happened 3 months away from their lives changing forever.

It’s very possible he could not be ready or back in his game enough and actually stay his fourth year. I wouldn’t feel too awful, he’s got a chance to get back to where he was or beyond and possibly make even more money by the time he’s 22. It does suck though. 

[Tiger 8,823]

42 minutes ago, alexava said:

It’s very possible he could not be ready or back in his game enough and actually stay his fourth year. I wouldn’t feel too awful, he’s got a chance to get back to where he was or beyond and possibly make even more money by the time he’s 22. It does suck though. 

I do think he won't be viewed as a typical senior who stayed in school so long because of not showing enough on film to warrant him being drafted high. So that will be working in his favor if he does, in fact, have to stay until he's 22 years old. I hope his game doesn't suffer any sort of setbacks as a result of the injury because he is a special talent. I was looking forward to his game fully blossoming and seeing where it took him.

[Bottomfeeder 244]

Any updates on his surgery would be appreciated.

[alexava 6,973]

1 hour ago, Bottomfeeder said:

Any updates on his surgery would be appreciated.

Al. Com has story up. Successful surgery. Did it in Pensacola. 

I don’t recall an announcement that an acl surgery ever “didn’t “ go successfully. 

[sandyclawedtiger 206]

21 hours ago, alexava said:

Al. Com has story up. Successful surgery. Did it in Pensacola. 

I don’t recall an announcement that an acl surgery ever “didn’t “ go successfully. 

Did it in Gulf Breeze. Sorry we Breezers are funny that way.😆

I work next door and have fellow workers on watch for him. I expect he'll be at tourney and back for rehab. WDE!

[bigbird 60,521]

23 hours ago, Bottomfeeder said:

Any updates on his surgery would be appreciated.

Was told it went well.

[AuburnNTexas 7,143]

If he had not been hurt with the way he was playing in SEC Tourney and NCAA Tourney I believe he may have moved from late first round to mid first round. With this injury happening so late in the year as others have said he will probably be back at Auburn next year.  If he is I would expect Bruce to bring him on very slowly similar to what he did with both Purifoy and Wiley as Bruce really cares for his players. With luck by the end of the season we will start to see the Chuma we saw at the end of this season before the injury.  Assuming by end of year we see the old Chuma but in a more limited amount of time he will go pro before his senior year.  If he is not quiite back by end of next year I think he will return for his senior year. For Auburn it would be great if he came back for Junior and Senior year but for what this kid has given us I hope he comes back next year and by end of year has shown NBA enough to go early.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,666]

On 3/31/2019 at 11:04 AM, Maverick.AU said:

I know it won’t happen, but I really wish Chuma would show up at tip off like

 

I was praying out my ass it was just a terrible sprain and he could run against Duke. I figured if they could survive against UK, there wouldn't be a team remaining in the field other than DU that could make us pay for not having an all world defensive forward. Sucks not having him, but we got extremely lucky with the remaining 3 teams 

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

Saw on ESPN top 100 mock draft they have Chuma at 42 and Harper at 59 both in the 2nd round.

[AUpreacherman22 3,885]

On 3/30/2019 at 11:36 AM, cole256 said:

It's an acl/mcl.  It would be best to go through that with a NBA team but will somebody roll the dice on him is the question really

^ This is the bottom line.  He has proven himself as an NBA talent.  But, is there a team that is willing to take a chance on him this year and if/when they do, will it be a high enough pick for him to be willing to take it?

Either way, I think we can all agree we want what is best for Chuma, and we are all Chuma fans for life!

[AUpreacherman22 3,885]

54 minutes ago, Eagle Eye 7 said:

Saw on ESPN top 100 mock draft they have Chuma at 42 and Harper at 59 both in the 2nd round.

I don't know squat about the NBA draft!  So with that said, Harper that high surprises me.  We all know that he is 1/2 Superhero, 1/2 Magician and 1/2 Wade Christopher, (He has 3 halves because he is Jared Freaking Harper!) but he is undersized for the league, and a Bruce Pearl PG and a prototypical NBA PG aren't exactly the same thing.  I expected him to go much later in the draft or even sign as an UFA.  Although, I would love to see him get his well-deserved love!

[McLoofus 35,182]

3 minutes ago, AUpreacherman22 said:

he is 1/2 Superhero, 1/2 Magician and 1/2 Wade Christopher, (He has 3 halves because he is Jared Freaking Harper!)

Pretty sure this is the best post I will read on here today. 

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

1 hour ago, AUpreacherman22 said:

I don't know squat about the NBA draft!  So with that said, Harper that high surprises me.  We all know that he is 1/2 Superhero, 1/2 Magician and 1/2 Wade Christopher, (He has 3 halves because he is Jared Freaking Harper!) but he is undersized for the league, and a Bruce Pearl PG and a prototypical NBA PG aren't exactly the same thing.  I expected him to go much later in the draft or even sign as an UFA.  Although, I would love to see him get his well-deserved love!

I think Brown will play his way into the league during summer ball. Folks will see his shooting ability and you just can’t pass up that offense capability. I think more and more folks are understanding that Harper is not just athletic and a great shooter, he is probably the smartest field General in college. That will work well in the pros too. I think Chuma will probably com back and play at AU next year then make a run at the NBA. He could be a first rounder next year if he stays healthy.

[cole256 17,059]

Brown isn't athletic at all for a 2 guard, when he was younger my cousin and other kids would ask why I don't play in college and NBA and what I always told all the young guys coming up is the game is made up of a bunch of different skill sets and you need to be GREAT at the minimum one. And when I say great I mean better than anybody. The better you are and more skill sets you have the greater the chance of you playing at another level. If Brown wanted to play in the NBA he would need to improve his ball handling, no way around it, they don't play zone in the NBA. You have to be able to create a shot, no coach can hide that. 

Harper may be able to work his way in the NBA but he won't be drafted. At least not first. His on ball defense will have to get much better. His decision making the last couple games has been good, he's had bad decisions at critical times as well. He has to be more consistent in that area. He really don't play the role he'd need to play in NBA. He doesn't facilitate as much with us as he carry more of a scoring role, but it's not the scoring role that he's really evaluated on as much. 

Chumma.....it's not over but he was in a much better position before the injury. People saying he can come back and play next year and play NBAball aren't being realistic. He probably shouldn't play next season period. I really hope somebody take a chance with him and he can spend his year getting back right just focused on that and nothing else. Not class and all of that. It's really an unfortunate situation. And this situation is cold water for people that are always so quick to say come back. Chumma is loved (and that's not always the case) but all people can do is say this sucks and I'll pray for him. That's it. Some of these players are literally making life altering decisions

[AuburnArch13 185]

One thing that Chuma does have going for him still in all of this is the new rule changes this year that will allow him to hire an agent and have contact with NBA teams without losing his NCAA eligibility. We don’t know how NBA teams will react to his injury and there is a good chance he doesn’t either. 

As I’ve said before in this thread, if I were Chuma the thing I would be most concerned about in terms of getting drafted is getting a two year guaranteed deal. I’d want some assurance that the team I went to still had skin in the game for the season after my recovery. That’s a really hard thing to get a feel for if you’re just a college kid and his family. But with the new rules, he can hire an agent that will know his way around those types of conversations and at least give the Okeke’s some sense of what the likely outcomes of going through the draft process will be. 

 

[AuburnArch13 185]

Under the new rules, he could also go through the entire draft process including the draft itself, and still come back to school in the case that he wasn’t drafted. This would help mitigate what had been the biggest downside risk in years past of going through the draft (i.e. not being drafted or allowed to return to school).

As far as I see it the biggest downside risk now for him going to the draft this year would be getting drafted late in the second by a team that only wants to give him a one year deal or deal with a team option for year two. This would be put him in a potential pickle if he suffers any sort of setback in his recovery and then gets drafted over next season. But even in that scenario, he’d be getting paid what is likely a life changing amount of money for him and his family for that year. For context, only one second round pick from last year’s draft signed a deal worth less than $1mil guaranteed for the first year.

The more I think about the new rules the more inclined I am to say that Chuma should go a ahead and try to go pro this year. This is especially true if the early recovery prognosis suggests that he’ll likely miss next season entirely. It’s hard to improve your draft stock if you aren’t able to play. 

[Tiger 8,823]

Tough spot for Chuma for sure.  @cole256 is right, this injury happened so late in the year that he probably shouldn't play at all next year and focus on recovery. If I'm not mistaken there have been NBA guys don't come back the following year after a late season ACL tear. I know that each body heals differently but given this situation there may be a team willing to take a 2nd round pick even with the injury if they want to give him a 2 year deal guaranteed then a team option after that if they're really thinking Chuma could be a low-risk high reward 2nd round flier. It depends on what the other 2nd round talent looks like though -- it's a myth that 2nd rounders get a very slim chance to make it in the NBA, particularly in this era where the 1 and dones have pushed a significant amount of talent down draft boards. I think several years ago it was rare for a 2nd rounder to end up getting a guaranteed deal in the league but now it's not the case (https://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2018/05/10/in-the-money-second-round-picks-cash-in-guaranteed-contracts-at-exceedingly-high-rates/)

As I understand it:

1st round picks get a 2 year deal with a 2 year team option after the initial 2 years.

2nd rounders are different and teams can give them 1-4 year deals with any certain number of the years guaranteed. This type of low salary cap hit could be optimal draft position for Chuma right now. He's put enough on film at such a young age that he's shown to have quite the ceiling.

Does he want to play his way into the first after a year or 2 or does he want to get to the league ASAP? Does he want to try to get one of those 2+2 guaranteed deals that will be more lucrative? Lots of things will influence his decision and I hope he makes the right one for him . He's one hell of a talent. 

 

[alexava 6,973]

I initially thought Chuma would or would possibly be mid season at best next year. Doing the math on the calendar.... he might miss the whole season. Certainly shouldn’t push it. 

[IronMan70 3,277]

8 minutes ago, alexava said:

I initially thought Chuma would or would possibly be mid season at best next year. Doing the math on the calendar.... he might miss the whole season. Certainly shouldn’t push it. 

I think that is exactly right. Chuma needs to make sure the injury is completely healed then go work out for the NBA. He doesn't need to risk it on a college court ever again. If he 'really' wanted to play college again, skip the 19-20 season, play the 20-21 season and keep his fingers crossed. I don't think it's worth that risk. 

[alexava 6,973]

1 hour ago, IronMan70 said:

I think that is exactly right. Chuma needs to make sure the injury is completely healed then go work out for the NBA. He doesn't need to risk it on a college court ever again. If he 'really' wanted to play college again, skip the 19-20 season, play the 20-21 season and keep his fingers crossed. I don't think it's worth that risk. 

I don’t know if he was good enough to put all his eggs in that basket. If he is ready he should play late next year or the following year. As good as he is I doubt he could get drafted in a year or two without showing he can still play. So actually there could be millions of reasons to play college basketball again.