Kuzma invited to NBA combine

[HoosierinUt]

Hmmmmm…..

[PlainsUte]

Please….no…no.

[Newbomb Turk]

Does that kill his eligibility if he goes? I thought he had to hire an agent to be ineligible.

[HoosierinUt]

As long as he doesn’t hire an agent, he can still come back. He has to withdraw his name from the draft by a certain date (has to withdraw his name within 10 days AfTER the combine ends).

[PlainsUte]

Just thinking if he goes to the combine he will be sucked in, drafted in the second round somewhere and languish for a few years in the NBA before disappearing.   Kyle please stay and be a lottery pick next year!!

[pedro]

There is no way he’s ready.  If the NBA has any integrity they will tell him that.  Wait, it is the NBA.  Nevermind.  

[Tony (admin)]

I don’t think this ends well.

[HoosierinUt]

Let’s think about this……

1) he graduates next week. He would have to be enrolled in a graduate program and attend/pass those classes for the fall semester

2) is the team going to be better next year, or is he going to be forced to carry the load and simply be double-teamed a lot?

3) he was pretty tired of Larrs’s “lack of leadership” comments

4) if the team isn’t better, he could simply ball hog and showcase his skills to improve his draft status

5) does he feel like the coaches can help him improve, or has he reached his ceiling with them? Players are starting to see the D league as a chance to play/develop everyday and get paid. Obviously with the dream of getting a contract.

[Utah]

Exactly. Kuzma sees two options: 

1 – stay at Utah, don’t get paid, don’t develop as much. 

2 – go to the NBA D-League, get paid, play basketball all the time and develop a lot quicker. 

Let’s be fair to Kuzma here. The kid has worked his ass off and has improved every year, dramatically. Whose to say that playing basketball full time (instead of part time at Utah) AND getting paid isn’t the right decision for him? 

He has talent. If he goes to the D-League and lights it up, he will get his shot in the NBA. Hell, whether he gets drafted this year or next, he may have to go through the D-League either way…why not get paid a year earlier? 

[PlainsUte]

More to life than a paycheck.  

He could be an All-American, collect a lot of accolades, be part of really good team rather than remembering his days as part of a mediocre team, that overachieved for a bit then crashed and burned.  

Meanwhile, he doesn’t know what kind of a team he’ll find himself on in the NBA and what kind of development there is in their D-League team — its entirely out of his control.  Have yet to see evidence that D-League coaching is any better than college coaching.  If he’s a first round pick a team will almost certainly have more patience, if that is needed, for his growth while a lower pick and he might just be replaced by the next one-and-done McDonalds All-American coming out of Duke or Kentucky.

[Coreyc04]

He would only make 2 million max on a second round draft pick. If he stays and enters a weaker draft next season and gets drafted in the first round he makes 6-10 million. Let’s put things in a true perspective.

[Minnesota Ute]

If he graduates, can he not opt to be a graduate transfer and get picked up by some team that will actually make some post season noise?  I gotta imagine there are several teams that are one PF away from being an elite team that would jump at Kyle.  And personally, I would wish him all the best.  I have one leg hanging off the Larry Bandwagon, and am poised to jump.  I was very happy with the progress to this point, but right now I’m not seeing a lot of unity, joy, and loyalty.  Instead I’m seeing a lot of dissention and turnover, and it appears as if that just possibly might define his ceiling.  If Larry can’t retain Kyle, that tells me more about Larry than Kyle.  Now if he jumps to the League, that’s different, that has nothing to do with Larry, and everything to do with Kyle going to earn money, and I never ever begrudge a person that seeks to take care of themselves, especially someone in a career that has a very limited time horizon.

[HoosierinUt]

yes – he absolutely has the option of going to another school as a graduate transfer. And I agree 100%. If that were to happen, it is damning for Larry. Transferring to another school, for someone like Kuzma that gets all the playing time, all the shots he wants? That would certainly be an indictment of the coach.

I can’t see it happening……but maybe that’s because I see things as a fan so I don’t want to see it happen.

And yes, those of us wanting him to return are being selfish. He is a borderline second round pick now (but is good enough to be identified as top 60 by the NBA execs thus the invite to the combine) and maybe that is his ceiling whether or not he comes back. If that’s the case, he should go now and start developing immediately.

I don’t want to think about this team next year without Kuzma. We will be talking about”that was a fun game to watch, the Utes really tried but were simply outmanned” a LOT.

[Utah]

Kyle has said he isn’t leaving Utah unless it’s the NBA.

It’s either Utah or the NBA.

[Author]

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