When Is It A Wise Move To Go Pro?
By: Evan Jankens
With the recent news of Michigan freshman PG Trey Burke thinking about going to the NBA it makes you wonder what could make these kids think this way?
Burke who is a 6'0 PG with a ton of speed and great handles on the floor but is he NBA ready? Who knows? Last year Michigan was faced with the same situation with Darius Morris. Morris was a sophomore PG who was listed at 6'4. Is he as good as Burke? In my opinion its not even close. Morris didn't have a left hand, couldn't take a game over like Burke can but yet he is playing on the L.A. Lakers right now. Morris wasn't a first round pick that was guaranteed money. Morris was picked in the second round with pick number 41. Morris had to earn his way onto the team, if he was cut he wouldn't have made a penny. If you asked Morris if he should have returned to Michigan for his junior season, it would be interesting to what he would say.
If Trey Burke goes to the NBA early, he could wind up like former MSU PG Marcus Taylor. Taylor as some of you may remember was the winner of the Mr. Basketball award in Michigan in 2000, had all the talent in the world. As a sophomore he was the only the second player in Big Ten history to lead the league in scoring and assists. You would think this would be a sure thing first round pick in the NBA right? Nope, wrong. Taylor entered the NBA Draft after his sophomore season at Michigan State and didn't go in the first round, in fact he was drafted 52nd. 6 players were drafted after him. That doesn't sound like a Mr. Basketball or a player who led the Big Ten in scoring and assists. NBA scouts believes that Duke PG Jay Williams, Gonzaga's Dan Dickau, Cincinnati's Steve Logan, Partizan Belgrade's Miloš Vujanić, Fresno State's Tito Maddox, Spain's Juan Carlos Navarro were all better than Taylor. Out of the 6 PG's that were chose over Taylor aren't in the NBA now.
Does money weigh so much on these kids they believe the first chance they get in the NBA will be their last? Maybe they want the fame and the ladies, even though I imagine they get quite a bit on campus. Could the parents talking in the players ear about money and fame weigh on the athlete too? Who knows? That's for you to decide.
Trey Burke has all the talent in the world. The only thing he is missing is size. Will Burke be a good Pg in the NBA? Only time will tell but in my eyes he will go the way of the Marcus Taylor's of the world and try to cut it in the D-League or overseas and never make it in the NBA. If you aren't a lottery pick in the NBA and you know there is room for improvement then sit back and get better on the college level and hey maybe you can get something to fall back on just in case this whole basketball deal doesn't work out.
