Robinson Says McGary Is 'Dominating' In Workouts, Has Confidence McGary Can Still Impress NBA Personnel
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ANN ARBOR (CBS DETROIT) - Unlike fellow sophomores Nik Stauskas and Glenn Robinson III, Mitch McGary has not yet decided whether to remain in school or jump to the NBA. Even though McGary missed all but eight games of the 2013-2014 season with injury, Robinson has no doubt that McGary can still show NBA teams enough to convince them of his ability.
"Without a question," Robinson said with a smile Tuesday. "Mitch is a great player, and I've seen that just by his workouts. He hasn't played in many a month, and that's crazy how he can come back and he's dominating already.
"He's playing as good of basketball as he was before he got hurt," Robinson continued. "His jump shot's looking great, and he's feeling great about everything. My job is to be there as a friend and just leave that up to him."
A close friend of McGary, Robinson is confident McGary will find success whether he stays at Michigan or goes pro. Robinson said he will not try to sway McGary one way or the other - just encourage him to consider the options.
"If you stay, you're going to get better. People haven't seen you play a full season. If you leave, you're a great player," Robinson said. "His game always really relates to the NBA well. High-motor guy, energy guy, likes to run the floor, so I'm just going to talk to him as a friend. I'm not going to persuade him either way, kind of leave that decision up to him because we have so many people kind of feeding stuff in our ears and reading everything, so my job is just be there as a friend."
The NBA Draft Early Entry Eligibility Deadline is April 27, so McGary has some time to figure out what he wants to do. Michigan head coach John Beilein and the rest of the coaching staff have been trying to get as much information as possible to help McGary make his choice.
"Right now he's working with his rehab," Beilein said. "He wanted to really look at this, and really you can take all the way to the 27th, so as you're trying to balance this thing, we want people to be certain, so as he works through this, we'll figure it out."
Beilein said his recommendation to players on whether to stay or go depends on a variety of factors.
"It's unique to each individual," Beilein said. "It depends on their temperament, where they are academically in their pursuit of the degree, it depends on a lot of different things - their position, where is the draft heavy at certain positions. We try to give them all that info, but ultimately, it's still they've got to make that decision.
"We give them the information that we receive; we also give them information that our experience tells us," Beilein added. "Either way, the bottom line is, 'We support you no matter, but here's the facts.' If someone chooses to leave, we want them to have both feet in with being informed, but more importantly, most people will stay, and we want those guys to always be two feet in."
McGary, a 6-foot-10-inch forward, was averaging 9.5 points and 8.3 rebounds this past season before he was lost to injury. The previous season McGary averaged 7.5 points and 6.3 rebounds and played a major role in Michigan's run to the national title game.
