When should you leave, Part 2

I’m sure you thought I was done with last week’s topic. But there were a few things that took place during the NCAA tournament that I thought needed to be added to this story.

Underclassmen that want to declare for the NBA draft must do so by April 26. That date is coming up this weekend and it will be interesting to see if Kyle Wiltjer will forgo his senior year at Gonzaga University (GU) for a shot at the pro game.

Wiltjer has graduated and is working on his Master’s Degree at this point in time so getting an education should not be a not a question mark for anyone.

What Wiltjer needs to figure out is if there is a spot on a pro team that will be a good fit for him and if his time at Kentucky and Gonzaga caught the eye of General Managers around the league or if they think that next year will be better for Wiltjer.

The biggest question that Wiltjer needs to ask is where and when he could be drafted.

If it is in the first two rounds then there is guaranteed money for those players.

After that it is a crap shoot and the chances of making a roster is more difficult especially if there are others with guaranteed money drafted before him. So a player like Wiltjer needs to rely on the draft gurus that understand player performance, team needs and the rank of each position player available.

This past week Przemek Karnowski decided that the best thing for him is to finish his career at Gonzaga. I think he has made a great decision because of the improvements he made over the last couple of years.

With Karnowski’s size there will always be a spot available for a big guy with strength around the basket and one that can make good passes. Big guy’s that make assists aren’t as plentiful as one might think.

Great players that declare for the draft can sometimes end up on some horrible teams and it might take two or three drafts for wins to start happening.

Guys like Kobe Bryant were lucky to get drafted by good organizations that could win right away and his role wasn’t as a star in his early years.

Adam Morrison was selected third overall in the 2006 NBA draft by a bad Charlotte Bobcat team. His time as a player was limited because of his physicality and Type 1 diabetes.

He tore his anterior cruciate ligament during his second season and would never come close to being the scoring machine he was a GU. And since he was never known as a defender…well that too was a weakness.

Morrison took a chance by declaring early and it paid off financially for him but not necessarily for Charlotte. Because of the diabetes issue it was in Morrison’s best interest to declare early because he would never be a physical force.

Wiltjer on the other hand could increase his stock by playing another year, get a bit stronger and polish his game to even greater heights.

But that is a decision he will have to make and whatever one he makes I hope it works out for him. I like the kid’s game and it has been a fun ride this past season.

So now it’s time to talk about the NCAA tournament. For anyone that saw a few games and the raw emotions displayed by the winners and losers I can only say it would be very difficult to replicate those feelings in very many other sporting events.

Big, tough kids overcome with grief because their team came out on the short end of a basketball game shows just how much of an investment they have in the game.

Each game is so final because there are no second chances. It’s win and move on or lose and go home. There will be nothing like the euphoria of victory or the gut wrenching feeling after a loss.

But that is why the tournament is so great and the only reason a player should think twice about moving on.

And maybe that emptiness of a loss of that magnitude is the reason they decide to move on.

(This column was written before Wiltjer announced he would return to GU for his senior year.)