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Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 04-18-2014, 11:32 AM:

We really don't realize the magnitude of the decisions that have to be made by our players and how life altering they are to their futures.

James Young to the NBA was almost a dead-solid certainty. Kentucky announced Thursday afternoon that the freshman guard will put his name in the draft. The Michigan native is the first Cat to make it official.

Expect Julius Randle to follow suit soon. And there are reports that the Harrison twins are giving serious consideration to returning to Lexington, but I still think that the duo will decide to move on to the play-for-pay game next season.

After that, word is that Alex Poythress is giving serious consideration to moving on to the professional ranks, be it NBA, overseas or even the D-League. We could know more of Poythress’s plans after his weekend.

There has also been talk that with Willie Cauley-Stein announcing his return, and signee Karl-Anthony Towns Jr. set to arrive on campus in the fall, Dakari Johnson might decide to take the leap. I don’t think that will happen, however. I think Dakari knows he needs some work and look for John Calipari to use a lot of twin-tower sets next season.

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[ 04-18-2014, 11:33 AM: Message edited by: catmandoo ]

Posted by Bama Cat (Member # 153) on 04-18-2014, 02:15 PM:

I really don't think anyone besides Randle and Young will leave. They saw how well Cauley and Johnson were used by the end of the season and figure it can be done with Towns and Lee also. However, I still wouldn't be surprised to see Lee back on the bench most of the time again. That doesn leave much chance for Willis to get any more PT that last season with Poythress and Lyles in the 3 spot.

Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 04-18-2014, 04:26 PM:

Willis will never see much playing time at UK. He'll be recruited over ever year.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 04-18-2014, 06:37 PM:

I am not so sure on Lee I think he is a lot better than some of you might think. You have to remember if not for him in the Michigan game we were out of the tournament. Here is a article where even Cal speaks very highly of his former McDonalds All American.

The 6-foot-9 former McDonald’s All-American was arguably the best athlete on UK’s team, a freakish leaper who blocked more than 500 shots in high school and had a breakout game against Michigan in the Elite Eight after Cauley-Stein went down a round earlier with an ankle injury. Lee had 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks off the bench and soared to slam four put-back dunks in a jaw-dropping display.

“I'm excited for Marcus and think he’s barely scratched the surface of what he’s capable of,” Cats coach John Calipari said in the news release. “In addition to his athleticism and the energy level he brings, the experience he gained in the NCAA Tournament this year will be immeasurable for us next season.”

ESPN draft guru Chad Ford said Lee would’ve been taken in the second round of this year’s draft if he’d come out and maybe even late in the first round by a team betting on his future, thinking: “If he’d stayed another year in school, he would’ve been a lottery pick. We see there’s value there, so we’ll send him to the D-League for a year, get him on a strength and conditioning program and see what we have.”

But Ford thinks Lee, who is rail thin at 215 pounds, made the right decision coming back to school.

“If he goes back and gets stronger and improves and gets major minutes for Kentucky next year,” Ford told The Courier-Journal this week, “he could be a top-10 pick in the next draft. He’s got the best opportunity of anyone on that team to dramatically increase his stock by staying a year.”

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Posted by Bama Cat (Member # 153) on 04-19-2014, 02:20 PM:

Talking and doing are two different actions. I'll believe it when I see it.