Thomas will listen to NBA scouts after season
Posted By Don Ruiz on October 14, 2009 at 6:20 pm
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Isaiah Thomas
So, I asked.
“Whatever God has in his plan, that’s what is going to happen,” Thomas said today at UW hoops media day. “If the opportunity (to go to the NBA) is there, I’ve got to take it. If it’s there and it's wide open and they’re talking about first round, you’ve got to look at that. But if it’s not, why not come back to college? It’s the best four years of your life.”
As a freshman last season, Thomas led UW in scoring (15.5 ppg) and assists (2.6 apg). He was named Pacific-10 Conference freshman of the year and was a second-team all-league guard.
Coach Lorenzo Romar said one of the goals for Thomas' development this season will be knowing when to pass on his drives.
"When there are two or three people on him he has to dish," Romar said. "He’s aware of that. It’s a sensative balance. I really do believe last year that is we told him, ‘Look, we need you to go out there and get 30 or 40 points, I think he could have as a freshman. But we had other guys that could score, we had a team around him. So when a guy is that confident and that capable it is hard and difficult sometimes to maybe get rid of that basketball."
Raphael Chillious, now a UW assistant who previously coached Thomas at the South Kent School in Connecticut said Thomas was even better as a college freshman than he expected: better defense, more vocal leadership.
He added that he believes Thomas and his family will make a sound decision when the time is right.
“He’s quiet, but he has a very strong personality,” Chillious said. “I’ve seen him shut guys down who want to talk about that. … If (the scouts say first round), it’s hard to say no. But his emphasis is being the Isaiah we need him to be, because we really need him playing his best to make a deep run.”
This is the saddest statement about the current state of college basketball.
In his first statement he says "if the opportunity for the NBA comes along, I have to take it".
In his second breath, he says "four years of college are the best years of your life". If any of these kids actually meant the second statement, it would make the first part a moot point. But it's all about money, even at age 19-20.
That's the world we live in.
@Wilson1972
So..if you were in IT's shoes...you would not even think about it?
Why do people go to college? Why do you get up every morning and go to work?
As much as we try to play it off..money is the reason why we go to school, go to work and it is what we need to survive...IT has god given talents that a certain organization will pay him top dollars for...I don't see why he should keep giving it away for free for an education that he can always come back later on and complete...