Thon Maker to Enter the Draft?

[Stray32]

He has two ways to try to gain eligibility. First, he could try to gain entry as a 19-year-old international player since he's Sudanese-Australian and plays in Canada. If that doesn't work (since he played two years of high school ball in the US) he could try to exploit a gray area in the "year removed from high school" rule - he returned to high school for a fifth year and according to ESPN's Chad Ford could try to convince the NBA that the fifth was a "post-graduate year."

Even if he's eligible, though, is he ready and would you want your team to take him? According to Ford, scouts had him pegged for anywhere from the late lottery to the second round. ESPN put him #20 on their draft rankings and for what it's worth Scout.com had him ranked #5 of high school prospects from the stacked 2016 class. The DraftExpress video scouting (which breaks these down in depth) lists his strengths as "Physical Tools", "Motor" and "Capable Shooter" and his weaknesses as "Feel for the Game", "Offensive Polish" and "Strength".

Here's a link to the DraftExpress page for Thon, containing not only those videos but also an exclusive interview with him about his decision to enter the draft, and link to the ESPN article (Insider) on Thon.

 

[SC3]

It's probably for the best. I'm guessing he'd have a hard time getting eligible for college ball with all the stuff around him.

 

[BNC]

Get that money Thon

 

[Sutherby]

7SHARES COMMENTS
Five star recruit 7-1, 210 lbs Thon Maker (Orangeville Prep/ON) who made headlines two years ago, opting to leave the United States for Canada to complete his high school career, focus on his body and play with his brother, has once again shocked the basketball world by declaring for the 2016 NBA Draft.

After months of speculation on his NCAA collegiate announcement, Maker and his camp believe he his NBA ready and will be eligible for the upcoming draft, perhaps finding a loophole in the NBA minimum age requirement rule that went in effect in 2006, preventing players from jumping from high school to league.

If eligible, Maker, a Sudanese born, Australian raised and adopted Canadian will surely be an intriguing selection with his combination of length and versatile skill-set which has often drawn comparisons to NBA Superstar Kevin Durant.

The official NBA collective bargaining agreement rule states that a player can be eligible for selection in the NBA Draft if “the player is or will be at least nineteen years of age during the calendar year in which the Draft is held, and, at least one NBA season has elapsed since the player’s graduation from high school.â€

With Maker officially graduating and completing his studies in July of 2015 at Orangeville he should be deemed eligible and ready to begin NBA pre-draft workouts.

“We believe that Thon has fulfilled the academic requirements to be eligible for the 2016 draft,†Edward Smith, Maker’s legal guardian, said to Bleacher Report. “He will apply for the 2016 NBA draft and await approval from the NBA.â€

“Thon has been the hardest-working and the most astute kid I’ve coached in my 23 years of coaching,†Smith said. “I’m happy to have placed him in the position to have this choice.â€

http://basketballbuzz.ca/nba/high-s...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

People refused to believe this was a possibility...

 

[Stray32]

Thread already created in the NBA Draft section, moving and merging

 

[tyfreak]

Would be cool to see him enter the draft. Would definitely strengthen it the draft a bit. Too bad the Kings would kill his career if we drafted him

 

[Sutherby]

I've seen mock drafts that have him outside the top 20 lol

I wonder if it's just because he's in Canada.

I hope Toronto drafts him just to try to recruit him to play for Canada internationally lol

 

[Stray32]

Yeah imo he's a huge project and by that I mean he has great upside but he's 3+ years away from being ready. From what I heard already + watched in those DX scouting videos, he doesn't see the game nearly well enough on either end and he gets absolutely shoved around by bigger HS kids let alone guys with NBA size. Would you really want to use a 1st round pick on him if he won't be ready for court action for 3-4 years?

 

[tyfreak]

someone who has the flexibility to wait on a prospect a couple years will take him in the first round. Could see the Spurs or Warriors taking a chance on him

 

[Sutherby]

The NBA draft is rarely 'deep' so even top 5 picks have huge huge huge learning curves and are considered projects.

Why wouldn't you take an athletic freak in the 1st and try to mold him into something productive?

It's a boom or bust pick but the boom upside is too good to pass up for some 'safe' player mid-1st that still won't produce much without a lot of work himself.

 

[CP3MVP]

I love Thon Maker I've been following him for a couple of years, and I would be ecstatic if the Magic grabbed him at 10 or 11 or whatever.

You look at some other late lottery potential picks like Labissiere or Poeltl, etc and I'd take Thon over them 10/10 times.

 

[Panic!]

Mid-Late first round.

Don't really have a superstar ceiling.