The last line from the article in the OC Register got me thinking…
USC forward Davon Jefferson went undrafted.
If I was a general manager, this would be how I’d view things: If a player tried to go pro after his first year and wasn’t guaranteed to be picked at least in the second round, I’d hesitate to pick him. I think other GM’s think the same way.
If you’ve only played a year at the college level, there’s just no way that staying at least another year won’t improve your skills so you can increase your stock and at least get drafted in the second round. If I was a GM I’d question the character and/or intellect of someone who didn’t realize this. I think if you don’t have the patience to wait until your ready, why would you have the patience to withstand the increased frustration that surely comes along with playing at the highest level?
I can understand why some people need the money for their families and I empathize with them…kind of. If you want to do the best thing for your family, I don’t see how waiting one more year to help your stock wouldn’t be in their best interests. Now that Davon Jefferson is undrafted, I think teams that work him out will have a presumption to cut him. Even second round picks, who aren’t guaranteed contracts, don’t get second chances. Most of the time, free-agent signees, like Davon Jefferson if he’s lucky, won’t even get a first chance.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Hopefully, he wasn’t stupid enough to hire an agent. Since he went undrafted, I believe he could return to USC if he didn’t hire an agent. Of course, who wants to deal with the academic rigors of classes like “Math 201 - Subtraction: Addition’s Tricky Friend,” when you can have an undistinguished career in the Portugese basketball league?
June 30th, 2008 at 10:12 am
I am almost certain that by keeping his name in the draft pool after the cutoff date (for some reason June 16 sticks in my mind) he killed his college career. The “test the waters” period does not go all the way to draft day. You do your workouts, talk to your coach, talk to “people in the know” and then make the gamble of staying in the draft. Jefferson made that gamble against pretty big odds and lost. From what I have read he wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the SC box.