PHILADELPHIA — Indiana freshman big man Thomas Bryant is undecided on testing the NBA waters after this season, he told Jeff Rabjohns of Rivals.com.
The 6-foot-10 Bryant is currently projected as the No 8 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by DraftExpress.com.
“Late first-round at best right now,” one NBA executive told SNY.tv of Bryant. “Young, not physically ready.”
Bryant went for 12 points and 8 rebounds in Indiana’s 101-86 loss to North Carolina Friday night at Wells Fargo Center. He had 19 points and 5 rebounds when Indiana took out Kentucky, 73-67, in the second round. On the year, he averaged 11.9 points and 5.7 rebounds.
Indiana coach Tom Crean has four players projected on the DraftExpress.com Mocks for 2016 and ’17. Point guard Yogi Ferrell is listed at No. 56 in 2016, while freshman small forward Ogugua Anunoby (No. 17) and junior small forward Troy Williams (No. 47) are all on the 2017 board. Williams also told Rabjohns he’s not certain if he will test the waters this year.
New rules allow players to work out for NBA teams and still return to campus if they don’t hire an agent.
“I think anything that allows them to make the best decision possible, to get the best level of exposure — but it still comes down to this: There’s still very little real, honest, truthful, unfiltered, non-agenda-driven feedback,” Crean said Friday. “And the whole key is to get that feedback, because so many mistakes are made because people get into the other part of it. And there’s so many opinions and voices and everybody’s got an idea on it but there’s very, very few decision makers. And the trick is to really understand what the decision makers see, get your people to understand that — which we’ve been pretty fortunate with that at Indiana — and then build from there. But that’s the most important thing. And I do love the new rules. And hopefully they’re here to stay.”
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