Amir receives G-league elite camp invite



What does this even mean?

The elite camp is made up mostly of guys that played in the G league, it gives a pretty good idea of where he stands, these are guys that are trying to get into the NBA that have played professionally, very high level of competition. The combine are early entry guys, just graduated, or foreign guys entering the draft.

I didn't think playing in the elite camp had anything to do with the combine,it was my understanding that participants in the combine were selected before the elite camp happened.
 


per the link:

“He’s definitely good enough to play in the G League next year,” Fraschilla said of Coffey. “I think he’s potentially a guy who could get a two-way contract or be a second-round pick and get a guaranteed deal. All those things are on the table for him.”

Go Gophers!!
 




I am curious what would be enough for Amir, I feel like even if he's good enough to get a two way deal, he will spend most of the year if not all of it in the G League. I feel like that option would still be there next year, so he might as well comeback and try to improve his stock. I personally think guys like Tony Carr or Kobe Saunders who stayed in got bad advise and could have not only helped their teams but themselves by coming back another year. DeAndre Hunter UVA a good example of that, same with Forgive Deng a few years back at Louisville

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Yes, and Hunter would have gone between 26-32. That was the feedback from Golden State and Boston Celtics GM's. Now he will go top 6 and with the NCAA title he craved. Much will depend on who Amir listens to. Alot of kids listen to scouts or reps that want business. Presumably the Coffey family is listening to the best people out there. There is little in the way of knowing how much a kid loves the whole college experience. Hunter loved the whole experience and is 6 credits short right now but he was so close to his teammates and they wanted to finish with the championship they promised when they came in together. I am hoping Coffey see's value in coming back to win the conference, finishing school. He is a ferocious competitor. I have been 80% sure he was coming back.
 



Sounds like it is coming down to does he want to start making money now in the G league or oversea's or stay in college, get a degree, and see if he can get drafted next year.
 

The elite camp is made up mostly of guys that played in the G league, it gives a pretty good idea of where he stands, these are guys that are trying to get into the NBA that have played professionally, very high level of competition. The combine are early entry guys, just graduated, or foreign guys entering the draft.

https://gleague.nba.com/news/nba-g-league-to-host-inaugural-elite-camp/

The NBA G League players will attend the first two days of the NBA G League Elite Camp and the 2019 NBA Draft prospects will participate in the second and third days, without overlap between the two groups of athletes.


A select number of players from the draft-eligible group will be invited to participate in the 2019 NBA Draft Combine based on their performance in the NBA G League Elite Camp.

The draft-eligible participants for the NBA G League Elite Camp and the invitees to the NBA Draft Combine will both be determined by an NBA team vote. Once the NBA Draft Combine participants are finalized, the top remaining 40 vote-getters will be invited to the last two days of the Elite Camp.

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So the the Top 60 get the NBA Draft combine invite, another 40 get invited to the G-Leauge Camp.

Jordan Murphy, Ethan Happ, Yoeli Childs, and Charles Bassey?
 
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Also regarding two way deals, all players in their 4th year in the league and younger are eligible for two way deals. So Amir wouldn't just be competing with his current draft class, he'd be competing with the last 3 draft classes as well. And guys that have never played in the NBA and played in Europe would all be considered first year guys as well that Amir would have to compete with. And players can be one two way deals for two seasons so Amir would be competing with all the guys last year that got two way deals. Plus the guys that got drafted this year.
 

Also regarding two way deals, all players in their 4th year in the league and younger are eligible for two way deals. So Amir wouldn't just be competing with his current draft class, he'd be competing with the last 3 draft classes as well. And guys that have never played in the NBA and played in Europe would all be considered first year guys as well that Amir would have to compete with. And players can be one two way deals for two seasons so Amir would be competing with all the guys last year that got two way deals. Plus the guys that got drafted this year.

Look at Rashad Vaughn... it's not easy to make an NBA roster.

https://www.ridiculousupside.com/20...since-joining-the-delaware-blue-coats-gleague
 



Only the Gophers would have the luck to have their best player leave a year early to play in the G league.
 

Only the Gophers would have the luck to have their best player leave a year early to play in the G league.

Does this happen often? Im not real familiar with the whole process. I would imagine people think they will get drafted and they dont and they go to GLeague, but do guys elect to play in G League knowing they wont get drafted?
 

Does this happen often? Im not real familiar with the whole process. I would imagine people think they will get drafted and they dont and they go to GLeague, but do guys elect to play in G League knowing they wont get drafted?

I suspect some do. They are making a decision that they no longer want to be in college and get all in with the pros, even if they know it's a long shot. I think there are hundreds of guys who declare. Some come back. Others move on to other pro options. Some may have had so little interest in school that they do not have a realistic option to return to school, so the decision is made for them.
 

Does this happen often? Im not real familiar with the whole process. I would imagine people think they will get drafted and they dont and they go to GLeague, but do guys elect to play in G League knowing they wont get drafted?
Happened to Penn State and Rutgers last year

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I'm sure there are some kids who would rather play in the G-league and devote full time to basketball, as opposed to going to college and playing the role of a college student. Even if they're not serious about academics, if they go the college route, they at least have to pretend they care, show up for class, meet with the academic advisers and so forth in order to stay eligible.

One could argue that it's more honest to go the G-league route and skip the pretense of being a college student.

All depends on what that player wants.
 

I'm sure there are some kids who would rather play in the G-league and devote full time to basketball, as opposed to going to college and playing the role of a college student. Even if they're not serious about academics, if they go the college route, they at least have to pretend they care, show up for class, meet with the academic advisers and so forth in order to stay eligible.

One could argue that it's more honest to go the G-league route and skip the pretense of being a college student.

All depends on what that player wants.

True, and can always get injured or not be good enough, and get cut and have to go back to school to get degree. All risks that you have to hope pan out.
 

I think all this points to Amir coming back. The G-league grinding it out make 35K plus benefits, that will be there either this year or next. Right now he is viewed as a very fringe player, can only help to come back and dominate.
 

Does this happen often? Im not real familiar with the whole process. I would imagine people think they will get drafted and they dont and they go to GLeague, but do guys elect to play in G League knowing they wont get drafted?

I'm not sure. Probably more than we think. It feels like Coffey will leave regardless of his draft stock.
 


I have no idea if Coffey will decide to leave, but I do see both sides of it. Even if it doesn't look like he'll be drafted a two-contract could be enough for him to take the leap. A two-way deal means he makes a minimum of $75k in G-League salary, plus a good deal more if he is called up at some point. Not to mention he is then able to make endorsement money, which wouldn't be huge for a G-League guy but still something. And he can still finish his college degree without having to pay for it.

I know it's easy for all of us to say "Why in the world would you not come back and play your senior year if you aren't even going to be drafted?", and I get that to an extent. But I don't think it is an easy decision if a team is willing to offer him a two way deal. Could he wait one more year and still have the same opportunity after next season? Possibly, maybe even likely. But if it were on the table right now I can see why he'd consider it. Get paid more than 99% of college grads get in their first year out of college along with full access to professional resources/coaching (that is NOT a shot at the Gopher staff) and still have the opportunity to finish your degree for free -- not a bad deal.
 

I'm not sure. Probably more than we think. It feels like Coffey will leave regardless of his draft stock.

I see no evidence of this in Amir’s interviews or from his fathers comments. So strange how people have jumped to this conclusion despite many statements from the Coffeys to the contrary.
 

I have no idea if Coffey will decide to leave, but I do see both sides of it. Even if it doesn't look like he'll be drafted a two-contract could be enough for him to take the leap. A two-way deal means he makes a minimum of $75k in G-League salary, plus a good deal more if he is called up at some point. Not to mention he is then able to make endorsement money, which wouldn't be huge for a G-League guy but still something. And he can still finish his college degree without having to pay for it.

I know it's easy for all of us to say "Why in the world would you not come back and play your senior year if you aren't even going to be drafted?", and I get that to an extent. But I don't think it is an easy decision if a team is willing to offer him a two way deal. Could he wait one more year and still have the same opportunity after next season? Possibly, maybe even likely. But if it were on the table right now I can see why he'd consider it. Get paid more than 99% of college grads get in their first year out of college along with full access to professional resources/coaching (that is NOT a shot at the Gopher staff) and still have the opportunity to finish your degree for free -- not a bad deal.

It would seem very short sighted for him to just take the money. The current situation is about the minimum “NBA offer” that a player could get. He should only take it if he thinks it is the best he can do.

Remember that it was just this year that he finally started to be more aggressive and show his NBA talents. He was still inconsistent at times. Another year of playing in his beast mode should improve his NBA stock.


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It would seem very short sighted for him to just take the money. The current situation is about the minimum “NBA offer” that a player could get. He should only take it if he thinks it is the best he can do.

Remember that it was just this year that he finally started to be more aggressive and show his NBA talents. He was still inconsistent at times. Another year of playing in his beast mode should improve his NBA stock.


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I see that side of it. Just not sure how much his NBA stock can really improve though. The NBA and even the G-League (and overseas leagues) are full of guys who are 6-8 and could go into beast mode in college. Doing that isn't going to do a ton for his draft prospects. He needs to develop the skills that differentiate him from other professionals.

He could come back and have a decent chance to be first team All B1G or possibly make one of the All-America teams and maybe those things are important to him, but NBA teams don't really care about that. KBD was the B1G POY and still ended up a mid second round pick who barely saw the floor in the NBA until the games didn't matter. Look at guys like Happ or Murph. They went back to school knowing they had things to work on and had really good senior seasons. Murph is basically in the same spot as he was last year, and Happ is lower on the totem pole if anything. (Btw I'm not comparing his skill set to those guys.)

Not saying he should or shouldn't go pro, and I don't know him personally so I have no way of knowing which way he would lean. I just know that if my kid had the opportunity to leave college a year early to make six figures in his/her desired field of employment while still having the option to finish his/her degree for free I wouldn't completely shut down the idea of doing so. I don't see it as "short-sighted" or just taking the money if Amir makes that choice. There is a development aspect to it as well.

There are a few examples of guys who went back to school and improved their stock enough to be first round picks, but there are just as many examples of guys who went the G-League/NBDL route and got big NBA contracts as well. It just depends which path Amir wants to take. I could see an argument for either one, and I'm not going to be mad at him for picking the one that doesn't involve him coming back to school.
 
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Melo Trimble is a good litmus test. He left college a year early and ended up in the G-League (the Wolves affiliate to boot). He never made it and ended up in Australia before ending up in Puerto Rico
 

Coffey could easily come back and average 18pts, 5reb, and 4 assists. Especially with improved teammates to play with! The question is, can he display improvements the NBA wants to see?

Things to improve on:
1. Three point shooting percentage. I've seen several posters suggest his % would go up off the ball. But Minnesota's offense is almost fluid once the ball gets in the front court with several players handling the ball before a shot gets off. Not convinced at all that he would get a big increase in catch and shoot opportunities. He could just practice his shot and improve his %. I always kind of liked dribbling straight into a three, maybe he does too.

2. Passing. This is where I could see him having the biggest opportunity to improve. Last year, when he went "beast" and drove he was basically the only option to shoot. He threw up a lot of bad shots and to his credit made quite a few of them. What he didn't do that Harden and pros do, is pass off his drives a lot and find the open player. Granted, with the Gopher shooting he may not of been looking, but if our shooting is better and more shooters spaced well, he would have increased opportunity to show his vision.

3. Defense. Face it, he had no chance against the quick smaller guards 1 on 1. Going back to SF or SG would give him a chance to be a defensive stopper and show he can play NBA level defense.

4. Winner. Face facts, guys from winning teams get drafted higher. If he returns, the Gophers are probably fringe top 25. Top 20 if they get a PF of significance. This would mean more press coverage, more TV exposure and more notice from NBA front office types. Does he get this being another guy in the G-league?

5. Quality of life. This has nothing to do with draft stock. Does he get to bask in the love of adoring Minnesotans for another season elsewhere? No. But he likely does get more memories to last a lifetime instead of another year of forgotten bus trips to second tier cities to play in front of less than sold out crowds.

Come back Amir! Be a Gopher legend, and get that rafter space for your jersey!
 

One thing people are underestimating is how MISERABLE G-League life really is. Yes you make a bit of coin and don't have to deal with class, academic counselors, etc. The tradeoff is early connecting flights, long bus rides, small gyms with even smaller crowds, stays in marginal hotels rooms.

Is the G-League a better place to improve your game than college is? Probably. Is it as glamorous and fun as big time college hoop? Not even close.
 




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