So we are 8 days away from the June 26th draft and as we get closer and closer and as more mock drafts get updated and updated and then updated some more - there is a name that continues to be teetering on the brink. For our two Orange(men) who have been in the round 1 discussions - both have slipped with one being Ennis who is still remaining on solid ground and actually may land on his home country's hoop team in Toronto. If he succeeds there he will be a national hero and they have the building blocks to a very nice team there....As for case #2 and our other early entrant - Jerami Grant.....I am fearful it is going to be a long and nervous night for Jerami and it was avoidable......On Paper this was a very deep draft right from the onset of the process. This means teams have more to choose from and in fact there is a good chance you can take a real player this year and less of a "project" This was the wrong year to be a "project" and let's be honest...Jerami is a project. Friends he can't shoot! Teams are not giving guaranteed money to have a project on the roster with the depth of this draft. That said as we all watch next Thursday night I will be hoping for Jerami that a team like Miami or OKC or San Antonio or Clippers take a flyer on Jerami and have patience to allow him to grow and succeed and develop. If they do or the team that does will get rewarded eventually but for Jerami to slide to the Second Round is a massive failure and misjudgement. He had TWO years of eligibility remaining and a chance to be the lead dog at Syracuse next year. He would of been the starting small forward and leading scorer with a chance to improve his ball handling and shooting - bulk up a bit more and be a dynamic 3/4 type player - stronger than most 3's and faster than most 4's and a nice hybrid type player....He is a top 15 player in the 15 Draft. I have no doubts.......unfortunately he picked the wrong year to bet on himself and I expected he would get better consultation on this. I hope we hear his name in that 1st round but it is going to be a long night.....it didn't have to happen and is unfortunate. There is ZERO guaranteed money in the 2nd round...ask Kris Joseph how the 2nd round worked out for him...Jerami has far more upside than Kris but the fact remains that NBA teams are not locked in to keeping 2nd rounders around other than being trade filler to make numbers work out....Kris deserved more and Jerami does as well and maybe the NBA has a flaw in this non guaranteed 2nd round - why have the 2nd round at all then? But this is about Tyler and Jerami and CJ finding new basketball homes - hopefully for all three in the NBA but we will all find out in 8 days. Unfortunately it could be that 1 (Ennis) sees time in the NBA 1 (Grant) sees time in the NBDL and the last (CJ) playing in Europe.
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