Caleb Houstan receives NBA Combine Invite (Not G League Invite)
Apparently Caleb Houstan, who most believed would end up returning to michigan, actually got an NBA Combine invite, which is surprising in that word is getting out so late. But also, kind of shocking to begin with. Execs must be banking on his 5-star potential here I guess.
He gone?
I believe Moe Wagner also had an NBA Draft Combine invite before choosing to return so he could still return. Think it depends on if he performs well enough to get a draftable grade and then whether he thinks coming back a year will help him improve that grade
Wow, that's wild. Would be the most egregious early departure ever, and we've had some bad ones. That said, he's not that athletic so his testing might not help, unlike Diabate who I think most of us expect to show well athletically and leave. Or he might get hot in an empty gym and fool some team into ignoring the tape.
Which one(s) do you think were bad?
I can't think of a single one for basketball off the top of my head.
Guys that definitely made the right decision:
Poole
Iggy
DJ
Wagner
Stauskas
Burke
Dont remember any other early entries in the past couple of decades. I guess Charles Mathews had eligibility left but he also didn't make the wrong decision.
morris - possibly bad, but he made the show for a little while.
THJ - doing fine
C Brown - possibly bad. too early.
livers - doing fine. in the show.
If someone like Chaundee Brown only has one year left of eligibility and that would be a fifth college year, I think it’s a stretch to say they made a bad call by “leaving early”. He probably wasn’t realistically going to develop so much more in one extra year that it would’ve moved the needle on his pro career.
I thought Iggy was a major mistake and I don't really follow the NBA very closely but from what I understand, he's not exactly tearing it up in the pros. Morris should've stayed as well. I guess McGary should have stayed but his hand was forced. I thought Levert, Wilson and Poole left a bit too early but it seems to not have really mattered. But all those guys still seemed much more ready than Houstan and Diabate are now.
Iggy has made over $2M in the last 2 years. I think he made the right call.
All of them were bad because Michigan would have been better if they'd stayed.
Iggy was a second rounder who has had a hard time getting minutes in the NBA. It's arguable that he still made the right choice because he is on a roster--albeit one of the youngest and thinnest in the league, and he still struggled to get time.
Darius Morris should have stayed, but he was a first round pick so that's more arguable. He flamed out very quickly, though. Maybe he hit while the iron was hot on his value, though.
Caleb is undervalued by UM fans. Point blank: all the folks do here is oversell player flaws and undersell player qualities. And they rarely ever look at things beyond Michigan to compare our players to those in the same pool as them.
NBA drafts past the lottery are a guessing game. There are plenty of guys whose flaws fans don't see because fans don't watch their conference, their team, and those guys are hyped by their athleticism or box scores.
I would see Caleb as a late first, second rounder based on his ability to shoot, his size, his decent athleticism, and his youth. He's a young dude who needs to keep unlocking his aggression and hit the weight room. I also imagine that Howard's endorsements to his pro buddies will help Caleb and Moussa.
Every year there are multiple someones on here posting about their surprise that X has gone pro or got the invite.
Guess what...team's aren't always drafting for immediate impact. Orlando and Detroit are both 2-3 years away from contending. Zion was the next game changer...until he wasn't.
I can see, if he stays in the draft, a team like San Antonio drafting Caleb and developing him into a 15-20 point scorer.
While Poole was at the top of your list, and heaven knows, based on his play this season, he deserves to be there, he also had lady luck smile on him in a big way. Poole being drafted by Golden State worked out amazingly well because of the approach of the team in terms of player development, coaches that pushed him hard, Covid and Thompson and Curry being out for an extended time.
For most players, particularly freshmen who are as flawed as Houstan, an extra year or two would seem the more sensible approach.
Depends on what you consider a “bad decision”. What makes Iggy, Mo, Stauskas or DJ’s decision the right decision? Just a contract or actual success at the NBA level? Not trying to make an argument of it. Just looking for justification of success.
Agreed.. of the 4 you name, I think only Stauskas was the right decision. The other three could have continued to develop at the college level and raised their stock. Actually happily surprised that Iggy is in the league but I'd think he'd need to really increase his 3 pt % to stay much longer. Same for Mo although it was nice to see him hopefully carve a niche with the Magic as well.
DJ seemed to have the skillset for the modern NBA but so far it hasn't panned out. Fingers crossed
Based on what? If he gets drafted at all, even in the second round it’s not a bad choice if that is his desire. Duncan improved more as a basketball player in one year in the G league than he did in 3 years at Michigan. Maybe houstan sees that as a better path for his career than having to deal with school for another year.
Guess it depends on how much faith he has in his own abilities. Getting drafted in the 2nd round, as has been chronicled, is no guarantee of anything. Its basically an on-team tryout with a likely push to the g league to go put in work.
If he believes he's a top flight talent, then he should work on his game so he can get more guaranteed first round money. If he think he has peaked, then sure, head on out and hope for the best.
I understand the argument that he can "work on his game" in the g league as a pro, but I feel like he can get more of a spotlight and opportunity to stick out in college... he can improve both places, he can put on performances to a national audience in college.
Personally - not trying to be mean - I think staying at Michigan for another year makes the most sense to make a big jump. if he does NOT make the jump, then i think his career is very limited long term. If he does, then it justifies the stay and he can then maybe play himself into the 1st round.
I do wonder why so many people around the country are confirmed one way or the other and yet our 2 guys seem to be a complete silent enigma.
Either way, it's great for him that he got the invite and goes through the process. Congrats.
Being a Canadian (and lack of NIL opportunity) unfortunately might factor strongly in his decision.
I would love to see how he develops with another year though.
I know we can be selfish as fans in seeking players to return, but I really think leaving is really against his own interests. NIL money shouldn't factor in. Even if he were able to get NIL money, I doubt it would be anything compared to an NBA contract. He needs to improve if he wants to stick in the league.
The question is where is the best place for that extra development? He seems like a player that could benefit from another year in college, strength and conditioning, etc. But, the only way he gets paid is to go pro. So, NIL is a factor. It would make it easier to stay if he could get paid.
on this blog, we keep telling ourselves the NIL issues with being an international player but UK already figured this out with Oscar Tshiebwe. Instead of a student visa, he has a P-1 visa (athletic team membership).
A P-1 visa by definition always him to receive NIL money (student visas do not allow any employment in the country).
Moussa and Caleb SHOULD be able to do similar things.
That's interesting. Thank you.
I'll never understand the importance of combines.
Is there any information out there that shows how successful combines translate into success in the nba?
At the NBA combine there's a players interview process that takes place as well as getting accurate measurements for height, weight, vertical and so on.
Yep, measurements are the most important thing that happens there. Hand size, wingspan and true height are pretty critical indicators. Probably easiest to get those official measurements at the combine than to have 30 different teams doing 30 different pro days.
IIRC, the Pistons drafted Darko Milicic after only seeing him play in an empty gym...
There's a lesson here, kids: Work hard to get yourself a high HS ranking. Then Maizenesque NBA decision-makers will favor you no matter what happens in your first college season.
But, good for Caleb.
Houstan had a good freshman year. People on this blog are just very wrong in what they expect of a 5 star freshman.
The nba isn’t star gazing, they know better than you about player potential.
He's clearly a 'good' player. But I don't think the NBA draft's on 'good'. I didn't see anything from him last year that tells me he could be a great player in a better league. He can't shoot with a guy in his face, for one... Maybe he was playing out of position as a 2/3, and would be better as a 3/4? I dunno...
And while the NBA guys surely know more than I ever will about basketball (see: Poole, Jordan), I just didn't see anything in Caleb's game to tell me he should have been a 5-star HS player.
Nonetheless, I hope Caleb scores well at the combine and will congratulate him if he is drafted. I know that's what he's worked for his entire life, and I hope he realizes it either this season or next.
So I can make up for 41 years of subpar performance by testing well in certain areas of basketball in 3 days? I need a better agent.
Goodluck Caleb, passing up that UM degree.
I went to Michigan for the experience but also to get paid. Why do athletes have to be held to a different standard?
A few other guys that didn't finish their degrees...
1. Bill Gates
2. Steve Jobs
3. Mark Zuckerberg
4. Larry Ellison
5. Michael Dell
When opportunity presents itself, it's reasonable to take it. There's no shame in that.
Madonna
Caleb Houstan isn't at Michigan to get an education. He's at Michigan to burnish his credentials so that he can turn professional as soon as possible.
I know this comes with the territory of recruiting at a high level, but it’ll be pretty disappointing to lose our top 3 recruits after one year. A year where none of the 3 were consistent, and were never the best (and most cases 2nd) best players on the court.
Just a reality of modern day college basketball I guess
Bufkin was a significantly higher recruit than Collins, and he was McD's AA. So one of the top three would still be around even if Houstan goes. I have moderate hope that Bufkin will deliver on the potential, but this is the problem with five stars in basketball.
They play for one year in college, they aren't even that good (they're mostly just unrealized potential), and then they leave.
Third year 4 stars >> freshmen five stars (except a few truly elite guys each year).
You are right about Bufkin being higher ranked than Collins, I missed that. Bufkin was #46 nationally and Collins was #47.
I too think Bufkin will become a real good player for us. People forget how lost Caris looked as a freshman in 2013. I would say that Bufkin showed flashed way more than Caris did, and we all know how much LeVert blew up his sophomore year.
I don't remember Caris LeVert's freshman year the way you do. I see that he played 21 minutes in a Final Four victory over Syracuse as a freshman -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caris_LeVert
Caris did not get a lot of minutes until the end of that season. He generated a ton of practice buzz, though, when he wasn't getting a ton of playing time.
Comparatively speaking Caleb deserves an invite compared to some of the players on the list and good for him. What's lost at times is Caleb graduated early, and reclassified so he still has youth on his side.
Selfishly though I do hope he comes back for one more season.
Plus the writing may be on the wall since his brother committed to play football for ND.
Does he have Chris Hinton’s agent?
Foreign Player Leaving Michigan After One Season Could Be 47th Pick in NBA Draft
In three seasons as a pro with three different NBA teams, Iggy Brazdeikis who left Michigan after one season and was the 47th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, has played in a total of 64 games, most of which (42) came during this past season for the 22-60 Orlando Magic, but he supposedly has earned $2,564,821. LINK
If Caleb Houstan is told by NBA personnel that he’d likely be a second-round draft pick, then, considering the salary that Brazdeikis has been paid, it wouldn’t surprise me if Houstan’s financial advisor tells him that he’d be better off tuning pro, even if he spends most of his time in the G League. There’s at least one NBA Mock Draft that has him being picked in the second round with the 47th pick. LINK
But Iggy could get jiggy with it. Nothing rhymes with Caleb.
This is a pretty crucial element and I’m interested to see how it factors in.
Caleb is a significantly better NBA prospect than most commenting here believe him to be. I/We have no idea what his priorities in life are. I have always found these young people to be quite well informed of their options.
This x100. A 6'8 Small Forward that can shoot the 3 (36% first year in college is actually pretty solid). Exactly what teams spend 2nd round picks on (See Livers).
Can Houstan be a Livers type players in 3 years - probably. Livers got a guranteed 2nd round contract, as Houstan would too I'm sure.
For perspective, Livers is getting $4.5M over 3 years.
I mean he deserves it.
He had, what? 3 or 4 good games.
Dickinson, Livers, Jones and I think both Wagners went to the combine and returned.
I'm pretty sure the first 3 got a G-League Combine invite, which is a tier below.