There had been rumours that Myck Kabongo had been flirting with the idea of turning pro after his one season at Texas for a couple of weeks now but he put all that to rest yesterday when he announced that he was staying another year (at least). Can Ball Ray gives his take on what he thought of the situation here ...
So Myck Kabongo is staying in school for at least another season. He announced yesterday and to the relief of the entire Hook ‘Em Horns Nation he will suit up for coach Rick Barnes again next season. To be honest, much to my relief I'm happy he's going back for another year of college too.
Kabongo is a talented player and one of the more celebrated coming out of Canada in a while but without a doubt but he would have been making a serious misstep if he had come out this year.
After a season that saw him hit some high highs like his 18 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals against Rhode Island November 15 early to his not so high 2 point, 2 assists, 2 boards, 4 steal game against Cincinnati March 16 that saw Texas exit the NCAA Tournament, Kabongo has made one thing clear - he needs to take another year to prepare himself for the next level.
Does this mean that he's ill equipped to play in the NBA right now? No. He could likely play well if given the opportunity. But can he play well to be a long-term player would be the question.
And would he even be selected in any round will be the most important one?
Kabongo averaged 9.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 30.6 minutes per game. Good stats but I don't think they would have been good enough to have his named called. And with the bumper crop of players coming out this year for the Draft in June, and a good amount being elite level guards, the question would have been "Would he even have been picked up even in the second round?"
Looking over the current mock 2012 Draft list by NBA Draft analysis site www.draftexpress.com, there are a total of 20 guards projected in both rounds and of those players 9 are PGs. To gage Kabongo's likelihood of being Drafted, you would need to look at the second round guards and there are some guys with very good resumes. Scott Machado (he received an honorable mention two days ago for his great year FYI) and Tu Holloway are two point men in that range and were pre season All America candidates. Looking statistically and from a "were they the clear cut leader of their team" perspective, them being this far n the Draft shows the type of talent available this season and that wouldn't bode well for Myck chances of being selected.
On top of that, his teammate J'Covan Brown is in the Draft also and since Brown was the big gun on this season's Longhorns team there was an unlikely chance the Kabongo would be selected over Brown.
Playing another year in Barnes' offense while improving on his overall skill set in a high level, demanding environment would be only be beneficial for him at this point. He didn't show a particularly good shooting touch, from anywhere really, and that is a point that he could stand to improve to make himself that much more attractive to NBA suitors. Getting stronger and quicker in the Longhorns weight program is only going to help him also.
Coach Barnes has sent a few guards to the NBA in the last couple of years (actually more than a few really) that included T.J. Ford, DJ Augustin, Avery Bradley and Cory Joseph so Kabongo's chances of making it in a Barnes headed system look very good. So good in fact that Draft Express has him listed currently as the fifth pick in their mock 2013 Draft.
They say good things come to those who wait and I think the decision he made to go back was definitely better for him in the long run. The waiting for his game to fully mature, as well as his body, would be better for him.