Damion's decision to stay

S

SL Xpress

500+ Posts
Throughout the years, this board has been filled with talk about various players leaving early, whether it was the right or wrong decision, its impact on the team and program overall, and all the myriad "what ifs?" surrounding the hypothetical situations of if sundry players had stayed instead of leaving early.

Given all that, we've sure given short shrift --- and I include me in that equation --- to Damion staying. I understand why. Damion publicly ended any speculation real early, and that message was consistent with the message being relayed behind the scenes.

However, that's made everyone think that there wasn't really all that much talk of Damion leaving early behind the scenes, which isn't necessarily true. There were plenty of folks in Damion's corner thinking he should get to the NBA and a big payday as soon as possible --- before the season began, during the year, and after it concluded.

Damion's decision to stay, in my opinion, is the best NBA related early entry decision any Longhorn has made.

Damion will be the likely star of this team. As long as he stays out of foul trouble, he'll be one of the top guys in mpg, the likely leading scorer and rebounder. He has a chance to be a 2nd team or even 1st team All-American. Next year's draft is going to be much much MUCH weaker than this one, which he might be able to parlay into a late lottery pick or higher, depending on how much his ballhandling improves.

It's like Maurice Evans redux, except this time with the wiser choice being made.
 
Well said SLX. I couldn't agree more. Not only will his decision help the Horns but it could easily make him a lottery pick if he shows the same kind of improvement as he did last year.
 
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to Damion and a great 08/09 campaign
 
I like Augustin's comments that Mason and James were two of the hardest workers in the program and he had no concern that Texas would be good next year because of that.
 
I know that I was surprised to see him commit to staying in school so quickly, and to do it in such a firm manner.

He's obviously the most versatile player on next season's team.
 
Coach Barnes is as hard on Damion as he has been on any other player during his tenure. And, unlike some of those other players, Damion responds pretty well, probably because he's more upset at himself when he makes mistakes than Coach Barnes is.

I see him staying as an admission that he is nowhere near the player he wants to be and that the best way to be that player is by staying another year at Texas.
hookem.gif
 
Agreed, especially now that I keep seeing Joe Alexander slip into the lottery. Can't help but wonder what Alexander can do that Damion can't.
 
He is becoming my all time favorite Horn. I have a hard time determining who is the favorite between James and Tucker followed by Thomas and Mason is gaining strides big time.

They all have improved due to hard work and understanding their role in Barnes system. Which can't be easy.
 
SLX, I agree with most of your post, except that I think Chris Mihm made the best decision in UT history. If he had stayed another year, I think he would've been picked apart more and wouldn't have gone as high as 7th. He left at the time his stock was the highest, and capitalized on it.

I do agree that Maurice Evans' decision was one of the worst, though. If he had stayed another year, who knows how good TJ may have made him look.
 
I'm not going to get into a Damion James vs. Joe Alexander debate, but have you seen that guy's combine numbers? Joe Alexander beat all players except one in the pre-draft combine in the 3/4 court sprint. His lane agility tested equal to or better than many guards (DJ included). There was only one guy with more reps at the bench press.

And yeah, he can jump to the moon. There were only 2 non-guards with higher max vertical jumps and only 3 non-guards with higher no step vertical jumps.

And he can dunk from anywhere on the court. (Sorry, about 1/2 of the video on the link is from practices.)

The Link
 
Mo Evans very much wanted to stay and was very excited to play with TJ. He talked about how excited he was and how it would help the shooters on the team. He never said it in the, "It will help me", he said it in the, "It will help the shooters (or us shooters)". He is a very humble man.

Things happened and the need for him to go pro was created despite his looking forward to the next year. It caught a bunch of people by surprise, himself not excluded. He too wishes that he could have stayed, but he didn't and coudn't with all sensible scenarios looked into.

Mo Evans is easily one of my favorite Horns Hoopsters of all time. So don't think that he just had delusions of being a pro, had grade issues or got bad advice. None of that applies in this case. Mo Evans....rocks.
 
Evans has been drawing a paycheck for a long time. Hard to say it was that bad of a decision in retrospect. What if he had come back and gotten injured?
 
I agree, he was a black hole on the perimeter as well. The one guy I would have liked added to that team was Gibson. Big defensive guard with a good shot.
 
I think the rest of the conference will be interested to see how the Longhorns are affected by the departures of Augustine and Abrams, especially DJ. Something tells me we'll find out just how valuable DJ was. I know I, for one, never gave him enough credit. He was the glue that held you guys together.

That being said, James is a special talent and he should get plenty of opportunities next year.
 
Man I hope you're right SLX
If alll the guards make it back (i.e. Abrams and Brown) then this team has the opportunity to be the most complete team Barnes has ever fielded on the 40 acres (of course this is also contingent on our perimeter figuring out how to make good and consistent post entry passes).
 
I pretty much agree with SLX although I am looking at it from the other direction. I expect a big improvement from the front-court guys, and that will "carry" the guards to some extent.

Not having seen much of Balbay... just a clip here or there, it's hard to judge. But I think he'll be a player. Mason's shown he can pass, as well. It's probably more important that they establish some outside shooting.
 
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