Pons declares for draft

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#277


Pons was one of 18 players Givony listed from the 105-player group
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Currently Pons is in Knoxville working with his Tennessee teammates. The Vols are back on the floor at Pratt Pavilion this week, with the coaches allowed to resume on-court offseason work on Monday.

Pons has until Aug. 3 to withdraw his name from the NBA Draft. He has retained his collegiate eligibility throughout the pre-draft process, allowing him to return to school based on feedback from NBA personnel.
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g.ramey
 
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#282
#282
According to VQ he was 1/60 players who got an invite to the NBA Combine via email, there is no guarantee the combine happens but that gives him a decent feeling that he’s being looked at as a Top 60 player which would get him drafted. Sounding more and more like he’s likely to leave.
 
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#283
#283
bleedingTNorange said:
According to VQ he was 1/60 players who got an invite to the NBA Combine via email, there is no guarantee the combine happens but that gives him a decent feeling that he’s being looked at as a Top 60 player which would get him drafted. Sounding more and more like he’s likely to leave.
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Would absolutely love for him to come back for this upcoming season but even if he chooses to stay in the draft and goes undrafted I don't think it would be a "wrong" decision for him.
 
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JelloPuddinPup said:
Would absolutely love for him to come back for this upcoming season but even if he chooses to stay in the draft and goes undrafted I don't think it would be a "wrong" decision for him.
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If he does go in the first 2 rounds it can only help our recruiting. Having 4 players selected in the last two drafts would be awesome. It shows recruits that we can coach, develop and get them paid. That being said the selfish side of me wants him to return.
 
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JelloPuddinPup said:
Would absolutely love for him to come back for this upcoming season but even if he chooses to stay in the draft and goes undrafted I don't think it would be a "wrong" decision for him.
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I disagree. This isn't the NFL. It's a low percentage of basketball players who go undrafted but still make an NBA roster. Of course, he can always go overseas where the money is just as good... but during the current pandemic and coming directly from the United States? If he isn't projected to be drafted, he should stay in college.
 
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#288
#288
I think the biggest issue for Pons staying is how many opportunities is he going to get to show his improvement. Everyone knows he can play defense 1-4, and is one of the best athletes in CBB. But I think what NBA teams want to see is an improvement in offensive game and ball handling. With all of the talent we have coming in, I'm not sure how much more he is going to get to showcase that if he does make those improvements. I think another year with Rick Barnes and SEC basketball will be good for him, but certainly won't blame him if he goes pro.

Not to mention he's already married (I'm pretty sure) and is thinking about setting his family up for financial security.
 
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#289
#289
BowlBrother85 said:
I disagree. This isn't the NFL. It's a low percentage of basketball players who go undrafted but still make an NBA roster. Of course, he can always go overseas where the money is just as good... but during the current pandemic and coming directly from the United States? If he isn't projected to be drafted, he should stay in college.
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The difference is there is the NFL...the CFL?.......NFL Europe? That's it for football players going undrafted pretty much. For basketball if they don't make it to the NBA, there's the G-League, Europe + about 10 other countries to play in with decent (high 5, low 6 figure salaries). To play ball...that's a good living.

If the one and only goal was to get drafted in the NBA, then yeah I would say it would suck if he doesn't get his name called. But I think international players view it differently, to them it's about going "professional". Yes the NBA is illustrious and the height of the game...but they have a better understanding of overseas opportunities and ball than most American athletes. So I'd say drafted or not, he's going to be fine.

Selfishly, I still want him to stay. Barring a complete collapse of his role/game and injury, I don't see coming back hurting him.
 
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bleedingTNorange said:
ESPN has a Top 100, Pons wasn’t on it...but the NBA GM’s voted on 100 guys they want to see and Pons made it.

There were 18 guys not on ESPN’s Top 100 that made the NBA list, Pons was one of them.
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Does this surprise anyone about ESPN? Unless they are given insider information directly, their staff is either too stupid, too lazy or biased to have objective assessments.
 
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#296
Chris4Vols22 said:
Man, it would be nice to hear something directly from Pons or the staff. Even if it's "I have absolutely no idea," I just want any update from someone that's actually in the inner circle.
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In the video below you can get a good idea of his thinking. Pons says he improved his game a lot last summer because he was upset with how his time dwindled down the season before. To improve his game he went to LA to workout with Rico Hines. Pons stated he went to college rather than pro because he wanted to pursue a degree and he didn’t think going pro would allow him the opportunity to get a degree. Pons understands his weaknesses are ballhandling and shooting consistently. Pons stated that he feels he has better ballhandling skills than people think. Pons stated the offense at Tennessee sort of limits them to one or two dribbles. Pons knows he is trending around the second round, but thinks workouts could really help him improve his stock. Pons understands his role in the league is going to be about defense, versatility, rebounding, and consistently knocking down shots (PJ Tucker type of role).



Also, how was this missed. Lofton is also there.
 
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#297
#297
Vols All Day said:
In the video below you can get a good idea of his thinking. Pons says he improved his game a lot last summer because he was upset with how his time dwindled down the season before. To improve his game he went to LA to workout with Rico Hines. Pons stated he went to college rather than pro because he wanted to pursue a degree and he didn’t think going pro would allow him the opportunity to get a degree. Pons understands his weaknesses are ballhandling and shooting consistently. Pons stated that he feels he has better ballhandling skills than people think. Pons stated the offense at Tennessee sort of limits them to one or two dribbles. Pons knows he is trending around the second round, but thinks workouts could really help him improve his stock. Pons understands his role in the league is going to be about defense, versatility, rebounding, and consistently knocking down shots (PJ Tucker type of role).



Also, how was this missed. Lofton is also there.
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This picture is pretty cool.
 

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Vols All Day said:
In the video below you can get a good idea of his thinking. Pons says he improved his game a lot last summer because he was upset with how his time dwindled down the season before. To improve his game he went to LA to workout with Rico Hines. Pons stated he went to college rather than pro because he wanted to pursue a degree and he didn’t think going pro would allow him the opportunity to get a degree. Pons understands his weaknesses are ballhandling and shooting consistently. Pons stated that he feels he has better ballhandling skills than people think. Pons stated the offense at Tennessee sort of limits them to one or two dribbles. Pons knows he is trending around the second round, but thinks workouts could really help him improve his stock. Pons understands his role in the league is going to be about defense, versatility, rebounding, and consistently knocking down shots (PJ Tucker type of role).



Also, how was this missed. Lofton is also there.
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l have mentioned a few times here that Barnes offense limits the dribble drive with some posters disagreeing with that

Well here it appears Pons himself is saying that is the case

Am I reading it correctly that he is the one saying this?
 
#299
#299
BruinVol said:
l have mentioned a few times here that Barnes offense limits the dribble drive with some posters disagreeing with that

Well here it appears Pons himself is saying that is the case

Am I reading it correctly that he is the one saying this?
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Pretty clear why he wouldn’t want Pons over dribbling, multiple examples in the last 1-2 years show that.

Barnes insisted on Bone dribbling up court, into the lane and into the oppositions elbow every single possession to probe...if he trusts you with the balm and it’s productive he has no issues with someone dribble driving. He doesn’t run Cal’s offense so no, you won’t see every guy on the wings drive it each time down, but admiral drove the ball plenty...again it’s largely about trust with Barnes.

There’s a lot of things that he had Grant Williams do that he never would’ve let ORN do last year, doesn’t mean Barnes would never allow it though.
 
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#300
#300
Just some info that I'm not sure how to take it - Sam Vecenie, one of the better NBA draft guys from The Athletic has Pons at #55 on his big board today - up from #65 a month ago. However, he did not have Pons drafted in his most recent mock draft two weeks ago saying he was under the assumption that Pons would be returning. So who knows.
 
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