Jefferson Heading to the Draft

by Paragon SC on Apr 29, 2008 11:10 AM PDT in Basketball

Well here I am in sunny Santa Monica, for one day only as I leave this afternoon after coming at 1am local time this morning. Such is business. Tell me again why did I left here to move to the east coast...

While it hasn't been confirmed by Jefferson or the NBA, it appears as was posted earlier in the diaries, that Davon Jefferson will be heading to the NBA.

Although USC freshman Davon Jefferson never publicly announced whether he had made himself eligible for the NBA draft, school spokesman Dave Tuttle said today that a representative from the league office recently called asking for biographical information, meaning Jefferson declared prior to the Sunday evening deadline.

The NBA will not release its list of early entry candidates until later this week, said league spokesman Tim Frank.

Jefferson, a 6-foot-8 forward, was set to sign with agent Arn Tellem, according to a foxsports.com report, though Tellem did not return calls seeking comment. If Jefferson signs with an agent he would forfeit his college eligibility should he later wish to withdraw his name from draft consideration.

Again no real surprise here as this was what we had been hearing for about a week now. If true we wish him luck but it is a big mistake and we're not the only ones who feel that way.

"I think it's a terrible mistake, and whoever convinced him to leave should be ostracized," said Rick Isaacs, Jefferson's former AAU coach. "If he stayed, he'd have a chance to be a top-10 pick and maybe as high as five or six [next year].

"I hope he goes in the first round because if he doesn't, it's an utter mistake. At the same time, I'm going to support the kid no matter what."

the interesting thing here is that for the first time we are hearing that his reason for leaving is because of some conflicts with Tim Floyd.

USC was contacted by the NBA on Monday regarding Jefferson's decision to apply for the draft and sources said Jefferson left because of conflicts with Trojans coach Tim Floyd.

"He knew he needed another year and would be better off staying but he didn't want to deal with any more problems," said a USC basketball player who did not wish to be identified.

Jefferson was suspended at the outset of the season for two games by Floyd and also held out of the Washington State game.

It's a shame that he couldn't see it through. I certainly don't know the dynamics of how it is to play under Tim Floyd but regardless he would have been better served to swallow his pride and stay the extra year to polish his game. As noted in the comments with Jefferson leaving we are back where we started before Mayo and Jefferson arrived. I don't know if that's a good thing or not but we will start afresh when Demar DeRozan arrives in the fall.

It's too bad really but that's how it goes...

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It's a mistake

I don't know what happened, but my money is on the problems stemming from Davon's immaturity, rather than coach being a tyrant.

by frak on Apr 29, 2008 12:19 PM PDT reply reply 0 recs

On a side note

I hope your stay in Santa Monica is a pleasant one. Its my home town, and despite its close proximity to Westwood, its a wonderful place to live and visit.

by frak on Apr 29, 2008 12:20 PM PDT reply reply 0 recs