Portal: Winners and Losers

Anyone know where Coleman Hawkins is landing after pulling out of the NBA draft? I really like his game. I believe his game is made for the NBA. Another year in college will serve him well. He has to be at the top of of the portal right now. I wish BU could afford him. He'd be the best player in the MVC.

He's made for Alabama and Nate Oats' system.  I wonder if UConn is putting out feelers.  He'd be a good fit there as well.  Will he go for the $$ or the system that will showcase his talent?  Illinois was a good place for him.  

Illinois must have said early on they were not interested in playing this game and moved on.

He has talked out of both sides of his mouth on this. First, he claimed he was only going to enter the NBA draft and was not going to play college basketball anywhere but Illinois. Then, when he put his name in the transfer portal, he sent out a bunch of tweets about how that was just a "formality" and it was no big deal. Next, he said he wouldn't ask to come back to Illinois because they had already moved forward with replacing him. Now we are where we are. It was ultimately just bag chasing, but that's not something you can say out loud (even though he danced around it).

247sports.com/college/illinois/article/fighting-illini-mens-basketball-forward-coleman-hawkins-explains-transfer-portal-decision-illinois-basketball-231308682/

I think it's used in contexts where people tell some story about how "other things" are more important than money when we know it's not true. Like baseball players who claim they want to go "play for a winner" and then sign a 10 year contract with the Rockies. Stuff like that. His only interest here was getting paid. If he though he'd get $2.1 million as a 2nd round NBA pick, he'd be in the draft.

I think Hawkins had maximizing earnings as a priority, along with some assurance of real playing time as a 4.  More proving he can guard in space and switch, and less getting abused by the Clingan’s he runs into.

I don’t make any editorial around that, just a matter of opinion based off some real signs if you look for them (Arkansas didn’t meet his price, I conclude, and Louisville visit being backed off last hour hints at same to me). 

I do think he was getting fringy 2nd round feedback, and he’d not get anything up front like this with that status.  

I think the issue is people pretending it's not. This story about how he wouldn't come back to Illinois because they already have players he told he would be gone for and he doesn't want to steal their playing time is laughable. He knows he can't come out and say "I will go wherever they pay me the most." We've had this idea that college basketball is not just about the money, but Coleman just stabbed that to death.