APRIL 15TH: Stauskas is indeed entering the draft, as Goodman originally reported he would, the school announced (Twitter link).
APRIL 10TH: 8:49am: Stauskas has taken to Twitter to refute Goodman’s report that he’s decided to enter the draft.
8:37am: Michigan sophomore Nik Stauskas has decided to declare for the NBA draft this year, a source tells Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. The shooting guard is No. 17 in the list of top prospects that Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress compiles, while he’s No. 18 with Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
The 20-year-old took on an expanded role for the Wolverines this season following the departures of guards Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., both first-round picks in 2013. He averaged 17.5 points in 35.6 minutes per game. More than half of his shot attempts came from behind the arc, where he averaged an impressive 44.2%. He shot nearly the same percentage on three-pointers as a freshman, so his shooting touch is sustainable.
Why do all these “sources” keep trying to steal these kids’ thunder by announcing they are leaving before the player does?? Is it really that important to get breaking news?? They just end up looking like arses. This is 5th time it’s happened this year. Just let the kids announce himself already!
Even the most reputable journalists, like Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, have fallen into the trap. It’s become an issue this year. There’s a pretty good discussion about it going on in Jonathan Givony’s Twitter timeline, if you want to check it out: link to twitter.com…
Ultimately, I think it’s incumbent upon these reporters to check with the players themselves before running the story. The players could still issue denials in that case, of course, but I think it would happen much less frequently than when “sources close to” the players are the only ones consulted.
–Chuck