Former University of Tennessee basketball player Admiral Schofield speaks during the Times Free Press Best of Preps awards banquet on June 11 at the Chattanooga Convention Center.A little over a week ago, as he was about to dazzle this newspaper’s Best of Preps banquet, former Tennessee basketball star Admiral Schofield was asked which team he’d like to be selected by during tonight’s NBA draft.
Replied the outgoing senior: “Someplace where the weather’s warm.”
In reality, Schofield has no say in the matter. He’ll go wherever he goes and be happy for the opportunity. Just like everyone else in this fascinating draft. Check out enough draft boards and it’s not even a sure thing the muscular 6-foot-6 forward will be drafted. At least one noteworthy draft predictor – NBADraft.net – has Schofield nowhere on its board in either the first or second round.
Then again, CBS Sports has him going to the Utah Jazz with the 23rd overall pick, NBADraftRoom.com has him chosen 35th by the Atlanta Hawks (and wouldn’t Vols Nation love that?) and nbcsports.com has Schofield going one pick later at No. 36 to Charlotte (another happy landing for Vols Nation).
Of course, Schofield isn’t the only Volunteer off the 2018-19 squad with a better-than-average chance to have his name called among the 60 total picks that will make up the draft’s first and second rounds.
While Schofield is generally projected to go anywhere from the final eight or nine picks of the opening round to almost any spot in the second round, two-time Southeastern Conference player of the year Grant Williams is a probable first-round pick and almost sure to be gone by the 10th pick (40th overall) of the second round.
CBS Sports has him slotted for the 26th overall pick to Cleveland. SB Nation has him one spot higher and headed to Portland. NBADraftRoom has him going to Milwaukee with the 30th and final pick of the first round.
Sports Illustrated has three Vols going in the second round, with Williams slated for No. 39 to New Orleans, Schofield at No. 43 to Minnesota and point guard Jordan Bone slipping in at No. 59 to Toronto. NBADraft.net is slightly kinder to Bone, predicting he’ll be chosen by the Indiana Pacers with the 50th overall pick.
But what if Schofield could pick the city he wished to play in? What if Zion Williamson – who’s 99.999 percent likely to go to New Orleans with the overall No. 1 pick – could choose a different city in which to begin his obscenely promising career. What if Ja Morant – who’s almost as certain to go to Memphis at No. 2 – could opt for someone else?
Would the world come to an end? Would the NBA fizzle or sizzle under such radical thinking?
Understand, this is not my idea. It belongs to Kevin Arnovitz, an ESPN.com staff writer. In an excellent piece he wrote this week, he suggested that the league do away with the draft and allow players to pick their team with the understanding the team also wants them.
He likened it to the National Resident Matching Program (or NRMP or “The Match”), which matches graduates of medical schools with the places they’d prefer to serve their residencies. At the same time, those medical institutions rank which med school grads they’d most want to hire and a computer program takes it from there.
Sure, the Harvards and Vanderbilts and Mayo Clinics of the world almost always will get the best of the best. But assuming the NBA would institute a more iron-clad salary cap, the same wouldn’t always be true there. Not everybody can be a Laker or Warrior or Celtic.
Mark WiedmerSo even if a generational talent such as Williamson were to chose the Lakers, they’d either have to part company with LeBron James or Anthony Davis or sign up nine guys from the lunch pickup game at the Beverly Hills YMCA to fill out the roster.
According to Arnovitz’s theory, it would also eliminate tanking, since every team in the league would want to appear as competitive as possible in order to encourage the top talent each year to get it over the hump.
Is it perfect? Probably not. But think about this: When LeBron left Miami, did he go straight to Los Angeles or New York, as many predicted? No, he went back to Cleveland because he wanted to deliver the folks of northern Ohio an NBA title.
Here’s betting that kids who grew up in North Carolina, such as former UNC Tar Heels point guard Coby White, would just as soon play for Charlotte’s Hornets as New York’s Knicks. Duke’s RJ Barrett – a Canadian native who’s predicted to be chosen third overall by the Knicks – likely would prefer the newly crowned world champion Toronto Raptors to Houston or Dallas or Phoenix.
Not everyone craves glitz and glamour and nonstop media attention. Even Schofield, an Illinois native who spent his youth worshipping the Chicago Bulls, would prefer Miami or Phoenix or Orlando this time around.
It says here that all three Vols already mentioned in this column – Bone, Schofield and Williams – will have completed one season with an NBA team this time next year, even if they have to sign two-way contracts that relegate them to the G-League for part of the year.
As Schofield told the SEC Network earlier this week: “I know I’m a player who’s going to be in this league awhile.”
But whatever happens tonight, another Schofield quote from that interview is why he should hear his name called sooner than later this evening.
“Thursday’s a big day,” he said. “Then it’s back to work on Friday.”
If that’s not enough to get him drafted by somebody, they should abolish the draft for that slight alone.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.