Parham to stay, Devoe to test draft waters

Less than a week after Geor- gia Tech’s season ended, two key decisions regarding the Yellow Jackets’ roster for the 2021- 22 season have been made.

Senior guard Bubba Par- ham decided to return for another senior season, coach Josh Pastner said, while junior guard Michael Devoe will test the waters for the NBA draft while leaving open the door for him to return to Tech. Both spoke with media on a videoconference Thursday.

Parham started 14 games this season and played 25 total, averaging 6.7 points and 2.6 rebounds in 27 min- utes per game. He had the highest assist/turnover ratio of the team’s rotation players at 36/13. Parham is the first of Tech’s four scholarship seniors to make a decision on staying or going, with Jose Alvarado, Jordan Usher and Moses Wright still to decide.

Pastner said those three will at least seek feedback on their draft prospects, starting with the NBA’S undergrad- uate advisory committee. A response could be 2-3 weeks in coming, Pastner said. The four are able to come back because of the NCAA’S deci- sion to grant all fall- and winter-sports athletes an extra season of eligibility because of COVID-19.

As for Devoe, there is little downside to investigating the possibility of getting drafted. He can sign with an NCAA-CER- tified agent, have expenses such as meals and transpor- tation to NBA workouts covered and still return to school.

“The things I’m waiting for is the feedback from all 30 teams, to see if I’ve got to work on some things, do I have to go back a year, or am I draft-ready?” Devoe said. Devoe averaged 15.0 points and 4.3 rebounds this season in 34.7 minutes per game. Over Tech’s final 10 games, Devoe averaged 17.7 points per game while shooting 52.5% from the field, almost seven percentage points higher than his season average. He was named MVP of the ACC Tournament after scoring 20 points with three rebounds and three assists in the title game vs. Florida State.

“Michael Devoe, I thought, the last month of the season, he was as good as anyone in the conference, playing as well as any guard in the country,” Pastner said.

While calling the NBA a lifelong dream, Devoe will have high standards on staying in the draft. He said he did not have interest in turning pro if it meant playing in the G League. “It’s a tough route to go to,” he said of the G League. “I have no problem going back to school, finish- ing my degree.”

Pastner would welcome back Alvarado, Usher and Wright, but he acknowledged their deliberations are hampering his efforts to recruit players out of the transfer por- tal, as the uncertain status for next season leaves the potential for playing time unclear. Pastner said players he has reached out to are interested, but “the first thing they ask me: ‘Coach, are those guys coming back?’ ”

Pastner said offseason work- outs begin Monday. Pastner said that if all four of the seniors returned, Tech could be a preseason top-five or top-10 team nationally. If it were two, the Jackets could still be in the top 20. But if it were only Parham, the look of the team obviously would be different.

“If another one or two come back, we’ve got a chance to continue to be really good again next year,” he said. “I really believe that.”