Ready or not, NBA might meet this Maker
19-year-old Orangeville seven-footer wants to bypass college route and enter draft
HOUSTON— Tom Izzo didn’t try to recruit Thon Maker to Michigan State, but he was concerned for the19-yearold when he heard that he intends to declare for this year’s NBA draft.
“I have mixed feelings on all of those things, because I just continue to wonder who’s making good decisions and who’s making bad decisions,” Izzo said on Monday morning at the Basketball Hall of Fame’s announcement of its 2016 class of inductees.
The 21-year head coach of the Spartans will be inducted into the hall of fame in September.
Maker has spent the last two years at Orangeville Prep, playing for Athlete Institute. He turned 19 on Feb. 25.
The seven-foot, 219-pound forward announced on Bleacher Report on Sunday that he intends to declare for this year’s NBA draft.
The league requires draft-eligible players to be at least 19 and a year removed from high school. Maker considered reclassifying a year ago to be a 2015 high school graduate but chose to return to Orangeville in order to play with his brother, Matur.
The Sudan-born and Australianbred brothers came to Canada from the United States two years ago with their legal guardian, Edward Smith, who has worked on the Orangeville coaching staff the last two seasons.
The NBA will have to make a ruling on Maker’s eligibility before he can officially declare.
If it accepts that Maker spent this academic year as a post-graduate season, he presumably would be eligible to be drafted.
“We believe that Thon has fulfilled the academic requirements to be eligible for the 2016 draft,” Smith told Bleacher Report. “He will apply for the 2016 NBA draft and await approval from the NBA.
“Thon has been the hardest-working and the most astute kid I’ve coached in my 23 years of coaching,” he said. “I’m happy to have placed him in the position to have this choice.”
Izzo wondered if that choice was the right one to have at this point.
“Sometimes players are ready physically and maybe even with their game but are they ready mentally and emotionally?” he said. “It’s almost like you’re stealing their kindergarten from them.
“I don’t think kids should stay in school forever, I understand that, but I think there is a process. By skipping the process you better be something really, really good.”
Reaction to Maker’s announcement has been mixed. Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski didn’t doubt that Maker would be drafted but said to expect him to spend the next couple of years in the NBA D-League and that NBA executives have mostly seen him regress.
ESPN’s Chad Ford pegged Maker as the 23rd overall pick, going to the Boston Celtics.
In what appears to be an email interview with draftexpress.com, Maker seems to be very confident that he will be eligible and will get drafted. “When I’m on an NBA team I’m going to get my apartment five to 10 minutes walking distance to the practice facility,” he said in the interview.
“I’m going to live in the gym. I’m just ready to go to work every day. I want to be picked early, but I also want to go where it is a good fit.” “We have not done enough homework on how many kids don’t make it,” Izzo said.
“We’ve done a lot of homework on how many kids do make it, but the ones that don’t are really out of luck. (They have) no education, no great experience and no money. I have mixed feelings on it.
“I’d seen him play a little bit — I didn’t recruit him so I don’t know as much about him — but God bless him if it’s the best for him and his family. I just hope it’s the best (decision) physically, mentally, emotionally and in all parts of his life.”