Mullens leaving OSU

[Muskie73]

BJ Mullens announced that he is declaring for the 2009 NBA draft.

[Firehose]

Because his body of work so obviously says "NBA ready".

[Juice]

Will Thad recruit anyone who will stay beyond one year?

[Cheesehead]

Big Mistake

[X-Fan]

Thad lives and dies by his house of cards. He goes for the big splash and is paying for it. What an idiot that kid is. Enjoy the D-League!

[Juice]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/4485

This is what he can look forward to.

[Xman95]

It would be nice if a kid had to establish himself as more than a bench player in college before coming out early!

Of course, I'm wondering if Coach Personality is, um, not a guy that, uh, gets along with, ah, most of his, um, players. Koufos bolted last year and didn't seem to have many good things to say about Matta, now Mullens leaves. I'm not counting Oden and Conley because they had proven in a year that they had game. Maybe Matta's approach is going to starting losing some of its punch.

[Cheesehead]

It would be nice if a kid had to establish himself as more than a bench player in college before coming out early!

Of course, I'm wondering if Coach Personality is, um, not a guy that, uh, gets along with, ah, most of his, um, players. Koufos bolted last year and didn't seem to have many good things to say about Matta, now Mullens leaves. I'm not counting Oden and Conley because they had proven in a year that they had game. Maybe Matta's approach is going to starting losing some of its punch.

uh, what you uh, mean, by that...ummm...uh I can't believe...uh, that you said that.

[THRILLHOUSE]

I didn't watch a whole lot of OSU this year, but the games I did watch I was never real impressed with Mullens. Definitely not ready for the pros, but it shows how weak of a draft class this is if he is a sure thing 1st round pick.

[Masterofreality]

What a joke, all the way around.

Mullens averages 8.8 points, sits the bench in the Big 10 title game, and he's leaving for the draft? He never impressed me this year. If someone does draft him, he'll be another Darko Milichich-if he even makes a roster.

And as for Beaknose. This departure will now ensure that O-Ho-Ho State will lose at least one scholarship from the program because of falling below the Academic Progress Standards. What the hell is he doing down there? Without Evan Turner, that team was nothing more than mediocre. Some program progress.

[chico]

Addition by subtraction for the Buckeyes.

[MADXSTER]

My understanding is that his family is under major financial constraints. Not sure if it's part of the economy or not.

[West is Best]

My understanding is that his family is under major financial constraints.

I thought that was what boosters were for :)

[chico]

My understanding is that his family is under major financial constraints. Not sure if it's part of the economy or not.

No, I think it's always been that way. There is a definite financial need on the part of his family.

[Pete Delkus]

Thad has to watch himself.

He has been getting a bad name from the former payers who are early departers. Both Kufus and Mullens complained that Thad didn't run plays for them or kept them out of games so thier numbers would drop their draft status and NBA-types would encourage them to stay in college one more year.

Down the line, this could hurt a coach that lives and dies on 1-and-doners.

[Frank D.]

I think this is an example of the rule not allowing guys to enter the draft directly out of high school really hurting a kid. The rule is in place for the NBA so they don't have a bunch of 18 year old kids sitting the bench simply because of their "potential", and I think it has worked well for the NBA so far. The rule has also helped some players (Durant, Mayo, etc) because it allowed those kids to get another year of competitive basketball under their belts and get their names out there (for marketing purposes).

In this instance, it really hurt Mullens. He was a guy that was the consensus #1 player in high school, coming from a tough family situation and there is no way he would have gone to college had this rule not been in place. He, most likely, would have been a lottery pick had he been able to come out last year. Instead, he goes to college, never really wanting to be there and has a poor season. Now he is projected as a low first rounder with a lot of baggage.

Don't get me wrong. I don't feel sorry for him - he was the one played and looked all season like he would rather be anywhere else than at OSU (see his declaration for the draft less than a week before their season ended), but this rule ended up costing him millions.

Could he get it all back with a good career? Of course, but he's way behind the 8-ball at this point.