Originally Posted by
X-ceptional
I don't really follow the NBA much, so some of my thoughts are probably based on ignorance of the league and its operations, but Thomas wanting to spend some time at a D-I school makes sense mainly for the following reason:
-Showing he can follow through on something.
If I were an NBA team, I think it would be difficult for me to commit serious money and resources to a kid who, although it sounds like he is getting things on track, seems to have issues finishing what he started. Now, I don't know what part, if any, of NBA contracts are guaranteed, but even if nothing was guaranteed, what if a team picks him, he doesn't work out, and they just threw away a lottery pick--that's much more expensive in the long run than just a few hundred thousand, or even a couple million bucks in salary--they just wasted a lottery pick that could have led to a franchise building block had they not hypothetically "wasted" it. The NBA has been struggling in recent years, correct? Some teams are not making a profit? So, I would think teams are being much more careful regarding how they spend their money.
Xavier is in the perfect position to make a gamble like this. Even if he comes to classes for one year on scholly, but never plays a minute for X, what are the consequences? X plans to have all athletic scholarships filled, so any costs going toward Chris Thomas are already accounted for and would be going toward someone else if he weren't here, but now we've got a chance to put the top SG in the class on the floor. You take that shot every time. Heck, like others have said: even if he doesn't end up here, I still think the fact that the current highest-rated commit for 2013 has XAVIER next to his name is HUGE... other top recruits see something like that, and I think it works to X's advantage.