Tucson Citizen.com

Wild About AZ Cats

A different slant on Wildcat athletics

McCallum uncertain when a decision will be announced

by on Nov. 08, 2009, under Sports

Detroit Country Day School point guard Ray McCallum text messaged me tonight to let it be known that he will not announce his decision on a certain date this week (the November signing period starts Wednesday).

“No, everyone keeps asking,” he said. He finished with an “LOL” (laughing out loud). His decision can happen at anytime: tomorrow, next weekend or, perhaps, next spring.

McCallum, 6-1, 175, concluded a visit of the Florida campus Sunday morning. He attended the Vanderbilt-Florida football game Saturday night. Florida coach Billy Donovan hoped to have McCallum and Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God forward C.J. Leslie visit Gainesville at the same time this weekend to sell them on being the future of Florida basketball, but Leslie backed out at the last minute.

Scout.com recruiting guru Dave Telep indicated that a scrimmage was held Saturday in Raleigh between Word of God and Oak Ridge Military Academy. Leslie decided to participate in the scrimmage instead of traveling to Florida. He canceled the trip early Friday morning. Telep added that Leslie will likely reschedule the trip.

I wanted to add one opinion concerning McCallum’s recruitment. I’m reading and hearing more and more — not only from some Arizona fans but also from others nationwide — that it’s selfish of McCallum’s father, Ray Sr., to recruit his son to his school (Detroit Mercy) instead of allowing his son to play for a nationally renowned program.

I say that stance is much more selfish. That argument tells me that the agenda of a top 20 program is more important than the inner-working of the McCallum household. How often can a son say he played for his father in college?

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo sports recently wrote an informative article about McCallum’s recruitment by his father. After reading the article, I believe Bryce Drew playing for his father Homer Drew at Valparaiso instead of attending Indiana is of more substance than Jeff Capel III going to Duke rather than playing for his father Jeff II at Old Dominion. His father was later fired by Old Dominion and is now an NBA assistant.

Am I advocating a McCallum decision to Detroit? No. What I am trying to communicate is that I am appalled by some who think his father is being selfish about wanting him to play at Detroit. That’s not selfish. That’s smart as a coach, first and foremost, and then as a father. If McCallum Sr. was selfish, he would have precluded his son from making official visits to these powerhouse programs.

More in TC Sports Network:

Foothills girls to state final

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 11:24 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

RSS feed for this post (comments)
  • http://wildaboutazcats.com Luke

    I absolutely agree regarding McCallum’s recruitment… Family should always come first and from I can tell, his father isn’t putting additional pressure on him. However, I would love to see McCallum play at the UA. For those that haven’t seen it already, here is some footage from his ESPNU profile.
    http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/tracker/player?recruitId=44125&season=2010&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncb%2frecruiting%2ftracker%2fplayer%3frecruitId%3d44125%26season%3d2010
    It really looks like he has a nice stroke and he appears quite athletic. You don’t see a whole lot of playmaking in the clips but I’m sure he will develop that part of his game, especially under a point guard’s coach like Coach Miller.

  • wilburrocks

    I respect your opinion but also respectfully disagree. McCallum would seemingly have a better chance at making it to the NBA from a big time program in a bit time conference. This sentiment is not anti-family; it is pro-player. Of course, as UA fans, we’d love it to be UA, but frankly McCallum would probably have a better chance of making it to the NBA at Florida or UCLA or many other programs over Detroit. Are you on the high road or the “high” road?

  • portlandcatfan

    The obvious thing is that Ray Jr. is faced with an agonizing decision.  I envy him his future, but not his next decision.  By comparison, an intelligent and thoughtful young man named Rod Odom, faced with a much less emotional choice between academics and athletics, could not nail it down.  How very tough this must be for the McCallum family. The NBA won’t lose track of Ray Jr. in case he chooses to play for his father.  Detroit has produced some top-notch NBA stars: Dave Debusschere, Spencer Haywood, and John Long notably.  Those players were from 30 to 50 years ago, so maybe that comparison isn’t particularly relevant, but it’s interesting.  Debusschere was also able to play major league baseball coming from that small school.  Haywood made history as a hardship case who had to go help the ABA’s emergence because he wasn’t permitted early entrance to the NBA at that time. Former Detroit basketball coaches include Dick Vitale and Lute’s former assistant Ricky Byrdsong.  As Arizona fans know, Byrdsong was gunned down at age 43, while jogging, by a white supremacist in an otherwise-random act of racial hatred.  What a tragedy, what a shame – R.I.P. Vitale, on the other hand, has somehow survived to age 70. Sean Miller has known the McCallums since Ray was a child, so as much as Miller would want Arizona to be his choice, I’m guessing Miller even more wants the McCallums to do whatever they feel is best for their family.  I also guess nobody knows what that will be yet, including the McCallums. PS: Some other father-son coach-player combos not mentioned in the link: Tarkanian, Kruger, Maravich   

  • http://www.wildaboutazcats.com Javier Morales

    Luke: thanks for the link.

    wilburrocks: In this day and age of advanced scouting and individual workouts during the offseason conducted by professional trainers — many of whom are employed by existing NBA teams and players — I think it’s a bit much to say McCallum would be a better pro prospect if he played at UA or Florida than Detroit. Would he face better competition? Overall, yes. Would he be on national TV more? Yes. But would he turn out to be a better pro? Not necessarily. I understand your point and respect your opinion, however. Ultimately McCallum Sr. will leave it up to his son and support him either way. It’s refreshing the way the elder McCallum is handling this. He is allowing his son to keep an open mind.

    Portland: Good background. Recruiting can be mind-boggling — I should just write “is” mind-boggling — but not every player has to go through what McCallum is going through now. He always refers to his dad as his coach and dad, which I understand it to be that he welcomes the idea of playing for him. Should be an interesting week.
     

  • wilburrocks

    I concede up front that you know leagues more about basketball than I ever will. That being said, and even in a day when nba scouts look all of the world much less all over the country for talent, there does seem to be a discount for guys not coming through the most visible, most competitive programs.  Perhaps it is partly bias, but partly there are real questions including  will the guy be that good against a higher caliber talent? The top programs seem most likely to open the most doors. A guy like Steve Nash was outstanding at Santa Clara and only went 15th, but clearly had the talent to go out higher (and shot UA out of the tourney). A guy like Patty Mills more recently went late in the second I recall but has proven to be very good. One could have a different opinion about the risks/upside of playing for a new coach versus his father. Perhaps selfish is too loaded of an emotional word to brand the elder Mccallum though I still say Ray is best off at UCLA, Florida, Oklahoma, UA or another perennial top program if his goal is to get to the NBA.

  • portlandcatfan

    wilbur — Patty Mills is not a good example as his case works against your point.  Portland chose to draft Mills, then chose to keep him on their roster even though he is injured and was not able to participate in training camp and win his spot on the floor.  That means they saw enough of his play at St. Mary’s (not an elite program) to invest in him.  Your point may still be correct (although I disagree), but it’s just that Patty Mills may not be your best example.

  • wilburrocks

    why? if mills were at a bigger program, i think he would’ve gone much higher. i should be clearer, it is not just about making the NBA, it is about being drafted as high as possible

  • Mark Johnson

    Sure glad the dad is the coach at Detriot and not UM or MSU or any other Big 10 program. At least AZ has a chance.

  • PortlandCatfan

    NBA general managers find the talent very well, with the possible exception of the Clippers and the Knicks (according to their fans).  Patty Mills was viewed as damaged goods with projected high risk as to his full recovery, plus he had “size issues.”  My interpretation was that those factors dictated his draft position, not the program he played for in college.   Over the years, I don’t believe much NBA talent has been overlooked or greatly under-rated simply because the player attended a Central Arkansas (Scottie Pippen, 5th overall) or American University (Kermit Washington, 5th overall) … many more examples could be cited.  Where NBA GM’s really could not evaluate was on players entering directly from high school, so voila, they removed that problem by fiat.
    I don’t absolutely disagree with your point, only in degree — I don’t think the size or prominence of the program is much of a factor in the ultimate draft position of college stars.  It’s probably more of a factor for marginal players, so if you think that’s where Ray Jr. will fall, you may have a better argument.

  • wilburrocks

    good points again though obviously one has to consider that very few players have the talent to be considered to be lottery picks. the fact is that more players get into the nba by being second half of the first round or second round or otherwise than lottery picks. the more phenomenal the talent, the less likely it is to go unnoticed. could mccallum be that talent? sure. more realistically though, odds are he won’t be a lottery pick regardless of where he goes. as for mills, the draft projection sites listed his lack of competition as one of his weaknesses – one link http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Patrick-Mills-1362/stats/

  • PortlandCatfan

    wilbur — I’m beginning to think we don’t have a difference of opinion at all.  The link you provided (a great aid to the discussion) shows 14 points of strength and 14 points of weakness.  Exactly one of those 28 metrics is about “level of competition” so it’s a factor but not necessarily an important one.  It’s simply part of the mix.  As I said, NBA general managers (and draft projecting sites) really gather a lot of intelligence.  Even with “level of competition” in Patty Mills’s case, part of that “weakness” may be from his earlier competition in Australia rather than American HS basketball factory school and/or AAU experience.  Your cited site projected Mills at #39 overall, Portland actually picked him up at #55 overall.  Seeing as how Budinger dropped to #44 overall coming from our favorite elite program, who can say the St. Mary’s connection had much to do with it.  Again, the Blazers saw enough of Mills from his college exposure to keep him on the roster even though he could not participate in the fall camp.  Really good discussion, thanks for engaging.

  • wilburrocks

    You’re right Portland – we are hardly in violent disagreement.  I still say though that a big time program in a big time conference is going to be an asset to a player who has a shot for making the NBA. It maximizes visibility and takes away the lack of competition issues + I believe makes them a better player due to the competition (or should I say mature faster as a player). I’d be interested in knowing if you believe that if Patty Mills played for UA instead of St Mary’s, would he have been drafted higher, same or lower? It is probably obvious to you that I believe he would have gone higher. More importantly, it is great to see these new cats off to a good start. Still can’t believe our reversal of fortune over the past six months.

  • PortlandCatfan

    wilbur — in your hypothetical, I’ll assume Patty Mills played for Arizona and left for the NBA the same year, along with Jordan and Chase.  Patty would have been playing alongside Nic Wise presumably, starting in place of Kyle Fogg maybe (with Horne being the 5th starter at year’s end).  Let’s assume his injury situation played out the same way.  Having assumed all that, I really don’t know the answer to your question because Mills probably would have been viewed as the 3rd (or even 4th) best player coming out from Arizona, and yet NBA teams drafting for a need may have selected him sooner as you say.  But Chase slipped all the way to #44.  Maybe Mills would have still gone at #55.  The real point initially was what does the Arizona versus Detroit choice look like to a 4-star recruit at the time the commitment decision must be made.  Does choosing Arizona guarantee a somewhat higher NBA draft position, and is that the kid’s primary goal.  In Ray McCallum’s case, it’s a lot more complex than that, which is what Javier was writing about.  How much development (arguable) and exposure (you can win that point) is involved for Ray Jr if he chooses his father versus choosing Arizona and Sean Miller?  And how heavily does his father’s success as a coach weigh on Ray Jr’s thinking?  I have to agree with Javier at the end of the day that Ray Sr is playing it the best way he can by staying in the mix and letting Ray Jr do his own analysis.  Sorry for such a long post, but this has been an interesting give and take from my POV.

  • wilburrocks

    fair enough — thanks for all the thoughtful responses

«
»