Four days after former five-star Syracuse-bound forward Darius Bazley decommitted from SU, head coach Jim Boeheim discussed the No. 9 recruit’s decision. Bazley will become the first high school player to turn professional in the NBA G League.

“I love the kid. He’s a great kid. It was a shocker,” Boeheim said Monday morning on ESPN Radio. “Whenever a kid does something or leaves us, I just wish him well. I hope that he does great. We’re going to have a good team next year. We would have liked to have him with us, but we will have a good team.”

Bazley, the No. 9 recruit in ESPN’s 2018 rankings, committed to SU in July 2017 and was SU’s first commitment in its 2018 class. He was also the Orange’s first top 100 recruit since 2016. He scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 17 minutes at the McDonald’s All-American Game on Wednesday. He will play in the Jordan Brand Classic on Sunday, along with No. 37 recruit and Syracuse commit Jalen Carey.

Syracuse’s class also features Buddy Boeheim, the SU coach’s son.

Bazley chose the Orange as a four-star recruit over Florida, Georgetown and Louisville, among others. He had climbed to the top 10 of ESPN’s 2018 recruit rankings. The 6-foot-8, 195-pound forward from Princeton (Ohio) High School decommitted from Ohio State last April. The No. 1 recruit out of Ohio told the Columbus Dispatch he didn’t feel OSU would give him a clear path to the NBA.

“He’s a really good workout kid, he works hard,” Boeheim said Monday. “He will not play in a game or work out with an organized team until November. If he was in college, he’d work out for six weeks in the summer and the eight weeks before Nov. 1. So, he’s obviously going to be a lot further along.”

“I don’t understand why everybody, everybody, doesn’t say and see college really helps,” Boeheim continued. “Even if you are only there one year, it helps you get better. If you are really good, it gives you a platform. If you are not really good, you have to think, ‘I’ve got to get better.’”

Boeheim said he thinks it’s difficult to move from the G League to the NBA because there are hundreds of G League players vying for only a few open spots at the highest level. Many teenagers are not prepared to play with players in their mid-20s, he added. Syracuse holds the third-longest streak of first-round selections in the NBA Draft (six), trailing Kentucky and Duke.

The minimum age to join the G League is 18, which Bazley will turn on June 12. After a year, when Bazley is not signed to an NBA team, he will be eligible for the NBA Draft, which he is projected to go inside the 2019 top 10.

Bazley will not make more than $26,000 in G League earnings next season, according to ESPN.

Boeheim said last month that, in general, he would be a proponent of top high school players like Bazley skipping college and going straight for the pros. Boeheim said the one-and-done rule “has to go.”

Established in 2006, the rule requires U.S.-based players to be one year removed from high school before being eligible for the NBA Draft. The rule was implemented because of concern over whether players were mature enough to enter the NBA. The result has been a college basketball landscape including players who have no intention to stay at school more than one season required. Ten of the first 11 picks of last year’s draft were college freshmen.

“Hopefully we’ll get guys who want to be in college,” Boeheim said on Feb. 24. “If they really want to go to the NBA (out of high school). Bill Gates didn’t want to go to college. I think he did all right. Golf, tennis players don’t have to go to college.”

But on Monday, Boeheim took somewhat of an opposite stance. He said Bazley’s decision will not set a trend in years to come.

“I hope he does great, but I don’t think it’s the way it will be,” Boeheim said. “I think it will be proven it’s not the way to get to the NBA.”

Published on April 2, 2018 at 12:41 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21