Ryan Anderson and the NBA draft

The saddest part about Anderson is he's not ready for the NBA.  I know he always gets his points and is a great rebounder, but I think it's a little misleading sometimes.  Ive watched enough games to know he can be very weak inside at times.  He needs another year in college.  But money calls. .. what else is new today?

Ok, here's how I see it:

Ryan Anderson commits to Cal - likes Braun before and during his first 2 years

Cal fires a decnt coach in Braun without being deep in the process of looking for his replacement

Ryan Anderson declares for the draft, but doesn't hire an agent. Part of the reason might be because the guy who recruited him is gone - many college athletes do this in sports with big bucks at the pro level.

Sandy Barbour (Cal AD) and others realize that because Anderson, they get on their tails to hire someone good and fast. They are fully aware that every day without a good hire increases the chances of Anderson hiring an agent.

Mike Montgomery is very close to signing a deal to become the next Cal men's hoops coach - at the very least this increases the chances of Anderson coming back.

Keep in mind - Anderson comes from a higher income family, he doesn't have siblings to take care of like many other college athletes where the parents are gone in some form. I mean, duh - the millions is really nice, but it's probably not as big of an issue right now for Ryan as with others. Plus, he probably also knows that he can improve his skills at the collegiate level. And his team is young, so next year they will probably be better - only lost 2 guys, Theo will be back, AND the Pac-10 will be losing a lot of star young guys to the draft. That could get Anderson more attention in terms of stats and Cal possibly being in the top 3-4 of the conference.

The main flaw in your assessment is that Braun is not a good coach.  He does not instill discipline, which is why Cal's defense was poor.  He also is not a great recruiter.  The Haas family personally coughed up the $1 MM to buy out Braun because they want to see a team that will be able to compete for the PAC 10 title.  That won't happen with Braun.

Anderson is looking at the NBA because he had a good year and wants to see if he'll merit a first round pick.  He may find that the talent going into the draft is strong and that he is at risk of slipping to the second round.  If he draws that conclusion, he'll stay at Cal.

jhawk2850 - yes, Braun wasn't a great coach in terms of technical things coming to plays and such, but I think that a lot of people didn't ever give him enough credit for recruting players who weren't just good athletes or stupid in the classroom.

It takes a lot to do that - just look at so many of the college hoops programs that are great year in and year out, they have players that leave after 1 or 2 years and more than likely take the most bonehead classes possible and often as few units as they can while still being leigible to play.

Braun was never one to stoop to that level or encourage his players to do that. I acknowledge and respect that in how I see him as a coach and I think that more people should consider that aspect and see it as something positive.