Georgia basketball: Rayshaun Hammonds gauges NBA Draft stock
Georgia basketball post player Rayshaun Hammonds announced his intentions to join the NBA Draft on Friday. Unlike in football, Hammonds can renounce his decision.
Georgia basketball might enter the 2020-21 season without any experienced senior on the roster. On March 27, Rayshaun Hammonds declared for the 2020 NBA Draft.
However, Hammonds will not hire an agent, keeping him eligible to return to Georgia for this year’s Georgia basketball season. Hammonds is making a responsible decision by taking advantage of the college basketball system. In football, if a player declares for the draft, they are not allowed to renounce their decision. College basketball players can as long as they don’t sign an agent.
Hammonds can go through the full pre-draft ringer of workouts, interviews and the NBA Combine, if invited. Head coach Tom Crean pledged to help make sure Hammonds gets the right information during the process.
"“My thoughts are to support him every way possible and to help him get the most quality information from the decision-makers so he can sort through what’s real versus what people may tell him that don’t have any decision-making power as far as where he stands. That’s the most important thing. Get the right information and evaluations so that he has the tools to make the best decision.”"
If the information doesn’t lead Hammonds to believe a team will choose him, Hammonds can then decide to chose whether to return to school or pursue other methods of breaking into the NBA, and there are a plethora of methods. Hammonds could possibly sign as an undrafted free agent and play with a team in the NBA Summer League before joining an NBA team full-time or playing for its G-League affiliate.
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But, Hammonds may have given a clue of his intentions in his announcement. Hammonds ended his statement saying “I will be entering the 2020 NBA Draft while maintaining eligibility.” Hammonds making it a point to remind people he is still eligible may show that he intends to return to Georgia basketball if the pre-draft process doesn’t go according to plan.
If he does decide to leave, it will deliver a huge blow to the 2020-21 team’s potential. Hammonds averaged 12.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game as a junior and has started 85 games in three Georgia basketball seasons.
Hammonds is expected to be the leader of next year’s squad as he’s the only returning senior. He grew into a really good leader by the end of the 2019-20 season, often being the spark early in games to get to further fire the team-up. Late in the year, Hammonds would often score a lot in the opening minutes and force opponents to change their game plans on defense, which would create scoring opportunities other Georgia basketball players.
Next. Best of the 2019-20 Georgia basketball team. dark
Hammonds’ leaving would severely hurt the team’s size. Freshman Rodney Howard recently transferred to Georgia Tech. Crean dismissed sophomore Amanze Ngumezi from the team in December. Freshmen Toumani Camara and Mike Peake are the next tallest players on the team at 6-8. Georgia basketball does bring in 6-8 power forward Josh Taylor and 6-9 small forward Josh Ned in the 2020 recruiting class.