How Long Will Thomas and Gaddy Stay at Washington?
We had heard from a source that Isaiah Thomas is looking to stay at Washington for 4 years, unless the Dawgs were to win a national championship. When asked during a workout recently, according to this source, Isaiah said that he would likely test the process somewhere along the way, but that he intends to stay 4 years at Washington.
According to this same source who is a basketball professional, when asked how long he thought that fellow Tacoma WA star Abdul Gaddy would go before leaving for the NBA, Thomas said surprisingly that Gaddy told him that he was going to stay as long as he was there. This would be huge news for UW fans if it turns out to be true.
When I spoke to Isaiah however, he flatly denied it.
“None (of that is) true at all. I’ve never said any of that and Gaddy hasn’t either”. I responded by asking him, “Have you two talked about when you would like to test the process or possibly what it would take for you to enter the draft?” and he just said, “Nope”.
Easy come, easy go I guess, but if it were true UW would be in the drivers seat in the Pac-10 for the next three years at least. We can only imagine what the team would look like and what them staying for the next three years would do to bridge the gap between what could be a phenomenal 2011 class of guards (and posts for that matter in Chol and Pelle potentially).
What that would mean is that fans at Hec-Ed would then see that back court with Venoy Overton, Elston Turner, Scott Suggs and C.J. Wilcox for the next two years and then lose only Venoy in what would be Isaiah’s last year. Remember that that year would be the freshman year for the 2011 class of guards, which could include Tony Wroten, Gary Bell, Cezar Guerrero, Spencer Dinwiddie and any number of other great guards, as well as everyone else but Venoy returning to the back court.
But alas, according to Isaiah, those frosh PG’s would have to do it on their own with the help of a very much veteran group of SG’s in Turner, Suggs and Wilcox. Still not a horrible scenario when you consider the talent level of those frosh potentially. What Isaiah said sure makes our source and consequently us look like fools, except for the fact that this same source helped us break the Isaiah commit months before he went public with it and Gaddy 3-4 days before any other recruiting news source.
I guess we’ll find out someday if anything that our source said was true, but I admire Thomas for not talking about the NBA draft, which is never a good thing for a young player to do. Spencer Hawes and Quincy Pondexter did it and I’m sure both guys would love to have that back. I’m not trying to say that Isaiah is not telling the truth either, as I now him to be a very decent young man. Either way, it doesn’t hurt for Husky Basketball fans to dream, does it, even if the dream is completely without basis?
One other update that we’d like to pass along involves Peyton Siva. We reported that he was very close to trying to get out of Louisville, with the scandal brewing, plus his initial impressions of the place over the summer. We are hearing now that he has gotten a lot of encouragement and is feeling very confident about his and the team’s prospects there this year and has changed his mind.
He is now dedicated to the goal of being a big success there and feels that this is right in reach for him. This came to us from an anonymous source, but I’m sure it would coincide with what he will likely tell the press, without mentioning of course the uncertainty about his being there at first. We wish Siva the best of luck, as he will be a true freshman PG in a very tough league filled with vets.
Another source told us that he felt that he felt confident that either Josh Smith or Terrence Jones would end up at UW. UW is right in it with both players as we write this, having just had successful in-homes with both families. All of the talk on the net is that UNC, Oregon and a number of other schools are really in it for Terrence, but what we are hearing is that it will likely come down to Oregon, UW and Maryland for Jones.
With Josh, the hype is that there was some kind of “silent verbal” with UCLA that has been changed to back on the market, but still with the Bruins in a position of power. There is also talk that Oklahoma and Oregon, as well as UW are in the picture for Josh. We heard from a source that Ben Howland promised Josh a starting spot, which he has been known to do to get guys and then change his tune later. We heard that Drew Gordon is an example of this, from another source with close ties to a number of players on the UCLA team.
We have heard unconfirmed reports from anonymous sources with very good credibility in these matters that Nike is pushing hard to get Josh to go to Oklahoma or more ideally Oregon, but that the Ducks may be a harder sell. I think that Josh would do well to talk to Jrue Holiday, who was also projected as a one and done player, was not happy at UCLA per numerous anonymous reports and left feeling rather poorly about his time under Howland.
Jrue is not the only one, but that would be a good place for Josh to start.
Here are a few items and links of interest that came out today:
Simi Fajemisin, a six-foot-nine post from Lynnwood, WA committed to San Diego in the WCC, according to Scout. Scout also released their 2010 West Coast Power Forwards Rankings and Terrence Jones topped the list. Vashon Island’s John Gage was ranked at #5 on a list that looked to be rather devoid of big names. The #2 ranked PF was James Johnson, who recently committed to Tony Bennett and Virginia.
Montlake Madness ran a very good interview with Isaiah Thomas and should have Part 2 up soon. In it he talked about having a National Championship as a goal, which seems to coincide with what he told our source. I’m really looking forward to Part 2.
Here’s the link:
http://www.montlakemadness.com/?p=751#comments