According to Bobby La Gesse, McDermott told Gilstrap after the game. I'm a little bit suprised how quick how the result came from the NCAA, as they only got the paperwork, what, a week or so ago? I'm disappointed in the result, because of how far Gilstrap had come along, and the sacrifices he made. At the same time, he's good enough to play pro ball somewhere, and he may have gone for that, even with a 6th year (4th year of playing basketball).
According to Fox Sports, Craig Brackins is going to declare for the draft. Also they said that according to an executive they talked to, although Brackins' stock has fallen, he's still a first round draft pick. Not too suprised with this move. The body language from Brackins, McDermott, and the other players when he was taken out of the game, told me everything one needed to see.
For Cyclone fans, it's just better to get in the mindset that Brackins is going to be gone. It's time to move forward with the next group of guys we have. Brackins made sacrifices to come back and play for ISU this year.
Looking at the Rookie Salary Scale for the NBA, you can literally see the millions that Brackins gave up to play for Iowa State. Let's say that Brackins was in fact a lottery pick last year, and he would've gone 12th. we're talking about $5.2 million guarenteed over the first 3 years. I honestly think the lowest Brackins would have gone last year is 16th to the Chicago Bulls. Looking at the 16th pick salary, it's about $4.2 million over those 3 years.
Now let's take a quick look at where Brackins could fall this year. mynbadraft.com has him at 41st overall. DraftExpress has him at 37th. Either way, he's being projected as a 2nd round draft pick right now. 2nd round draft picks get signed to Rookie Minimums of about $457k a year. Sometimes that first year is not guarenteed (meaning he can be cut from the team at anytime), and typically the 2nd year of the deal is a team option.
So Brackins pretty much turned away $4.2-5.2 million guaranteed for about $457k guaranteed.
I'm not saying you have to feel sorry for the guy or anything like that, but just realize that he gave up a lot to come back and don the Cyclone Uniform another year. It sucks that this year wasn't as good as hoped, because not being able to play in the NCAA Tournament or NIT isn't going to help his draft status either. You see a lot of guys' draft stock go up based on performance on the big stage. Craig is just going to have to try and wow some NBA scouts at those Rookie Prospect Camps.
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