Orton absolutely made the right move for him. If he stayed longer, his injury concerns and lack of development would have led to him dropping in the draft or not getting drafted. He got picked in the first round and made over $3M.
OKC signs Dakari Johnson to guaranteed 2 year deal
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Orton absolutely made the right move for him. If he stayed longer, his injury concerns and lack of development would have led to him dropping in the draft or not getting drafted. He got picked in the first round and made over $3M.
I think Terrence Jones definitely will be on a roster this year. I think Poythress, Young, Harrison, and Miller all have decent chances. It wouldn't surprise me if Humphries gets signed to a 1-2 year deal considering his size and age. Briscoe is the only one who I feel like it's very unlikely he'll be on a roster next year.
Congrats Dakari! Over $2 is nothing to sneeze at. While it may not set him up for life, it's a wonderful nest egg to build from. If he plays it right, he'll always be in a home, he'll have money for kids college, and he'll easily be able to like a 60-80K lifestyle - that ain't bad.
Also, if some posters can't see the difference in a the body type and athleticism the NBA craves between WCS and DJ... you're just looking for something stupid to argue about.
Also, if some posters can't see the difference in a the body type and athleticism the NBA craves between WCS and DJ... you're just looking for something stupid to argue about.
2 mil can def set you up for life. Even 1 mil can, just invest etc wisely and you can live a very very comfortable life on 2 million dollars
10% for an agent..at least 40% for US and though a million sounds like a lot, he better be really frugal. Good Luck DJ!!
The reasons Dakari was a second round pick were never going to change. A featured role at Kentucky wouldn't have made him explosive or quick.
There's just no evidence that he was "very likely a first rounder" at any point. Which immobile 7 footers with average measurables have been first rounders in the last decade?
It's the same as saying Ulis should have stayed. You can produce all you want but there's a physical limitation on what you can be. Look at Swanigan (barely a first rounder as a POY candidate with three point range) or Frank Mason.
Being older is never better, and if they already view you as limited, your one upside potential is your age.
How about just having fun in college and maybe winning a championship and leaving a legacy?
What's wrong with that?
Because you can do all of those things in the NBA while making hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars while not taking classes that don't hold any value to you.
Ask Wayne Turner if he'd trade careers with Eric Bledsoe. He'd do it every time.
Depends where you want to live kinda scary to think about how far a million dollars doesn't go in Southern CA, NYC, Nashville, Seattle, Austin, Miami, Washington D.C suburbs, Atlanta, Denver etc.
True- good point.
In OK city tho, he should def be able to get a very nice house - in cash- for like $250,000.
Pay that up front and you don't have a mortgage the rest of your life .
Hoping to buy a house in cash myself (well my wife and 3 sons) in the next 3 years (fingers crossed )
Def see your point tho - especially places like NY, cali etc
Remember...he, like the rest of these kids, is going to take care of mommy first. So, if he buys two houses for 250K that leaves 500k...now if he can live frugal on 50k a year he's ok, but that dosen't include expenses he and mommy will have.
Yeah. Because he's going to get that 2 year contract, then never make another cent for the rest of his life. He's just going to stop playing and sit on his ass for 60 years. Seems realistic to me.
I was thinking the same. He probably will have a solid 8 to 10 year career like Naz and then on to his next job. Watched him play and he had worked. Every team needs that low post banger. Nice young dude
I don't disagree with your basic concept that there's a limit to many players potential, Ulis being a good example.
I guess where I disagree is that Dakari had reached his potential when he declared for the draft. (You didn't explicitly state this but this seems to be the underlying basis of your argument.) IMO, like many (but not all) players who choose to leave early, he was taken at a discount because he hadn't really produced much in college. (As a freshman because Dakari was getting used to the game and as a sophomore because he was playing limited minutes). I think he was ready for a break-out year as a junior, as he would have had unlimited minutes in the post and the team would have been much better anyway as it would have allowed Skal to move out on the floor and not be relied on to rebound so much.
I agree with you that he has a limited upside, as you say he will never become explosive or quick. But I don't think it's a stretch by any means that he likely would have moved into the first round the following years draft, if he had been able to show the ability to dominate inside in college.
I'm not saying he could have become a lottery pick but late first round was very likely IMO. At the end of the day we'll never know who would have been right.
And that's exactly why IMO he shouldn't have rushed entering the league.
The thing about declaring for the NBA draft (for the vast majority of NBA prospects) is that if they're not ready to contribute at the NBA level from Day 1, then they're only cheating themselves.
Every playing opportunity in the Summer League, or in the preseason training camp and exhibition games etc. is an opportunity not only to solidify your standing with the team that drafted you but to impress opposing teams as well. But that window is relatively short. The longer you don't produce in that window, the less and less likely teams are going to be willing to give you a shot as opposed to another newer prospect.
The odds of Dakari making an NBA team and sticking around for a 10 year career is simply higher if he had entered as a proven collegiate scorer and rebounder on a 1st round contract in which a team is committed to developing him and giving him playing opportunities, than it is as an unproven second round player who is assigned to the D-league with the thought that some day he might be able to improve enough to contribute at the NBA level.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the Dakari stuck through it and it now appears that he does have a good opportunity to make an NBA roster and cash in, but he made it harder on himself than he needed to by entering the draft prematurely.
If bb doesn't work out after these two years what's he going to do to make that kind of money smartass...I like DJ and hope makes it big and just hope he is careful. I'm assuming , because of being as smart as you are, that you are aware that 80% NBA players are broke 5 years after they are out of the league?
Yeppp. If we plays in the NBA for 8-10 years , and doesn't spend RIDICULOUSLY, he could live a VERY comfortable/ lavish life.
not sure that fat fingers turns Dakari into Tamari. Siri's fault.Doh. Fat fingers.
Oh yes, I absolutely accept that completely unattributed 80% (bullsh**) figure you pulled out of your ass. Yeah, lots o' athletes blow all their money, but 80% is totally absurd.
And you don't seem to understand how BB "doesn't work out" for guys who manage to snag a 2 year NBA contract. Not having a lasting NBA career doesn't mean you don't have a basketball career. No, you're not going to make millions, but you're still likely to be drawing a 6 figure salary, possibly high 6 figures, for an extended period well beyond the 2 year NBA run (unless you're an idiot problem child, which Dakari clearly isn't- he never would have made it through 2 years of D League apprenticeship if he was).
Andre Riddick had no NBA career at all, but managed to make a nice living in Europe for close to 20 years. Dakari Johnson, given his size, is, barring injury, going to be making money playing basketball for at least another decade. And there's a very good chance he draws NBA paychecks for that next decade, a possibility you seem to totally dismiss.
Worst case scenario is that Dakari will be 23, having made around $2.5 million, halfway to a degree that he can finish for free anytime, with a huge network of connections and an above average level of notoriety.
Who wouldn't take that for themselves or their child? Hard to argue he made any bad decisions.
Who wouldn't take that for themselves or their child? Hard to argue he made any bad decisions.
I'd left college for $75k a year. I wouldn't give a shit about someone's else opinion on it. They can blow me.
Again it's hard to say definitively because every one of us only gets one chance in life. Whether it was better for him to have declared for the draft when he did or better to have returned to UK, we can't run it both ways to see which was better in the long run. So it will always be a question that people can disagree on.
But it's easy to say now (now that he's signed a contract worth over $2 million) that the worst case scenario is that by the age of 23 he would have made around $2.5 million, and thus it was a good decision. A week ago it wasn't anywhere close to that.
Again my only point is that every player and every situation is different. In Dakari's case, it's my belief that by entering the draft before he was proven and before he was ready to contribute at the NBA level, that he made it more difficult on himself, and lowered the odds substantially of first making a team which negatively impacts him having a lucrative and long-term NBA career.
I'm glad that it looks like he's back on track, and hopefully he will stick in the league for a long time. But he did himself no favors IMO by declaring when he did. Others can disagree, but at the end of day no one can ever really say definitively one way or the other.
So happy for Dakari. That guy has put in the work and its finally paying off for him. There's a lot of things he's lacking as a modern NBA big but he will be a nice option for them off the bench. He's the type of guy that would've thrived playing with Jordan on those Bulls teams. Big, tough fundamental C that can put in some work with his back to the basket and be a big presence in the paint on D. He's one of the more underrated players of the Cal era imo. Good for you DJ!
OKC now has three of the most likeable Cats in the NBA with DJ, PPat and Kanter. I'll be rooting for the Thunder in most games. It'll be cool to see PPat at sf, Kanter at pf and Dakari at C when they get to play together (probably won't happen much though). They should be a really good team next year too.
OKC now has three of the most likeable Cats in the NBA with DJ, PPat and Kanter. I'll be rooting for the Thunder in most games. It'll be cool to see PPat at sf, Kanter at pf and Dakari at C when they get to play together (probably won't happen much though). They should be a really good team next year too.
And logic isn't your friend.
First of all, if you have a source besides "I might have heard that number somewhere and it sounds impressive", YOU should google it and link it.
Then do some math. 60 guys a year are drafted. 80% of 60 is 48. So what you're saying is that on average only 12 guys per draft, max (and that's actually a high number, because not all 60 guys who are drafted make the NBA), aren't broke 5 years after their NBA career ends.
Gee, color me skeptical about the legitimacy of that figure. Let's look at the 1996 NBA draft. 60 guys were drafted, but only 47 ever played in the NBA. So by your logic, all but 10 either are or will be broke soon. So tell me which guys among the group of Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, Derek Fisher, Steve Nash, Jermaine O'Neal, Erick Dampier, Marcus Camby, Stephon Marbury, Zydrunas Ilgauskus, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Malik Rose, Peja Stojakovic, Shandon Anderson, Othella Harrington, Vitaly Potapenko, Walter McCarty, Jerome Williams, Jeff McInnis, Tony Delk, Kerry Kittles, Samaki Walker, Moochie Norris, John Wallace, Travis Knight, Todd Fuller, Randy Livingston, Jamie Feick, and Mark Pope are broke.
That's 28 of the 31 guys from that draft that lasted at least 5 seasons in the NBA. I excluded Allen Iverson and Antoine Walker, because yeah, we know they went broke, and I excluded Lorenzen Wright because he's dead.
Maybe some of the guys I listed are broke, but I have a hard time believing that 18 of them are. And that assumes that the other 16 guys who appeared in the NBA but didn't last 5 years all ended up with nothing.
![[laughing]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/laugh.r191677.gif "Laughing [laughing]")
You got that covered...
