Eric Musselman has coached basketball long enough to know how success is created at different levels of competition. He talked to USC athletics about one of his selling points to his players in the process of recruiting elite talent.
“In college, you’re recruiting, not drafting, so you have to identify 10 great players that can fit the puzzle perfectly,” Musselman said. “We have to find out if they can get into school and if they can fit into the academic culture. Do they want to come to LA? Do they want to play in the Big Ten? And then there’s a little bit of luck involved as well — especially in the portal era. Maybe a guy has a high ceiling, explodes in the year that you get him and turns himself into a much better player than you could have envisioned. That does happen too.
“Also, this week, we showed our team that 25 of the 30 players who got drafted in the first round played in the NCAA Tournament at some point in their careers. If you can’t help your college team win at a high level, how are you going to help an NBA team win at a high level? Obviously, there are guys like Ben Simmons and Anthony Edwards who never play in the NCAA Tournament, but for the most part, that’s a pretty good rule of thumb. I cannot remember a draft where that hasn’t been the case. If good things happen while you’re in college, that makes a huge impact on whether you get drafted.”
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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Eric Musselman makes important point to USC players about NBA futures
Reporting by Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire / Trojans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire | USA TODAY Network
