Kansas basketball: Here we go again with the “Bill Self to the NBA” rumors
It seems like it’s not really an offseason anymore unless media personalities talk about Kansas basketball head coach Bill Self leaving the Jayhawks for the NBA.
Kansas basketball head coach Bill Self has won everywhere that he’s been. He’s been successful at Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Illinois, and Kansas during his 27-year head coaching career, but it’s all been as a college coach. There’s always speculation that Self will make the jump to the NBA as soon as a position opens up, and it looks like it’s that time of year again.
With the firing of Philidelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown, rumors have been swirling that Self is a candidate to replace Brown. The problem is that the rumors don’t seem to be based on facts, rather they seem to try and connect a few dots.
Here is what basketball analyst Jeff Goodman wrote on Twitter:
"“Bill Self has been on the NBA’s radar for years. He coached Joel Embiid. Kansas in midst of NCAA investigation right now. If I was Philadelphia, Self would be on my short list of candidates.”"
This isn’t a new trope either. While Goodman didn’t offer any kind of prediction in his tweet, Seth Greenberg of ESPN straight up predicted Bill Self would leave Kansas and go to the Spurs sometime during 2020.
At this point, the main reasons Self is in the conversation as a replacement for Brown involve his relationship with former Jayhawk and NBA superstar Joel Embiid, and the allegations Kansas is facing. Self and Kansas basketball have proclaimed their innocence in the case multiple times, and based on their statements, it sounds like nobody is ready to jump ship.
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As long as Bill Self is successful at Kansas, there will continue to be rumors of him leaving the Jayhawks for a job in the NBA. The best thing he can do is put out a statement regarding the rumors similar to what Michigan’s Juwan Howard did recently. Howard announced his loyalty to Michigan and shut down any ideas that he’d leave. If Self did the same, it’d go a long way with fans of Kansas basketball.