Grant Nelson withdraws from NBA Draft, should Kansas basketball pursue him?
By Kyle Jones
Star big man Grant Nelson withdrew his name from the NBA Draft pool yesterday. Should Kansas basketball pursue him or leave their roster as is?
After going through the full pre-draft process, North Dakota State big man Grant Nelson has decided to return to school for another season. Before going through the process, he entered his name into the transfer portal, and he will stick with that decision.
The question now is: Where will he decide to play his final college season, and will the Kansas Jayhawks go after him?
On paper, Nelson is a perfect fit for the Jayhawks. First off, he fills one of the most significant remaining needs for KU — depth in the frontcourt. As it currently stands, Parker Braun is the only reserve big man on the roster (unless you count 6-foot-8 Marcus Adams). While he has received praise from Coach Self, there are questions about whether or not he can be a significant factor at a higher level of basketball.
Nelson would immediately fix that issue, allowing Braun to move into a reserve role, where he would play a handful of minutes per game and only be used for long stretches in desperate situations.
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From a style of play perspective, he would be a near-perfect fit with what the roster currently boasts. Even at 6-foot-10, he is comfortable playing outside the lane and on the perimeter. He is more than capable of getting his own shot and, while he is only a 30-percent shooter from outside, the fact that he has taken three attempts per game over the past two years shows that he can be a threat from everywhere on the floor.
He could spread the floor to allow Hunter Dickinson to operate inside, and he can handle the ball himself to create some offense of his own. He would bring a valuable skill set to a KU team that is already plenty equipped to compete for a National Championship.
That leaves the question of whether Kansas should eat another one of their penalty scholarships or go all out this year. On one side, you could argue that the roster is good enough to win as is, and taking on two of the three self-imposed scholarship losses in one season is the best move. On the other side, you could argue that with a roster this good and full of seniors, you should go all in for a championship this year and deal with the scholarship issue later.
Personally, I’m in the win now boat. Dickinson and Kevin McCullar are better than any player they could get via the freshmen class and/or transfer portal next season, and Nick Timberlake is one of the best shooters in the country. All the pieces are aligned, so I say go for it.
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