Are Conley Jr. and Cook making the right decision?

	Mike Conley Jr. can exploit a unique loophole during his pre-draft workouts. John Biever/SI
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Few words need be expended on the departure of Ohio State man-child Greg Oden to the NBA. He announced in a statement on Friday that it "was a very tough decision," but it was also a move that everyone expected and no one begrudged. He came, he took the Buckeyes to within one win of a national title, he left to become the No. 1 pick in the draft. What more could OSU ask of him -- other than that he remain in class 'til June so as not to injure the team's Academic Performance Rate with the NCAA?

The decisions made by two other members of the Thad Five (coach Thad Matta's celebrated 2006 recruiting class) were the real news of Friday: Fellow freshmen Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook are entering the draft, albeit without hiring agents. This leaves open the opportunity for them to return to the Buckeyes, but there is a feeling in NBA circles that both players are committed to turning pro. While Oden's announcement was a mere formality, losing Conley and Cook was never a foregone conclusion -- and no doubt many people, including me in a top 10 written just a few weeks ago, expected that duo to return and carry OSU to a second straight Big Ten title.

My knee-jerk reaction was to criticize Conley, who emerged late in the 2006-07 season as one of the nation's best point guards and the true engineer -- despite all the hype surrounding Oden -- of the Buckeyes' run to a No. 1 ranking and spot in the national championship game against Florida. As a sophomore Conley would not only be a preseason first-team All-America; he'd also have to be considered a front-runner for the Wooden Award. A monster season like that would pull him out of Oden's shadow for good, and create a Chris Paul-like buzz around him entering the 2008 draft.

The reality, though, is that while most media buzz over the Lottery has been entirely focused on Oden and Kevin Durant, there is a significant amount of excitement amongst NBA scouts over Conley -- so much that it's not inconceivable that he could be taken in front of all of Florida's decorated first-round prospects. While the Buckeyes' floor general is currently projected between the 10-12 range on NBADraft.net and DraftExpress, one scout said today that, "When it's all said and done -- after the workouts are finished -- I think Conley could go as high as number 4 or 5. He's the real deal."

The same scout also said that as a business decision, staying in school for another year would be a bigger gamble than leaving, "because the top of next year's draft is so loaded with point guard prospects, and there's no guarantee that he'd be the first one taken." Indeed, one glance at the 2008 draft board shows six PGs fighting for Lottery position: Memphis' Derrick Rose, USC's O.J. Mayo, UCLA's Darren Collison, Georgia Tech's Javaris Crittenton, Arizona's Jerryd Bayless and North Carolina's Tywon Lawson. In '07 the only other marginal Lottery PG-prospect is Acie Law -- which makes Conley much more attractive now than next season. In that light, it's hard to question what Conley is doing.

One opposing assistant coach I spoke to about Conley said he thought the freshman "played well beyond his age this season," but was more intrigued by the uniqueness of Conley's agent situation. His father, Mike Conley Sr., has founded Mac Management Group and is expected to represent both his son and Oden. While Conley Jr. has not "hired" his father officially, the Buckeyes' star will be able to have his pre-draft expenses paid for -- by his "father" and not his "agent" -- without worry of reimbursement. And therefore he'll be able to do a full slate of workouts and training sessions while still keeping the door open for a return. There's nothing shady about having your dad as your agent -- would you rather give five percent of your contract to your family, or a slimy stranger? -- but it's an unprecedented loophole in the draft-preparation process.

Whereas Conley appears to be making a sound decision, I can't say the same for Cook. He looked awful during the NCAA tournament, driving Matta nuts with a total lack of defense and jacking up ill-advised shots on offense. I never considered Cook to be a lost cause; I just had him pegged as a Brandon Roy-type who would eventually shed his bad habits, perhaps as a sophomore, perhaps as a junior, and emerge as one of the country's best all-around two-guards.

Cook has the physical makeup to be a dominating scorer on the college level -- he's a 6-5, 210-pound former McDonald's All-American with a great shooting stroke -- but he didn't seem interested in becoming a complete player as a freshman. He may have been the only Buckeye who was hurt by Oden's absence at the beginning of the season. During that early stretch Cook led OSU in scoring, and perhaps gained a distorted view of his role, which was not to be a shot-hog but rather a complement to the Oden/Conley/(and occasionally)Ron Lewis show.

Despite those shortcomings, my hunch is that, barring any kind of reconciliation with Matta, Cook has played his last game as a Buckeye. When your mother goes on record in the hometown paper as saying, "I'm not a real big Thad Matta fan right now," your camp isn't giving off strong back-to-school vibes.

In the end, Cook may get his wish of a guaranteed contract and a first-round pick. Another NBA scout I talked to called the shot-happy guard a "solid developmental prospect" -- a player whom a team late in the first round "can afford to pick and maybe put in the freezer for a year or two."

Is passing up a chance at NCAA stardom for the NBA pine -- or very likely, the D-League -- really a solid trade? I think Oden is more than ready to be a star -- if not a future legend -- in the league. I'm convinced that Conley, if he keeps his name in the draft, is making a quality decision. I can't say the same for Cook. Ohio State will survive without him, with a solid cast returning and a top-10 recruiting class on the way. But how, Daequan, are you better off in the freezer?