Tom Izzo warns MSU freshmen to be wary of NBA mock drafts

EAST LANSING – Thursday night, Tom Izzo consoled Deyonta Davis on the floor of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Friday morning, Michigan State’s coach called his four-player freshman class into his office to caution them about believing mock drafts and online pundits.

“I just talked to them about this is why … you don’t believe the media, don’t believe the draft experts,” Izzo said Friday afternoon on a teleconference. “Understand this is a business. It’s the NBA – the people that are picking are the coaches and the GMs and the owners. So I did get that point across because, already, we got guys talking about next year in the media.”

Less than 24 hours after the draft ended, actually. CBSSports.com’s Gary Parrish on Friday unveiled his first mock draft for 2017, and he listed incoming MSU freshman forward Miles Bridges as the No. 25 pick.

“Bridges is the type of hard-nosed forward Tom Izzo has flourished with at Michigan State,” Parrish opined. “He's a bit of a tweener. But so was Draymond Green, once upon a time.”

One-and-done freshman Davis rocketed up mock draft boards in early January after the Spartans’ 13-0 start to the season. ESPN’s Chad Ford anointed him as his 17th-best player initially, while web site NBADraft.net considered the lanky forward as the No. 12 pick at that point. Davis dropped to the 31st pick of the draft, the first pick of the second round.

“After the 20th pick, there were still six or seven guys left in the green room – and they were all freshmen,” Izzo said of Thursday night’s draft. “I don’t have all the answers. I don’t feel bad for us, I don’t feel bad for the NBA. But I do feel a little bad for the players. This year, we tried to do it a different way and give them some time (to enter and withdraw from the draft). Some opted to do that, some didn’t. I’m not sure it helped a lot. …

“That’s what makes it so hard of a job to try and tell kids don’t believe anybody. But they always want to believe good things.”

Izzo had nothing but rave reviews for his freshman quartet of swingman Bridges, point guard Cassius Winston, shooting guard Josh Langford and big man Nick Ward. All four are now are on campus going through workouts.

Izzo said Ward has been “a little better than I thought” but needs to improve his fitness level. He called Langford “a machine” with his workouts and said both Bridges and Winston “have been very good” in their limited time on campus.

“They’re all smart and personable. That’s a big plus right off the bat,” Izzo said. “When you have your kids work camp, it’s really kind of interesting to watch them and see how they respond to kids. I love watching to see how they respond when a player doesn’t do what they tell them. It’s amazing how they get frustrated. I tell them, ‘Welcome to my world.’ But I think there’s no question that those guys, everybody knows are the top recruits. And they’ve been working and playing like it.”

Both Bridges and Winston are among 18 finalists for USA Basketball’s Under-18 National Team. They will head to Houston from July 11-15 for the final workouts to determine the 12-player team that will participate in the FIBA Americas Championship from July 19-23 in Valdivia, Chile.

MCQUAID MENDING: Izzo said rising sophomore guard Matt McQuaid has been battling a “minor stress fracture in his pelvic area.” McQuaid missed a few months with what initially was thought to be a sports hernia. He began working out again last week, and the coach said he believes McQuaid will be 100 percent within the next two weeks.

Izzo also said junior guard Tum Tum Nairn (foot) has been “working out pain-free” and is shooting the ball better in workouts so far this summer.

Forward Ben Carter, a graduate transfer who is eligible immediately, is still working on finishing his degree at UNLV. He is expected to arrive in East Lansing in a few weeks, Izzo said.

THOMPSON UPDATE: No word yet on when Taurean Thompson is expected to announce his decision between reported finalists MSU, Syracuse and Seton Hall. The 6-foot-9, 220-pound New York native, who played at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire last year, visited East Lansing earlier this month. Thompson ranks No. 75 in ESPN’s Top 100 and is the last remaining uncommitted player on that list for the 2016 class.

MSU coaches cannot comment on recruits until they accept a scholarship, but Izzo said the Spartans’ roster should be “99 percent” finalized within the next week.

“You’re still recruiting in June and July for next year,” he said, “but there’s more than a couple teams doing it.”

SECOND THOUGHTS: Izzo reflected on MSU’s stunning loss to Middle Tennessee and first-round exit from the NCAA tournament in the wake of the draft. Denzel Valentine was a first-round pick, Davis went early in the second round, and both Bryn Forbes and Matt Costello will chase their pro dreams in the NBA Summer League.

“I’m ecstatic about it,” Izzo said of his departing players’ futures. “I’m wondering who coached the team that they lost in the first round with all those players. I think I put it on me. They did a good job – it must be me who didn’t, because we had a shooter, we had a rebounder, we had an all-around player and we had a helluva big man who’s very talented.”