Tyler Cook Announces Decision to Test NBA Waters

[dahlhawk]

The NBA is like any other business, why pay to train a guy for a job when you can have someone else do it for free. Without an agent egging him on, scouts will give him the reality check he will need. Many players can jump and dunk, just go on the internet, only a select few can play at the NBA level. If they are honest with him, no way is he even drafted. There are at least 10 players in the Big Ten alone with higher chances of making it in the League than Tyler, who won't make it. He needs to talk to Jok, White, and others who have tried to make the league and hear how hard it is first hand. I think he can do it with at least another year of improvement. Probable two, if not then doubtful it will happen at all.

 

[SteveGarvey1]

Good luck with this Tyler. Like you said, it's God's plan.

I do hope God's plan is that you come back to Iowa though because you would probably have even a more monster season than last year and get drafted in '19.

 

[EstronHawkKing]

 

[ssckelley]

This is reassuring, if he leaves then he's leaving to play professionally. This pretty much rules out that he is transferring anywhere.

As much as I want to see Iowa succeed I'll never question a player leaving early if they have the opportunity to be paid for it. The window of opportunity to earn a living playing any sport professionally is relatively small. If the pro scouts think Tyler Cook is ready then I'll wish him well and will root for him no matter where he winds up.

 

[uihawk82]

Best of luck to him. He has the athleticism and can run the floor and dribble pretty well. But he has to make quicker decisions in the pros, too many times he takes up too much time with the ball, cant do that with a 24 second clock.

I think he needs to have some Reggie Evans type years to make the nba unless all of a sudden he starts draining 3s.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Cooks is what 6'9" and 255lbs? That's a big dude to be this athletic. I agree, he needs another year of improvement, but for those who don't think he will catch on with an NBA team...you are stoned. The Golden State Warriors are carrying two extra power forwards on their roster...Kavon Looney 6'9" 230 and David West 6'9" 250. Cook moves better than both and is a better ball handler right now. He's a year away from having a consistent midrange shot too...and he can develop that in the Pros or at Iowa. Cook is no where near where he needs to be defensively...that will keep him at Iowa more than anything.

He's got much more upside than Looney or West if you ask me. He's really young...but he's a future NBA player...regardless of when.

 

[Xerxes]

Cooks is what 6'9" and 255lbs? That's a big dude to be this athletic. I agree, he needs another year of improvement, but for those who don't think he will catch on with an NBA team...you are stoned. The Golden State Warriors are carrying two extra power forwards on their roster...Kavon Looney 6'9" 230 and David West 6'9" 250. Cook moves better than both and is a better ball handler right now. He's a year away from having a consistent midrange shot too...and he can develop that in the Pros or at Iowa. Cook is no where near where he needs to be defensively...that will keep him at Iowa more than anything.

He's got much more upside than Looney or West if you ask me. He's really young...but he's a future NBA player...regardless of when.

If he is 6’9” he is pretty athletic at that size but we won’t find out until he’s in the nba combine if he’s actually 6’9”. I’m very interested to see how he stacks up athletically to nba players. He’s a tremendous athlete for Iowa standards but nba athletes are superhuman.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

Best of luck to him. Maybe he can bring back some information to Fran about defensive strategy for next year while he is getting pointers from the scouts. Couldn't hurt.

 

[NEIChawk]

NBA will be perfect for him.....they don't play defense either.....

 

[ibahawkeye]

Smart move by Tyler. Worst case he comes back to Iowa with a blue print of what to work on.

 

[Seth53]

I heard a good discussion regarding this and NCAA FB players on Sirius 84 the other day.
Run a non-binding/non-agent combine the week before the true NFL combine.
Let the kids see where they stand, how they rate, but let them come back to college if they choose.

Makes sense to me.