Winners and losers of the NBA Draft declarations

Loser: Michigan

There may not be a bigger loser in the draft process at this point than Michigan, which was hit with extremely significant defections throughout the roster.

That doesn’t even factor in the departure of long time head coach John Beilein, who bolted for the NBA by taking the Cleveland Cavaliers’ head coaching vacancy.

The Wolverines were already going to be without Charles Matthews, who graduated, but losing both Ignas Brazdeikis and Jordan Poole to the NBA certainly doesn’t help. Both guys certainly had pro potential, but the timing of their exits was certainly questionable.

Brazdeikis had a solid freshman year in Ann Arbor, but his frame and defensive issues have had scouts questioning where he will fit in the NBA. Most mock drafts have Brazdeikis as a potential second round pick at best, so he probably could have benefited from another year in school.

Poole, who will go down in Wolverines’ history as the guy who hit the buzzer beater to eliminate Houston in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, admitted that he didn’t know if he could continue to develop as a ball-handler and pick-and-roll player at Michigan.

Considering the immense difficulty that the Wolverines had scoring a year ago, it’s hard to blame Poole for feeling that way.

Things got worse when the Wolverines’ top recruit, forward Jalen Wilson, recommitted after Beilein left for Cleveland.

If Wilson decides to move on, it could make life very difficult for first year coach Juwan Howard, who has a few talented players on the roster but not much in terms of depth.