His agent will spin the entire situation that he demanded a starting role and that absent that, he was not capable of performing in a backup role as productively as he could as a starter. Any team he goes to will assure him of a starter’s position. He would be foolish to attempt to go pro because it is very likely that as a pro he will come off the bench and if this is is his attitude about that then he will have progressively worse circumstances in the NBA. And you are right NBA management is going to avoid taking a chance on someone who has already demonstrated his unwillingness to embrace the team concept. On the college level it is a completely different story. A college program that could benefit from his athleticism and sporadic scoring ability will find a way to fit him the starting line up. There are just too many programs and too many moving pieces for him to not fit in as a starter with some program.
This is what Coach Golden said as part of his press conference Tuesday. On what led Florida to not play Riley Kugel in its final two games in Nashville: "A combination of I think some other guys just stepping up. You look at what Denzel has been able to do for us over the last couple of weeks, and he's a guy that's super consistent and has a great attitude and regardless of his playing time brings the same approach on a day-to-day basis. He had been playing better for the last couple weeks. I thought Denzel played great at home against Bama, thought he gave us a big lift in the Bama game in Nashville, and then it's just kind of a decision that we've made to go with him for the Texas A&M game and he made me look smart. He played his tail off, had 20 points in 22 minutes, guarded really, really well. The reality is basketball is a team game and sometimes different guys are needed for different circumstances. For that specific moment in the tournament we thought Denzel and his ball handling and his defense would give us a big lift and he stepped up for us. I hope Riley will give us a big lift in this tournament. We are down one obviously, and could really use him in a lot of different ways. So I expect him to have really good practices today, tomorrow and Thursday, and then my hope is that he gives us a good lift on Friday in the games."
Shimmy? What I heard him say was that he isn’t in game shape, but could play if needed. He only said that in response to a direct question about him.
He said more than that: "I did go down and say, ‘Hey, you better be ready to go’ and his eyes got about that wide. I'm not sure if he knew I was serious. But yeah, we need everybody. And he's capable, man, he's a capable player. He's obviously not in great shape right now, hasn't played in game minutes. But I believe and trust in him in a pinch that he can give us a good effort if we need it.”
Zyon played in the Portsmouth Invitational which is an official NBA Draft event before deciding to return to college
