With three Michigan players expected to go in the first two rounds of the NBA Draft June 26, the Wolverines are quickly became a pro-basketball factory, and they can thank John Beilein, ESPN.com writes.
The Web site's Jeff Goodman ranked the top 12 coaches for developing NBA talent and slotted Beilein third behind Florida's Billy Donovan and Ben Howland (not actively coaching). He had him ahead of Michigan State's Tom Izzo (No. 4), Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (No. 6) and Kentucky's John Calipari (No. 10).
"He's starting to churn out NBA guys lately -- Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., and Nik Stauskas, Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson III this year," Goodman wrote. "'Player development,' said one NBA scout. 'Bottom line. He works on players' individual games. There's a lot of shooting, of course, but every practice he takes 20 or so minutes to focus on getting guys better.'"
Staukas is a projected first-round pick while McGary and Robinson are potential first-rounders.
Burke and Hardaway finished third and fourth, respectively, in voting for the 2014 NBA Rookie of the Year. Burke averaged 12.8 points and 5.7 assists in 70 games for the Utah Jazz while Hardaway Jr. averaged 10.2 points in 81 games for the New York Knicks.
You can read the entire article here.
Meanwhile, ESPN continues to count down its top 50 coaches in college basketball. The site has arrived at No. 18 (San Diego State's Steve Fisher), but has not profiled Beilein yet.
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