Exclusive: Tom Izzo on Xavier Tillman Staying in NBA Draft or Coming Back
East Lansing, MI—In an exclusive interview with Michigan State Spartan basketball coach Tom Izzo, we talked about Xavier Tillman. He has a tough decision ahead of him to stay in the NBA draft or come back to Michigan State.
"It has been a tough process, but it's been a lot on my shoulders to call NBA teams. He has talked with a few agents because you are allowed to do that now, and his mother has done a great job with that. It has been a very open door and policy here, his mom calls me, I call Xavier, we are just trying to gather information and do what is right. I have had a kid or two that I thought made major mistakes one way or another, and I don't see Xavier doing that, but the process is difficult. By saying making mistakes, I mean, if the signs show that he is going to be this kind of pick or that kind of pick and he goes, he should go. But if they don't, I think he will look at it both ways, and I just feel bad because the process isn't the same. You can't go through the same process you are not going to be able to work out in Chicago. You can't go get interviews, so it is a more difficult process, and we are dealing with that, but right now, I am trying to collect things from G.M.'s, and some agents are, and he will meet with agents through zoom. Teams will probably interview him through zoom, which isn't nearly the same, especially when you want to look a guy in the eye and read him, and you can do it, but you can't see the body language. So, it is going to be a process; the biggest problem is nobody knows when the process will even start. They are talking now the NBA season could be in June, July, or August."
Izzo continued, "You cannot have the draft until after the season is over because you have to have the order in which they are picked. There are so many unknowns right now, there is no secret, and there are no hidden things."
Izzo added, "Xavier has been awesome; his mother has been awesome; we are just trying to gather everything and get an idea from the underclassmen committee. There are so many different people out there that run these little things, and I've seen everything from a late first to a late second, and yet none of those are from the teams themselves. Even those teams are trying to gather whose coming out, whose not. Last year, I think 219 guys put their names into the underclassman evaluation. This year I bet it will be 350; it just seems like every kid thinks they should do it, so it creates more problems for the NBA, to be honest with you to try to evaluate all of these guys somewhat and give them an idea. Very difficult, the process because teams usually send people in here to interview my staff, the trainer, interview the equipment man, some of these teams are so thorough it is scary. Those would all help Xavier because of the type of person he is, but I don't know how it is going to go because I don't know what the NBA standards are yet or when they will make their decisions. We have to hang tight and support him he has done everything he can do for Michigan State. If he is back, it is great for us, but if he is ready for this and is gone in the right way it would be for the best too because another one of our guys has moved on and bettered his life because of the education and the sport he played here at Michigan State."
Keep your computer tuned to Spartan Nation for more of our exclusive interview with Tom Izzo all week.
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