AJ is in his 4th year of college and is 22 years of age. He has already had surgery on both hips. I say its time to go overseas and make some money because he won't be in the NBA.
I'm not saying Green is NBA material, but people said that about Fred VanVleet, and now he's an NBA All-Star and has an NBA Championship ring.
Green is probably on track to graduate this year, so if there is a good time to transfer, it might be this year. I don't know and won't predict what he will do. He's an elite shooter, something that always attracts interest from the NBA, however, the one thing he hasn't proven in college is whether he can score consistently and defend against the high-major types of opponents, like he'd face in the Big 12. The Big 12 is the #1 conference in RPI this season, and has multiple NBA-caliber guards.
Recall that A.J. Green declared for the NBA in April, 2020, after being named the MVC Player of the Year, but eventually returned to UNI.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of the NBA people he's talked to have advised him that he needs to prove he can play consistently against pro-quality guards, and may have suggested that transferring would be one way to do that.
Patrick O'Bryant wouldn't have been a lottery pick in 2006 (9th pick overall), IMO, and maybe wouldn't have even been a 1st rounder if he hadn't had those 2 dominating games against Kansas' Sasha Kaun (2008 2nd round pick) and Pitt's Aaron Gray (2007 2nd round pick) in the NCAA Tournament with NBA scouts looking on. Just by proving his skills in a pair of impressive games against NBA caliber big men, he moved himself up in the draft and made himself a few million bucks.
Here is an article from two years ago by the UNI beat writer for the Des Moines Register who got some comments on Green's game and NBA potential from a couple NBA draft experts-
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...ll/3039384001/
A few of their comments about A.J. Green-
>> “He's a reliable shooter with great touch, which you can gather from his near-40% accuracy from three last season. But what really stands out is his 91.7% free-throw shooting. Scouts often use free-throw shooting as an indicator of future success shooting from three as opposed to current success shooting from three. So the fact that AJ has above-average shooting from beyond the arc and elite free-throw shooting numbers — top-10 nationally last season — bodes well for him in terms of his proposition as an offensive weapon."
>> "He’s somebody who’s certainly worth tracking right now because of the incredible shooting ability. He was one of the better high-volume pull-up jump shooters this season. In terms of what he needs to improve, he needs to show he can defend at the next level. He’s going to have to prove he can take on tough assignments.
>> "He needs to become more of a distributor and someone who makes really good passing decisions, in addition to just being the unbelievable shooter he is."
>> "There are some limitations to his game and to his upside. He's not the most athletic guard, and the decision-making could use some improvement. But basketball moving the way it is now, there's always space in the game for an efficient scorer who can knock down shots from limitless range. He's certainly got that in his bag."
>> “I think he has a shot, at some point, to play in the NBA — just because when you’re that kind of shooter, you always at least get a chance. But I think the benefit here (of him declaring right now) is mostly just him getting an opportunity to get his name out there and get a bit more publicity for what he did this year, because it felt like he didn’t get enough for how good he was this year.”
