In one of the least surprising announcements of the past few weeks, Cole Aldrich announced that he would forgo his senior season at Kansas and enter the NBA Draft. While Aldrich had a relatively disappointing season (a 3rd team All-American and a flame out in the 2nd round against Northern Iowa) he will still cash in on NBA millions as he is an almost certain top 10 pick (10th overall pick gets $1.87 M per year). The big question with Aldrich is not his ability (almost nobody questions that he could be a legit NBA center especially with how weak the position is right now), but we wonder how effective he will be when he often struggled to assert himself in big moments for the Jayhawks even when he had Sherron Collins, one of the best point guards in the country, bringing the ball up the court every night. His numbers were solid (11.3 PPG, 9.8 RPG, and 3.5 BPG–ok, the blocks are impressive), but hardly the stuff you would expect from a junior who was projected at one point in the season to be a top 5 pick. If Aldrich can’t dominate against inferior opponents with a great point guard, how will he do against NBA centers who are every bit as big as him when he won’t be playing with a point guard who is significantly better than his opponent. While we certainly enjoyed watching Aldrich play during his time in Lawrence, we have this gnawing feeling that he never really reached his potential there and can only hope he does so at the next level.
