Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Will shove impact Crabbe's NBA decision?
By Joe Kaiser
Will Sunday's shoving incident involving Cal coach Mike Montgomery and Golden Bears' leading scorer Allen Crabbe affect Crabbe's decision to return to school next season?
It's hard to say for sure, and at this point the junior is saying all the right things.
"Everything's fine," Crabbe said after Sunday's game. "It's under the bridge. He's my coach, no hard feelings. We're just going to keep moving on."
But with Crabbe averaging 19.8 points a game and becoming a bigger national name -- he was recently named ESPN's player of the week -- we have to believe the NBA was already somewhat on his mind before the two-handed shove from Montgomery. In what many are calling a weak draft, Crabbe could have a chance to be a late first-round pick per Chad Ford, and one has to believe that this incident is one that could make Crabbe's decision to go pro easier for him.
If Crabbe declares for the NBA draft, Cal will have to rely on Justin Cobbs, Tyrone Wallace and ESPN 100 freshman Jabari Bird to pick up the scoring slack in the backcourt next season.
