Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boehein on Tyler Ennis: 'He's ready to run an NBA team'

Tyler Ennis, Jerami Grant

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim told ESPN's Andy Katz that Tyler Ennis is ready to lead an NBA team but he feels Jerami Grant could have used another year of college.

(Associated Press)

Syracuse men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim joined ESPN's Andy Katz and Seth Greenberg in a Tuesday podcast and struck a dramatically different tone than he did in early April when asked about point guard Tyler Ennis.

Boeheim said Ennis is ready to run an NBA team, seemingly a reversal from the comments he made on "SportsCenter" immediately after Ennis' decision.

"He has got the size and the knowledge and the ability to be a professional point guard," Boeheim said on the podcast. "I think people will see that. I think they saw it during the year and I think they'll see that when they see him one-on-one. He's smart. He's mature beyond his years. He had almost a 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio here. He's really ready and able, I think, to run an NBA team."

Boeheim took some grief for giving an honest assessment of Ennis' decision to enter the NBA, rather than giving the move an overwhelmingly positive assessment of the choice, in the days following Ennis' announcement.

In case you forgot, Boeheim's mildly critical comments on "SportsCenter" were: "I think he is a great college player, but I think physically he could have used another year. I think when you get to the NBA, you need to be as physically ready as you can be, so I think Tyler could have benefited from another year, but certainly he is a tremendous player and a very smart point guard."

Ennis, in a recent interview with NBC Sports, said he wasn't bothered by Boeheim's critique.

"That situation, I think the media and the outside people that really don't know the situation kind of got a different angle than (the players) did," Ennis told NBCSports.com. "Even through my decision to enter the draft, I sat down with coach a few times and talked to him. And even to this day we're able to speak and be on the same page. We're both loyal people, we have a good relationship and he just wants what is best for me."

Boeheim made similar remarks to Katz about Jerami Grant, saying that he was "a little bit surprised" that Grant left; the forward could have used another year of physical development; and it might take him some time to break into the NBA.

Like he was with Ennis, though, Boeheim was mostly positive about Grant and said he expected the athletic forward to have a long NBA career.

"I think it was a surprise a little bit," Boeheim said. "I think physically he needs to be a little stronger. That said, he's going to get drafted, he's going to be an NBA player, he's going to play in the NBA for a long time. It may take him a little while to break in. He's got to get a little bit stronger, continue to work on his shooting. I think Jerami Grant is going to play in the NBA a long time. I really do. I would have rather seen him play another year in college, selfishly, and I think it would have helped him, but I believe he'll play in the NBA and someday be a great NBA player."

Boeheim was also asked about the possibility of the NBA instituting an age-limit rule that would require players to attend two years of college instead of the current rule of one, an idea that new NBA commissioner Adam Silver has pushed since taking over for David Stern.

"I don't think we're going to get a perfect situation, I really don't," Boeheim said. "The baseball rule is better. Go out of high school or else stay three years. That isn't going to happen. I think two years is better. I think the guys I've had that have stayed two years, Jerami Grant, Michael Carter-Williams, I think they've benefited from it. ... Overall, for the good of college basketball, if kids stay in college two years, you get more of a feeling like they're in college, rather than the one year where they're here and gone with as little as 24 credits. I think that the two-year rule would be good."

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