Dior update
- Thread starter BballinsiderfromPitt
- Start date
It appears to be a mutual decision by all parties with regard to him returning. That includes Capel, the assistants, the AD, the current players along with Dior.
Personally, I think Dior wants to come back here. He personally wanted to address the team by himself, and the players seem to have welcomed him back in a positive manner.
We'll see. We'll see how we finish this year first and foremost. But Dior with the other freshmen coming in, the entire frontcourt potentially returning, and there will be other decent additions in the offseason, I think we have a legit chance to be even better next year. But first things first, let's see what happens this year.
Personally, I think Dior wants to come back here. He personally wanted to address the team by himself, and the players seem to have welcomed him back in a positive manner.
We'll see. We'll see how we finish this year first and foremost. But Dior with the other freshmen coming in, the entire frontcourt potentially returning, and there will be other decent additions in the offseason, I think we have a legit chance to be even better next year. But first things first, let's see what happens this year.
If Capel can at least make the NIT and return Hinson, the twins, Dior, hopefully an improved Jeffress + the freshman class and a few good transfers, we go into next season expecting to make the NCAAT.
You’re exactly right that it’s a privilege, but there’s a responsibility that the program incurs as well when they recruit these kids. It’s easy for us to just say cut him loose and move on but, for at least this year, the program has a responsibility to the kid even after the arrest. I think they’re acting very responsibly to let him stay on as a redshirt as, if they cut him, his already toxic rep goes full radioactive. If he keeps his nose clean and be a solid member of the program, he can generate some goodwill before his next move.
I’d be stunned if it’s not pro. Someone will park him in the G League and see if he can stay out of trouble and what his game looks like against pros.
I guess the key in what you said is ‘someone will park him in the G league’. Having never played 1 game at the college level, is his rep from HS or AAU years really that high for someone to do that?
If he doesn’t play this year, he won’t play here next year.
He wont play at another college next year unless we kick him off or Capel is fired. Now, could he enter the NBA Draft, go undrafted and end up in the G-league, NOT on a 2-way, sure I guess. But at this point, if he stays in college, I dont think there will be major NIL money to get him to transfer to like Tennessee or some place like that. You, yourself, said Pitt was his only option.
As for NIL, Dior probably already has some stuff actual legit deals since he was the only HS player included in the 20 or so card packs my son got.
He reopened his high school recruitment from Syracuse to Oregon and ended up at Pitt because some teams were turned off because of his past history. Now he has an actual criminal history and record on top of it along with probation.
Any company that gives him a NIL deal would likely be laughed at if not scolded at the same time, no one is taking that type of risk now at another school while he is on probation for the next year. No one. On top of that he is going to have classes and counseling to take in the state of Pennsylvania. He isnt going to get off scot free like nothing happened, there is punishment he still has to go through and deal with that is going to last for the foreseeable future. This is far from over like there is a simple fine and that is it, hands free.
He isnt going to get drafted.
So his options are still really limited even if he wanted to go somewhere else.
He still has a chance to correct himself, rebuild his brand that is heavily tarnished, and get in the NBA draft one day. He'll get the proper tv exposure in the acc and has the green light from day 1 shall he return to make a name for himself again while rebuilding his brand and trying to reestablish his character.
Everything points to him returning to Pitt unless he gets into more trouble. Then his basketball career is likely done for good if that happens and more trouble finds him. His best bet is to stay at Pitt and get back in the gym and stop jacking around doing stupid stuff.
Western Kentucky and Rick $tan$bury will offer him a bag and NIL if they get a whiff that he’s unhappy. There are plenty of mid schools like that would take a chance on him and throw a bunch of money at him if they thought it meant one special season.
Hell, Dambrot could get Lebron to backdoor him thru Dru Joyce if he hears he’s unhappy and he doesn’t even have to leave the city. Then he gets as many shots/touches as he wants, has one year to prove he’s an nba talent at a smaller venue and can bounce. It almost makes no sense for him to play 2 years here.
Your scenarios of Dior Johnson going to play in a downgraded CUSA because some Western Kentucky booster can pay him more than Bickell (who is paying Hugley) or other Pitt boosters or LeBron paying him to help out his friend who is only an assistant coach at Duquesne is EXTREMELY far-fetched. I am sorry but its Pitt or pro if Capel is here next year.
And thats all fine if they want to try. But if the kid gets in more trouble on actual probation, the media and fanbase both would rip into Western Kentucky so badly, Rick Stansberry may find himself looking for another job. But Good luck to someone that wants to try and roll the dice like that.
Regardless, he has criminal penalties and classes to go through in the state of PA, not another state, so outside teams will also have to find a way to work around that.
With all that said, Im just going to watch it play out. Debating on his future is a moot point unless Dior tries to change for the better with some self reflection. 2nd chances sometimes dont come easy. His career is on thin ice as it is.
No one is going on probation for a bag anymore. It would all be legit. A booster can give him 100K and say its to do a few hours of charity work. And even if a WKU booster paid him and he committed a major crime shortly after, Stansbury's job would be in no jeopardy. The folks down there understand the game. That said, this scenario of a WKU booster paying Dior so much more than Bickell/Pitt that it would get him to leave is one of the most far-fetched things ever posted here. Why didnt he go there out of HS? Its Pitt or pro for Dior.
I think that’s more plausible than another year of school, but he could pull an Emoni Bates and step down a level and rehab himself (Bates is a much more intriguing talent than Johnson). He has absolutely no chance of being drafted this year but I can see a team being interested enough to dangle an Exhibit 10 contract, take him to Summer League, and see what happens.
The program doesn’t have a responsibility even after his arrest. If you don’t align with the expectations you can send them packing. All programs have a list of expectations to best represent the uniform, team, and college. You don’t meet them, like getting arrested, kicked off the team is an option. An option I support for any player getting arrested and doing dumb shit.
Let me know the next time the band has a bunch of arrests and bad decision making instrument players. I’ll say the same thing, drop them. But most fans don’t care if Johnny trumpet gets dropped from the band. You only care about the potential athlete that can score points and get wins. When it comes to athletes far too many fans become magically very forgiving and bend the morals to accommodate a shot at winning something big.
That’s very easy for us to say. I largely don’t disagree, but it goes deeper than that.
If they just cut Johnson off and Im the coach/parent/guardian of a kid that Capel is recruiting, I’m 100% bringing this up and questioning the culture. If I’m recruiting against Pitt, I’m absolutely telling kids that Pitt is a program that doesn’t have their guys’ back.
As much as you’d rather just cut ties, the most responsible thing that they could do for the kid and for the program is what they’re doing. They moved the responsibility from the program to the player. If he screws up moving forward, they will have done everything they can to help him (at least in a public facing manner) and should have zero negative effect moving forward. If he stays out of trouble, you all shake hands at the end of the year and you amicably move on.
He has a batterers intervention program to complete a lone. That is 24 classes at probably 1 class per week at most.
That doesnt even include all the other classes he is going to be forced to take or risk heavier punishment by not doing it. There is a lot of stuff that goes into the charges he still got for both misdemeanors.
Per PSN, Johnson wasnt even allowed to travel to Los Angeles to see his family unless he was on house arrest over Christmas.
He isnt going anywhere for some time.
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WKU has had more draft picks under Stansbury than Capel has had at Pitt, he has more NIL $ then Pitt is currently laying out for recruits, and has access to a ton of old coal money there. It’s a top 10 winningest program, they get 10k every game and Stansbury is the only coach in WKU history to not make a tournament.
These were just examples (like how Emoni Bates did) but slick Rick can beat anyone in recruiting and is about desperate enough to do even more shady stuff than normal to steal a player from somewhere.
Take a break from the Internet tonight. For the millions in NIL money that Western Kentucky has, they lost to friggin Louisville, not to mention Akron. You know what all that money brought in? Khristian Lander, who barely gets off the bench. And you think they are going to outbid Pitt for a player on Pitt's roster and that he'd actually want to go there. Do you know how ridiculous you sound? Your post is worthy of message board geniuses. If he ends up at WKU, it would be because we kicked him off, not because they recruited him off our roster.
So I just looked this up under state law. The one program above that he will have to complete is 5 months long at the absolute minimum and can be extended depending on the counselor / judge. 1 class per week at most, 2 hours per class.
That is only 1 type of class he will be forced to go to. There are others besides the batterers intervention program he will have to complete.
Holy shit dude. Can you read? ITS AN EXAMPLE. They’re currently trying to can Stansbury but he has a guaranteed contract. But make no mistake, they have way more money than Pitt does. They paid Bassey almost a rookie deal there.
My prediction is he doesn’t play college basketball anywhere, but to think he won’t leave just because it’s a lesser league when he attended 10 high schools is stupid. He doesn’t stay in the same place twice
I realize Emoni Bates is about as close to Dior-like situation as you can get. However, they are not the same person and the situations arent exactly the same. Bates played a season for Penny and a lot of "I should be averaging 25 PPG but my coach sucks" played into his transfer like 1000 other transfers. Dior also had no other P5 offers according to YOU and if he had no other P5 offers before beating up his girlfriend, I highly doubt he'll have any now. He isnt going to VOLUNTARILY drop down a level to play for Western Kentucky or anyone else. If we kick him off then he will. And I admit that yes, him getting kicked off is a realistic possibility.
Next year:
Pitt: 60%
Kicked off: 40%
Transferring voluntarily to a P6: 0%
Transferring voluntarily to mid-major: 0%
Lol a kid that went to 10 high schools has 0 percent chance of transferring voluntarily. Cmon man. You’re not this dumb
The situation to Bates isnt even close to being the same. Bates got 18 months of probation and didnt even have to pay a fine. He basically got off from having to do anything. Bates has a chance to remove the whole thing from his record altogether.
Dior's misdemeanors are far worse than Bates.
Yes, for 2 reasons:
- Pitt is his only P6 option
- Pitt gave him a 1st and 2nd chance and he must have liked something in Capel for Dior to recruit him out of the blue
I did forget about the pro option. I think there's a chance he declares for the draft or goes to Europe or Australia to play.
Pitt: 50%
Kicked off: 30%
Pro: 20%
What type of probation is he on?
Per PSN, he wasnt allowed to travel to California without being on house arrest there.
There are 5 different types of probation he could have been issued in Pennysvania.
I don't know why I am wasting my time responding to this, Ill let the whole thing play out and whatever happens, happens.
What I do know is, he isnt going anywhere for the foreseeable future based off what the judge gave him and what psn reported.
I hope he becomes the second Pgh area player to play with a house arrest ankle bracelet. Lemar Castille became a legend at Green Tree.
SMF you are underestimating Rick Stansberry. He knows how to get players paid and he could care less if they have a criminal record. WKU is in a basketball state. They have, can and will find a way to get a player $ if they feel that player can make a big difference.
His smart move is to stay at Pitt.
His smart move would’ve been to stay at Oak Hill. Or Prolific Prep. Or Centennial. Or any of the other schools.
Predicting this kids’ next move being the smart, prudent move is like predicting a wet fart.
But why bother with the practice if he thinks that highly of his game? I mean, why is he here? Pitt practice isn’t part of his legal probationary terms. Think he’ll be here beyond this season - and if a guard goes down in February? Maybe?
While I think Pitt’s decision is cowardly and bullshit (should have either booted him altogether or let him play)…. This is one of those times where you’re throwing out so much hyperbole that it almost seems like you’d rather things go against Pitt than for Pitt.
I mean clearly this kid has…. Something going on that makes him a bit unstable so nothing is for certain but why would he agree to this and spend the next 2 months going through D1 practices when he could just go to NY or LA or Miami or something and train and hang out if he had no intentions of playing college basketball?
While I think the decision is BS, I just don’t see the university/Jeff Capel/Dior all agreeing to this weird agreement if they all don’t (as of now) think there’s a strong chance he’s here next year.
Yeah what's the meaning of redshirt? How long until that is locked in. And there's no turning back.
I think that this was code for suspension without calling it a suspension.
1) I literally said this is stupid because the choice should’ve been to either let him play or get rid of him completely. So I’m “rooting against Pitt” here is dumb.
2) I have no idea why he’d agree to it? Because if he left now he has no options, including no contracts anywhere but for probably real small $ overseas?
3). How is anything I said hyperbolic? He averaged almost 2 high schools per year he played HS basketball, has a large following on social media to warrant NIL should a desperate school want to, and has like a week let before the semester starts. He really has no choice but to be a model student at Pitt for 5 months.
I’m sure they think he’ll be here next year or hope he will be but there’s literally no way to predict what this dude is gonna do.
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