McDonald’s All-American Game: Players weigh in on NBA draft age limit, personal brands and more

Andrew Wiggins sat in a director’s chair in hallway of the United Center in Chicago one year ago looking like he would rather be anywhere else in the world. This was during media day at the McDonald’s All-American Game and before Wiggins had tipped his hand on his college recruitment even a little bit.

At that point, four schools -- Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina and Florida State -- were still vying for the services of the mysterious Canadian wing some were calling the best prospect since LeBron James. As bright lights and TV cameras glared at Wiggins from 5 feet away, the soft-spoken small forward diligently answered hundreds of the same banal questions in the same way.

He still didn’t know where he wanted to spend his season in college, and he could only say it in so many different words.

As basketball players continue to become commodities at earlier ages, the media frenzy like the one Wiggins faced isn’t wholly unique. Some handle it better than others. Across the hallway sat Duke-bound forward Jabari Parker, who was completely in his element kicking it with reporters. He talked about Coach K and Derrick Rose and Chicago violence and rap music with a level of serenity beyond his years. No two basketball prodigies are wired the same way.

There isn’t quite as much buzz around the McDonald’s All-American Game this year, but how could there be? Wiggins was a shadowy sensation, Parker was a four-time state champion and SI cover boy, Julius Randle was a Texas-sized monster on the low block. If high school kids were allowed to enter the 2013 NBA Draft, you can bet Wiggins, Parker and Randle would have went 1-2-3. After one season in college, they are all a safe bet to go in the top seven of the 2014 draft. Wiggins and Parker are virtually assured of being taken within the top-four picks.

Make no mistake, there is still plenty of future NBA talent at the McDonald’s Game this year, it just hasn’t reached the same level of notoriety yet. These players make Wiggins’ uncomfortableness seem even more like an outlier. They are friendly, smart and engaging. It helps that only one player -- Texas big man Myles Turner -- remains uncommitted on his college choice. Everyone else just seems to be enjoying an experience that is four years in the making.

Here are some notes from media day, of varying levels of importance.

(Credit: 2014 McDonald’s All-American Game)

“Marketing is everything.”

Kansas-bound wing Kelly Oubre Jr. says this with enough self-assurance to make you believe him. The Texas native and Findlay prep star is ticketed to become Wiggins’ replacement as an athletic small forward for Bill Self’s Jayhawks next year. He rocks his progressive teenage haircut without even a slight hint at an apology.

“People look at you and they see money,” Oubre says, and he isn’t wrong. “That’s a good sign for you. That’s going to put checks in your pocket. Branding is everything. It’s gonna help you become more famous and help you have a better fan base.”

Oubre’s haircut is, essentially, a half afro, half mohawk, with the sides shaved. I ask him if he one day envisions a group of fans wearing Kelly Oubre wigs to games, and he seems intrigued but noncommittal.

“No idea yet, but I would definitely like to put some checks in my pocket by doing that,” Oubre says. Honesty is our most important virtue.

“It’s my brand, man. I’m just gonna take it as far as it goes and show everybody I’m different. I’m not trying to be like everybody else. This is what’s in my heart. It’s me.”

I asked if he thinks Bill Self -- who famously wears a toupée -- would look good with his haircut.

“No. I don’t want to mess up his image. That toupée is all him.”

Wise beyond their years, these kids.

Trey Lyles thinks the new NBA age limit is ‘bogus’
I’ll admit that I put the word in his mouth.

When you’re surrounded by so many star basketball players, it only seems natural to ask about the proposed age limit to keep college players from entering the pros until after two years of school. It’s been one of the first things new NBA Commissioner Adam Silver mentions whenever he talks about changes he plans on making to the league. It’s unclear if this will go into effect next year, or once the CBA runs up, but it seems like it’s definitely going to happen.

If it happens next year, these McDonald’s All-Americans will be the first group of players to be impacted. It is, I think, pretty unfortunate. They agree.

“It’ll help the colleges out, but some guys have to think about their family first,” said Lyles, a versatile Canadian big man heading to Kentucky. “Some guys’ families aren’t in the best situations and that’s why they do it. It’s one thing if they may not be ready. But if it happens, I think it may be a little bit bogus because being able to go to war at 18, you should be able to do what you want at 18. If that goes through, it I think it’ll help the teams out but not help the individual players out.”

This is the sentiment of nearly all of the McDonald’s All-Americans, they just don’t want to publicly admit it and get it trouble. Jahlil Okafor, the No. 1 player in the class, is already on the record saying he doesn’t like it. Why would he? Most of Okafor’s fellow All-Americans tried to downplay the question.

“For us, it’s about following the rules,” said Kentucky-bound center Karl Towns, who would be in the mix to go No. 1 overall in 2015 if he’s allowed to enter. “Everything is about following the rules.”

That might be the saddest sentence ever.

Emmanuel Mudiay is not the most talkative of this year’s McDonald’s All-Americans, but he may be the most explosive player in the class. At practice on Monday, the 6’5 guard heading to SMU looked like he was shot out of a cannon when he beat his man in the halfcourt and launched for a one-handed tomahawk dunk. He missed the dunk, but no one watching could miss the kind of shear athletic force Mudiay displayed.

I asked Mudiay about what drew him to Larry Brown and SMU, his phone conversation with Allen Iverson, and whether he thinks he’s a point guard or a two (“I’m a point guard”). He didn’t give me much to work with, so I thought I’d ask him about music.

“I’m really not a music person. I really don’t listen to music. You know, I think everyone is into hip-hop and whatnot.”

For the record, Mudiay is more of a movies guy. He just saw “Noah” and said it kept his attention the entire time.

The AAU circuit is the start of a brotherhood as much as anything else. When you’re identified as a top basketball prospect, your summer is consumed traveling around the country to play against the best players your age. Even if the players at the 2014 McDonald’s Game grew up half a country apart, many of them are still friends from the circuit. They know the guys a year ahead of them in school, too, so it only seemed natural to ask them about the 2014 NBA Draft.

If you were a GM in the 2014 draft, who would you take No. 1: Wiggins, Parker, Randle or Joel Embiid?

Our marketing correspondent Kelly Oubre Jr. had an interesting opinion:

“If I’m Toronto, I’m taking homeboy Wiggins,” Oubre said. “If I’m any other team, I’m taking Jabari Parker because of his skill set. I feel like he can be the next ‘Melo or even better.”

I guess those Jayhawks roots don’t run too deep. Same goes for Lyles’ Kentucky roots.

“I would probably take Jabari,” Lyles said. “He’s a very unselfish team player. He can score from an array of different things. He rebounds and does that. And he’s a great person off the court. So I’d definitely take Jabari.”

I told him I wouldn’t tell Randle.

Karl Towns displayed the savvy of a politician when he got this question.

“That’s a hard pick,” Towns said. “It depends on what I need. If I need a presence on the post, I’m gonna definitely take Randle. If I need a shooter, a small forward who can change the game, I’d definitely take Jabari. If I need a person who can become the next LeBron James, or something great, I’d take Wiggins. Embiid, that’s a No. 1 talent, too.”

Maybe next year, someone (like Malik Newman) will be saying the same thing about Karl Towns.