Michigan Basketball: Does Caleb Houtstan have an NBA Draft promise?

Michigan basketball fans were waiting to hear if Caleb Houstan was invited to the NBA Draft Combine. He was but declined the invite and that’s a bad sign for his chances of returning. 

The majority of NBA draft hopefuls that receive an invite to the combine stay in the draft. There usually are 60 picks in the draft (58 this year due to league rules being violated) and the top-60 players are generally invited to the combine.

So everyone there knows they are going to get drafted or have a really good chance, and that list of invitees included two Michigan basketball players — Moussa Diabate and Caleb Houstan.

Diabate is going to attend and many rightly saw his invitation as the final sign that he won’t be returning to Michigan basketball next season.

However, there were still questions about Houstan.

It was reported on Monday night that he received an invite to the combine but when the final list was released, his name wasn’t on it and according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, it’s because he declined it.

Does Caleb Houstan have a promise?

Givony is as close to the Caleb Houstan camp as anyone. He was the guy who reported when Houstan committed to Michigan basketball and he also was the first to report that Houstan was going to test out the NBA draft process.

The fact that he wrote this in his tweet isn’t good for Michigan, “For Houstan, there will now be a lot of speculation about promises and shut-downs, and rightfully so.”

The rightfully so seems like a hint and unless Houstan has decided to return to Michigan basketball, you have to think he’s got some sort of promise.

A bunch of Michigan fans have been asking how can these guys be drafted? My response is are you paying attention?

Houstan struggled at times last year. That’s a given. He was also a freshman and was supposed to be a senior in high school but was re-classified. He still shot 39 percent from 3-point range in Big Ten conference play and averaged over 10 a game. Plus, he’s 6-foot-9 and was projected as a lottery pick.

Say he returns to Michigan and bumps up his scoring average and shoots in the 40 percent range from three — two very likely scenarios — he could easily be a first-rounder in 2023.

So an NBA team would be smart to even offer a high second-round guarantee now, as well as a multi-year deal. From the team’s perspective, it’s getting a first-round talent in the second round and cheaper too. That’s just one scenario.

Hell, a team could have promised him late in the first round. We really don’t know but unless Houstan shockingly announces his return later this week or something, I wouldn’t take his declining the combine invite as anything good for Michigan.

Instead, it’s more likely than not that Caleb Houstan has played his final game for the Wolverines.