The correct path

 So apparently Trayce Jackson-Davis is not just a basketball player with superb close-out skills around the rim. He's got his head screwed on straight, too.

This upon the news TJD has decided to return to Bloomington for another winter in Indiana red, a decision anyone with an ounce of sense knew was the right one. He tested the NBA waters, and got the right advice from the right people. So good on him and good on IU, which immediately becomes a co-favorite to win the Big Ten next season.

Truth is TJD was likely looking at going in the second round of the NBA Draft, or late in the first round best-case. What that would have meant, probably, would be some heavy G-League minutes, interspersed with a lot of spectator time on an NBA bench. The former would have at least given him a chance to develop the parts of his game that still need developing; the latter would have benefited him not a whit.

But now?

Now he gets to be the go-to guy, or one of them, every night for 30-some nights. And Mike Woodson gets another season to help him develop an outside shot +-- which is not yet in his toolkit, and something the 6-9 TJD needs to be an effective every-night player in the NBA.

In today's NBA, 6-9 is a tweener, which means you're gonna spend a lot more time out on the floor than in the paint. It also means you need to be able to stick the 3-pointer when you're on the receiving end of a drive-and-kick. Shoot, even a reliable mid-range jumper will help you stand out, seeing as how it's all but extinct in pro buckets anymore.

Look for TJD to take a lot more 15 to 20-footers in the coming season, in other words. And look for him out at the 3-point line occasionally, too. 

Woodson's major selling point to recruits is his NBA experience, and how it can help a kid get to the League if that's where he wants to go. TJD will give him his first real chance to prove that. So there's a lot more at stake here next winter than just a Big Ten title and a deep NCAA Tournament run.

If Woodson can turn TJD into an effective NBA player along the way, you figure, there'll be a lot more top-five recruiting classes in his future. And more conference titles, and even deeper runs in March.

Onward.