UK Basketball: Doron Lamb will need "something concrete" before leaving UK this year for NBA

Kentucky freshman Doron Lamb’s mother says there would have to “be something concrete” for him to even contemplate putting his name into the NBA draft.
Lamb is averaging 12.6 points per game and shooting a team-best 46.9 percent from 3-point range going into the Wildcats’ game Friday against No. 1 Ohio State in Newark, N.J.
“First of all, someone has to say something concrete to make any decision. We would need to hear something concrete,” said Brigitte Grant, Lamb’s mother. “His father told him to go to school for four years, and what happens along the way happens instead of coming in thinking you are only going to be there one year and then get disappointed when it takes you two, three or four years to get to the NBA.
“We don’t want feel like failure or something is wrong if you stay in school. Some players make the wrong decisions. We wanted him go where he wanted to go for that reason and to feel comfortable and happy there, and he is.”
“Any parent in this position would weigh options, but we just take it day by day. I tell him to have fun. You only do it one time in your life, so enjoy it. We can worry about other things when the season ends,” Lamb’s father, Calvin Lamb, said.
Lamb has raised his potential draft stock with improved defensive play and by showing he can score on drives as well as mid-range shots. However, he’s still not projected a potential first-round pick by any NBA draft analysts.
“We just want him to go to school and then see what happens. If he has the opportunity (to go to the NBA), then we would make a decision about that. But the opportunity has to be concrete as much as anything can be. He will make the decision that is best for him,” Grant said.
Lamb’s mother knows it sometimes is hard for fans to understand why players would leave school early to play in the NBA. However, she says players have to do what is best for them.
“I just wish people could understand more that players are just doing what is best for them and are not trying to hurt the school or anyone,” she said. “It is hard out there to find any kind of job. If someone had a chance to become a professor one year early, they probably would do it.
“Somebody might be thinking of you today and not tomorrow. All careers are very competitive. You have to relocate and make hard decisions. You might succeed, you might not. But Doron is very happy at Kentucky, and all he’s thinking about right now is winning and keeping this year going.”
Lamb’s father admits his son’s dream has always been to play in the NBA.
“He has always accomplished what he has dreamed of doing,” his father said. “As a parent, I do not think about the future. I watch him on court and get feedback and just take it from there. If he does what he has to do, it will not take him long to make his dream come true.”