Georgia Tech Basketball Notes: Bubba Parham, Michael Devoe, and the transfer portal

Congrats Georgia Tech basketball fans, you’ve made it through another week. The Georgia Tech men’s basketball team’s season may have ended last week in the NCAA Tournament but it has been a busy last few days around the program to say the least.

Parham coming back for another season

The first story to note is that guard Bubba Parham is returning for another season with the Yellow Jackets. This season, Parham appeared in 25 games for the Yellow Jackets including making 14 starts. During those 25 games for the Jackets, Parham served as a depth scoring option, averaging 6.7 points per game while shooting 41% from the field, he also shot 33% from three-point range and 81.5% from the free-throw line.

Next season, Parham will likely once again be playing a rotational role that saw him average 26.6 and 26.9 minutes per game respectively over the last two seasons. He may not post flashy numbers that draw all the attention but he serves as an extremely valuable scoring option who can shoot well from deep with a career three-point percentage of 35.7%. When on the court this season, Parham posted an offensive rating of 115.8, the third-highest among Tech regulars. Only Jose Alvarado and Moses Wright had higher offensive ratings than the former VMI standout.

Devoe finding out NBA Draft stock before making a decision

While Bubba Parham has already made his decision, Michael Devoe is in the process of figuring out his own decision in which we should find out about within the next month. The Orlando, Florida native has technically declared for the NBA Draft but will remain eligible for now.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Devoe will find where his NBA Draft stock sits, and depending on the returns, he’ll make his decision to go pro or return for another season. Devoe stated on Thursday that he does not want to play in the NBA G-League next season, so if the NBA scout return with a G-League outlook for Devoe, he will likely return for another season with the Yellow Jackets.

This past season, Devoe averaged 15 points per game for the Jackets shooting 45.6% from the floor including 40% from beyond the arc. After having some ups and downs over the first 16 games of the season, Devoe was dynamite down the stretch for the Jackets, scoring 12 or more points in each of the Jackets’ final 10 games including four games of 20 or more points.

As of right now, a quick search around NBA mock drafts across the web do not show Devoe as a potential NBA draft pick this summer though we’ll have to wait and see to officially see what NBA scouts come back with for the 6-foot-5 guard.

Jackets kicking the tires on a pair of transfers?

Interestingly enough, the two players below that the Jackets seem to be checking out are both guards. It seems likely that if the Jackets were to pursue either of these players would be in the case of departures at the guard position.

In the dream scenario for the Jackets that all their potential returnees do indeed return, the Jackets need to add an additional guard would be minimal. In that situation, they would return Jose Alvarado, Michael Devoe, Jordan Usher, Bubba Parham, and Kyle Sturdivant. Plus, that does not include 2021 signees Dallan Coleman and Miles Kelly. Now, chances are that at least one or two of the guards do decide to move but even if not, the Jackets on paper are entering the 2021-2022 season with a great deal of talent at the position.

With that being said, the two players the Jackets are kicking the tries on are Indiana guard Armaan Franklin and Marshall guard Jarrod West. Both are courtesy of reports from Stockrisers’s Jake Weingarten.

Franklin just finished up his second season with the Hoosiers and has not ruled out a possible return to the Big 10 program.  The 6-foot-5,  195-pound guard just finished up his sophomore averaging 11.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game over 22 games this season including 20 starts for the Hoosiers. He had 13 games in which he put up double-digit points including a pair of 23-point performances against Illinois and Northwestern. Also worth noting is that Franklin shot extremely well from three-point range this season, making 42.4% of his attempts.

West, on the other hand, is a player who will be using the NCAA’s free extra-year of eligibility next season after playing in 126 games (124 starts) over four years at Marshall. Over the past two seasons, the 5-foot-11, 181-pound guard has become one of the Thundering Herd’s top scoring options, averaging 14.2 points pr game in 2019-20 and 12.5 points per game this season. This season, he shot 45.8% from the field including 40.8% from long range. He also averaged 6.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game this season.