Make no mistake: Donovan would risk nothing jumping to NBA

One after another, the opinions keep coming, always about Billy Donovan, always about how moving to the NBA would be wrong. When his name is linked to the Grizzlies, somebody explains why it would be a bad move. When his name is linked to the Magic somebody else explains why it would be a terrible mistake.

A mistake.

That's their word, not mine.

And it's a silly, silly, silly word.

A mistake?

If Billy Donovan fails in the NBA he can land wherever he wants. (Getty Images)

A mistake is drafting Kwame Brown with the No. 1 pick. Or knocking up your 16-year-old girlfriend. Or ordering Krystal's at 3:26 a.m. Or making Rambo IV. But signing a six-year, $36-million contract to coach at the highest level of organized basketball is not a mistake. It is, rather, about the best thing any college coach could ever hope to do because going from Division I to the NBA ranks near the top of high-reward/low-risk opportunities.

Seriously, what's the downside?

That you might get fired?

Not succeed?

That's precisely what happened to Tim Floyd, John Calipari, Rick Pitino, Lon Kruger, Leonard Hamilton and so on and so forth. Their "mistakes" made them millionaires many times over and sent them back to college with enhanced reputations. That's right, enhanced reputations, which is one of the great things about failing in the NBA. It doesn't hurt a coach's credibility or image even a tiny bit.

Fail at North Carolina, you land at Florida Atlantic.

Fail in the NBA, you land wherever you want to land.

Take Floyd, for instance.