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There may be more to Dedric Lawson's draft flip flop than just indecision

There may be more to Dedric Lawson's draft flip flop than just indecision

Just eight days ago, Dedric Lawson announced he was returning to Memphis for his sophomore season. Then on Wednesday afternoon, ESPN.com reported the freshman forward is planning to test the waters again.

It's possible Lawson is merely experiencing some indecision. It seems more likely this sudden flip flop is more calculated than that.

Keelon Lawson, the father of Dedric and fellow Memphis freshman K.J. Lawson, was an assistant coach on Josh Pastner's staff for the past two seasons. Keelon was all but certain to retain that job for a third season until Pastner left for Georgia Tech on April 8 and Memphis hired Tubby Smith as his replacement nearly a week later.

Smith has yet to announce who he will hire as his assistant coaches, but he has a history of loyalty to guys who have been on his staff before. CBSSports.com reported Sunday that Alvin "Pooh" Williamson will follow Smith from Texas Tech to Memphis. Joe Esposito's presence at a University of Memphis baseball game on Tuesday suggests he'll likely do the same.

That theoretically leaves one remaining spot on Smith's staff, which could be earmarked for Keelon Lawson or any other potential candidate including one of Smith's sons. Saul Smith was an assistant under his dad at Minnesota before a 2012 DUI and a video coordinator under his dad at Texas Tech the past three years.

Given his father's tenuous job status, Dedric's newfound interest in exploring his draft options might be a leverage ploy. Some reporters who are very well connected in Memphis view it as Keelon's way of putting pressure on Smith to either retain him as an assistant coach or risk losing his best player.

Dedric just completed one of the best freshman campaigns in Memphis history, averaging 15.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks. The skilled 6-foot-9 18-year-old has first-round potential if he returns to school and solidifies some of his weak spots, but he'd be more likely to fall to the second round if he were to come out this spring.

Dedric appeared excited about returning to Memphis in his public comments both before and after Smith's hiring. In an April 12 statement, he explained that taking his name out of consideration for the NBA draft would enable him to play another year with K.J. and give him time to improve his draft stock.

There's more at stake for Smith here too than simply losing Dedric to the NBA draft and K.J. to a potential transfer. Chandler Lawson, a highly touted Class of 2019 prospect, has the potential to be even better than his two older brothers.

To anyone naive enough to think Keelon wouldn't be cynical enough to use his son to help him retain his job, consider how he got the job in the first place.

Keelon was a successful high school coach in Memphis with no coaching experience in college basketball. He landed a spot on Pastner's bench by making it well known that he'd deliver all three of his sons to a head coach who hired him.

"If you hire me, I'm automatically bringing you top-20 players in the country," Keelon told CBSSports.com in 2014. "Automatically. There are coaches sitting on benches right now who can't do that."

The arrangement Keelon and Pastner made two years ago was legal under NCAA rules and nowhere near as egregious as previous package deals.

John Calipari hired DaJuan Wagner's father at Memphis to help him land the heralded guard. Herb Sendek brought along James Harden's high school coach to help him nab the future NBA all-star. Larry Brown once hired Danny Manning's father at Kansas even though he had limited previous coaching experience.

The ideal scenario for Smith would be to create a lucrative non-coaching position for Keelon and then make it financially worthwhile for him to accept that demotion, however, it appears that's no longer permissible. A recent rule change by the NCAA prohibits schools from hiring anybody associated with a basketball recruit to a non-coaching role for a two-year period before or after the athlete enrolls.

Assuming Memphis can't find a loophole, Smith has two options. He can either call Keelon's bluff, opt not to retain him and risk losing his sons. Or he can retain Smith as an assistant coach for at least one year and likely keep Dedric and K.J. in the fold. Under the second scenario, he could potentially have one of his guys from Texas Tech come aboard in a non-coaching role with the promise he'd replace Keelon as an assistant as soon as next spring.

That latter option is probably the best-case scenario for the short-term future of Memphis basketball if Smith can stomach it.

Pastner left him a mess at Memphis. This is Smith's first big decision as he determines how to rebuild.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!