@Crimsonorblue22 In Tennessee it is a year.
Kcmatt7
11050 posts
@NYCJhawk From my knowledge it is the fact that he moved schools that he was ineligible. Most high schools force students to sit out for a year so that students aren't moving just to play sports at certain schools for certain seasons. Pretend you were Bubba Starling at Gardner. You could have played QB for Gardner, basketball in Wichita with Perry and then baseball for whoever was the best team that year.
Fox and Monk are linked for a possible package deal. Sure wouldn't hurt my feelings to nab both. I know a manager who said Fox had a GREAT time at late night. Rawle Alkins twitter has been all UK lately. Seems to be a lean there. If he goes to UK maybe we get lucky and nab Monk. And the best part, we might know within the next month if the word that Fox committing by Nov. 16th is true. Odds are definitely against us, but still at least fun to dream for a little while...
@Statmachine I think what your saying is probably pretty accurate. I don't think the guys would leave their dorm room after they got back for a couple of reasons. The first is that the dorms were a solid distance away from the practice gym. The other being the lack of privacy they had. The guys can't go anywhere without being pestered by someone on campus.
Now that they don't have to deal with people and they can get to a gym in a reasonable amount of time I'm sure they are all putting up a few extra shots.
Just a thought.
What if, God forbid, we get no real big name recruits this season?
Would it really be that bad?
I am thinking it really wouldn't be. If we miss out and have a true "down season" next year, it would give HCBS a chance to have a "reload" similar to when he first arrived here.
Here is why:
- It would allow us to guarantee some of these OAD top guys 30 minutes a game like they are looking for.
- A "down year" might light a new fire under Self. We are a little bit complacent at the moment. There is no threat to Bill's job. No REAL question whether or not he can get the job done. A down year could put Bill under some actual scrutiny. Sometimes people need that pressure to truly thrive.
- We would have roster spots for some of these "package deals" that have become such a major trend.
- We could still be plenty competitive with next years squad. We would still be solid at the 1-2. And we would have a post presence in Bragg and hopefully a solid guy in Coleby. As well as a serviceable big in Lando to rotate. Is it a beautiful squad? No. But serviceable? Absolutely.
@drgnslayr we had a military drill instructor in last year for boot camp. I like the idea, but maybe HCBS pulls a Calipari and pumps them up this year instead of breaking them down. We have a ton of upperclassmen that have been mentally broken down the last few years. It's now the time to build them up and get the most out of them.
@justanotherfan I've seen him on campus a couple of times and I think he looks more like 6-3.5-6-4. Definitely not 6-5. But that's about as reliable as asking the cashier who just got robbed how tall the burglar was.
@Crimsonorblue22 Cliff was never ruled eneligible. He was "under investigation." Because he pled the fifth they never got any further. KU pulled him out at that point because if they didn't the investigation may go further and cause us more of a headache than just pulling him out.
@drgnslayr I think he should have knelt it, but at the same time, a vanilla play call that allows your best player to at least touch the ball isn't going crazy. He didn't attempt a hook and latter or something absurd. He definitely shouldn't be crucified for it.
And the reason behind prevent defense- The point of the pass prevent is to only allow a field goal. We give space underneath and allow for easy shorter completions. As the field shrinks, the harder it becomes to find an open receiver because there is far less ground for each player to cover. Ideally it wastes time and makes it extremely hard to throw a TD in the redzone.
@drgnslayr I have to defend Reid some.
He had a way better game plan then the Broncos did. He can't go and play the game for the players. He didn't fumble a punt. Or fumble in the red zone. Or drop one of the 4 picks we should have had. The kneeling at the end is not the reason we lost the game. We GAVE them the game. We marched the ball up and down the field all night. We had Peyton basically under wraps, but gave them 2 touchdowns and cost ourselves at least 6 points in the red zone. That's how you lose. A team that has 4 turnovers has a less than 7% chance of winning a game. So we gave it to them long before the ending play call. We put guys in a position to be successful all night long on both offense and defense. The players simply didn't execute.
@justanotherfan Yea exactly what I was saying.
We could quite literally have the worst job in college football. The only way to get out of it is to simply be patient.
The athletics department needs to remember something though. A program is like growing a plant. Sometimes you get enough rain every few years and it'll grow a few flowers. But the only way to ensure a healthy plant is to make sure it is watered every single day. And our football program hasn't gotten anything new in 7 years (Anderson complex). In order to compete in recruiting we need to have SOMETHING to sell besides playing time. Nothing about the Anderson Complex except the weight room screams luxury. The dorms are just meh. And the dorms are literally on the other side of campus. Something needs to be done to help out our coaches.
@Khubar_Jayhawk I wouldn't call it intentional. Part of it was the fact that they brought in coaches with completely different philosophies each time. We went from a balanced spread attack (Mangino) to ground and pound (Gill) to a pro style (Charlie) and now back to an Air Raid/spread. So, each coach has now had the wrong personnel for their system.
Gill made it a point to bring in RBs. and pound it. But, he didn't utilize the current strengths on the roster. We had smaller linemen that could move. And we tried to make them be big maulers. It doesn't work.
Then Charlie took over the team. We he was stuck with these half-assed recruiting classes focused on ground and pound. What do you do with that when you run a pro style offense? He tried the easy fix and went the JUCO route. That was his biggest mistake. He was just arrogant enough to think he could actually turn the program around by getting D1 leftovers, idiots and screwups. Let's be honest, if you are going D1 out of JUCO, something is wrong with you. Either you are lacking intellect, not good enough to actually be D1, or you are of questionable character. A few of those players can be ok on a team. But, 20-30 of them is a cancer.
And finally we are now at a gunslinging air raid offense. But, this time we barely have enough scholarship players to scrimmage. Beatty has no chance in his first 4 years to put a decent product on the field. He needs time and patience from us to actually get a decent product on the field. Once he gets the personnel he needs, this team will begin turning around.
I did see some positives on Saturday! We scored 38 points. Even with terrible penalties and turnovers. That is positive. We have a QB that is playing that is not at all made for this offense. Air raid is meant to have the ball out within 1.5-2 seconds. This essentially is your run game. Then, there is a second part of the air raid. It consists of double moves and confusing route combinations for deep plays for big yardage. But, this takes a smart QB with some arm talent because the offense rides on him almost entirely. Cozart is clearly not the guy for this system. But, when we get a QB who is, look out!
Also, I saw positives on D. While we sucked it up in the first quarter, Our offense didn't help. The D was on the field the entire quarter. That means no time for adjustments. No break. No stopping the onslaught that was happening. After we got to adjust at the end of the quarter we shut them down for a good while. That showed the ability to make adjustments mid-game which is positive when we look at the coaches. We have a good staff. We just need to give them some time!
Exactly who I thought his pro comparison was too.
@Texas-Hawk-10 I'm with @Statmachine. I think he will make an NBA roster.
BG plays defense like an 8th grader at an AAU tournament. He has the lateral movement of an elephant. Many times he has the basketball IQ of your best friends annoying girlfriend. And, while many players do many, many things better than BG, they do NOTHING at an NBA caliber level. BG has one thing he can do, and he can do it well. Always a spot on a roster for a guy that can shoot it like he can. I'm not saying he is a first or even a draft pick at all. But, someone will definitely pick him up for cheap. The only way I don't see him sitting the bench in the NBA is if someone overseas offers him a more lucrative deal.
@jaybate-1.0 youre probably right. I don't. But pot calling the kettle much?
@jaybate-1.0 I don't have the time to read all you wrote, much less give it an appropriate response. Let's just agree to disagree on the matter. We clearly drink different amounts of the koolaid.
P.S. Louisville is Adidas.
@jaybate-1.0 First of all. Bragg is a 5 star on almost every website. And no he won't start. But, by the end of the season he should see significant minutes.
Duke has outrecruited everyone. And why shouldn't they? They have possibly the greatest coach of all time. And how did they outrecruit us in the paint? They got Okafor, we got Alexander. Ours didn't pan out. Theirs did. Year before that we got Embiid and they got?
UK had 4 footers because Cal couldn't get 2 of them to go pro in time. WCS and DJ had to spend extra years. Because of that, they had the NIT and Robert Morris incident... And were an 8 seed the year before last....
Louisville? You mean the 2 bigs they have in the league (including Harrel who was just drafted). AND they are and Adidas school as well. So if anything their lack of bigs is a point for you saying Adidas schools are getting squeezed.
Zags also only have 2 bigs in the NBA. Olynyk is good. And Wiltjer is a stud, but thats all they have. And they didn't even originally land Wiltjer... And the moment they played a real team in the tourney last year they got dominated. They played a 15 seed, 7 see, and 11 seed before playing Duke. And they didn't even play them close. They play in a mush conference year in and year out so their record gets inflated. The NBA clearly recognizes this as well...
Virginia has just had a perfect storm and a good young coach. KU had, Oubre, Svi, Cliff, Lucas, Mickelson, Traylor, Ellis, and BG. 8 players who are all at least 6'7. And they only had 1 footer. Lets see how they fair after losing 2 starters and 19 ppg (thats like 1/3 of their scoring)
Utah was a one man show. And he is gone. Good luck to them this season. Oh, and Poetl was unranked. They got lucky he panned out.
Arizona. The only recent big to get drafted, Gordon. Tarczewski will probably get drafted. But, for being a top 10 talent he has had to stay for all 4 years...
KU has had a big man drafted every single season going back to the 2009 season. Can anyone else say that? The answer is no. Not a single one. Every team has recruiting lulls. We aren't getting squeezed. We had a little rut and had to resort to the Wesleys, Lucass and Traylors of the world to patch in. And we still made the tourney. And we still won the conference. And still made it to 2 NC games... Louisville is currently going through this lull (could be ugly this year). UK has the potential for a bust. Duke has a bunch of basketball players, but can they be a team? They certainly have no major post presence. Arizona lost their top 4 scorers and could easily have a down year. If anything, our consistency has been proof we HAVEN'T been getting squeezed.
@dylans Wiggins has a chance to be one of those guys. But we also have had all of our lottery pick guys get picked up with a sponsorship. Which should be a HUGE pitch for our recruiting process.
Current 'hawks with Shoe deals:
- Oubre - Adidas - 2015
- Embiid - Adidas - 2014
- Wiggins - Adidas - 2014
- Bmac - Adidas - 2013
- Tyshawn - Adidas - 2012
- T-Rob - Nike - 2012
- Morris twins - AND1 - 2011
- Cole Aldrich - Under Armour - 2010
- B Rush - Nike - 2008
- Chalmers - Spalding (LOL ) :joy: - 2008
- Collison - Nike - 2003
- Kirk - Nike - 2003
- Pierce - Nike - 1998
There was the obvious gap from when Bill took over to the NC game. But since that time, we have been at the forefront for sponsored players. And Adidas has clearly made it a point to sign our guys to shoe deals as of late. I mean Tyshawn? So, while I think not having the biggest name players in Adidas doesn't help, our track record of getting players getting paid, should.
@jaybate-1.0 You say we have been squeezed on bigs, but we have landed four 5-star recruits in the last 3 years. NO ONE projected Cliff would be as big of a bust as he was. I would say we have been anything BUT squeezed. We have just had bad luck with them. Hopefully that changes this season.
@Texas-Hawk-10 Youre probably right. But, I think they will play two very different positions in the future as one will become a defined 3 (Jackson) and the other a 2 (Ferguson). Self was able to land both Wiggins and Selden in the same year, I could see it. We definitely are overloaded at the 2/3 next year. I keep forgetting about Greene and Vick honestly. Just something is telling me we are due for a huge haul.
UK was able to sign Briso even though they had Ulis and Murray even though they had Matthews.
We were able to sign Diallo even though we signed Bragg and had 3 seniors at the same position.
I'm not saying it will. I'm just saying stranger things have happened my friend. Its just a gut feeling.
@jaybate-1.0 Rarely is a stretch don't you think? Wiggins, Oubre, Alexander, and Diallo all had at least a decent stretch with a Nike sponsored AAU team.
I think the more interesting thought is how Bill is using the Adidas brand to our advantage in recruiting foreign players. Look at all of our foreign signings. We have to have more than the average D1 team. And, while KU is a nationally recognizable powerhouse, these foreign players probably don't know that nearly as well. So, it would seem the adidas sponsorship, the fact we put players in the league, and our success with other foreign players is becoming quite a pitch. If you think about it, we are the only major powerhouse besides UCLA (who hasn't been relevant for nearly a decade now) with an Adidas sponsorship. Adidas is THE brand for sports overseas. More than Nike was in the 6 months i spent abroad. Because of this foreign preference of Adidas over Nike, are we actually at a recruiting advantage? I think we are. Not only do we have as many KU NBA players sponsored by Adidas as any other school has by Nike, we have a leg up on the foreign recruits that come onto the scene out of nowhere. We are overdue for a perfect stack to come to KU. I personally think next year could be it.
I predict we nab Ferguson, Jackson and Gabriel.
Ferguson- It's clearly down to 2 schools. What can Bama say that we can't one up? Facilities, no chance. Be THE GUY on campus? Not a chance. Go to the NBA? Oh, yea we haven't put a guy (basically) in the lottery 3 straight years.
Jackson- It's obviously down to us, Maryland or Zona as well after his and his mom's comments. I think that we have the best pitch for him as well. We can damn near guarantee him an Adidas sponsorship after. We know how to use a guy with basically his exact skill set. And again, Bill has put wing after wing after wing in the lottery.
Gabriel- It's the 3 major programs right now. Duke, UK and us. Nobody has any clues as to what he is thinking. But, if Diallo shows out this year, I think he is a lock. I mean what better pitch than a damn near mirror image of himself playing for the crimson and blue and tearing it up. Not to mention the whole foreign and adidas thing I brought up earlier...
Josh Jackson update: " Iām not leaning towards any schools right now but within a month or two I will be ready to choose a school."
@Lulufulu It was a different time then though. Yea he would make a lot of money going pro, but nothing like today. Players today make more than the salary cap itself when Bird was playing. So, staying in college to get a degree made a lot more sense back then.
@HighEliteMajor This is exactly how I feel about the student athletes getting paid.
@jayballer54 ha yea the score was like 159-137 though.... Granted he did show off a nice stroke from the outside.
Here's the situation.
You become stranded on an island after a plane crash in April. Luckily the crash left you with a few things. You have:
- A couple of posts that are very solid (Diallo and Perry. I'm assuming Diallo gets cleared after his summer classes).
-
A peice of fabric that you saved for a while because you knew at some point it would it would actually become useful (Selden).
-
And a bottle of Rum (Mason. You'll see why).
You also spot a couple of things out in the distance. There is a crate full of Graham Crackers and another box filled with Svina Colada mix. The problem is, you only have time to save ONE of these items.
You have to decide what you want to do. And it all depends on how you want to live life on the island. You can use you posts and fabric for a couple of different things. They can be made into a hammock, which a Svina Colada would be a very refreshing addition. And White Rum is a crucial part of that. OR they could be used to make a tent, in which you are clearly someone who prefers the safer route. This situation would probably mean that you went with the Graham crackers, as they are a little bit more nourishing and used the Rum as a disinfectant and a way to stop any bleeding.
There are obviously Pros and Cons to each one of these decisions.
Svina Colada.
It can be refreshing. Im sorry, but no matter what you put on that Graham Cracker it won't make my mouth water like a Svina Colada. I mean, what fun is it to be on an island and not have a drink? It sounds much more fun to me. The only problem, sometimes clouds your judgement. And what looks like a 9 at the bar can turn out to be a 3 in March, and the plane that came to save you crashes and you are stuck on another island for another year. Except, the next island you won't have all of these same items... And you are pretty lucky to have most of these random things.
Graham Crackers.
They are a safer choice. I hear living off of only coconuts takes a toll on your bowels... So Graham crackers would sound pretty good after a while. Graham Crackers will definitely provide the nourishment to allow you to survive until March when another plane comes to save you. They definitely don't promise you getting home, but they definitely will get you to someplace you would be happy to live. Maybe like Germany or something.
So I ask you guys, do you like Graham Crackers or Svina Coladas and getting caught in Ukraine?
@REHawk I'm just glad it wasn't my fingers so I can keep typing.
@Hawk8086 I don't think so necessarily. I mean if you watch Jackson he will have to make the slide to SF. NBA teams will want him there. He is too long, athletic, and springy. Plus his body type is that kind that looks like it can hold a lot more muscle when he gets into the weight room.
If Bill can get Selden and Wiggins I don't see why he can't get Ferguson and Jackson.
@drgnslayr Yea they do. But, remember how bad Withey looked in his first game as a Jayhawk. Or Sasha. And remember these guys have not been in a weight room with a collegiate strength trainer to really make them have explosiveness. If they add 3-5 inches on their verticals that is a big difference.
Of those guys, I did like Mitch Lightfoot. He gives me an Sam Dekker vibe....
@wissoxfan83 I didn't realize how offended you would be. I was just trying to be a little funny. I write like I speak and I would have said the exact same thing to you in person. With that being said, I will do what I can to not offend you or others in future posts.
@REHawk I also wasn't trying to be a "know it all." But, I will gladly answer your question since you are wanting to put me in my place so badly.
First. Your question has an implication that Cliff would shoot nearly 50 3's as a sophomore. And shoot it at least .300. A dangerous assumption being as how Cliff shot NONE last year.
Second. You clearly know nothing of the lineage of Wisconsin basketball big men. They shoot the 3 at a pretty impressive clip.
Look up:
- Jared Berggren
- Keaton Nankivil
- Jon Leuer
- Brian Butch
- Mike Wilkinson
- Zach Morley
- Charlie Wills
I was really not trying to ruffle any feathers. I enjoy this site much more than the KUsports.com one where it is a fight of 12 year olds who don't ever provide facts or contribute anything. I learn a TON on this site. I am not a "know it all" but I am certainly not clueless and will voice my opinion.
@wissoxfan83 This is plenty chill, man. You're comparing a 7-footer that can shoot 3s to a 6'8 bruiser.
@drgnslayr Theoretically your half court defense shouldn't change too much. The only team to really dominate for any period of time playing zone has been Cuse. But they commit to it and recruit for it. Plus, shots that you are taking inside of 10 seconds are usually not that high of a quality.
But, teams that press could definitely have an advantage. Instead of getting the ball across the court with 28 seconds on the shot clock it is more like 22. And then if you want to run a set play, you are down to closer to 15-18 seconds. If that set play gets busted, you won't really have time to reset or anything. Where you would have at least been able to reset to an iso type of a play on the old clock.
As deep as we are on the perimeter this season, plus a rim protector in Diallo, I would think we at least pressure the ball handler up the court a little bit. It isn't worth is with the 35 second clock. But, like i said, if we can prevent any resetting of the offense and force up tougher guarded shots we will be better off.
Big man recruits we've offered that are most likely projects:
Schnider Herard
Isaac Humphries
Jayce Johnson
Mitch Lightfoot
@wissoxfan83 I get that the choice was taken from him. It sucks. But, he never helped himself during any of it. Especially the predraft process. He got an injury during his LA workout that was speculated largely as faking because he was playing poorly. He didn't show a lot of loyalty to KU or his coach. Which is a horrible sign for an NBA role player. He looked lazy on the court during games unless he got the opportunity to attempt a dunk. These are all things that HE did. No one else. Not his mom. Not someone who ranked him 5 stars.
And don't bring that weak Frank Kaminsky B.S. in here. That's apples and oranges and you know it. Completely different skill-sets. Completely different stories. Your best argument would be T-Rob. But again, really completely different situations. Mentality-wise, those two on the court were night and day.
@drgnslayr I would have to say that part of the reason BMac looked so good was all of the extra practice he was able to get. Wigs looked much better than BMac did toward the end of Big XII play.
@elpoyo I also agree that Self can be a little bit stubborn with them, but he also has a model of success that hasn't failed yet. So, if you were him it would be hard to get out of that comfort zone. I also believe though, it takes a perfect storm for OAD guys to win the way they have. Duke had the perfect compliment of OADs come in at the same time. They had a scorer/dominant post, A tough gritty player and a floor general all come in at the same time. That mixed with talented veterans. And at that, they BARELY won it all. UK has only won that one NC with Anthony Davis. And, I'm sorry but he was by far the best player in CBB that year. You couldn't quantify the impact he made every game. And on top of that, they had the #2 player in the draft in MKG.
We could easily be the next "stack team" with the roster spots we have opening. If we get Bolden, Ferguson and Jackson that is a scary team.
PG- Frank/Devonte
SG- Svi or Selden/Ferguson/Vick
SF- Jackson/Green
PF- Bragg/Coleby
C- Bolden/Lucas
@wissoxfan83 I want to agree that it was his guardians faults, but that just isn't really true. NBA teams have drafted players who have done a lot worse things. In all honesty, Cliff just really isn't that good. He has horrible footwork. He isn't good on defense. He has long arms, but you saw how many times he missed dunks. His vertical was nothing special. His basketball IQ isn't there. The scouts all saw this. And that is why the NBA requires the OAD rule. So they can at least see what their investment looks like. And, thats why they are already talking about making it TAD when the next CBA comes up. Cliff will unfortunately become the poster child for why the NBA will always require at least the OAD rule.
http://www.verbalcommits.com/schools/kansas ā
Here is a list showing who all we have offered so you guys can go do research.
@BeddieKU23 I think you have hit it pretty much on the head. We still have a good shot with Josh Jackson too. I am damn near banking on him coming here. It is such an easy sell to him after Wiggs I would think. Especially if you can tell him he would be playing with an elite PG like Frank who can make him look good.
@drgnslayr I've heard rumors about Ferguson maybe committing somewhere soon. Might have been on this site though :joy:
@Crimsonorblue22 Well him vs. Shaka is a no brainer. Would you want a 52 year old coach who has literally 0 experience with a major program or a 38 year old coach who has been an assistant for major programs and has made several deep tournament runs already?
@Texas-Hawk-10 Wake Forest is going to be tough too. They are returning 4 of their top 5 scorers. They also played the following teams extremely tough last year: Louisville, Duke, Virginia, Syracuse, and NC State. They were inconsistent and struggled much of the year. But, they showed a lot of potential. They are also a very senior laden team this season. Look for them to be a much improved team from last year.
@REHawk You definitely have to admire Marshall's record. But to me there is something off about him... He has a very good career record of .715 but he has done it all at the mid-major level. And he has been successful at that level now for 17 years. Why has he never gotten a job at a major program? I can't decide. He should have been considered and up and coming coach while at Winthrop. But yet, he moves to Witchita State. A near lateral move. Why? I can't decide if I respect it because of loyalty to a school or not. The skeptic in me says that there is something else. If I were to guess it would be the leverage to take pay raises after successful years while having lower expectations and thus not having to do near as much year in and year out.
@jaybate-1.0 I very much so disagree with you. You are saying that a lot of our season depends on Diallo scoring in the low block. I would say that is not what we need Diallo to do. We need him to play rim to rim in transition. We need him to be able to alter shots and stop people from driving the lane. And, we need him to catch easy oops. That is it. Because if we need something else we have another big to give it to us!
Hunter: Can score and space the lane with a nice midrange jumper. Can rebound. Can be a spark on offense when Diallo is giving us nothing.
Lando: Can push smaller defenders around with ease. Will be times when we see easy lobs to him this year. Can rebound and D-up with larger bigs that push Diallo and Hunter around.
Bill needs to be able to recognize when it will be appropriate to play each player. While each one of them may be flawed individually, those 3 together create serious problems and mismatches at the 5.
@drgnslayr Cotton was only like 6'3. Baker is definitely the bigger of the 2 guys. Cotton may have been the best defender at the time and guarded other teams 3s. Or he guarded them because they didn't want Baker in foul trouble. Either way, they can still play Frankamp. I am sure that WSU probably plays a more 3 guard system than a true PG, SG, SF. It makes them more flexible when trying to just get the best recruits possible to come.
@drgnslayr Tekele Cotton was a SG last year and played 31 minutes a game. So there is definitely minutes up for grabs.
@jaybate-1.0 I was thinking about how our team was built: this is essentially the most NBA style of team Bill has ever had. And, I am interested to see if he realizes it/what he does with it.
These are obviously not perfect comparisons**
- A scoring PG. Mason = Kyrie, Curry, CP3, Lillard, Westbrook.
- True Stretch 4. Perry = Love, Bosh, Draymond. This has to be a weapon we use this year to open the lane for Wayne, Frank and Devonte.
- A couple of uber athletes on the wing. Selden and Svi. = LeBron, Paul George, Durant. Obviously to a lesser extent, but the impact provided is similar.
- Sharshooter(s) (Hopefully Greene isn't lonely) = Danny Greene, J.R. Smith. Always a time and a place for a big 3 ball to shift momentum.
- Platoon style 5s that each offer a unique skillset to be utilized at certain times and with certain matchups. (Mozgov and Thompson. Or Bogut, Ezili, Speights.
Because of this, bad ball can take a backseat this year and allow us to push the tempo and really have a much more free flowing offense. We should be able to open the lane and really see what Perry, Wayne and Frank can do. I can feel a bit of a switch coming from Self, as it needs to before he makes his inevitable NBA jump.
@JayHawkFanToo @sfbahawk Defense is still played! It just been less noticeable because rule changes through the years. New handcheck rules that get pickier and pickier every year, the widening of the lane mixed with defensive 3 seconds, and the lack of traveling violations called, all hamper the defense's ability. This is why you see more emphasis on having a good stretch 4 and a lack of emphasis on true 5's. In today's NBA a true 5 has been taken away on both ends. Because the lane is so wide and the fact that the defensive player can't sit in the lane anymore it doesn't allow the same defensive presence it used to. This lack of defensive presence is only accentuated on the offensive end. Why have a big ogre under the basket allowing the defense to camp in the lane? It doesn't make sense. So teams have moved to a stretch or uber athletic 5 in order to clear the lane even more. There is no weakside help on drives anymore unless you want to give up a wide open 3. Hence the reason LeBron surrounds himself with sharpshooters and big men that can keep the lane cleared out.
@drgnslayr they were! But we have also never had a OAD talent at PG to reference... My point was more that we will have a solid 4 year guy in Devonte for sure next season, so the gamble to go after a OAD PG seems like it is low risk high reward.
@drgnslayr isn't this the time to go and get an uber point though? If he turns out to be the real deal great. If not, we have solid depth at the position. And, so far, any time Bill has had an All-American point guard, his team goes deep in the tourney. (Chalmers/Collins, Tyshawn, Dee Brown)