Okay... I'm jacked up on MITCHELL BALLOCK after seeing a more updated highlight film. I'm off of taking the defense for him and going on the offense.
The discussion seems to be about if he's good enough to help Kansas to the promised land. The thought is he is JUST a glue guy and he can't compete with the top elite athletes with 42" or higher vertical leaps or crazy knuckle-dragging wingspans going 8" beyond the player's height.
I was a Wiggins man, all the way. I was head wig of wiggymania when he was in Lawrence. The guy is phenomenal and he is making a name for himself in the league.
But would I rather have another Andrew Wiggins or would I prefer a Mitchell Ballock? I told you all, I'm going on the offense now.
While Ballock's highlight film looks impressive, there isn't a HS highlight reel more impressive than Wiggins. It is showered with his patented spin move where he leaves guys smoked in their own shoes. And then throw in a few well-practiced monster slams in a perfect pose. How in the heck could a Mitchell Ballock ever compete against an Andrew Wiggins?
Fortunately for Mitchell, college basketball isn't just a game of one-on-one.
In the more recent clip I saw on Mitchell, he has a lot more tools in his toolbox than what Andrew had when arriving in Lawrence. Andrew only brought one, highly-polished, move with him to Lawrence. Only one. And you all know what that was. It was his pivoting spin move on his drive. That worked for him, what... maybe 10 times in his entire single season in Lawrence?
Wiggins put up 17.1 ppg in his freshman year. Those are big numbers. But at what cost to the team? He shot a mere 44.8% from the field. Hardly blazing the nets and not enough to carry Kansas past the first couple of games in March. He only averaged 1.5 apg. For a guy that we lived through on offense, that number is very low for anyone considered a Jayhawk. Add to that 5.9 rpg and 34 blocks and 41 steals. Those numbers sound pretty impressive, but lets not forget that Andrew averaged 32.8 mpg and was the guy our offense ran through. Self wanted him to touch the ball on every single possession, and (preferably), to take the shot and score off of every possession.
Even if Mitchell has say 8" less on his vertical, not quite the speed... couldn't he put up at least those kind of numbers if our offense ran through him and he was averaging 32.8 mpg? When you look at it that way, Wiggins numbers are not so spectacular.
My bet would be that Mitchell would win many of the numbers on the stat line over Andrew. Right off the bat, he would surely double or triple Andrew's assist numbers. That claim shouldn't even be challenged. Andrew shot 34.1% from 3sville. It wouldn't take much for Mitchell to beat that number... and in doing so, it would help hike up his overall points total. I seriously doubt Mitchell would shoot the 227 FTs Andrew shot his freshman year. But it wouldn't surprise me if he shot a better FT%... more than 77.5%. That would help him gain ground on the line. Mitchell has more moves than just the spin move. He can easily score off the dribble, has a decent crossover, and also has a spin move. He also has higher basketball IQ (a stat that somehow needs to be computed and scored on every player). He will have less the chance to take it to the rack on a drive, forcing contact and going to the FT line. But he will be more likely to take his man and look for his spot on the floor to pull up. He's also a guy who knows how to use a shot fake to draw shooting fouls or create scoring space. He is a guy that knows how to use his body to create scoring space... in knowing this, he (like Niang) needs less vertical leaping ability to get his shot off. Granted, his leaping might not match Andrew's and may hurt him in the rebound department. First though... he's most likely a 2 instead of a 3, so counted less for rebounds. Second, because of his high basketball IQ he is more likely to fight for good rebounding position... the real method for rebounding over trying to jump over everyone for a rebound. Last thing... with his high basketball IQ he should be able to match Andrew's steal stats.
So, in my projection... he will offer Kansas everything and more what Andrew did. He might even throw in more glue guy attributes that aren't shown on stat sheets.
My point isn't to say Mitchell will help Kansas more than Andrew did. My point was that it is possible he could help Kansas more than Andrew did, and do it with a lot less athleticism!
