A shout out to ScoutsFocus.com for sending us this interview with Kadeem Jack, the 6’9″ post player that has suddenly shown up on several teams’ radar due to the lack of post players still remaining in the 2010 class.
Most notably, Kadeem talks about UNC and his recent options there. He mentions the specific coaches that he’s talked to at UNC and Kentucky, as well as his feelings regarding the schools that were recruiting him previously, which include Miami and Arizona:
Kadeem certainly is giving the fans of the schools he’s considering a lot of great reasons to like him. He talks about trying to do intangible things like working hard, putting full effort on the court, and getting better. With so many top schools interested in him, it’s great to see that he’s grounded and comes across as a young man who understands how to put his best foot forward at all times.
Kentucky has landed another much needed big man in Elroy Vargas, a 6’11” post player who is transferring from Florida after his freshman season.
Kentucky is one of two top-tier programs (UNC is the other) that are in a mad scramble for big men. While Vargas was considered a Kentucky lean, it still puts more pressure on UNC to close some deals with one of the few remaining big men in the 2010 class.
Vargas’ time at Florida wasn’t exactly spectacular, but it’s important to remember that in reality, most players don’t arrive on campus and play lights out from day one. While that alone doesn’t mean Vargas will find more success at UK, it does mean fans shouldn’t judge a player too early, especially in the college game.
A rumor flared up this week that Brandon Knight (PG/SG, 6’3″ , 2010), a Kentucky commit and almost certainly the starting PG for UK next season, might be considering a jump to Europe to play, ala Brandon Jennings.
The difference between Knight’s situation is twofold; one, it isn’t clear if Brandon Jennings actually opted to go pro because of the pay or because he couldn’t get the needed scholastic score to go into Arizona. There’s no indication that Knight is considering not enrolling at Kentucky for academic reasons.
Secondly, Jennings was more attractive as a point guard than Knight to pro teams. Jennings’ flashy style is exciting and pro teams in Europe were looking to land a player that might immediately draw fans, win or lose. Knight, although a good player as well, doesn’t have that same hype.
This does not mean that Knight couldn’t take the overseas route, but there’s one more key factor: Brandon Jennings experience in his year playing in Europe wasn’t great. He sat a lot and did not put up the numbers that were expected, and as a result, his draft status sank. It worked out for Jennings, who grew up quickly as he realized the difference between being a superstar high school recruit and just another pro player on a team of experienced vets.
Jennings treated his time in Italy as a professional, training daily to improve his shot, and approaching the game as he should. That, at least, is a benefit that has no doubt improved his chances for NBA success. After one season in Milwaukee, many people considered him to the be the rookie of the year.
No other collegiate sport has changed as drastically in the past twenty years as Division I college basketball.
Image from ESPN
Top players in college basketball now rarely last four years, and any player with serious NBA prospects is almost guaranteed to leave school early. This means that for coaches of elite programs, bringing in a monster recruiting class usually only buys you a single year, maybe two, of those players being on your roster. With almost half of Kentucky’s 2009-10 roster being built with one-and-done players, they are looking to fill in with talent in way they can, and right now that means bringing in 2010 big men.
There aren’t a ton of top 2010 prospects even available at this point, and Kentucky has a major competitor for these big men in North Carolina, who lost sophomore power forward Ed Davis to the NBA draft and then suddenly lost two more power forwards when the Wear twins transferred. Now UK and UNC are scrambling to look at any and all big man prospects still available.
Unfortunately, there is another factor for these players, which is that in most cases, these players weren’t seriously being recruited by either school until the past few weeks. Considering that all of these big men already had offers from multiple schools, they might take the new interest from elite schools as being somewhat “late to the party”.
Both coaches, John Calipari for Kentucky and Roy Williams for North Carolina, are hoping that the allure of playing for a top, nationally recognized team will appeal to these big men, and also, if a player is a mature, balanced person, may understand that neither school had roster spots until recently.
Of course, there are schools that were already recruiting these players, and they also are going to continue to make a hard push to land players they’ve been courting before the “Big Boys” came along.
A quick look at some of the players now thrust into the national recruiting spotlight:
Kadeem Jack, a 6’9″ center from New York
Papa Samba Ndao, a 6’8″ PF/C who plays for Monteverde Academy in Florida and was at one time committed to Boston College.
Kevin Noreen, a 6’10” big man who also was released from his Boston College commitment
Marcus Thornton, a 6’7″ power forward who originally committed to Clemson but was released when coach Oliver Purnell left for DePaul.
In addition to incoming freshman, there are two transfer players looking for a new home:
Justin Knox a 6’9″ senior transfer from Alabama
Elroy Vargas, a 6’9″ sophomore transfer from Florida.
Several years ago, I railed against the NBA’s sudden explosion of drafting high school kids, and was met with vocal opposition. My argument, then, just as it is now, was based on two core tenets:
NBA scouts were drafting on hype, not actual ability
Players need some experience in a top-down, coaching environment against solid competition
At that time, my number one example was Darius Miles, who had just been drafted and was going to be the next superstar phenom. I argued then that even though Miles had tons of ability, I would prefer that he play at least a year in college or even the NBDL to see how he actually plays against men his own size.
I’ll revisit a bit of that argument and then explain why this is relevant today.
When you are a teenager, you develop the body of an adult, and you think you are an adult – but you aren’t. As an example outside of basketball (and outside pure physical ability), let’s look at adults who return to college later in life. In every single study, older students (even students just in their late 20s), do significantly better than younger students. Sure, there are students of college age who excel, but while the ratio for college students who are star pupils might be 10% or less, the ratio of older student who excel is probably the reverse of that, as in 90%.
Why the difference?
It’s because, despite youthful energy and exuberance, adults develop the ability to learn and combine it with an actual, experienced understanding of how hard one must work to succeed. Adult students have experience forged in life, and life is a brutal teacher.
To be blunt, kids are naive. Adults aren’t.
Now, back to the pro basketball world. Consider that any player with even just a year of experience in college has had to endure a year of balancing classes, the media, harsh coaching criticisms from someone who controls your playing time and hours of workouts and practices.
And then, there’s the games, for top level schools, which are on national television and against top level talent. A 6’9″ player at a Division I school will be expected to not only do all of the previously mentioned work, but will have to face other players who have the same work ethic, same size and same coaching many times.
Now, let’s consider a player who has done that for three or four years of college. Of course, the average player is going to be significantly more focused, more experienced, more crafty, stronger and more patient.
But college isn’t even the best option in all cases. Taking the four year college player against a player with one year of NBDL (or overseas) experience. A pro player must now contend with bills, agents, playing time, personality conflicts and bad press. Add to that, pro players don’t have to worry about class time, so they should be working out and practicing as a full time job. Day in, day out, while the college player is in class or hanging out on campus, the pro player should have already been in the gym for hours, working out, studying, and getting better.
It’s no different than any other profession in that regard. A carpenter with twenty years of experience is better than a high school grad with a few shop classes under his belt and knack for woodwork. A lawyer with five years of experience is, on average, better at his job than a lawyer just out of college. Sure, there are exceptions, but in reality they are extremely rare. It takes time, experience and competition to become a master of a skill.
So what does that have to do with today?
Last night I witnessed Lebron James sulking around the court as his Cavs were soundly beaten by the Celtics. To be clear, James is injured, but his injury wasn’t enough to stop his 38 point outburst only a few nights before. Even though star players in years past have had off nights, there’s a new look to Lebron James that is far more significant than just another loss.
It’s a night where James gave up, got outplayed and out-manned, something that has starting happening with alarming frequency.
The display by Lebron is what you might expect from a player who got everything too easily, who hasn’t had to battle for his starting role or even having to prove himself at all. Lebron was great in the regular season, but the season isn’t when NBA players come to play. They get serious in the playoffs.
Sure, you might say that Lebron just had an off night. But the look on Lebron’s face, in his demeanor, isn’t one of someone struggling. It’s the look of a kid who just realized he’s not invincible, and he can be beaten. Badly.
Lebron is obviously injured. Yet, he vocally campaigned to guard Rajan Rondo, the Celtics emerging star point guard. Rondo was barely even slowed. If Lebron really was so injured, he shouldn’t be putting himself on the Celtics hottest player – that’s a liability. Lebron’s bravado is quickly giving way to another average playoff run, and unfortunately, Lebron’s biggest lesson: potential is only a temporary quality. Eventually, potential dissipates.
The only way that the 2009-2010 season for the New Jersey Nets can be described in an unmitigated disaster.
The Nets spent the vast majority of the very long NBA season fretting that they would win less games than the infamous 1972-73 Philadelphia 76rs, a team that only one 9 games behind Fred Carter’s 20 points per game.
It’s a sad state of affairs when winning 12 games is a cause for celebration, but that’s exactly the situation facing the Nets organization.
Now, on to the future, and hopefully, rebuilding. New Jersey wants to forget this season ever happened, but that means hard decisions about the future.
Number one on the rebuilding list will be whether interim coach and GM Kiki Vandeweghe will stay on with the franchise. Vandeweghe is in the final year of his contract, and putting together one of the worst teams in NBA history is not much of a reason to keep someone on. But, honestly, most GMs in the NBA are lousy, and coaching is mostly non-existent. So, what, if anything, can the Nets do to keep from repeating this season?
The Nets need to be careful not to try a complete overhaul of the roster, but instead look to significant changes. In a league made of of teams with interchangeable players, there are some starting points for the Nets.
Rookie Terrence Williams has provided a bit of hope, although his 8.4 PPG and 4.5 RPG are hardly enough to carry a team, and to be clear, Williams only started 9 games this season, and may have been hampered by foot injuries as the season wore on. Still, his efforts are enough to consider him as a future contributor.
Brook Lopez and Devin Harris are the leading scorers on a team that lacks a lot of offense.
So where do the Nets look for more punch? The most obvious choice is that if they get the top lottery pick, they should take John Wall, but if they don’t get the top pick, they might do well to land a wing player like Wes Johnson or Evan Turner. If they drop too far, they might have to settle on best available players or grab players who can play the 3 and 4 like Al-Farouq Aminu or Patrick Patterson, even though there may be more highly rated pure bigs available.
It all depends on how the Nets see improvement; the Nets already have Lopez in the paint, do they want to help him out by creating more scoring from the wing or add depth in the paint? Drafting Eric Monroe, DeMarcus Cousins or Derrick Favors might not mean significantly more offense, just more depth at the post.
In the second round, it’s important to grab whoever is the best available player, and that means they could end up with someone like Willie Warren, Greivis Vasquez or possible even Eric Bledsoe if he falls out of the first round. One thing is certain, any player drafted by the Nets, regardless of position, has a solid shot at making the team.
