I think NBA teams are often drafting with a high-risk-high-reward approach. The best CBB players are overwhelmingly upperclassmen. But the NBA views those guys as being close to their ceiling, and even if they would be good, solid, maybe bench piece NBA players those are not as hard to find. If you already have great to good players in abundance and can get “solid” players anytime why not use the draft to take a shot. So, I think teams might look at it like: “Why shouldn’t we draft this young guy strictly on potential. Sure, he wasn’t one of the top players in CBB, and may not have even been one of the better players in his conference, but he has athleticism and measurables that if they click he ‘could’ become a rare player.”
POLL: It's Early, But Who Returns Next Year ??
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You’re right. The difference in the sports also demand different skillsets too.
If he’s so smart why didn’t he get a combination of both this year. Honestly I’m tired of the praise and excuses you give for pope in all of your posts
I'll be honest ITVI, I'm not grasping the "different skillsets" concept clearly. Expound on that if you would so I can understand better your point.
Pope’s coaching was this bad last year.
Those players overcame his coaching many games.
The defense last year was the same as this and it never got better thru the season.
There was no game preparation last season.
Pope can only teach one offense. The players last season could play it.
The players this year can’t.
This is not getting better.
If Pope is still here next season and brings in guys that can play his offense then it will look exactly like last season.
I not sure there will be many of these players and I am not sure too many fans will. It is so hard to watch, I struggled returning after Christmas break.
The college game has shorter shot clocks and rules that are more favorable to defensive players. There are a lot of other factors surrounding this but it leads to the following differences in the game:
- Zone defenses are able to be much more effective in college due to skill differences.
- Spacing is much better in the NBA due to talent and rule differences.
- Officiating is methodologically more consistent in the NBA than college and favors offensive players. This means a lot of baiting techniques on that level aren’t as effective in college.
- College officials allow much more contact than NBA officials.
Etc. etc. etc.
Ultimately there are some aspects of someone’s game that may not affect them as much in college but will get exposed in the NBA:
- In the NBA big men need to have much faster lateral quickness, because of the increased spacing. This is one most common reasons why a dominant college big (like Malachi Moreno) will not project as a high draft pick.
- In the NBA, shot blocking is less impactful than it was in prior eras. Defensive versatility and discipline are now more important than block rate, by and large. The reason for this is the growing number of stretch fives lead to less block opportunities.
- Players that are short for their position may excel in college but because of the NBA’s efficiency, won’t survive long there. Of course there are exceptions, but Tyler Ulis is a prime example of having an NBA skillset but size limited his role significantly.
- Shot mechanics are more important than shot percentage for drafting on NBA potential. This is why, despite shooting an excellent percentage from three in college, there was much debate about Lonzo Ball’s perimeter game going into his draft. His shot mechanics were unorthodox and some argued bad.
- Low post scoring is more niche in the NBA, while many college basketball teams will utilize more inside-out, generating from more “punch” action. There are outliers like Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic but more NBA teams do not run “Punch” as a primary base and it’s more situational. This is why a lot of dominant college post players aren’t valued as highly for the NBA. See Drew Timme. (There’s a newer trend for running guards in the low post but off topic here.)
- For the same reasons I talked about earlier with regards to pace, literal speed is important as well as agility. The college game is significantly slower. You have to be able to guard in space and get baseline to baseline quickly.
- Because the NBA game is more perimeter-centric in terms of its spacing, the Reggie Evans archetype has less value than previous eras in the NBA. You’re elite rebounding specialist is almost entirely a thing of the past.
I could go on for days. It’s just two different worlds entirely.
My thoughts are:
Chandler—Pope’s Spock. Not going anywhere.
Lowe—Pope should recruit way over him but I doubt Pope can. If Pope can’t then Lowe has the car keys here as much as he can stay healthy to use them and will not get a better deal anywhere else.
Moreno—Having about as decent of a freshman year here as he probably would anywhere else in terms of personal production at most upper tier P5 schools. So with him it’s how much money he wants vs how bad he really wants to win a title. He ain’t winning a title here. But it would be hard for him to go to any of the schools where he would have seriously strong odds of winning a title. Also the money he’s getting here is going to higher than what he would realistically get elsewhere—unless for some reason Vandy decides they have to have him. With all that I think he leans coming back.
Noah—Unlike Travis Perry I don’t think Noah is likely to see his talents as being wasted when he could be a superstar. But that works two ways and means Noah could probably be happy going to a very low tier Div 1 school, a Directional State, and getting an awful lot of clock and being a smalltime star. Otoh the kid bleeds blue as terrible as this current situation is especially for him (hardly playing). And for Noah I don’t think he could get even a smidgen of the same money anywhere else. I’d give Noah a 75% chance to return and will honestly be happier for him if he goes to a tiny school and becomes their star and enjoys his college days more. I wish he could be a star in blue. But I wish that for me too and I don’t think it’s happening for either of us.
Mo—Will probably transfer to a school where fewer teammates sleep with his girlfriend.
Garrison—I definitely expect back.
J.J.—I expect him to make the Travis Perry decision with somewhat better results.
Quaintance—Would be foolish not to just shut it down and head for the league with his previous projections and his St. John’s game as his resume.
Jelavic—Seems to be already gone.
Kam—Has the most wide open options of anyone imo. Not impossible he could get taken in the draft. Could probably go to a lot of bigtime P5 basketball schools in portal and do well. Could also stay and be Pope’s highest paid player next year or at worst share that with BG and Moreno.
Chandler—Pope’s Spock. Not going anywhere.
Lowe—Pope should recruit way over him but I doubt Pope can. If Pope can’t then Lowe has the car keys here as much as he can stay healthy to use them and will not get a better deal anywhere else.
Moreno—Having about as decent of a freshman year here as he probably would anywhere else in terms of personal production at most upper tier P5 schools. So with him it’s how much money he wants vs how bad he really wants to win a title. He ain’t winning a title here. But it would be hard for him to go to any of the schools where he would have seriously strong odds of winning a title. Also the money he’s getting here is going to higher than what he would realistically get elsewhere—unless for some reason Vandy decides they have to have him. With all that I think he leans coming back.
Noah—Unlike Travis Perry I don’t think Noah is likely to see his talents as being wasted when he could be a superstar. But that works two ways and means Noah could probably be happy going to a very low tier Div 1 school, a Directional State, and getting an awful lot of clock and being a smalltime star. Otoh the kid bleeds blue as terrible as this current situation is especially for him (hardly playing). And for Noah I don’t think he could get even a smidgen of the same money anywhere else. I’d give Noah a 75% chance to return and will honestly be happier for him if he goes to a tiny school and becomes their star and enjoys his college days more. I wish he could be a star in blue. But I wish that for me too and I don’t think it’s happening for either of us.
Mo—Will probably transfer to a school where fewer teammates sleep with his girlfriend.
Garrison—I definitely expect back.
J.J.—I expect him to make the Travis Perry decision with somewhat better results.
Quaintance—Would be foolish not to just shut it down and head for the league with his previous projections and his St. John’s game as his resume.
Jelavic—Seems to be already gone.
Kam—Has the most wide open options of anyone imo. Not impossible he could get taken in the draft. Could probably go to a lot of bigtime P5 basketball schools in portal and do well. Could also stay and be Pope’s highest paid player next year or at worst share that with BG and Moreno.
Pope is so goofy all the time I don’t know if he said something goofy in the huddle that it would have the same effect. I’m afraid they would react more like “what is this fool saying now.“
Lowe had a bad game last game but I think he’s very good. He’s our best player and I know he catches a lot of flak for “not passing more.” A lot of is a function of what he’s having to do out of necessity. Lowe and Moreno are the only two guys Pope can’t mess up with, they both need to be back here if Pope has any hope whatsoever of keeping afloat. Even hobbled and nowhere near 100% Lowe is clearly the best player on this team.
You know what. You’re right, I know that once I read your post. Maybe Pope can hop around on a pogo stick or juggle instead lol
Talent-wise he definitely is, apart from shooting. I’m not worried at all about his last game and I definitely know he’s limited by what he has to work with. I definitely see why you say all that.
But I don’t think Pope will be able to recruit a roster that can shoot well enough to make up for Lowe’s shooting and at the same time make up for both Lowe’s own defensive limitations based on his size and their own defensive limitations based on if Pope wants players who can run his offense he’s probably going to have to settle again for players who mostly can’t defend because I love him but he’s kind of a limp wrist recruiting. Also Lowe’s size and toughness will always be an exposure especially in the SEC.
I don’t think Noah, Jasper or Jelavic return. I would gladly take them back. Why would they though? They don’t get to play. Even if Noah is a big UK fan he probably at some point wants to play