lillurk

Newton giving some big minutes! Also your game summary neglects to mention that First Team Fake Tough Mason Gillis probably did something obnoxious that had a bigger impact on the game than any Actual Basketball he played

I may go to the Auburn/IU game and if this happens it will be a bad drive home

Okay some pedantry here, the line is ”real Gs move in silence like lasagna,” a play on the silent consonant in the word.

All those negative perspectives on LBJ are also true of lots of greats, not least of which MJ, as on example

Surely Woody put in a good word with Thibs or someone in the FO with NYK here

Forgot KCP, though JHS may never be the 3 point shooter he is. Anyway, if you’re like most of the way to one of these archetypes and you’re a dependable person on and off the court, you can make a ton of money. I don’t think any of these are like everything-breaks-right star-level outcomes either. Think he could’ve played actual minutes for the Suns or Cavs THIS PLAYOFFS

Had not seen a Chauncey Billups comp but I really like it — good size in height but also length and strength, yet still not really a get-to-the-rim and finish guy. Good enough everywhere else to be good for a long time. Even the Eric Snow comp…he was a more limited player but spent 13 years in the league. I like Hollinger in general but find it interesting that he’s not seeing “good midrange shooter with perfectly fine 3 and FT %s, plus size and D” as the kind of player who gets good enough at at least some thing(s) to carve out a role for a long while. Just thinking of the last two rounds of the playoffs: aren’t there developmental paths where he ends up as any of the following types of player? Bruce Brown, Derrick White, Marcus Smart, Austin Reeves, D’Angelo Russell, “Grant Williams but he’s a guard,” someone better than Peyton Pritchard??

Trilly’s tweet is also how I learned this and it made me feel VERY OLD

Yeah and he’s slight but has genuinely good size for a guard — can definitely guard up to a 3, and could easily play with two other guards

Maybe next offseason we’ll have an opening or a new developmental position for Melo.

For how long will Scheyer have the juice?

Over the weekend Hart’s interviews told us a couple things: 1. He liked IU but IU was slow playing him pending other targets, and 2. He planned to decide very soon. But he hasn’t announced yet, and the two targets everyone presumed IU had above him, Reeves and Wilcher, are now off the board (or were never on it, if the folk telling of the Reeves saga is true). If he wanted to go to UK or Rutger, I think he’d have committed by now.

UK hasn’t really been special on the court during the time they’ve been recruits. They probably remember the undefeated final four team, or some other good teams from almost a decade ago, but at this point I think Cal’s rep is as a guy who’s underachieved with high early expectations lately. He’s never been much of a developer, and unless you’re a PG you end up in a narrowly prescribed role in his offense. And then it’s all about momentum. Recruiting can be fickle. Also think NIL $ have really leveled the playing field. UK can surely fund a high-caliber athletic department but the booster aid is probably not much better than e.g. at UT or Weat Virginia or Kansas State etc., if at all, now that all those places can legally compensate players.

Generally speaking a university requires some number or percentage of credit hours to be completed at said institution to graduate AND/OR the final X hours to be there. Would be hard to do both in just a single year if you weren’t strategic. It may be possible to get a waiver for one or both of those rules depending on institutional/departmental policy and/or state law. Could imagine a vindictive program trying not to allow that but it’s a decision for academic staff/faculty, not the athletic dept./program. All of which might explain taking summer classes at your old school (as would simple scheduling/housing needs, online options, or finding it easier to transfer credit out of UK than in, etc.). Illinois State doesn’t list a summer graduation date, which probably just means they don’t have a ceremony; I’m sure any institution of that size does award degrees in summer. But I assume that means Reeves wouldn’t graduate and thus be eligible to start somewhere new as a grad transfer, until mid-August.

But those schools are quite close to each other, despite being far from home.

Assuming it isn’t Elliot Cadeau, who just reclassified to ‘23, that leaves only one incoming frosh, PF Zayden High, or a committed incoming transfer: wing Harrison Ingram, PF Jae’lyn Withers, or guards Cormac Ryan or Paxson Wojcik.

This is where Juwan and staff deserve some criticism: IU knew this before he was even linked to UM, then it took weeks after his commitment for he and UM to split? And UM deservedly has a reputation as a tough spot for transfers. All the more reason it was misplayed.

Yeah, I agree there are of course good options. It’s just less obvious who they might be for UK right now than some prior periods.

Late regular season, around their loss to Georgia, I wondered if a Cal/UK split might be good for both parties. They rallied and the noise died down, but I still wonder if that’s the case. One issue right now is I don’t know if there’s a real obvious coach that screams “next UK HC” out there. They’re not going to poach from the reigning champ. Oats and/or Muss make sense, but their current schools would pony up to keep them. Painter is a wild card IMO but I don’t really see it for either side.

My inference from this, the Sharajavmts top 5, and the relative quiet is the staff may not be all in on one target yet. Can’t speak to Hart as a player. But I’d find it hilarious if UK wants him and he ends up at IU, given UK’s thin roster

I was going to post some quotes but the whole thing is worth reading: https://www.insidethehall.com/2023/05/31/quotes-everything-mike-woodson-said-at-hubers-winery/

Here are a couple pro-Sharavjamts morsels for thought: 1. Torvik’s got a player statistical similarity tool. Many, many of his top freshman year comps turned in to really good college players. One of the top comps: frosh Armaan Franklin. They’re different — see @Demo‘s comments on the vision, not really a Franklin strength — but I find that sort of instructive. A guy who wasn’t great in year one, but showed some things that might not jump off the page in his cumulative stats. 2. Torvik also categorizes player position based on size, stats, who he shares the floor with. It tabs Sharavjamts as a PG. Obviously when you’ve got a 6’8” one, you have some lineup flexibility, but speaks to the vision. 3. I know there was some grumbling about why he declared…even if you don’t watch much NBA, surely you can understand why a prospect with his size and skill would still get invited to some workouts. Figure out the shot, add 20 lbs, continue developing, and you can envision at least a productive college player, and maybe at least a chance to play at a higher level than that.

Very complicating to me, too, that he’s good at this