He is raw, you are correct. I think the potential is there to be a good, but not great college player.
EJ Montgomery Offered
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He is raw, you are correct. I think the potential is there to be a good, but not great college player.
This. Bolden has been given very little opportunity to develop. Hence, more than halfway through his sophomore year he looks raw.
His lack of PT and being hampered by injuries has definitely held him back. You also have to remember he missed half the season last year and then missed another month or so this year.
My offer stills stand. Bolden straight up for Huffman. I'll up the anti and throw $15,000 back at you for the effort.
Put Bolden on our team right now and he's a star by the end of the tourney. That's how we do it here. Why these kids (bigs) continue to pick dook is beyond me.
EJ was at the game today. Someone got a "We want EJ!!" chant going in the risers too, which was a nice touch. Hopefully he had a good visit.
I still don't really fully get it. Does anyone think Carter or Bagley wouldn't be going to the NBA if they played at Carolina, or Notre Dame, or heck, Pitt?
I understand wanting to go there because K has a wealth of experience coaching top players, has won 5 championships, or because they have great facilities and academics. I don't think sending players to the NBA is a very good argument though.
They're getting all of the most talented players, that's why they send them to the NBA. A smart recruit would look at the schools that most overachieve their recruiting rankings. It's much more impressive for a three-star player (Frank Mason) to get drafted at the top of the second round than to take the #5 recruit and have him end up as a top 10 pick. Top recruits have been just fine even when they go to a school with no history of sending players to the NBA.
...and their Bigs don't develop a lick while they're there. If Carter had enough sense to come to Chapel Hill he might actually have learned some defense by now to go with his massive talent. He'd sure as hell have gotten more touches on offense.
Speaking of big men, Texas just lost to Baylor... at home. It took them two overtime periods just to get to 70 points. They're 5-8 in conference and probably projected to miss the tournament for the second year in a row. Meanwhile Shaka has had a different 5-star center on the roster the last three years, and none of them have shown much of any offensive game development in Austin.
Hey Will Baker, Chapel Hill is a pretty nice place to play basketball.
Hey Will Baker, Chapel Hill is a pretty nice place to play basketball.
I agree man. Anthony Davis would have succeeded no matter which school he went to. But it's all about perception not reality. The OAD era has really fostered a culture or rather a goal, of getting to the league as quickly as possible for a lot of the top kids. And when certain schools have that track record more than others it works in their favor. It's almost like a cycle.
Guys like Carter see dook and see the best pathway for exposure and the NBA. Even if they could go somewhere else and be just as good, there's the element of brand and fame that blue blood schools provide. And as much as I hate it, dook's brand has never been better.
That being said, that's not a sure fire recipe for tournament success. We've performed much better than Duke the past couple years and arguably the decade in the postseason. But success in the college game isn't the same as the pros. And that's priority number one for the Marvin Bagley's and Wendell Carter's of the world.
I totally get caring mostly about the NBA and honestly, I would be the same way if I were in their position.
What I'm arguing is that the way these guys are supposedly evaluating their chances to get to the NBA (go to the teams putting players in the NBA) is completely wrong, and while I get that people often act irrationally, it seems ridiculous to think the entire 5-star recruiting pool is just deluded year after year.
While you raise a good point about brand, I think far too much is made of the impact your college choice has on your brand when you're an athlete. Anthony Davis had every advantage in the world when it comes to brand (UK, championship, POY). Steph Curry had none. Who is making more money? I don't think it's AD. And you could go down the list of guys who played at schools with no brand (Simmons, Fultz, Harden, Lebron). If you're a great player you will make a ton of money, if you're not you won't. The top recruits could go play in Alaska, or really just take the year off (see Michael Porter) and still be top picks. Once you're in the league, your game will be all that really matters when it comes to money.
What I would do were I advising a top recruit is to look at the school that could add the most value to my game. Who is developing guys so that they exceed their recruiting rankings the most when it comes to the NBA? That should be the most important thing, looking at how you can outperform whatever your high school athleticism is. And maybe UNC doesn't come out great there either, I don't know. I just think that makes more sense than what currently seems to be going on, but I'm probably expecting far too much of 17 year-old kids.
The five star pool is not diluted; up until this yr Adidas Nike and to a smaller extent under armour were deciding which schools got top kids. Ironically I am sure UNC if it was willing to play ball would have been one of those schools, even with the investigation going on. Thisnis because of the Jordan brand. I am tired of #winknod; let's call dook and UK on what they are doing. Capel comes to dook after leaving Oklahoma in tatters after the NCAA came to town and people wonder how dook is landing the top 3 and 4 top 9 kids? It's because they are cheating their butts off. Now you have calishady all mad because www can't outbid Nike for a school. Ditto Oregon... Are you kidding me? Suddenly kids want to go there left and right; you don't think good ole knight isn't padding pockets for that? Yeah right. I hope, but am not holding my breath that the FBI outs all the schools and shoe companies that are doing this. Then and only then will things like #family, and supposedly #brotherhood matter.
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What big man Duke alum is rocking the NBA? Jahlil Okafor couldn't play for the Sixers, and is barely playing for the Nets. Remember that there was an actual debate around draft time between KAT and Okafor? lol. Plumlees are carving out the same careers as Henson, Zeller, Ed Davis and Wright.
If Bradley had been known to be OAD would Carter have leaned more toward UNC? It seems knowing what we know now that he would get equal run but that wouldn't have been quite the same with Tony around. Obviously all speculation.
I got word that Carter was locked up to Duke the summer before his junior year at the Peach Jam. You are correct, that if Bradley was speculated to be OAD it could have helped with other potential recruits, but I doubt seriously it would have changed anything with Carter.
They have one all star. That's Kryie. A player that barely played for coach K. Everyone else has been bust so far. Yes Parker has been injured, but injuries are part of the game.
Also Henson etc big man careers have been going better then dook careers.
Had we let Henson make his on decisions on what position he played (like most kids at the OAD factories), the only basketball shoes he'd be lacing up right now would be at Footlocker. Instead, we put him where he needs to be, develop him into a top notch big and then send him off ready for the next level.
Ofakor, Parker, and Mason Plumlee all have better career numbers than Henson right now.
Henson a starter for a playoff bound team. Averaging 8, 6, and 1.4 blocks.
Ofakor a bench rider that no team wants. Mason stats is similar and Parker just came from injury who is a small forward. I said BIG MEN(PF and C).
So mention Ofako all you want, Henson career is trending upward and his career is rapidly declining. He's on the worst team in the NBA currently and still coming off the bench.
Valid point.
Props to Roy for giving him a chance at the SF spot he wanted to play. Props to Henson for making the change once it didn't work out. Both men put pride and ego to the side, and it worked out for both sides.
Actually there are 6 worse teams currently than the Nets. But my point that was you act as though Henson is tearing it up in the NBA (without looking it up I would think him or Marvin Williams is your best) and Duke has 3 post players (2 centers) that are putting up better numbers than Henson. I'm not arguing that Duke's post players are doing extremely well, but before you bash them you need to realize that UNC bigs are doing even worse.
Ofakor went to dook as a OAD and the #1 recruit in the nation. Henson, Zeller, etc. didn't. But they are still producing and helping playoff caliber teams. They may not be all-stars but they aren't in China either.
Okafors stats are very very skewed from his rookie year. He has been Henson level and now worse the last 2 years since then. Btw, one was the 2nd pick and had the term "tanking for Okafor"
https://twitter.com/tankinforokafor?lang=en
And the other was the 14th pick
If you want to act like Mason Plumlee and John Henson aren't on the same level, you can let that 1 point difference make you believe that.
Yep. Brandon Wright was pretty coveted when the Grizzlies bought him out. He landed with the Rockets. You can add Ed Davis the list of producing for a playoff team.
You guys are still missing the point. Again, I'm not arguing that Duke has the top big men in the NBA but just pointing out that while UNC has some good role players, none of theirs are stars. And I'm too lazy to look it up, but wasn't Davis, Henson, Wright, Hansbrough, etc. top 10-15 recruits? So it's not like UNC has taken these scrubs and turned them into NBA stars (they were highly touted recruits as well just not as high as Okafor)......heck, Hansbrough was the best of the bunch at the collegiate level but his game just didn't translate well to the NBA and he's currently in China I believe.
My point continues to be that you guys bash Duke's lack of developing NBA quality big men and yet ours are at the same level as yours are and nearly the same in quantity.
Bamba is a good example this year. Plays on an under-performing Texas team (15-11 and probably not NCAAT bound). Coach with little or no OAD reputation. Yet he's a top-10 pick if he wants to go pro.
Big shift in recent years. The whole OAD thing has really blown up. And in this new era, coaches like K and Cal have adapted in ways that attract the top talent in higher proportion than before.
The downside, of course, is that they leave earlier. So the OAD coach is constantly having to replace a lot of good players.
Kryie and now Jayson are the only OADs "tearing it up" as this dook poster will say. Brandon Ingram has been solid, so it is still promise there. What about Frank Jackson? Okfar? Tryus Jones? Justin Winslow? Harry Giles? Austin Rivers can thank his Daddy for his roster spot. I excused parker because he can't stay healthy.
At least Kentucky can say their OADs produced several all stars.
At least Kentucky can say their OADs produced several all stars.
Wonder if EJ ask Bagley last night why he was sitting on the bench??? Maybe Bagley told him because coach K doesn't know how to play bigs. Maybe EJ looked down and seen Bolden and thinks naw not me!!
Bagley's hurt...
I heard he has a sprained ego.
Still trying to figure out how he is hurt he played the whole game narry a limp now all of a sudden he sprained his knee against us... Uhhuh I think it's more like he and Grayson couldn't click and so Bagley packed it in. Just my opinion though
Also, Grayson Allen's wrist didn't seem to be bothering him last night either.
