Meeks is DEFINITELY gone; hicks is starting to get attention from scouts; stillman wouldn't start for Fairfield; berry doesn't break down defenders and nba guards need to; JJ is a 2nd rounder purely on upside and nothing more t this point; we have no depth next year by anything yet seen even if all others stay but Meeks
I assume this is the post that got everyone's pants in a wad, I don't agree with much of it, do some what agree with some of it. First, about Meeks DEFINITELY being gone, yeah, that is or at least was the plan prior to this season. But so far this season, imo he has not helped that plan. In pre-season, a kid is expected to show improvement from past seasons, for example look at Hicks as comparred to meeks, the improvement from Hicks is off the charts, not sure I can ever recall a kid exploding thru in his Jr season to this extent. Hicks vastly improved from frosh to soph but what he has done from soph to Jr just continues to blow my mind. Contrast what you see now in Hicks to what you see now with Meeks, same class, meeks having more court time and yet in my view I see pretty much the same Meeks I saw last season, which is kinda a slimmer but similar production as the freshman version. I have seen his body transform but I have not seen his game grow like I would have expected and certainly not like what we see with Hicks. I am not saying a NBA team will not draft meeks first round but I will 100% say based off of what I have seen this season, I would not, in fact I would absolutely draft Brice and Hicks before I would Meeks. Just my opinion based on what I see.
Berry, does not have that great measurables that the NBA does love, Buddy Hield doesn't either but Hield is looking like a top 5 pick. Right now his size is a concern to NBA scouts, at his size they want to see Rondo, Chris Paul level game, I wouldn't put him at that level. Measurables mean a lot to NBA teams but ya can measure the dawg but you can not measure the heart in the dawg. I think Joel has to keep working on his shooting, solid shooter right now but he is not the focus of defenses, the concern is can he still shoot when the defenses focus to stop his shooting? In other words, when they treat him like Marcus does he still produce?
JJ, I think is having a very good soph season, his jump shot and more specifically his 3pt jump shots are not dropping but that is IMO the ONLY aspect of his game lacking right now but dropping jump shots was supposed to be his speciality prior to college. I think those jump shots need to start falling or he could be looking at a 2nd round spot in the next draft. If it does begin to drop he likely is looking at a just outside the lotto spot. The NBA is more of a wide open court game, not as many teams looking to slow down the pace and force half court, JJ excells in the open court, runs really well, good hands and finishes the break, that is very appealing to NBA teams.
No dept if everyone stays but Meeks? I think having Hicks and JJ back would be more vital than Meeks but no Meeks means we would have ONLY Hicks and Tony Bradley with our only back up big being Luke. It is vital that we get another front court commit that can come in next season and help, you must have 3 solid front court guys and you really need 4 to be a solid contender. If no meeks and no other commit then we are going to have to see either Theo or Jackson swing down to the 4, meaning we will be very under sized, we would be fast but really undersized. Other than Tony, our in the bag freshmen so far are back court guys, we need another front court guy and I think Azibukie would be a great fit. Bamba would be great but he is a year away from next season. Maybe Allen thou I don't think he comes this side of the Mississippi, Radovic (sp) is out there and we have had contact but I don't see that at all.
Problem is if I had to wager right now I would agree that meeks is gone no matter how good the idea may be and I think JJ may be 50/50 at best and maybe more like 60/40 gone. But the real blow may be Hicks, who may be 55/45 coming back right now and the odds may be turning away from our favor with each game he plays. That would leave just Tony and Luke and that would be a severe problem unless we can add another freshman big or find a graduate transfer able to play next season. The PT would sure be there to draw in a big or 2.
Finally, in a later post from the one quoted the poster says there is no stigma tag placed on upper classmen? That just is not true, there is absolutely a damaged good tag on kids that do not leave as freshmen and most especially those that were Micky D guys. For example, look at JMM, was hyped as a can't miss one & doner but you watched his as a freshman, he had 2 solid games that just happened to occur in the NCAAT when Henson was hurt. But other than that, it is not understating to say he had a under acheiving frosh season as comparred to his incoming hype, for the record PJ was a freshman at the same time and was just as underwhelming. When JMM left UNC he was a MUCH better over all player yet was lucky to snag a second round selection. The more the NBA can see you play the more your flaws show and those flaws seem to get amplified and absolutely that label of damaged goods get put on you. I don't think it is fair because many of these kids that come back develope in to outstanding players, look at Draymon Green, heck look at Curry?
There is MUCH the NBA does that makes little to no sense to me, it at times is as if these bizzilionaires love wasting millions on some of these players just to show they can and still be filthy rich? So dumb decisions seem to me to happen all the time, drafting meeks based on what I have seen so far is an example of a dumb decision IMHO, hyping Skal as the next #1 pick is the same. To me, I don't waste a pick on a kid that is not dominating in the minor leagues, if you can't dominate in the minors how the heck can I expect you to dominate in the majors? The NCAA is the minor leagues for professional sports...
