Joe Alexander

[REDDzone]

Ignore MD, there were CERTAINLY no more than 42% of our posters declaring him a bust.

[MickeyDavis]

Yes I didn't scientifically calculate 50%. My point (and it seems as if some of you actually got it) was that JA has already been prejudged before camp has even started. It happened when he was drafted and it happened during summer league.

[MajorDad]

Ok, Joe will be a bust.

i know jerrod reads my posts. there you go Jerrod. There's a post that says Joe will be a bust. What kind of a bust will he be? it all depends on your expectations of him. Mine are kind of low. Most projects in the NBA never reach their projected hype anymore. I see Brian Cardinal written all over him. is Brian Cardianl a bust? he's been in the league over 5 years and is well paid and coaches and Gms like him. brian Cardinal was never an all star- but Big Dog wasn't an all star very many times either. Will Joe be better than Yi? Quite possibly. Will he be better than Brian Cardinal or Battier? Doubtful.

the only two bad things I have to say about joe is that the bucks should have never drafted him after trading for jefferson, and secondly, they should not have drafted joe over bayliss and several other players if they were going for the best available player. Joe will be a solid NBA role player, but he doesn't fill a need and he wasn't the best available player when he was drafted. The bucks have a long history of drafting players who don't fill a need and are not the best available player.

but as for joe , he sounds like a real nice player who will never receive an opportunity to contribute much as a Buck - kind of like Aaron Rogers the last 3 years.

jerrod , surely, you've read previous posts that said the same thing. if not, the above is a summary of many of the previously expressed thoughts. Joe didn't excite anybody or raise anybody's opinion of him or expectations of him during the summer league games. I didn't expect him to dominate those games. but there were other players - namely Bayliss - who made me cringe that the Bucks passed on drafting him. passing on Bayliss will prove to be another bucks' draft night blunder. or you could say we could have drafted Lopex rather than signing guys like malik Allen and Elson.

the bottom line is for the same amount of money, I think most bucks fans would be more excited seeing a bayliss or lopez coming off the Bucks' bench rather than they would seeing an Alexander, lue , Elson or Allen coming off the bench. it's nothing against joe, lue, Elson or Allen. Just let it sit in. who would you rather see coming off the Bucks bench? Lopez or Elson? Bayliss or lue?

Nothing against Joe Alexander. but he was just not the right choice for the Bucks with the current players they have. And unfortunately, it doesn't look like hammond is going to be able to unload players like CV , Mo and Gadz as most people had hoped he would.

[jerrod]

so like 5 people to you guys = half?

he's just grossly exaggerating so he can roll his eyes at people. md, i like you, you're great, but that's what you do. but either way, who cares if people judged him? it happens with every player, you make a judgement about them based on what they've done, if all a player has done is play like **** in a summer league against people that for the most part won't come anywhere near an nba roster, what judgement are you supposed to arrive at?

[LUKE23]

For whatever reason jerrod, you have a hard time comprehending points people are trying to make. Good grief, he didn't literally mean 1 out of every 2 posters on this site. He was making a GENERAL point.

[paulpressey25]

MD is right.....

Compared to Bayless, I think Alexander will be a bust.....but if he eventually develops into a guy as good as Shane Battier I'll be very happy. But my sense is that is his maximum upside.

[The Main Event]

MD is right.....

Compared to Bayless, I think Alexander will be a bust.....but if he eventually develops into a guy as good as Shane Battier I'll be very happy. But my sense is that is his maximum upside.

Battier is a defensive specialist. Joe is a guy who excells on both ends of the court and shows a MUCH greater upside offensively than a guy like Battier. Pls watch this mix again and tell me how you see any similarities between Joe and Shanes games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdAYyqSOuPc

Houston wishes that Battier would take it to the hole that often. In fact, any team would want a player to take it to the hole with that type of intensity. I think it's great that you guys have set your expectations this low, it sure as hell won't leave you dissapointed.

[BobbyLight]

I just think Jerrod needs to get the sand out of his vagina... The statement was a gross exaggeration on purpose. Get over it.

[jerrod]

For whatever reason jerrod, you have a hard time comprehending points people are trying to make. Good grief, he didn't literally mean 1 out of every 2 posters on this site. He was making a GENERAL point.

oh i see, he didn't mean 1 out of every 2 but he specifically said 50%. gotcha, makes total sense.

say: some, a portion, a percentage, a small but angry group of people who are never happy. don't drastically increase the number just to make a statement. sorry, that bugs me.

my point is simply that i don't believe that it was very many people at all that said he'd be a bust and that you're taking everyone who said he didn't play well or probably wasn't worth a mid lottery pick as meaning that he'll be a bust. i guess that's just personal interpretation but it seems extreme to me.

and majordad,

i want to make it clear, i don't think he's gonna be a bust. a reach at 8 and maybe a strange pick considering his propensity towards playing the 3 considering that we had acquired a major minute sf earlier in the day. i just don't like massive overgeneralizations like that. crisis averted, we can all return to our regularly scheduled thursday mornings.

and brian cardinal wasn't the 8th pick, that does have a big effect. even though i disagree with it, 7 years and 3 teams later, any mention of kwame brown still brings up angry posts about him being a bust because of where he was picked.

[MickeyDavis]

About 50% of our posters understood the point I was making.

[jerrod]

I just think Jerrod needs to get the sand out of his vagina... The statement was a gross exaggeration on purpose. Get over it.

clever,

so i guess since maybe 10% equals 50%, that means we won like 100 games last year. i must have slept through the parade

[LISTEN2JAZZ]

There's nothing wrong with judging players based on the information we have. The name of the site is "realgm" so acting as arm-chair gm's is what we do here. Some guys think he'll be a bust, and some don't. If we don't have this debate a few more times, I don't know how else we'll get through the summer .

[carmelbrownqueen]

Unfortunately we are reading numerous definitive assessments by posters on this board saying what Joe Alexander will or won't be after only one week of summer league play... Perhaps that's because some unrealistically expected more that what Joe was able to give us at this point in his very very young career in the NBA or perhaps its because some of you are too bored to be realistic. I don't know I haven't figured this out yet.

What we know is that he's a very raw player who works hard, has above average athleticism, and has a hunger to improve. He isn't polished and everything we read prior to the draft told us that. So I guess I have never understood the surprise or even getting down on a guy that we KNEW wasn't a finished product in the first place? I don't get the projections (and probably never will) that compared him to an undersized 2 guard with T-Rex arms where the conclusion leads to him being a "potential" bust already?

What did some of you really expect? What I saw was a guy that needs to develop just like they said he would, but I did see a few promising parts to his game that were encouraging (ie. shotblocking potential, willingness to take direction, and passing). He's got a lot to learn, and I don't know what his ceiling is at this point, but I didn't (and still don't) see any reason to talk about his maximum ceiling or his bust potential based on anything we saw.. Right now both Joe and Luc Richard are working out with Joe Abunassar, and I'm hoping both spend extensive time with Bill Petersen thereafter so we can get the most out of both of these guys talents. Petersen has done (and continues to do) an outstanding job with Ramon Sessions and that's all I am asking for for Joe and Luc Richard.

[paulpressey25]

Battier is a defensive specialist. Joe is a guy who excells on both ends of the court and shows a MUCH greater upside offensively than a guy like Battier. Pls watch this mix again and tell me how you see any similarities between Joe and Shanes games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdAYyqSOuPc.

Welcome to the board. We're glad to have you and this is a good thread.

A few replies:

a) Battier was a far better offensive player at Duke than JA was at WV.

b) We're a bit jaded on this board as it relates to youtube mix videos. We watched a full summer of them with Yi dunking over a chair last season. We also loved watching Charlie V's 48-point game against us to the backdrop of Kanye. Neither really turned out like You Tube promised us.

c) JA in summer league was a horrible shooter and he didn't take the ball to the hole at all save for maybe one or two plays.

d) For some of us on this board, Battier is a really valuable player who any team could use, far better than what his "stats" show-----so if JA can become that, I'd be very happy.

[Rockmaninoff]

Major Dad, you just made me realize that we could have drafted Lopez and used him as part of a deal to aquire Shawn Marion. Riley has to go for Williams/Lopez/Mason. He just god damn has to.

That's on top of all the potential deals that Bayless could have brought to the table.

Good lord.

[The Main Event]

Battier is a defensive specialist. Joe is a guy who excells on both ends of the court and shows a MUCH greater upside offensively than a guy like Battier. Pls watch this mix again and tell me how you see any similarities between Joe and Shanes games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdAYyqSOuPc.

Welcome to the board. We're glad to have you and this is a good thread.

A few replies:

a) Battier was a far better offensive player at Duke than JA was at WV.

b) We're a bit jaded on this board as it relates to youtube mix videos. We watched a full summer of them with Yi dunking over a chair last season. We also loved watching Charlie V's 48-point game against us to the backdrop of Kanye. Neither really turned out like You Tube promised us.

c) JA in summer league was a horrible shooter and he didn't take the ball to the hole at all save for maybe one or two plays.

d) For some of us on this board, Battier is a really valuable player who any team could use, far better than what his "stats" show-----so if JA can become that, I'd be very happy.

I fully agree with you. Anybody would love to have a guy like Battier on their squad. However, i don't think that Joe is going to develop in the mold of a Battier type player per sey. I see him being a more offensive minded player who can put the ball on the floor, dish the ball and attack the rim. As my friend explained, Joe hit a massive growth spurt in high school. Prior to that he had played the point since he was young. This is what gives him a court awareness and ball handling that few 3's and 4's posess, which has allowed him to exploit defenders.
I agree with you that YouTube mixes are completely one sided and rarely give a well rounded take on a player. Having said that, the mix that i posted is 10 minutes long and has got endless footage of him doing the same thing over and over again; attacking the basket. Whether or not he can replicate some of those ferocious dunks in the NBA is one thing but at least we know that he has the mentality of an aggressive player who looks to draw contact. For that reason, i would love to have him in a Raps uni and you guys should be proud to have picked him up.

[craig]

Sincere question:

I'm a fan, and dearly hope that Alexander works out. I understand that he can jump high. I understand many people saying that he's both very raw and very, very, very self-motivated.

So, here's the question: If he's so athletic and so extremely self-motivated, then why is he so raw? All the accounts suggest that he's been obsessed, through college, and back in China. If so, then why is he still so raw?

If he's such a practice maniac, why doesn't he shoot better or dribble better or pass better?

[LISTEN2JAZZ]

This is what gives him a court awareness and ball handling that few 3's and 4's posess,

You're kidding right? Alexander is a better ball handler than all but a few 3's?

[LUKE23]

He's still raw because he didn't start playing basketball until age 16. That is why most scouts call him an extremely young 21 in terms of basketball.

[The Main Event]

Sincere question:

I'm a fan, and dearly hope that Alexander works out. I understand that he can jump high. I understand many people saying that he's both very raw and very, very, very self-motivated.

So, here's the question: If he's so athletic and so extremely self-motivated, then why is he so raw? All the accounts suggest that he's been obsessed, through college, and back in China. If so, then why is he still so raw?

If he's such a practice maniac, why doesn't he shoot better or dribble better or pass better?

Better than what? He was a complete unknown until his last year of college. Put him in the right environment and a bit of flexibility and you will see a guy who wants to be "like mike". Honestly though, having grown up with him my friend knows what Joes strengths and weaknesses are. He has a terribly underrated jump shot and doesn't utilize it nearly enough because coaches at WV didn't feel they needed to use him for it. He is a very well rounded player but you haven't had a chance to see all of his skills yet because he hasn't been given the green light to be that type of verstatile player.
Pls do not make reference to summer league, it's the equivalent of pick up ball for NBA players.