Moderators: dms269, HMFFL, Jamaaliver
At one point he was asked what he learned most during his freshman year: “How to take the good with the bad,” he said.
the game’s most brilliant rookie season is done. It has been nothing short of a saga, a full collegiate career’s worth of narrative arc packed into a few months.
ESPNTrae Young: Time has come for me to enter NBA draft
I've been preparing most of my life to join the NBA, and that time has come for me now: After an unforgettable year at the University of Oklahoma, I will enter the June NBA draft and fully immerse myself in the pursuit of a pro basketball career.
The basketball world was studying every move I made, and I am proud of how all of us -- my coaches, my teammates and myself -- handled it.
Before we arrived, Oklahoma had an 11-20 season, so I am proud of the success we had this season. We won a lot of big games and made the NCAA tournament. I'll never regret a moment I spent at the University of Oklahoma, or my decision to stay home and become a Sooner for life.
...Goodbye OU, and hello NBA. As always, I am ready to get to work.
The RingerHow March Madness Affected the Draft Stock of...
Trae Young
The Oklahoma freshman’s spectacular season ended in fitting fashion in their 83–78 OT loss to Rhode Island on Thursday. On the whole, Young played as well as could be expected given all he was asked to do for a team without much talent around him.
What makes Young so difficult to evaluate is that he should not be in this position in the first place. Undersized guards with average athleticism are not supposed to be one-and-done players. Steph Curry stayed three years in school. C.J. McCollum and Seth Curry stayed four. Young would probably have been on a similar path if he had gone to a more balanced team. What people don’t realize when they say Young is more Seth Curry than Steph Curry is that Seth is a good NBA player in his own right.
Lowered initial expectations could be the best thing that happens to Young. Young’s combination of skills give him a high floor in the NBA. He’s an elite shooter with high-level passing and ball-handling ability, and he has a great feel for the game.
The RingerHow March Madness Affected the Draft Stock of...
Michael Porter Jr. didn’t answer any of the questions about him
Few NBA observers were expecting much from Porter in the NCAA tournament. Integrating a high-volume scorer like Porter into a team’s offense would be difficult even if he were completely healthy, which he clearly wasn’t.
The disappointing part about Porter’s performance was how rarely he looked to involve his teammates. There were questions about whether Porter was capable or willing to facilitate at the high school level, and he didn’t answer any of them in his limited amount of time at Missouri.
There’s still plenty to like if he’s healthy: At 6-foot-10 and 215 pounds with a 7-foot wingspan, Porter is a prototypical small-ball power forward who should provide defensive versatility, 3-point range, and shot-making ability.
Yahoo SportsDid Michael Porter Jr. hurt himself with NCAA tournament showing?
NBA scouts torn on Missouri prospect
At 12:09 a.m. local time on Saturday morning, Missouri freshman Michael Porter Jr. sat on a wooden bench in a makeshift locker room at Bridgestone Arena. He buried his head in his hands and was crying when nearly 30 media members bull-rushed into the locker room and formed a semi-circle cocoon around him.
Tears still in his eyes and sweat dripping down his forehead, Porter faced a half-hour inquisition on his tepid performance against Florida State in Missouri’s blowout loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Porter had just made his third and likely final appearance for the Tigers in a fleeting career that amounted to little more than a tease. Porter, a 6-foot-10 wing, didn’t play awful in what’s expected to be his final collegiate game. He huffed and puffed his way through a 16-point, 10-rebound performance in 28 minutes against the Seminoles that showed flashes of his boundless potential.
“I was asking God, ‘Please give me some extra strength to finish this second half,’ ” he said afterwards. “It’s really tough being out there when you’re not fully confident in your body movements. That was the hardest thing.”
The next few months will have Porter facing an inquisition of another kind. The skeptical eye of NBA front offices will be trained on him, and the small sample size from his hobbled performances will be analyzed and overanalyzed. The question of whether Porter returning for two games helps or hurts his NBA stock has become a divisive one in league front office circles.
Porter acknowledged the narrative that he had much more to lose than gain by coming back. He’s considered a likely pick somewhere in the No. 4 to No. 8 range, even if he hadn’t played.
The way Porter handled the media throng prodding his emotions, asking him to walk back through his decision and analyzing his play was also impressive. In the emotional cauldron of a cramped locker room after a devastating loss, he came off as sincere, dejected and professional.
Sporting NewsTrae Young's entry into NBA Draft shows absurdity of 'baseball model' for college hoops
With a single tweet and a handful of emojis, All-American point guard Trae Young of Oklahoma ended his college basketball career. It lasted 32 games, one of them in the NCAA Tournament, and included 876 points, 278 assists and more attention from ESPN than anyone this side of Tim Tebow.
It was enough, though, to establish Young as a legitimate candidate to be selected by an NBA team among the first several picks of the 2018 draft.
If the members of the Pac-12 Conference task force on college basketball had their way, however, Young would be spending his next two years handcuffed to the Oklahoma program, rather than pursuing his career as a professional basketball player.
Young did not enter college as a traditional “one-and-done” prospect. He entered Oklahoma ranked No. 23 in the 2017 class...
Trae Young surprised his coaches, scouts in the NBA and probably himself with his performance as a freshman in college basketball.
The “baseball model” advocated by the Pac-12 would force young prospects to make a choice between beginning their professional careers immediately after high school or being frozen out of the NBA for three years.
It would be ludicrous, though, to require him to remain playing NCAA basketball for another two seasons merely to serve a rule that would benefit no one but self-interested colleges.
Spud2nique wrote:I’d love to take him. [MPJ’s] smooth as silk on those pull-ups!
Jamaaliver wrote:The RingerHow March Madness Affected the Draft Stock of...
Trae Young
The Oklahoma freshman’s spectacular season ended in fitting fashion in their 83–78 OT loss to Rhode Island on Thursday. On the whole, Young played as well as could be expected given all he was asked to do for a team without much talent around him.
What makes Young so difficult to evaluate is that he should not be in this position in the first place. Undersized guards with average athleticism are not supposed to be one-and-done players. Steph Curry stayed three years in school. C.J. McCollum and Seth Curry stayed four. Young would probably have been on a similar path if he had gone to a more balanced team. What people don’t realize when they say Young is more Seth Curry than Steph Curry is that Seth is a good NBA player in his own right.
Lowered initial expectations could be the best thing that happens to Young. Young’s combination of skills give him a high floor in the NBA. He’s an elite shooter with high-level passing and ball-handling ability, and he has a great feel for the game.
macd-gm wrote:So just out of curiousity. Who thinks Trae will be a better PG than Dennis?
macd-gm wrote:So just out of curiousity. Who thinks Trae will be a better PG than Dennis?
Jamaaliver wrote:
Counter question: How reasonable is it to ask Budenholzer to convert Trae into another Tony Parker?
They share a lot of the same flaws/skills from Tony's early years with the Spurs.
thr3ep01nte4 wrote:Jamaaliver wrote:
Counter question: How reasonable is it to ask Budenholzer to convert Trae into another Tony Parker?
They share a lot of the same flaws/skills from Tony's early years with the Spurs.
There is no Tim Duncan any more. Duncan makes everyone around him better both defensively and offensively. Who's gonna alleviate Schroeder's defensive woes?
7. Wendell Carter Jr., C, Duke | Freshman
Height: 6'10" | Weight: 260 | Age: 18 | Last: 10
Stats: 13.6 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 2.1 BPG
Now rather solidly locked in as a Top 10 selection, Carter has been a productive, stabilizing force for Duke. He’s made a massive impact on the glass even with Marvin Bagley alongside him and is a better athlete than he gets credit for. Though he can be overshadowed by his teammates, by many statistical measures Carter has been just as good or better. He’s polished and heady as a scorer and can space the floor some as a shooter, a skill that should develop nicely. What may hold Carter back long-term is a lack of elite explosiveness, as he occasionally struggles to gather off two feet and score against longer defenders around the basket. But his impressive skill level, passing and on-court feel should help him find an NBA fit, and a different system might unlock more of his skills.
SI Big Board#24. Aaron Holiday, PG, UCLA | Junior
Height: 6'1" | Weight: 185 | Age: 21 | Last: 43
Stats: 20.3 PPG, 5.8 APG, 42.9% 3FG
A major riser in conference play, Holiday was impressive as a distance shooter and facilitator and looks suited to play a backup point guard role in the NBA. He’s a bit small and can only defend one position, but competes defensively and should be able to at least hold his own. Holiday is more of a scorer than a setup man, and he struggles getting downhill into the paint around defenders at times, which limits his upside on some level. He’s a fairly safe choice to eventually give you something, and the fact he has two older brothers in the NBA doesn’t hurt at all.
Jamaaliver wrote:Spud2nique wrote:I’d love to take him. [MPJ’s] smooth as silk on those pull-ups!
I'm sensing some potential nicknames from this!!!
macd-gm wrote:Jamaaliver wrote:The RingerHow March Madness Affected the Draft Stock of...
Trae Young
The Oklahoma freshman’s spectacular season ended in fitting fashion in their 83–78 OT loss to Rhode Island on Thursday. On the whole, Young played as well as could be expected given all he was asked to do for a team without much talent around him.
What makes Young so difficult to evaluate is that he should not be in this position in the first place. Undersized guards with average athleticism are not supposed to be one-and-done players. Steph Curry stayed three years in school. C.J. McCollum and Seth Curry stayed four. Young would probably have been on a similar path if he had gone to a more balanced team. What people don’t realize when they say Young is more Seth Curry than Steph Curry is that Seth is a good NBA player in his own right.
Lowered initial expectations could be the best thing that happens to Young. Young’s combination of skills give him a high floor in the NBA. He’s an elite shooter with high-level passing and ball-handling ability, and he has a great feel for the game.
So just out of curiousity. Who thinks Trae will be a better PG than Dennis?
I’ve always said I love for pg’s to be able to shoot...he does that, and then some! Dennis has to be set when he shoots, he’s not a natural shooter like Trae. Dennis has an edge about him but it’s not channeled towards winning, more towards spurts of good play due to somebody upsetting him. I’d say I’d give the focus and grit to Trae here as well. The speed, that is Dennis for sure. 
Spud2nique wrote:As long as MPJ doesn’t turn into Tmac with all the injuries, I’d love to take him. He’s smooth as silk on those pull-ups!
macd-gm wrote:Jamaaliver wrote:The RingerHow March Madness Affected the Draft Stock of...
Trae Young
The Oklahoma freshman’s spectacular season ended in fitting fashion in their 83–78 OT loss to Rhode Island on Thursday. On the whole, Young played as well as could be expected given all he was asked to do for a team without much talent around him.
What makes Young so difficult to evaluate is that he should not be in this position in the first place. Undersized guards with average athleticism are not supposed to be one-and-done players. Steph Curry stayed three years in school. C.J. McCollum and Seth Curry stayed four. Young would probably have been on a similar path if he had gone to a more balanced team. What people don’t realize when they say Young is more Seth Curry than Steph Curry is that Seth is a good NBA player in his own right.
Lowered initial expectations could be the best thing that happens to Young. Young’s combination of skills give him a high floor in the NBA. He’s an elite shooter with high-level passing and ball-handling ability, and he has a great feel for the game.
So just out of curiousity. Who thinks Trae will be a better PG than Dennis?
