Woj Bomb! Wizards sign NBL MVP Xavier Cooks

[AussieCeltic]

Am I the only one that has a different definition of what is a Bomb?

Does this really qualify as a Woj Bomb? More like tiny firecracker.

You guys into airline security? Let Aussies have their fun, if they signed Vazenkov or Lessort, as EL fan I would woj bombing too.

It’s all tongue in cheek with the Woj/Sham Bombs around here anyway. I don’t know why people are getting in there feelings about a title.

[Mickey8]

Watch out Eastern Conference here come the Wizards

[pr0wler]

Dude has the body and hair style of a soccer player. Kinda jarring seeing him drive down the lane and throw down dunks like he's prime Blake Griffin or something lol

[Dr Aki]

Yay, more Aussies in the NBA

[lambchop]

15 ppg gets you the mvp down under?

40 minute games. He is at 26mpg. X isn't known as a volume scorer, but the league leading scorer is at 23ppg.
Outside of the NBA the courts are smaller and you can still play D so with not as much room and phydical D it's a little harder to score generally.

Xavier will struggle from the outside so I hope the Wizards have a 5 that can shoot the 3 when/if he is in because it won't be pretty.
Excited to see what he can do. Not many 4s will keep up with him in the open court.

He definitely looks like an athLETE, but the list of guys that have decent athleticism and mobility and play the 4 isn't exactly short. Physically I'd compare Cooks to prime Jeff Green, mobile, wiry strong, great 1 foot leaping ability, but also nice off two feet no matter how he sets his feet (left-right, right-left).

[Dr Aki]

Am I the only one that has a different definition of what is a Bomb?

Does this really qualify as a Woj Bomb? More like tiny firecracker.

You guys into airline security? Let Aussies have their fun, if they signed Vazenkov or Lessort, as EL fan I would woj bombing too.

Oh and Vazenkov is getting signed!

What would convince you guys to let his draft rights go?

[Dennis Reynolds]

Great pickup for the Wizards. The guy can ball. He needs to work on his shot but he’s essentially a 6’8 versatile PF. Great defender, rebounder, passer and finisher at the ring.

54% FT is concerning but there are some damn good ballers coming from down under so wouldn't surprise me at all if this pans out well.

Sounds like Ben Simmons tbh

[AussieCeltic]

Great pickup for the Wizards. The guy can ball. He needs to work on his shot but he’s essentially a 6’8 versatile PF. Great defender, rebounder, passer and finisher at the ring.

54% FT is concerning but there are some damn good ballers coming from down under so wouldn't surprise me at all if this pans out well.

Sounds like Ben Simmons tbh

There certainly are similarities. Ben is a far better creator and passer but Xavier isn’t scared to shoot.

[OxAndFox]

You guys into airline security? Let Aussies have their fun, if they signed Vazenkov or Lessort, as EL fan I would woj bombing too.

Oh and Vazenkov is getting signed!

What would convince you guys to let his draft rights go?

Apparently, he was the target when the Kings traded the 2nd for his rights last year, not the money.
Assistant coach Jay Triano went over to see him during the AS break so the Kings are very high on him. I don't think the Kings would be interested in moving his rights instead of bringing him over.
Think his buyout is like $1.5m and $900k would be covered, but he would have to put together the rest.
Last off season the Kings were offering him the minimum though over multiple years so it wasn't worth it for him as he just signed a new contract.

[MrGoat]

15 ppg gets you the mvp down under?

Gets you one in euroleage too

Luka Doncic - 16 ppg. on his MVP season.

In the Euroleague it's not unusual for the scoring leader to not even average 20 PPG. I think some of the people who botched scouting Luka just looked at his stats and didn't realize how insanely different the league was, if you had even an intermediate understanding of Euroleague you knew how crazy of an outlier Luka was

[GSWFan1994]

Am I the only one that has a different definition of what is a Bomb?

Here's a chocolate bomb from Brazil... you know you asked for it... enjoy, cheers

Watch on YouTube

[robbie84]

15 ppg gets you the mvp down under?

If it's done on high efficiency and you're a great player in other areas of the game too then yeah it can.

Other basketball leagues in the world don't quite have the same obsession with a guy's ability to score out of isolation as we do. There's more appreciation for playmaking and team cohesion.

OK.,ok, I get the memo.
But other then his 2pt fg nothing really stands out. Probably a great defender.

That ts% looks of if we go by other %s.

nah, prepare to be disappointed. Not athletic, can't shoot, lack's size and speed for an NBA PF.
A good fundamentals paint guy who beats up on bums in the NBL- a poor, poor league with 1 or 2 good teams.
I'm Australian and have seen him live and I'm just being honest.
He could prove me wrong but until he does I'll predict he doesn't do too well. I guess a bit more spacing in the NBA than NBL but his rebounding and paint work is his strength and vs NBA athletes it's a different world.
Hope he proves me wrong.

[AussieCeltic]

If it's done on high efficiency and you're a great player in other areas of the game too then yeah it can.

Other basketball leagues in the world don't quite have the same obsession with a guy's ability to score out of isolation as we do. There's more appreciation for playmaking and team cohesion.

OK.,ok, I get the memo.
But other then his 2pt fg nothing really stands out. Probably a great defender.

That ts% looks of if we go by other %s.

nah, prepare to be disappointed. Not athletic, can't shoot, lack's size and speed for an NBA PF.
A good fundamentals paint guy who beats up on bums in the NBL- a poor, poor league with 1 or 2 good teams.
I'm Australian and have seen him live and I'm just being honest.
He could prove me wrong but until he does I'll predict he doesn't do too well. I guess a bit more spacing in the NBA than NBL but his rebounding and paint work is his strength and vs NBA athletes it's a different world.
Hope he proves me wrong.

The NBL has proven to be a great league over the last 4-5 years. He won’t be a star but he’ll be serviceable.

Former NBL guys have been playing great.

- Lamelo Ball
- Josh Giddey
- Torrey Craig
- Jock Landale
- Ja’sean Tate

I think you’re underselling the NBL massively.

[Gatorade Sax]

The Aussie ballers are coming! Our A team for International basketball is really getting exciting too.

[The Moose]

Xavier was a late grower, so he has a bit of a unique skillset for a guy his size. Funnily enough he was actually a good shooter as a junior, and seem to lose it the more he grew.
His passing and playmaking skills are unique for a guy his size, that showed through at the NCAA level too.

He really can't shoot, but he basically does everything else, I would look at a guy like Jarred Vanderbilt as a role for him in the NBA.

I definitely do think he can play at the NBA level if he gets a proper chance

[reload141]

The amount of dis-respect for Australian Basketball players born in Victoria in this thread is staggering.

As a proud Australian I'll kangaroo box any of you.



We have produced some great talent in Victoria;

Luc Longley
Andrew Bogut
Kyrie Irving
Josh Giddey
.....



Ben Simmons

[axeman23]

Does this really qualify as a Woj Bomb? More like tiny firecracker.

[robbie84]

OK.,ok, I get the memo.
But other then his 2pt fg nothing really stands out. Probably a great defender.

That ts% looks of if we go by other %s.

nah, prepare to be disappointed. Not athletic, can't shoot, lack's size and speed for an NBA PF.
A good fundamentals paint guy who beats up on bums in the NBL- a poor, poor league with 1 or 2 good teams.
I'm Australian and have seen him live and I'm just being honest.
He could prove me wrong but until he does I'll predict he doesn't do too well. I guess a bit more spacing in the NBA than NBL but his rebounding and paint work is his strength and vs NBA athletes it's a different world.
Hope he proves me wrong.

The NBL has proven to be a great league over the last 4-5 years. He won’t be a star but he’ll be serviceable.

Former NBL guys have been playing great.

- Lamelo Ball
- Josh Giddey
- Torrey Craig
- Jock Landale
- Ja’sean Tate

I think you’re underselling the NBL massively.

I think we're fighting over something that we probably agree on for the most part.
What I mean the NBL has to have 80% Australian players, so it's overall a fairly weak league because of this and financial limitations.
Those players you mentioned are great players, and there are plenty of great players that have come from the NBL, but most good Australian players other than top 10 picks like Giddy or LaMelo who are pro bound go to College and then other pro leagues. There are rare cases like Giddy but like Lamelo, his NBL time was for a quick development stint like LaMelo (who sucked in the NBL for the most part if we're being real) to keep the option open to go straight to the draft .
Australia produces some great players from the juniors- but not many from the NBL. If they're playing in the NBL they probably weren't good enough to play in a better league overseas or played for a poor div 1 or good div 2 team in College. Josh Green just go straight to division 1 and then to other pro leagues because of the money.

As for Xavier, my doubts about him are because he's just not really athletic and can't really shoot. He's also not very big.
If he does stay on the Wizards roster, does he see anything except garbage time? we'll see. He crushes the NBL, but NBA athletes and skills are on another planet.

[lambchop]

nah, prepare to be disappointed. Not athletic, can't shoot, lack's size and speed for an NBA PF.
A good fundamentals paint guy who beats up on bums in the NBL- a poor, poor league with 1 or 2 good teams.
I'm Australian and have seen him live and I'm just being honest.
He could prove me wrong but until he does I'll predict he doesn't do too well. I guess a bit more spacing in the NBA than NBL but his rebounding and paint work is his strength and vs NBA athletes it's a different world.
Hope he proves me wrong.

The NBL has proven to be a great league over the last 4-5 years. He won’t be a star but he’ll be serviceable.

Former NBL guys have been playing great.

- Lamelo Ball
- Josh Giddey
- Torrey Craig
- Jock Landale
- Ja’sean Tate

I think you’re underselling the NBL massively.

I think we're fighting over something that we probably agree on for the most part.
What I mean the NBL has to have 80% Australian players, so it's overall a fairly weak league because of this and financial limitations.
Those players you mentioned are great players, and there are plenty of great players that have come from the NBL, but most good Australian players other than top 10 picks like Giddy or LaMelo who are pro bound go to College and then other pro leagues. There are rare cases like Giddy but like Lamelo, his NBL time was for a quick development stint like LaMelo (who sucked in the NBL for the most part if we're being real) to keep the option open to go straight to the draft .
Australia produces some great players from the juniors- but not many from the NBL. If they're playing in the NBL they probably weren't good enough to play in a better league overseas or played for a poor div 1 or good div 2 team in College. Josh Green just go straight to division 1 and then to other pro leagues because of the money.

As for Xavier, my doubts about him are because he's just not really athletic and can't really shoot. He's also not very big.
If he does stay on the Wizards roster, does he see anything except garbage time? we'll see. He crushes the NBL, but NBA athletes and skills are on another planet.

I think the NBL play style is closer to the NBA than other overseas leagues are. (The closest would be the Chinese league with high usage rates for individual players, but the overall level of play just sucks). If you take the top 10 NBL players and the top 10 Euroleague players and put them in the NBA, it seems as though the NBL players will do better, stay in the NBA longer and actually end up in rotations. At the same time, when NBL guys go to the Euroleague their stats will take a hit.