Shaedon Sharpe - Kentucky

[zimpy27]

Kid reminds me of OJ Mayo.

Agreed. I wouldn't risk picking this kid in the top 5. He is a wild card.

this is the draft to do that

Yeah exactly. I'd take a risk on him at 4 still tbh.

He was ranked number 1 from HS by RSCI, here are how past RSCI number 1s were drafted.



Average is 3.5

[tmorgan]

There’s a whole lotta bums on that list, though. I do think front offices respect really high levels of high school success, but most of those guys went on to dominate in college, too. Sharpe obviously has not. But, as stated, this is a heckuva good draft to try the mystery box, because all of the top picks have warts.

[Big J]

Yea, I mean OJ Mayo at 4 would be a decent pick. I just get those vibes from the kid. His demeanor, game, everything really.

[Hal14]

You make it seem like Cal had a choice. No way anyone who had Sharpe's best interest in mind would tell him to play. If he is allowed to enter the 2022 draft, he will be a top 10 pick on HS rep alone. If not, he does not enter the next season with any negative feedback from starting in the middle of a college season.

If you're a competitor, you play. If you want to win, you play.

If you're truly a "number 1 pick" talent as Calipari says he is...if you're that good, then you play. If you're that good, you shouldn't sit out the season because you're scared it'll hurt your draft stock.

A true competitor would have showed up on campus on January 2, gotten a few practices under his belt and made his debut in the Vanderbilt game on January 11, or at the very latest, vs Tennessee on 1/15.

This is ignorance. I am guessing you are a Kentucky fan. Definitely not a parent. Anyone who had this kid's best interest in mind would not have such an attitude. Being a NBA player is not about competition. Being a NBA player is a business. Smart players make smart business decisions.

Even knowing you can play and thinking you are the #1 pick, coming into THIS college season in the middle of it without a preseason or tuneup games would have been insanity in a environment full of 5 and 6 year Seniors. Being smart trumps being brave to me.

lol i'm not a kentucky fan and i am a parent.

I stopped reading your ridiculous post after "Being a NBA player is not about competition"

give me a break dude, every player who played in this year's all-star game is absolutely a competitor with a drive to compete, a drive to get better, a drive to win. These 24 guys who played in this year's all-star game, did any of them sit out their 1 and only season of college ball? Of course not. Because they're winners, not losers. They've all made millions and millions of dollars - by competing - not by sitting out and hoping that a few EYBL games against kids who are future science teachers will make them a top 10 draft pick.

[Hal14]

Agreed. I wouldn't risk picking this kid in the top 5. He is a wild card.

this is the draft to do that

Yeah exactly. I'd take a risk on him at 4 still tbh.

He was ranked number 1 from HS by RSCI, here are how past RSCI number 1s were drafted.



Average is 3.5

that's nice they all got drafted high, but most of them were busts in the NBA. So what you're saying is, Sharpe could be the next Cade, but there's equal chance he could be the next Josh Jackson. No thanks

[BlazersBroncos]

This is the type of draft where gambling on Sharpe top-8 is totally reasonable IMO.

I can see some Mayo comparisons but I think Shaedon is a better athlete. OJ was a tremendously overrated athlete.

[The Moose]

Agreed. I wouldn't risk picking this kid in the top 5. He is a wild card.

this is the draft to do that

Yeah exactly. I'd take a risk on him at 4 still tbh.

He was ranked number 1 from HS by RSCI, here are how past RSCI number 1s were drafted.



Average is 3.5

Yea I mean if there is a 33% chance you’re getting an Oden/AD/Simmons/Cade/Chet level prospect at pick 4-8 , I’m absolutely taking that chance (especially in this draft)

Even guys like Barnes, Barrett and Wiggins would be decent return for picks outside the top 5
He’s a no brainer choice for me outside the top 5

[Big J]

This is the type of draft where gambling on Sharpe top-8 is totally reasonable IMO.

I can see some Mayo comparisons but I think Shaedon is a better athlete. OJ was a tremendously overrated athlete.

OJ Mayo was a great athlete. Dude was doing between the legs dunks during games in high school. His problem was that he was an idiot.

[SeattleJazzFan]

There’s a whole lotta bums on that list, though. I do think front offices respect really high levels of high school success, but most of those guys went on to dominate in college, too. Sharpe obviously has not. But, as stated, this is a heckuva good draft to try the mystery box, because all of the top picks have warts.

did sharpe even have "really high levels of high school success" or did he have a handful of nice games in the summer? has this kid ever even dominated a hs basketball season?

his experience reminds me a lot of dante exum. exum looked really good in a few tournaments and single games, but honestly wasn't that great when he played entire seasons against regular hs kids. needless to say, i wasn't surprised when he became a huge bust.

that doesn't mean sharpe can't be a great pick and eventually a really good player, but man, i'd like to at least see a kid show he can dominate 16 and 17 year olds who will never play after hs, but at least try hard on defense and have coaches on their asses if they aren't giving 100% effort.

[BlazersBroncos]

This is the type of draft where gambling on Sharpe top-8 is totally reasonable IMO.

I can see some Mayo comparisons but I think Shaedon is a better athlete. OJ was a tremendously overrated athlete.

OJ Mayo was a great athlete. Dude was doing between the legs dunks during games in high school. His problem was that he was an idiot.

Maybe not functional then. IDK, but he never stood out athletically when I watched him.

[clyde21]

There’s a whole lotta bums on that list, though. I do think front offices respect really high levels of high school success, but most of those guys went on to dominate in college, too. Sharpe obviously has not. But, as stated, this is a heckuva good draft to try the mystery box, because all of the top picks have warts.

did sharpe even have "really high levels of high school success" or did he have a handful of nice games in the summer? has this kid ever even dominated a hs basketball season?

his experience reminds me a lot of dante exum. exum looked really good in a few tournaments and single games, but honestly wasn't that great when he played entire seasons against regular hs kids. needless to say, i wasn't surprised when he became a huge bust.

that doesn't mean sharpe can't be a great pick and eventually a really good player, but man, i'd like to at least see a kid show he can dominate 16 and 17 year olds who will never play after hs, but at least try hard on defense and have coaches on their asses if they aren't giving 100% effort.

yes he did, he averaged 28pts/6rebs in HS and followed that up with averaging 22 points at EYBL and then 28pts at Peach Jam. he's been a stud everywhere he's played so far. they didn't just rank him #1 for no reason.

[SeattleJazzFan]

There’s a whole lotta bums on that list, though. I do think front offices respect really high levels of high school success, but most of those guys went on to dominate in college, too. Sharpe obviously has not. But, as stated, this is a heckuva good draft to try the mystery box, because all of the top picks have warts.

did sharpe even have "really high levels of high school success" or did he have a handful of nice games in the summer? has this kid ever even dominated a hs basketball season?

his experience reminds me a lot of dante exum. exum looked really good in a few tournaments and single games, but honestly wasn't that great when he played entire seasons against regular hs kids. needless to say, i wasn't surprised when he became a huge bust.

that doesn't mean sharpe can't be a great pick and eventually a really good player, but man, i'd like to at least see a kid show he can dominate 16 and 17 year olds who will never play after hs, but at least try hard on defense and have coaches on their asses if they aren't giving 100% effort.

yes he did, he averaged 28pts/6rebs in HS and followed that up with averaging 22 points at EYBL and then 28pts at Peach Jam. he's been a stud everywhere he's played so far. they didn't just rank him #1 for no reason.

this is good to know - i've been asking about his production in the regular HS season throughout the thread and it's been crickets. glad to finally get an answer. thank you.

[thelead]

I EASILY take this kid at 4 in this draft if you can have a conversation with him and everything checks out mentally.

[Big J]

Does anyone know if this kid has a good head on his shoulders or good people around him? Some of the weird ish that went on at Kentucky seems sketch af.

[Duke4life831]

Does anyone know if this kid has a good head on his shoulders or good people around him? Some of the weird ish that went on at Kentucky seems sketch af.

What was sketch about it? Decided to reclassify late so wasn't eligible to play the first half of the season and didn't go to the G League.

So he was looking at just training with a trainer for the 9 months. Or he can get paid well (dude got an endorsement deal with Porsche and driving different Porches all season) and also train at a world class training facility.

Seems like a pretty easy decision by me.

[Big J]

Does anyone know if this kid has a good head on his shoulders or good people around him? Some of the weird ish that went on at Kentucky seems sketch af.

What was sketch about it? Decided to reclassify late so wasn't eligible to play the first half of the season and didn't go to the G League.

So he was looking at just training with a trainer for the 9 months. Or he can get paid well (dude got an endorsement deal with Porsche and driving different Porches all season) and also train at a world class training facility.

Seems like a pretty easy decision by me.

It just seems kinda strange that he didn’t actually play in any of the games.

[Hal14]

Does anyone know if this kid has a good head on his shoulders or good people around him? Some of the weird ish that went on at Kentucky seems sketch af.

What was sketch about it? Decided to reclassify late so wasn't eligible to play the first half of the season and didn't go to the G League.

So he was looking at just training with a trainer for the 9 months. Or he can get paid well (dude got an endorsement deal with Porsche and driving different Porches all season) and also train at a world class training facility.

Seems like a pretty easy decision by me.

But why not play the 2nd half of the season? If he made his debut in the first Vanderbilt game, he would have been able to play in 19 games.

Based on what Calipari says in this article, it kind of just seems like maybe he's just not that good. He isn't showing enough fight in practices, can't play at the speed Cal needs his guys to play at, etc. If he can't play college speed, how's he gonna play NBA speed?


”Not if he’s not ready. If I don’t think he’s ready to be put in a game, I’m not going to do that to him. I’m trying to protect all of these kids. I kind of explained that to him in my vision for how you need to play. In most cases it’s I want you to be aggressive, I want you to do what you do best, but I also want to protect you,” Caliapri said.

“So, with him, you’ve got to get in unbelievable shape, he’s not even close to that. You’ve got to be able to play fast, yet still be skilled. This isn’t, you know, my pace; I’m still working on freshmen that have been here the summer, the fall, and months, and they’re still not playing at the (level). I’m still working on a couple of guys that have been here three years that you’ve got to play with more intensity, more fight. You have to fly. You can’t run at your speed. Run faster than you think you can run.

“He just has to blend in and be a teammate, which means you’ve got to be around the guys. You’ve got to be there. You’ve got to talk. Shaedon is not a guy that says a lot. You can do that, but the only way you create relationships is that you speak, you listen, you talk. So, he’ll have to do that,” said Calipari Friday.

“But he’s a ways away from playing games, and it may be a year from now."

A year from now? So he's that much out of shape? That far away from being able to pick up the offense? What kind of player is he if it's gonna take him a year to be ready to into a game for Kentucky? If it is gonna take him a year to beready to. play for kentucky, then how long is it gonna take him to be ready for the NBA? 2 years? Maybe 3?

Source: https://www.yoursportsedge.com/2022/01/08/shaedon-sharpe-not-ready-to-play-yet-and-calipari-says-he-may-not-play-all-season/vaughts-views/larryvaught/

[Ruzious]

That all sounds bad, but remember it's from an article written on January 8th. Hopefully a lot has changed since then.

[Duke4life831]

Does anyone know if this kid has a good head on his shoulders or good people around him? Some of the weird ish that went on at Kentucky seems sketch af.

What was sketch about it? Decided to reclassify late so wasn't eligible to play the first half of the season and didn't go to the G League.

So he was looking at just training with a trainer for the 9 months. Or he can get paid well (dude got an endorsement deal with Porsche and driving different Porches all season) and also train at a world class training facility.

Seems like a pretty easy decision by me.

But why not play the 2nd half of the season? If he made his debut in the first Vanderbilt game, he would have been able to play in 19 games.

Based on what Calipari says in this article, it kind of just seems like maybe he's just not that good. He isn't showing enough fight in practices, can't play at the speed Cal needs his guys to play at, etc. If he can't play college speed, how's he gonna play NBA speed?


”Not if he’s not ready. If I don’t think he’s ready to be put in a game, I’m not going to do that to him. I’m trying to protect all of these kids. I kind of explained that to him in my vision for how you need to play. In most cases it’s I want you to be aggressive, I want you to do what you do best, but I also want to protect you,” Caliapri said.

“So, with him, you’ve got to get in unbelievable shape, he’s not even close to that. You’ve got to be able to play fast, yet still be skilled. This isn’t, you know, my pace; I’m still working on freshmen that have been here the summer, the fall, and months, and they’re still not playing at the (level). I’m still working on a couple of guys that have been here three years that you’ve got to play with more intensity, more fight. You have to fly. You can’t run at your speed. Run faster than you think you can run.

“He just has to blend in and be a teammate, which means you’ve got to be around the guys. You’ve got to be there. You’ve got to talk. Shaedon is not a guy that says a lot. You can do that, but the only way you create relationships is that you speak, you listen, you talk. So, he’ll have to do that,” said Calipari Friday.

“But he’s a ways away from playing games, and it may be a year from now."

A year from now? So he's that much out of shape? That far away from being able to pick up the offense? What kind of player is he if it's gonna take him a year to be ready to into a game for Kentucky? If it is gonna take him a year to beready to. play for kentucky, then how long is it gonna take him to be ready for the NBA? 2 years? Maybe 3?

Source: https://www.yoursportsedge.com/2022/01/08/shaedon-sharpe-not-ready-to-play-yet-and-calipari-says-he-may-not-play-all-season/vaughts-views/larryvaught/

But those quotes were Cal talking about Sharpe after his first practice. Sharpe's first practice was on the 6th of January. Heck at this point he wasn't even practicing with the team yet, he was just doing individual workouts. When you know that is the context, "him not being in close to enough shape", "he's a ways away from playing games", "I dont think he's ready to be put in a game" and all that makes a lot more sense when we are talking about a guy right after his first practice midway through a season.

Again there was never a thought that Sharpe was going to play this season. If Cal came out here saying after the 1st practice Sharpe is already the best player on the team but wasn't playing him, then that would be a horrible look for both Cal and Sharpe.

Cal is a salesman and this is how he sold it for both himself and Sharpe. He basically sold it as you cant expect a freshman to be able to come in January and be able to be ready to play right away. Cal sold it to the fans that dont worry he will be with the team next year, he had to do that.

But again the entire point of Sharpe going to UK was for him to collect really good money while being able to train at a world class facility, instead of just training alone privately until the draft. Then for Cal, he gets to say he landed the #1 recruit and gets to include Sharpe's draft position in his future pitches.

[Hal14]

That all sounds bad, but remember it's from an article written on January 8th. Hopefully a lot has changed since then.

Yes, and a month later on February 7, what article came out then? Was at an article about Sharpe dominating the SEC, dropping 30 points in a win over Alabama?

Nope, it was this:
https://www.si.com/college/2022/02/07/shaedon-sharpe-will-not-play-for-kentucky-this-season