Post by tpk3 on Jun 14, 2009 22:20:52 GMT -5
I Watched Rod play this weekend at The Rumble in the Bronx. here are my observations:
Saturday:
First, Rod was playing for the Panthers not the Gauchos. In the Roster book he was listed under Gauchos. I only caught second half of his first game Saturday game, and i noticed him right away. Keep in mind that Odom is a full year younger than most players in the 2010 class. He is a legit 6’8 going on 6’9, and his dad is almost as tall. Rod is a skilled player. He feels comfortable handling the ball. He doesn't do anything great but does everything well- rebounds, passes, facilitates, handles well, nice shooting stroke. He shows a willingness to defend and has nice size for a wing. I did not see/notice him shoot much in the first game I watched. He is more of a smooth type player, than he is an explosive athlete type. I did not pay attention too much in the first game b/c I did not realize who he was until it was too late. I congratulated him after game and spoke with him briefly. Rod is a very nice and polite kid. You can tell how bright he is when you speak with him. He is the type of kid that you know will be successful in life no matter what he does. He could just as easily become a great physician/lawyer as he could become a great basketball player.
In the 2nd game I saw him play his team lost 71-68.....mainly b/c of poor coaching. When Odom was pulled in first half, Martin Bros (iowa based AAU team) went on a 10-0 run to have a halftime lead of 35-30. Martin Bros. played good team ball.....no way they should have won based on talent, but they played good team ball and hit their shots. Odom was 5-10 from the floor......1-5 from 3 pt range....he's got good form but does not have consistent 3 pt range yet...It will come but he needs to shoot/practice a lot more to get consistency. I absolutely love his mid-range pull-up. He was 3-4 with it....and the only miss was b/c of poor shot selection. He has good mechanics. He just needs to get more consistent and practice more. Get in the gym and make 250-500 a day. I saw one nice blow by and throw down.....kid showed some hops on that one. He is a pure wing/SF, because he has good quicks for a SF but not enough for a SG. Very nice handle for his size. Panthers played a lot of zone (2-3 and 1-3-1)....and they had rod playing up top.....he did well up there. Rod has long arms and kept guys in front of him. He used his length well. Also he’s not afraid to defend/rebound down low either....but needs to get much stronger for BE play if he wants to bang with BE PFs/physical SFs. When they did play man to man, i thought Rod used his hands too much...got called for 2 obvious hand checks. So he needs to stay lower and move his feet better on D. He's a stat filler- couple of assists, blocks, rebounds, points. Makes good decisions for most part. His team plays way too much one on one...they should have highlighted him more IMO.
Sunday:
Got to watch Rod play against Team Final in QFs. Team Final was led by Mike Gilchrist and Rakeem Christmas. His team got killed 64-44. His darn aau team/coach are awful. JJ Moore took way too many shots and froze out Rod....Rod was not pleased after game. Both Rod's dad and NY Panthers head coach told me that was Rod's worst game as a Panther. Not too mention Mike Gilchrist is an absolute BEAST and just took over for Team Final….Gilchrist turns 16 in September and was the best HS player in the entire tournament. WOW.
Rod Odom was 1-6 from the floor. 0-3 from 3 pt range...again he had a nice stroke with good rotation but ball was not going down. Saturday night he was hitting all his 3's(missed that game but heard from multiple people that he was on fire), but Sunday morning they were just not falling. So right now Rod’s shot is a bit streaky it looks like from 3 pt range. He had a great one or two dribble pull up jumper from 10-15ft….that thing is automatic. So you know that his longer range will come. When Rod is in the high post with the ball he makes good decisions--had maybe 3 assists. Team Final blitzed them right off the bat--went on a 14-2 run to open game mainly with a full court press. Panthers guards got eaten up...... Rod had to come back and help the guards out. When he did they broke the press easy. He has nice handle/feel and was able to throw it over the top....but then his team would play too fast and take bad shots while Rod was still in backcourt running up...so he never got into flow of game offensively. Panthers played 2-3, 1-3-1, and man to man. In the 2-3 Rod played down low and he boxed out well....but needs to build strength to box out strong PF /SF types. In the 1-3-1 they did not have him play up top like Saturday...instead he was on wing. He looks good in the zone become he is long. Man to man he uses his hands way too much, and needs to definitely get his rear down and work on lateral quickness. Rod has a nice handle so he can break down the initial defender to set up a shot or set up a teammate. Both his coach and dad gave him a legit 6'8 (his dad said w/o shoes) 6'9 with shoes......That sounds about right b/c he was just a smidge shorter than Rakeem Christmas who everyone says is 6'9. Rod had 1 block...like I said he has good length and uses it.
Rod does handle it well enough to take it to the hole....but he's not perfect. He's tall so he has to keep his dribble low otherwise he can get in trouble....but he is capable of dribbling low with control....You can tell he's one of those kids that grew up as a guard then had a growth spurt......
Rod’s dad is a really nice guy also, you can tell that the high IQ runs in the family. He said:
1. Rod will "most likely" play for Panthers rest of summer. maybe split some time with Gauchos but they want him to stay with one team and get consistency. He said he liked playing for Expressions last summer but commute was killing them. He would like to play with the New England Playaz(Nate’s team), but again the distance is a problem for practice.
2. Rod is a real focused kid, and is now concentrating on improving his game. Since Rod has a full course load at Middlesex- young man took physics/trig/chemistry all last year and had weekend classes- he is a bit behind conditioning wise compared to other kids.
3. Rod is a bright kid who understands the recruiting process. So he knows everything will work out. He is in no hurry to rush into anything. I’d expect he will continue to develop and be a spring signing.
I am bad with comparisons but odom reminds me a bit of bo-bo (brandon bowman). He has that nice pull-up...jeff never really had that. But his style/smoothness reminds me of jeff/terrance….however, unlike Jeff/Terrence I did not see him display any post moves. He's young and still growing/learning. He just needs time to catch up to his body, just like Hollis did(who was also a year younger than his class).
I really like this kid, and think he would make a great Hoya. We will just have to wait and see how things turn out. He is so young and is just starting to develop, so his game has so much upside. I normally hate that word(upside), but he is a hard worker (on and off court), so he will only get better.
Saturday:
First, Rod was playing for the Panthers not the Gauchos. In the Roster book he was listed under Gauchos. I only caught second half of his first game Saturday game, and i noticed him right away. Keep in mind that Odom is a full year younger than most players in the 2010 class. He is a legit 6’8 going on 6’9, and his dad is almost as tall. Rod is a skilled player. He feels comfortable handling the ball. He doesn't do anything great but does everything well- rebounds, passes, facilitates, handles well, nice shooting stroke. He shows a willingness to defend and has nice size for a wing. I did not see/notice him shoot much in the first game I watched. He is more of a smooth type player, than he is an explosive athlete type. I did not pay attention too much in the first game b/c I did not realize who he was until it was too late. I congratulated him after game and spoke with him briefly. Rod is a very nice and polite kid. You can tell how bright he is when you speak with him. He is the type of kid that you know will be successful in life no matter what he does. He could just as easily become a great physician/lawyer as he could become a great basketball player.
In the 2nd game I saw him play his team lost 71-68.....mainly b/c of poor coaching. When Odom was pulled in first half, Martin Bros (iowa based AAU team) went on a 10-0 run to have a halftime lead of 35-30. Martin Bros. played good team ball.....no way they should have won based on talent, but they played good team ball and hit their shots. Odom was 5-10 from the floor......1-5 from 3 pt range....he's got good form but does not have consistent 3 pt range yet...It will come but he needs to shoot/practice a lot more to get consistency. I absolutely love his mid-range pull-up. He was 3-4 with it....and the only miss was b/c of poor shot selection. He has good mechanics. He just needs to get more consistent and practice more. Get in the gym and make 250-500 a day. I saw one nice blow by and throw down.....kid showed some hops on that one. He is a pure wing/SF, because he has good quicks for a SF but not enough for a SG. Very nice handle for his size. Panthers played a lot of zone (2-3 and 1-3-1)....and they had rod playing up top.....he did well up there. Rod has long arms and kept guys in front of him. He used his length well. Also he’s not afraid to defend/rebound down low either....but needs to get much stronger for BE play if he wants to bang with BE PFs/physical SFs. When they did play man to man, i thought Rod used his hands too much...got called for 2 obvious hand checks. So he needs to stay lower and move his feet better on D. He's a stat filler- couple of assists, blocks, rebounds, points. Makes good decisions for most part. His team plays way too much one on one...they should have highlighted him more IMO.
Sunday:
Got to watch Rod play against Team Final in QFs. Team Final was led by Mike Gilchrist and Rakeem Christmas. His team got killed 64-44. His darn aau team/coach are awful. JJ Moore took way too many shots and froze out Rod....Rod was not pleased after game. Both Rod's dad and NY Panthers head coach told me that was Rod's worst game as a Panther. Not too mention Mike Gilchrist is an absolute BEAST and just took over for Team Final….Gilchrist turns 16 in September and was the best HS player in the entire tournament. WOW.
Rod Odom was 1-6 from the floor. 0-3 from 3 pt range...again he had a nice stroke with good rotation but ball was not going down. Saturday night he was hitting all his 3's(missed that game but heard from multiple people that he was on fire), but Sunday morning they were just not falling. So right now Rod’s shot is a bit streaky it looks like from 3 pt range. He had a great one or two dribble pull up jumper from 10-15ft….that thing is automatic. So you know that his longer range will come. When Rod is in the high post with the ball he makes good decisions--had maybe 3 assists. Team Final blitzed them right off the bat--went on a 14-2 run to open game mainly with a full court press. Panthers guards got eaten up...... Rod had to come back and help the guards out. When he did they broke the press easy. He has nice handle/feel and was able to throw it over the top....but then his team would play too fast and take bad shots while Rod was still in backcourt running up...so he never got into flow of game offensively. Panthers played 2-3, 1-3-1, and man to man. In the 2-3 Rod played down low and he boxed out well....but needs to build strength to box out strong PF /SF types. In the 1-3-1 they did not have him play up top like Saturday...instead he was on wing. He looks good in the zone become he is long. Man to man he uses his hands way too much, and needs to definitely get his rear down and work on lateral quickness. Rod has a nice handle so he can break down the initial defender to set up a shot or set up a teammate. Both his coach and dad gave him a legit 6'8 (his dad said w/o shoes) 6'9 with shoes......That sounds about right b/c he was just a smidge shorter than Rakeem Christmas who everyone says is 6'9. Rod had 1 block...like I said he has good length and uses it.
Rod does handle it well enough to take it to the hole....but he's not perfect. He's tall so he has to keep his dribble low otherwise he can get in trouble....but he is capable of dribbling low with control....You can tell he's one of those kids that grew up as a guard then had a growth spurt......
Rod’s dad is a really nice guy also, you can tell that the high IQ runs in the family. He said:
1. Rod will "most likely" play for Panthers rest of summer. maybe split some time with Gauchos but they want him to stay with one team and get consistency. He said he liked playing for Expressions last summer but commute was killing them. He would like to play with the New England Playaz(Nate’s team), but again the distance is a problem for practice.
2. Rod is a real focused kid, and is now concentrating on improving his game. Since Rod has a full course load at Middlesex- young man took physics/trig/chemistry all last year and had weekend classes- he is a bit behind conditioning wise compared to other kids.
3. Rod is a bright kid who understands the recruiting process. So he knows everything will work out. He is in no hurry to rush into anything. I’d expect he will continue to develop and be a spring signing.
I am bad with comparisons but odom reminds me a bit of bo-bo (brandon bowman). He has that nice pull-up...jeff never really had that. But his style/smoothness reminds me of jeff/terrance….however, unlike Jeff/Terrence I did not see him display any post moves. He's young and still growing/learning. He just needs time to catch up to his body, just like Hollis did(who was also a year younger than his class).
I really like this kid, and think he would make a great Hoya. We will just have to wait and see how things turn out. He is so young and is just starting to develop, so his game has so much upside. I normally hate that word(upside), but he is a hard worker (on and off court), so he will only get better.