ryang
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Post by ryang on Apr 10, 2014 10:03:39 GMT -5
I actually agree that much of Hopkins' problems are probably mental (though his inability to finish at the rim probably is not). Not sure about ability to finish at the rim and not being a mental problem. He has a good body and great ups. Hands are not great but not detrimental. I'm guessing the hoyas do many finishing drills - so he practices it. What's left but mental?
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 10, 2014 10:06:40 GMT -5
Not sure about ability to finish at the rim and not being a mental problem. He has a good body and great ups. Hands are not great but not detrimental. I'm guessing the hoyas do many finishing drills - so he practices it. What's left but mental? When I was watching the championship game, there was a Kentucky player (I forget who) who went up for a dunk and finished through about 3 defenders. I think that requires a lot of athleticism and strength. No doubt Hopkins is athletic in a lot of ways, but I do think his finishing problems are more physical than mental. A lot of times, Hopkins goes up for a layup or dunk and gets completely stuffed. I'm not sure what's mental about that, unless he's just deciding to take a bad shot (which does happen sometimes, but not all of the time).
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ryang
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Post by ryang on Apr 10, 2014 10:07:58 GMT -5
Here is my question for those in the know: Does LJ Peak project as a shooting guard or small forward? He is short for a small forward, but also appears to not be a shooter. Can a lineup of DSR/Campbell and Peak at the two guard positions could operate? If so, a lineup of DSR, Peak, Copeland, White, [anyone at Center] could be downright scary in 15-16. I'm not "in the know" - but I did make a comment about concern of lack of quickness from smith, white, dsr and peak. In his highlights Peak does not look quick. So as a freshman I think he might struggle as a 2G (as Jabril did). He will get more 2G minutes as he learns the offense and trims down a little.
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ryang
Century (over 100 posts)
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Post by ryang on Apr 10, 2014 10:09:14 GMT -5
Here is my question for those in the know: Does LJ Peak project as a shooting guard or small forward? He is short for a small forward, but also appears to not be a shooter. Can a lineup of DSR/Campbell and Peak at the two guard positions could operate? If so, a lineup of DSR, Peak, Copeland, White, [anyone at Center] could be downright scary in 15-16. I'm not "in the know" - but I did make a comment about concern of lack of quickness from smith, white, dsr and peak. In his highlights Peak does not look quick. So as a freshman I think he might struggle as a 2G (as Jabril did). He will get more 2G minutes as he learns the offense and trims down a little.
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Apr 10, 2014 10:31:39 GMT -5
Here is my question for those in the know: Does LJ Peak project as a shooting guard or small forward? He is short for a small forward, but also appears to not be a shooter. I'm not sure if I qualify for being "in the know" either, but it frustrates me to no end that Peak is listed as a SF on some recruiting sites. He is a shooting guard. He may need to refine some of his skills but I've seen plenty of recruits over the years with the same skill sets coming out of high school who were nonetheless listed as shooting guards rather than small forwards. Sometimes it seems so random when those sites make those decisions, such as when they list White and Copeland as PFs. By listing Peak as a SF recruiting sites are undercutting their evaluation of his ceiling/upside IMO. I'm not sure if Peak is going to be a reliable shooter from the perimeter next season, but to be fair most freshmen aren't reliable in that area. The Harrison twins were iffy from the perimeter for most of the season at Kentucky and didn't have great mechanics from deep coming out of high school, but that didn't stop the gurus from ranking them in the top ten of their class or listing them as guards. As for dribbling I was encouraged that Peak's high school coach felt comortable wth putting Peak at the point guard position for one game this year when the team's point guard, who was a dual sports star, had to miss the contest for a football all star event. How much of the ball-handling Peak did in that game is unnown to me but I am aware that his team won and that the local article about the game indicated Peak was running the team as point throughout the game. What encourages me further is that for those who did keep up with Peak's progress wrote that he has continued to make strides as both a shooter and a dribbler.
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Apr 10, 2014 10:35:59 GMT -5
Here is my question for those in the know: Does LJ Peak project as a shooting guard or small forward? He is short for a small forward, but also appears to not be a shooter. Can a lineup of DSR/Campbell and Peak at the two guard positions could operate? If so, a lineup of DSR, Peak, Copeland, White, [anyone at Center] could be downright scary in 15-16. I'm not "in the know" - but I did make a comment about concern of lack of quickness from smith, white, dsr and peak. In his highlights Peak does not look quick. So as a freshman I think he might struggle as a 2G (as Jabril did). He will get more 2G minutes as he learns the offense and trims down a little. We must be looking at different highlights if you think Peak looked slow. But playing devil's advocate and going along with your view, how is he any slower than the Harrison twins? The Harrison twins are not very quick. They rely more on their size to take advantage of defenders. And yet despite that lack of relative quickness they were listed as guards coming out of high school.
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Post by williambraskyiii on Apr 10, 2014 10:36:41 GMT -5
Here is my question for those in the know: Does LJ Peak project as a shooting guard or small forward? He is short for a small forward, but also appears to not be a shooter. I'm not sure if I qualify for being "in the know" either, but it frustrates me to no end that Peak is listed as a SF on some recruiting sites. He is a shooting guard. He may need to refine some of his skills but I've seen plenty of recruits over the years with the same skill sets coming out of high school who were nonetheless listed as shooting guards rather than small forwards. Sometimes it seems so random when those sites make those decisions, such as when they list White and Copeland as PFs. By listing Peak as a SF recruiting sites are undercutting their evaluation of his ceiling/upside IMO. I'm not sure if Peak is going to be a reliable shooter from the perimeter next season, but to be fair most freshmen aren't reliable in that area. The Harrison twins were iffy from the perimeter for most of the season at Kentucky and didn't have great mechanics from deep coming out of high school, but that didn't stop the gurus from ranking them in the top ten of their class or listing them as guards. As for dribbling I was encouraged that Peak's high school coach felt comortable wth putting Peak at the point guard position for one game this year when the team's point guard, who was a dual sports star, had to miss the contest for a football all star event. How much of the ball-handling Peak did in that game is unnown to me but I am aware that his team won and that the local article about the game indicated Peak was running the team as point throughout the game. What encourages me further is that for those who did keep up with Peak's progress wrote that he has continued to make strides as both a shooter and a dribbler. He is as much a SG as Jabril is a SG which is to say, if he wants to play in the NBA, he will have to develop at the 2. That means dribbling and outside shooting. Just because LJ could drive coast-to-coast and dunk at Gaffney doesn't make his a SG. That said, there's no reason to believe he can't develop into a top flite SG in college - just don't think he is there day 1. Consequently, I'd be shocked to see a DSR-LJ-PW-IC-[insert C here] lineup at all next year. But I sure hope i'm wrong because that would be sick!
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Apr 10, 2014 11:21:31 GMT -5
I'm not sure if I qualify for being "in the know" either, but it frustrates me to no end that Peak is listed as a SF on some recruiting sites. He is a shooting guard. He may need to refine some of his skills but I've seen plenty of recruits over the years with the same skill sets coming out of high school who were nonetheless listed as shooting guards rather than small forwards. Sometimes it seems so random when those sites make those decisions, such as when they list White and Copeland as PFs. By listing Peak as a SF recruiting sites are undercutting their evaluation of his ceiling/upside IMO. I'm not sure if Peak is going to be a reliable shooter from the perimeter next season, but to be fair most freshmen aren't reliable in that area. The Harrison twins were iffy from the perimeter for most of the season at Kentucky and didn't have great mechanics from deep coming out of high school, but that didn't stop the gurus from ranking them in the top ten of their class or listing them as guards. As for dribbling I was encouraged that Peak's high school coach felt comortable wth putting Peak at the point guard position for one game this year when the team's point guard, who was a dual sports star, had to miss the contest for a football all star event. How much of the ball-handling Peak did in that game is unnown to me but I am aware that his team won and that the local article about the game indicated Peak was running the team as point throughout the game. What encourages me further is that for those who did keep up with Peak's progress wrote that he has continued to make strides as both a shooter and a dribbler. He is as much a SG as Jabril is a SG which is to say, if he wants to play in the NBA, he will have to develop at the 2. That means dribbling and outside shooting. Just because LJ could drive coast-to-coast and dunk at Gaffney doesn't make his a SG. That said, there's no reason to believe he can't develop into a top flite SG in college - just don't think he is there day 1. I realize you may have been faceitous but the driving coast-to-coast point is worthless considering centers do that in high school too from time to time. Therefore no one in his right mind would have actually used that as an example to argue LJ is a legit guard. What makes him a guard in my opinion, from the tons of highlights I've seen of him, is his ability to attack the basket off the bounce with either hand. He can do it at angles, he can do it on a straight line, he can do it even when being guarded closely. Yeah, he will still have to clean up his ball-handling skills but he has better dribbling capabilities now than some of you are giving him credit for. As for what he needs to do to make-the-NBA conversation, most of the shooting guards getting drafted quickly out of college are questionable shooters in the first place. They make their bread getting into the lane and scoring. They rely heavily on their athleticism early on. Shooting often ends up being the last skill they master. The NBA, even recently, has had shooting guards who could handle like a point, shooting guards who could not shoot and could not run an offense but who could get to the hole off the bounce, shooting guards with limited handle but who were deadly spot-up shooters, etc. There is no one single description to encompass all he type of shooting guards you see at the pro level. Same thing for college. People here kept calling Jon Wallace a guard, some went as far to call him a point guard. But the dude had no handle. His strength was shooting three pointers when left opened. Nonetheless he was a "guard" in our eyes. Why was that? His height?
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bmartin
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Post by bmartin on Apr 10, 2014 16:26:40 GMT -5
If he can't shoot or dribble and he is slow, how come nobody in South Carolina could guard him all year?
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Apr 10, 2014 22:06:24 GMT -5
. 3) Knowing how much III loves his baby - his offense - I think he's seen enough of having his offense have no spacing this season to last a lifetime. Putting Josh and Mikael on the floor at the same time is death to this offense. No other way to put it. Paul can shoot it. Isaac can shoot it. Josh needs space to work on the interior. I would be surprised if either Paul or Isaac aren't starting from day one III's ideal offense is using up 30 seconds of the shot clock so his players can truly figure out "what the defense is giving them" and then take the appropriate action. Okay, there was some snark in that remark, but I suppose I'm tired of the drumbeat that we have to get back to the Look-For-The-Backdoor-Cut offense to thrive (daytona, that may not have been your message but it has been the message of others). Frankly I like how the offense evolved this year and that individual players were actually taking it upon themselves to drive and create more often. Who gives a bleep about spacing when you only use it to open up a lane that a teammate will spring towards for a backdoor basket? Spacing should alos lead to drives, drives and more drives. And besides Gtown faltered this year not because of the offense but because the defense wasn't up to par and quality depth went out the window without Whittington and Smith. Next of all I don't understand this notion to throw Mikael under the bus. Granted Mikael shot like garbage this past season and before, but when he was on the floor with Josh he actually would at times stand 17 feet or more from the basket. He did so because he was actually far more willing to take a jumpshot than Nate. Nate almost never took a jumpshot. When Nate was on the perimeter it was only to set screens or to toss (force) some pass for a backdoor cut basket. Thus there was more spacing issues when Josh was on the floor with Nate, than there were when Josh was on the floor with Mikael. It can be argued that Mikael looked his best when playing PF alongside Josh. Surely he looked better in that capacity than he did when he was playing center alongside Nate as the power forward. Of course I do have greater trust in Paul and Isaac to make their perimeter shots and therefore be more effective from the perimeter than I do Mikael. But funny how people weren't making the same complaint against Nate (that he could not spread the floor because he wasn't a threat from the perimeter) for most of the three years he started. Offensive Ranking by Season: 2005 - 31 2006 - 10 2007 - 2 2008 - 24 2009 - 57 2010 - 10 2011 - 39 2012 - 38 2013 - 78 2014 - 44 Yes, by all means, let's stay away from those years with Top 10 offenses. No one in their right mind should be designing anything with Mikael in mind. Our ideal situation may just be him never playing another minute.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Apr 10, 2014 22:07:37 GMT -5
Here is my question for those in the know: Does LJ Peak project as a shooting guard or small forward? He is short for a small forward, but also appears to not be a shooter. Can a lineup of DSR/Campbell and Peak at the two guard positions could operate? If so, a lineup of DSR, Peak, Copeland, White, [anyone at Center] could be downright scary in 15-16. His outside shot rapidly improved this year. He may not be a shooter, but he's not lacking.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Apr 10, 2014 22:10:41 GMT -5
I'm not sure if I qualify for being "in the know" either, but it frustrates me to no end that Peak is listed as a SF on some recruiting sites. He is a shooting guard. He may need to refine some of his skills but I've seen plenty of recruits over the years with the same skill sets coming out of high school who were nonetheless listed as shooting guards rather than small forwards. Sometimes it seems so random when those sites make those decisions, such as when they list White and Copeland as PFs. By listing Peak as a SF recruiting sites are undercutting their evaluation of his ceiling/upside IMO. I'm not sure if Peak is going to be a reliable shooter from the perimeter next season, but to be fair most freshmen aren't reliable in that area. The Harrison twins were iffy from the perimeter for most of the season at Kentucky and didn't have great mechanics from deep coming out of high school, but that didn't stop the gurus from ranking them in the top ten of their class or listing them as guards. As for dribbling I was encouraged that Peak's high school coach felt comortable wth putting Peak at the point guard position for one game this year when the team's point guard, who was a dual sports star, had to miss the contest for a football all star event. How much of the ball-handling Peak did in that game is unnown to me but I am aware that his team won and that the local article about the game indicated Peak was running the team as point throughout the game. What encourages me further is that for those who did keep up with Peak's progress wrote that he has continued to make strides as both a shooter and a dribbler. He is as much a SG as Jabril is a SG which is to say, if he wants to play in the NBA, he will have to develop at the 2. That means dribbling and outside shooting. Just because LJ could drive coast-to-coast and dunk at Gaffney doesn't make his a SG. That said, there's no reason to believe he can't develop into a top flite SG in college - just don't think he is there day 1. Consequently, I'd be shocked to see a DSR-LJ-PW-IC-[insert C here] lineup at all next year. But I sure hope i'm wrong because that would be sick! It'll happen at some point. I think people are overestimating some of our returning talent. DSR, Smith and Trawick can play, but the freshmen's talent level is above everyone else. A little bit of experience and they will see minutes.
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Post by cosmopolitanhoya on Apr 11, 2014 7:43:38 GMT -5
I have a question for those who have followed up recruiting closely over the past few years during the JT3 era
If you were to rank every one of our recruits coming out of high school, not solely based on the # of stars attached to their names on rival/scout, but their actual skils and levels of play, does Peak/Ike crack top 5?
My ranking would be something like...
1. Greg Monroe 2. Otto Porter 3. Austin Freeman 4. Dajuan Summers 5. Chris Wright
honorable mention: jeff green / Vernon Macklin But any of yall think peak or ike are better than any of these guys in their 4th year of high school?
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GUMBA
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Post by GUMBA on Apr 11, 2014 8:20:18 GMT -5
If you are talking about their actual playing performance as Hoyas:
1. Jeff Green 2. Greg Monroe 3. Otto Porter 4. Austin Freeman 5. Chris Wright 6. Roy Hibbert 7. Jason Clark 8. DaJuan Summers
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Post by cosmopolitanhoya on Apr 11, 2014 9:10:41 GMT -5
If you are talking about their actual playing performance as Hoyas: 1. Jeff Green 2. Greg Monroe 3. Otto Porter 4. Austin Freeman 5. Chris Wright 6. Roy Hibbert 7. Jason Clark 8. DaJuan Summers no, i meant before they played for us. i am talking strictly based on how they played in high school. kinda hard to measure as they have played in various levels of competition, but i was wondering if any has seem them closely to rank them. i am bringing this up to compare the 2014 class with our previous hoyas
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EtomicB
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Post by EtomicB on Apr 11, 2014 9:40:13 GMT -5
If you are talking about their actual playing performance as Hoyas: 1. Jeff Green 2. Greg Monroe 3. Otto Porter 4. Austin Freeman 5. Chris Wright 6. Roy Hibbert 7. Jason Clark 8. DaJuan Summers no, i meant before they played for us. i am talking strictly based on how they played in high school. kinda hard to measure as they have played in various levels of competition, but i was wondering if any has seem them closely to rank them. i am bringing this up to compare the 2014 class with our previous hoyas If that's your criteria I don't see how you can put Otto over Austin or Wright.. Playing at the level they did against DMV competition trumps what Otto accomplished in his HS career imho..
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Post by cosmopolitanhoya on Apr 11, 2014 9:52:34 GMT -5
no, i meant before they played for us. i am talking strictly based on how they played in high school. kinda hard to measure as they have played in various levels of competition, but i was wondering if any has seem them closely to rank them. i am bringing this up to compare the 2014 class with our previous hoyas If that's your criteria I don't see how you can put Otto over Austin or Wright.. Playing at the level they did against DMV competition trumps what Otto accomplished in his HS career imho.. well just because austin and chris played at higher competition, i don't think they were better players than otto. kinda like everyone here believes peak is a better player than campbell even though campbell plays at much higher level of competition
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EtomicB
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Post by EtomicB on Apr 11, 2014 10:10:20 GMT -5
If that's your criteria I don't see how you can put Otto over Austin or Wright.. Playing at the level they did against DMV competition trumps what Otto accomplished in his HS career imho.. well just because austin and chris played at higher competition, i don't think they were better players than otto. kinda like everyone here believes peak is a better player than campbell even though campbell plays at much higher level of competition It seems to me you're adding in what Otto did in college to your assessment Cosmo.. In the end though we can agree to disagree..
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Post by daymondmyles on Apr 11, 2014 12:30:04 GMT -5
My ranking would be:
1. Greg Monroe 2. Austin Freeman 3. Dajuan Summers 4. Chris Wright 5. Copeland 6. Peak 7. Otto
Now, when the dust settled on their college career, things changed immensely.
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Post by daytonahoya31 on Apr 11, 2014 12:36:21 GMT -5
You have to put Copeland over Wright and Summers. At the end of the day, he's ranked almost 20 spots higher than what both were ranked by the end of their senior seasons. That's a sizable advantage. and copeland played at brewster, so the competition was just as good - probably even better in spots - that Summers and Wright faced. Had Copeland not been a fifth year guy, he would've been a McDonald's All American lock
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