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Akok on NBA plans

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jibsey said:
This is it in a nutshell. I realize the world has changed but someone needs to sit these kids down and show them that Ray Allen and Richard Hamilton had 3 year college careers, got themselves ready and excelled in the NBA. Hurley can prep him to make lots of money with a stronger NBA body. He needs 2 years in Storrs.
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And there's even more guys in today's NBA with a different story than those 2 that have been successful. Nothing wrong with him keeping his options open and seeing what his NBA prospects are now. If you are right, which I'd agree with too, he'll be here.
 
if he wanted to get drafted this summer shouldn't he have stayed in high school where NBA scouts could actually, like, watch him play basketball!?!?
now he's gonna be hidden away at uconn practices all spring where he's safe and sound.
 
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navery12 said:
Half of this board is not ready to have NBA caliber kids on this roster. Potential NBA talk for UConn players is a good thing and hopeful something we’ll get used to
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I swear some of this board wants a 13 man roster made up of Chritian Vital's. I've seen people post about us being too deep and worried players like Whaley will be upset about a lack of playing time. I've seen posts saying we can't get Kofi because we got Akok even though they play different positions and their games perfectly compliment each others.

There has been a lot of these types of posts, I get that we haven't had much talent the last couple of years but it's like a segment of the fanbase forget we used to be awesome and had a bunch of bigtime players.
 
Strategy of not playing worked for Thon Maker. But Maker lit it up more at prep level.
 
superjohn said:
I swear some of this board wants a 13 man roster made up of Chritian Vital's. I've seen people post about us being too deep and worried players like Whaley will be upset about a lack of playing time. I've seen posts saying we can't get Kofi because we got Akok even though they play different positions and their games perfectly compliment each others.

There has been a lot of these types of posts, I get that we haven't had much talent the last couple of years but it's like a segment of the fanbase forget we used to be awesome and had a bunch of bigtime players.
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Good call. I remember when Hilton Armstrong was kind of an afterthought on a great team and he got drafted.
 
navery12 said:
Half of this board is not ready to have NBA caliber kids on this roster. Potential NBA talk for UConn players is a good thing and hopeful something we’ll get used to
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superjohn said:
I swear some of this board wants a 13 man roster made up of Chritian Vital's. I've seen people post about us being too deep and worried players like Whaley will be upset about a lack of playing time. I've seen posts saying we can't get Kofi because we got Akok even though they play different positions and their games perfectly compliment each others.

There has been a lot of these types of posts, I get that we haven't had much talent the last couple of years but it's like a segment of the fanbase forget we used to be awesome and had a bunch of bigtime players.
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No. That's ridiculous. People don't want a roster of Christian
Vital level players. On the other hand, people think many are vastly overestimating the positive effects this kid is likely to have on the program given his clear desire to get money as soon as humanly possible and how far his body is from being ready to be an impact player at the college player. Hint -- Andre Drummond had little positive effect on our program and was 1000 times more ready to play professional basketball when he came here then this kid.

Glad we got Akok. Don't doubt that he has both NBA and impact college potential. But do I think he's as likely to help UConn over his career here as much as either a Achiuwa or a Cockburn would be? Not even close.

Are you really sure he's likely to have more of an impact here before leaving than our one Christian Vital?
 
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If Akok wants to be drafted as a lottery pick in a few years, he better hurry up and get Kofi in a Husky uniform. :cool:
 
businesslawyer said:
No. That's ridiculous. People don't want a roster of Christian
Vital level players. On the other hand, people think many are vastly overestimating the positive effects this kid is likely to have on the program given his clear desire to get money as soon as humanly possible and how far his body is from being ready to be an impact player at the college player. Hint -- Andre Drummond had little positive effect on our program and was 1000 times more ready to play professional basketball when he came here then this kid.

Glad we got Akok. Don't doubt that he has both NBA and impact college potential. But do I think he's as likely to help UConn over his career here as much as either a Achiuwa or a Cockburn would be? Not even close.

Are you really sure he's likely to have more of an impact here before leaving than our one Christian Vital?
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If Akok played starting minuets for us, I'd bet on him having more of an impact than Vital, he's just a lot more talented, and its not like he's that under weight. Pretty sure Wilson and Polley are lighter than him.
 
businesslawyer said:
Yes. Great post. UCOnn fans aren't ready for


No. That's ridiculous. People don't want a roster of Christian
Vital level players. On the other hand, people think many are vastly overestimating the positive effects this kid is likely to have on the program given his clear desire to get money as soon as humanly possible and how far his body is from being ready to be an impact player at the college player. Hint -- Andre Drummond had little positive effect on our program and was 1000 times more ready to play professional basketball when he came here then this kid.

Glad we got Akok. Don't doubt that he has both NBA and impact college potential. But do I think he's as likely to help UConn over his career here as either a Achiuwa or a Cockburn would be? Not even close.

Are you really sure he's likely to have more of an impact here before leaving than our one Christian Vital?
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Yikes, you don't seem to get it. I'm not making that up, people have literally said they want a team full of Christian Vital's. Also, Akok is totally independent of Achiuwa and Cockburn and I haven't even seen anyone say he would have more of an impact than them.

The point is we need a major talent upgrade and Akok is a part of that. A team of Vital's is not a team that ever plays postseason ball. Nice kid, plays hard but he is a 7th or 8th man on any team that wants to do damage in the tournament.
 
Huskyforlife said:
If Akok played starting minuets for us, I'd bet on him having more of an impact than Vital, he's just a lot more talented, and its not like he's that under weight. Pretty sure Wilson and Polley are lighter than him.
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Akok is thin but he has a good frame and is bulking up and gaining strength pretty quickly. This is a kid who only started playing a few years ago and had no body to speak of when he started, his rise has been rapid.
 
superjohn said:
Akok is thin but he has a good frame and is bulking up and gaining strength pretty quickly. This is a kid who only started playing a few years ago and had no body to speak of when he started, his rise has been rapid.
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I just watchec his most recent highlight videos, and just based on those he's bigger than Polley, Wilson, and Whaley. Which I know isn't some impressive feat, but it kinda puts in perspective that his body is more than ready to play at this level, and he's still improving it. Another thing to remember is he should've been playing college ball the first semester of the year, since he was doing a post grad.
 
businesslawyer said:
No. That's ridiculous. People don't want a roster of Christian
Vital level players. On the other hand, people think many are vastly overestimating the positive effects this kid is likely to have on the program given his clear desire to get money as soon as humanly possible and how far his body is from being ready to be an impact player at the college player. Hint -- Andre Drummond had little positive effect on our program and was 1000 times more ready to play professional basketball when he came here then this kid.

Glad we got Akok. Don't doubt that he has both NBA and impact college potential. But do I think he's as likely to help UConn over his career here as much as either a Achiuwa or a Cockburn would be? Not even close.

Are you really sure he's likely to have more of an impact here before leaving than our one Christian Vital?
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That's a straw man argument, and not at all relevant. Nobody is talking about the impact of Akok vs Kofi/Precius. I'm not even really talking about the people who question the level of impact he'll have here, as much as I disagree with them.

I'm talking about people who want us to avoid recruits who flirt with the NBA and view that as a bad thing. If we're going to return to bring a prominent program we're going to have recruits/players considering that every year. And that's a good thing
 
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navery12 said:
Half of this board is not ready to have NBA caliber kids on this roster. Potential NBA talk for UConn players is a good thing and hopeful something we’ll get used to
Expand ...

Then there's Deandre Daniels and Daniel Hamilton.
We'll never know if another year would have better prepared them for the NBA or if they would have improved much with Ollie as coach, but Calhoun used to get great reads from his NBA contacts on who was ready and who was not and the players were better for it.
 
superjohn said:
I swear some of this board wants a 13 man roster made up of Chritian Vital's. I've seen people post about us being too deep and worried players like Whaley will be upset about a lack of playing time. I've seen posts saying we can't get Kofi because we got Akok even though they play different positions and their games perfectly compliment each others.

There has been a lot of these types of posts, I get that we haven't had much talent the last couple of years but it's like a segment of the fanbase forget we used to be awesome and had a bunch of bigtime players.
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Remind them of the 2004 roster.
 
Scrutiner said:
Then there's Deandre Daniels and Daniel Hamilton.
We'll never know if another year would have better prepared them for the NBA or if they would have improved much with Ollie as coach, but Calhoun used to get great reads from his NBA contacts on who was ready and who was not and the players were better for it.
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As a UConn fan sure I selfishly wish they would have come back. But Deandre's hype was not going to get higher than it was coming off his performance in the post season. And Daniel Hamilton clearly had no interest in college, don't think there's much you can do there.

In hindsight it might have been worth it to come back, but I didn't question either decision at the time so I can't look back and change that now
 
TheChamps990411 said:
Someone really needs to smack this kid with the reality stick. He is not an elite NBA level talent. If he leaves for the NBA he will be a 2nd rounder and likely never heard from again. The road to the NBA is littered with guys like him who never made it. He needs to build his body and develop his skill for at least a year to have any hope of being even a first rounder. If he's not sure he wants to be in college next year he really should just stay home and workout in prep for the draft. Why waste your time coming here at all?
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I think you need to relax a bit. In the future the NBA may be littered with guys like him who are taking a different road than that taken by others. This is not just basketball - it is life.
 
navery12 said:
That's a straw man argument, and not at all relevant. Nobody is talking about the impact of Akok vs Kofi/Precius. I'm not even really talking about the people who question the level of impact he'll have here, as much as I disagree with them.

I'm talking about people who want us to avoid recruits who flirt with the NBA and view that as a bad thing. If we're going to return to bring a prominent program we're going to have recruits/players considering that every year. And that's a good thing
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I want recruits flirting with the NBA because they are immediate impact players in college. Not recruits flirting with the NBA because of what they will be 3 years after leaving Uconn. You need to be better at understanding straw
 
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Huskyforlife said:
I'm talking about people who want us to avoid recruits who flirt with the NBA and view that as a bad thing. If we're going to return to bring a prominent program we're going to have recruits/players considering that every year. And that's a good thing
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Even recruits at Vital's level 'flirt with the NBA' nowadays. It's just part of the deal in an instagram world. Everybody thinks they're gonna play in the league. Hype life.
 
This is nothing but a win-win for both sides even if the young man never plays a minute here. Obviously his handlers felt that his time was better spent training at UCONN as opposed to PSA (he’s already a known commodity) and his commitment shows that UCONN is back at the talent table where it belongs. There’s no downside to this recruitment whatsoever.
 
Scrutiner said:
Then there's Deandre Daniels and Daniel Hamilton.
We'll never know if another year would have better prepared them for the NBA or if they would have improved much with Ollie as coach, but Calhoun used to get great reads from his NBA contacts on who was ready and who was not and the players were better for it.
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Both of those guys were hindered greatly by two things which would have hurt them, not helped them by staying in college. Physical limitations (lack of athleticism) and age. The second would really have been a negative if they stayed another year.
 
Lynyrd said:
This is nothing but a win-win for both sides even if the young man never plays a minute here. Obviously his handlers felt that his time was better spent training at UCONN as opposed to PSA (he’s already a known commodity) and his commitment shows that UCONN is back at the talent table where it belongs. There’s no downside to this recruitment whatsoever.
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This. In the immediate term, it makes both our bigs and our guards better by practicing against such an athletic big who excels at outside shooting and blocking shots.

Just as, if not more importantly, it shows the country (recruits, AAU, coaches, and the media) that Hurley can land big time recruits, and that UCONN is back to being a player on the national scene.

And if he does make it to the NBA, UCONN is still putting players in the league.
 
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businesslawyer said:
I want recruits flirting with the NBA because they are immediate impact players in college. Not recruits flirting with the NBA because of what they will be 3 years after leaving Uconn. You need to be better at understanding straw
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And unless you think we should completely avoid recruiting those types of players I'm not talking about you. There's a difference between saying I disagree with him and he's not ready (you), and we need to avoid the drama (the people I'm talking about)
 
Lynyrd said:
This is nothing but a win-win for both sides even if the young man never plays a minute here. Obviously his handlers felt that his time was better spent training at UCONN as opposed to PSA (he’s already a known commodity) and his commitment shows that UCONN is back at the talent table where it belongs. There’s no downside to this recruitment whatsoever.
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Now this I don't agree with. PF is the weakest position on the team (so much so that we have a wing playing PF). If Akok committing prevents us from bringing in somebody else, and then he never plays, that will hurt this team.

That said, I fully expect that he will play next year. He will then find out whether he should declare or not or just test the waters. Look at what NBA power forwards and even small forwards look like. He needs 30 pounds of muscle and I think he knows it. That's why he is here an not at PSA. We might want to thank Eric Cobb.

Think about a guy like Jaylen Brown, top 5 recruit at Cal. 6'7" and 222 coming out of high school. He's playing shooting guard and some small forward. Akok is 6'10" and 195. He isn't ready for the NBA and would get abused even in the D league. There are some "grown assed" men in there.
 
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