Alex Karaban Potential

[HuskyWarrior611]

I don't know, what he did was pretty special even among the great freshmen we've seen. He lead a national championship team in minutes per game. As a freshman! Even Jeremy Lamb, one of the few freshmen I'd put up there with Alex as far as freshmen go, didn't play a ton early in the season. Shabazz came off the bench and was more of a sparkplug. I was too young to have watched enough of Khalid's freshman year to really know the impact he had, but from what I heard it was great. So I'd say Karaban, Khalid, and Lamb in no particular order are in a class amongst themselves when it comes to freshmen in this program.

If winning a National Championship is the only way to make the list than yeah, AK is in a rare class of freshmen.

Alex Karaban is GREAT, but he played the third most minutes (behind Hawkins and Andre) and was at the end of the day the 4th or 5th option on a team compared to a guy like Jeremy Lamb being the 2nd option.

We’ve had other guys who’s had remarkable freshman years too without the championship. I don’t want to discount how great they were because they didn’t win it all. Kemba put on a show in that elite 8 his freshman year which may have been one of our best freshmen performances in the tourney ever. (Not old enough to remember the 90s, but more than happy to relive them if there’s others!)

Boatright was amazing his freshman year averaging 30 minutes a game even though the team didn’t win much. I just want to respect those guys when we talk about freshman who were composed and stepped up in big moments just like Alex. Because we’ve had a lot of them. And it’s great to see Alex follow along in that line while also winning the NC.

 

[Chief00]

Karaban has been a revelation. You never see freshmen as composed and improve as quickly as he did. He hesitated briefly when taking a late 3 against Seton Hall and missed the shot in a game we lost at the buzzer, and he noted that and said he wouldn't hesitate to take the shot ever again. We all saw what happened from that point on. He also started driving the ball to the hoop with great success late in the season.

One thing I'd like to see Alex do more is take advantage of size mismatches by posting up more often. He's such a great passer that it can either lead to a high percentage shot near the rim or an open look from outside if the defense collapses on him.

Excellent points. I think we can respect other freshmen performances and still appreciate what Alex did.

 

[Rico444]

If winning a National Championship is the only way to make the list than yeah, AK is in a rare class of freshmen.

Alex Karaban is GREAT, but he played the third most minutes (behind Hawkins and Andre) and was at the end of the day the 4th or 5th option on a team compared to a guy like Jeremy Lamb being the 2nd option.

We’ve had other guys who’s had remarkable freshman years too without the championship. I don’t want to discount how great they were because they didn’t win it all. Kemba put on a show in that elite 8 his freshman year which may have been one of our best freshmen performances in the tourney ever. (Not old enough to remember the 90s, but more than happy to relive them if there’s others!)

Boatright was amazing his freshman year averaging 30 minutes a game even though the team didn’t win much. I just want to respect those guys when we talk about freshman who were composed and stepped up in big moments just like Alex. Because we’ve had a lot of them. And it’s great to see Alex follow along in that line while also winning the NC.

We can agree to disagree on this. Those other guys were really good as freshmen and I don't think it's disrespectful to say that Karaban's year was at a slightly higher level.

 

[El Obrero]

What’s funny? Jokic was the 41st pick in the NBA draft. I could see AK doing better than that in a year or two…

 

[yungdowork]

Karaban's biggest strengths are that he's a smart and efficient player. I don't think Hurley will put him in a role where he'll be asked to sacrifice any of that efficiency.

Offensively, he's great at providing spacing and not afraid to slip to the basket if his defender falls asleep. He'll probably shoot a few more shots a game, and definitely a few more 3's with Hawkins gone, but I don't think his game is built around being any sort of high-volume guy. I think he's the perfect guy to have on the roster with a bunch of freshmen coming in since he can impact the game through his shooting, on the glass, and by rotating the ball quickly, without needing a ton of touches. If he develops any ability to put the ball on the floor, he will be a really versatile offensive weapon.

Defensively, I think he really stepped up last year. With any added strength, he'll be able to defend basically any 4 in the conference in my opinion. He got punked by Bryce Hopkins in the first PC game last year and took it personally. He completely changed the way he defended, and by the latter half of the year, I was really impressed with him. I'd still be concerned that he lacks foot speed to guard most 3's and certain stretch 4's, but I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

I think he'll probably take about 12 shots a game (got 7 this year) and average around 15ppg. Wouldn't be surprised if the 3-point % drops a bit with teams not having to chase Hawkins around, but I think there's room to be more efficient on his 2-point attempts so it might be a wash. I agree with most of the posters in here that 15/6/3 seems very doable for him honestly. I don't think he'll shoot enough to average much more than that, but it'll be interesting to see what his role is on the new-look roster.

 

[navery12]

What’s funny? Jokic was the 41st pick in the NBA draft. I could see AK doing better than that in a year or two…

Jokic is a 2x MVP and 5x All NBA player. Karaban is going to be an amazing college basketball player and I fully expect him to carve out a long NBA career, but I think we can all agree it's pretty unlikely he hits those marks

 

[bazzdog]

Just to take a break from transfers/recruiting and conference realignment…….Another thread prompted me to think about this. How good can Alex Karaban be this season? What are our expectations?

Just thinking about it today, I think he has the potential to crash the BE POY discussion this season. I think he’s still being overlooked a little.

What say you?

Duncan Robinson

 

[MrP]

Poor man’s Scottie Pippen

 

[superjohn]

His most similar comp is N. Jokic from Denver. Same body type, size and wingspan. Both good passers and shooters. Can play both the inside and outside game. Neither are particularly fast, but are quick and agile enough with their feet.

He's a lot better than Jokic.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Poor man’s Scottie Pippen

Rich man’s Scottie Pippen.

 

[DawgEnjoyer]

While true that Dekker is white, he was also a run and jump athlete….which is the antithesis of how Karaban creates his advantages

LOL yeah, all the white guy comps are funny.

Decker was bouncier but not nearly as good a shooter as Karaban.

This is a bit outside the box, but what I think his game could look like is something like Pascal Siakam (NBA, not college where he was a post player). A bigger forward, with a large arsenal of ways to score and the ability to be a solid rebounder with a solid handle.