Bad news for McNeeley?

[thekollieman]

I know any higher pick guarantees more money than any lower pick at baseline for all first round picks, but is there anything else fundamentally better about being a lottery pick? For example, is being picked 14th rather than 15th any more advantageous than being picked 7th rather than 8th or 20th rather than 21st? Or is it, as I understand, just additional clout that may be desirable?

 

[bendm]

I love the smell of a boneyard feeding frenzy in the afternoon

 

[Matrim55]

I am unsure, after seeing play for the whole year, why we expected him to be a lottery pick.

He's 6-foot-8 and was shooting 40% from 3 before the injury, with a 2-to-1 a/to ratio as a secondary playmaker against a tough schedule as a freshman.

If he'd stayed healthy he'd have been a bigger Kon Knueppel, and Knueppel's gonna be a top 5 pick.

Like I said, I hope teams are dumb enough to let him drop to my Celtics.

 

[HuskyHawk]

He's 6-foot-8 and was shooting 40% from 3 before the injury, with a 2-to-1 a/to ratio as a secondary playmaker against a tough schedule as a freshman.

If he'd stayed healthy he'd have been a bigger Kon Knueppel, and Knueppel's gonna be a top 5 pick.

Like I said, I hope teams are dumb enough to let him drop to my Celtics.

If he's there at 20 or so, Brad will move up to get him.

 

[husky8273]

I love the smell of a boneyard feeding frenzy in the afternoon

better than napalm in the morning!

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I know that this isn't the place to give objective, unbiased takes, but I will be brave and provide mine. Liam needed another year. I know that I am triggering the money replies, to wit, his money will be better because of the move. I get that. But I believe that money isn't everything. I think this kid would have had a much better CV had he stayed. What does he do great? Shoot? there are a plenty of players who shot better % last year. Rebound? The kid had moxy, but he was not Rodman. Ball handling? Not his forte. He was not a shot down defensive player. And we know that he is not the greatest athlete, so I am unsure, after seeing play for the whole year, why we expected him to be a lottery pick. I will root for him like crazy, but this was a kid who should have stayed.

He will have access to better coaching, better facilities, better support staff, better S&C, play against better competition, and have more time to devote to development in the pros. If an NBA team is willing to invest in a player, their development opportunities in the NBA are far better than college.

 

[husky429]

He will have access to better coaching, better facilities, better support staff, better S&C, play against better competition, and have more time to devote to development in the pros. If an NBA team is willing to invest in a player, their development opportunities in the NBA are far better than college.

Some people are ao entrenched in stupidity it's really quite impressive.

 

[DisabledVet]

If you don’t understand the NBA, it’s okay to just not voice an opinion about something like this.

The Yard was angry that day my friend. Its an opinion albeit that apparently ruffled many feathers here.

 

[IndyLives]

If he's there at 20 or so, Brad will move up to get him.

Yup. Lakers cant "steal" him this year.

 

[Mr. French]

I hear he might go ABA

He's a better fit, skill-wise, to the USBL.

 

[jdb50]

Liam would definitely start on the Hartford Caps. Most likely would sellout Bloomfield High.

 

[UCan3]

In another time he would have stayed at UConn and perfected some some of his skills and his IQ. In today’s NBA he goes. In the right circumstances he could become a significant player. In the wrong one, he’ll bounce back and forth between the NBA and the g league or whatever they call it these days. The NBA drafts kids, not like the NFL. Lots of them, most really, shouldn’t really be there.

NIL vs. the bouncing back and forth between G League and dropping to late first round - better decision would have been to stay another year. Make some $$$ and improve before he moved on. He was good enough where this would have been very little risk.

Liam didn’t look fully developed at the end of the season, and had lackluster performance in tourney. It was kind of a slow downhill after the unreal Creighton game - good games but not lottery pick good.

But I wish him the best either way - he made his choice.

 

[freescooter]

And you certainly can't develop these things while making millions playing professionally. Can only happen if you're playing for a team I root for

You can but you aren’t probably getting the coaching, especially if you end up bouncing between the G league and the NBA. And you aren’t getting playing time if you are keeping the bench cozy for the regulars. As I said before in an earier era he would stay in college for at least another year.

 

[Stasher599]

I have seen Liam listed to the Spurs at 12 on multiple mocks but also in the 20’s on others. I wouldn’t sleep on him in the top 15.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

He shooting % is very misleading
Because of our roster problems he had to assume a greater roll on the ball not his primary skill.
That results in more difficult shots .
The hate on the BY for McNeeley is unbelievable. Very few UConn freshmen were ever asked to contribute as much as he was . He didn’t exactly have the 2024 cast around him .

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Can we get a pinned “X should stay another year” post? We went through the same stupidity with Clingan and Castle last year, which aged like a fine milk. This isn’t 30 years ago. Even if he drops out of the lottery, this was the absolutely right decision.

 

[gsmooth]

Can we get a pinned “X should stay another year” post? We went through the same stupidity with Clingan and Castle last year, which aged like a fine milk. This isn’t 30 years ago. Even if he drops out of the lottery, this was the absolutely right decision.

As long as McNeeley gets drafted in the first round, and everything at this point indicates he will be, it is absolutely the correct decision.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Needed to stay another year at UConn. No question. G-League playing time.

 

[businesslawyer]

NIL vs. the bouncing back and forth between G League and dropping to late first round - better decision would have been to stay another year. Make some $$$ and improve before he moved on. He was good enough where this would have been very little risk.

Liam didn’t look fully developed at the end of the season, and had lackluster performance in tourney. It was kind of a slow downhill after the unreal Creighton game - good games but not lottery pick good.

But I wish him the best either way - he made his choice.

After the Creighton game Liam really struggled. He did not play like a player with big time NBA potential. But his game suffered from a number of things that NBA scouts will think will go away at the next level: he never looked like he was 100% recovered from his injury; he became UConn’s only option to take whatever shot he could get at the end of the shot clock; and he was under even more pressure to take bad shots after Hass got hurt when our offense didn’t run as efficiently until we got to the end of the shot clock.

Look, I don’t want to minimize how disappointing Liam’s play was down the stretch. Especially for the first 38 minutes against Florida. But if you are evaluating his NBA future over the next dozen years, you have to recognize that not playing up to one’s potential for 6 weeks doesn’t factor into it all that much.

 

[REB1094]

Let’s say Liam comes back and we return him to his role of movement shooter. He goes up to 45% FG and 40% 3P, but his overall scoring drops due to less shots and less minutes because we don’t need him to carry the offense anymore. Remember we’re bringing back our next 3 leading scorers from last year + Silas (we recruited exclusively to run the offense and score) and a scoring 5* freshman

What would NBA teams prefer - a 19 year old that averages 14.5 points and 6 rebounds on bad shooting splits playing the wrong role, or a 20 year old that averages 10 points and 5 rebounds on good shooting splits playing the right role?

If he impresses in workouts and the combine, why wouldn’t the NBA team just take the 19 year old and play him in the right role themselves? Nobody’s going to draft him to be their franchise player, they’re drafting him to plug into their offense as a shooter. He dropped his draft stock last year but his draft profile is the same it was last year, and the same it would be next year

 

[boog204]

Let’s say Liam comes back and we return him to his role of movement shooter. He goes up to 45% FG and 40% 3P, but his overall scoring drops due to less shots and less minutes because we don’t need him to carry the offense anymore. Remember we’re bringing back our next 3 leading scorers from last year + Silas (we recruited exclusively to run the offense and score) and a scoring 5* freshman

What would NBA teams prefer - a 19 year old that averages 14.5 points and 6 rebounds on bad shooting splits playing the wrong role, or a 20 year old that averages 10 points and 5 rebounds on good shooting splits playing the right role?

If he impresses in workouts and the combine, why wouldn’t the NBA team just take the 19 year old and play him in the right role themselves? Nobody’s going to draft him to be their franchise player, they’re drafting him to plug into their offense as a shooter. He dropped his draft stock last year but his draft profile is the same it was last year, and the same it would be next year

That's the thing, though. On an NBA team, he'll be what he is. A guy who can hit 3's, create a little, and be a very good connector on offense. He's not an ISO guy or a playmaker, and that's what he had to become because we fielded a roster with no one who could be a true triple threat offensively. On the Spurs, or with someone like Liam, he would have three other players on the court who can also be playmakers, allowing him to play to his strengths.

And to piggyback, because I was bored and did the stats one day, before Liam's injury (when he was coming into his own as our best player, mind you), he was a 14-5 guy on like 45/40/80. After returning, he had the one huge game against Creighton, but had clearly lost a step and was hobbled, AND AK went into a horrific slump. For better or worse, Liam decided to try and take on the alpha role, and his numbers suffered. I think he'll be a very good third or fourth guy on a good team. Might not be an all-star, but he'll be a consistent piece on the right team.

 

[husky8273]

unrelated but Yale transfer, Danny Wolf, blossomed into a projected top 20 pick

 

[giddyup]

We go through this discussion virtually every year with high ceiling guys delivering good but not dominant results. The NBA chews people up and spits them out. The kid will get his $$ but there is nothing to indicate he is another level player. Excellent BB skills is what he has with good athleticism. He's not a dominant athletic type.

 

[Mr. French]

unrelated but Yale transfer, Danny Wolf, blossomed into a projected top 20 pick

I heard he went to Michigan, but not confirmed by sources.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

He's 6-foot-8 and was shooting 40% from 3 before the injury, with a 2-to-1 a/to ratio as a secondary playmaker against a tough schedule as a freshman.

If he'd stayed healthy he'd have been a bigger Kon Knueppel, and Knueppel's gonna be a top 5 pick.

Like I said, I hope teams are dumb enough to let him drop to my Celtics.

You talk as if being 6’8” is an anomaly in the NBA. And his lower leg injury is far more likely to impact his agility than his 3 point game. Listen, love on the kid all you want. He underperformed for us when considering the hype with which he came.