Borges Talked to Some NBA Scouts

[James]

No man you said he is worse at creating his own shot than EDIT; kemba , at their respective ages. Why are you bringing up a flawed +\- stat and assist stats??? I agree he needs to work on decision making perhaps kemba was a little further along... But light years?!?!?!!

 

[msgordon]

its absolutely revisionist history to say kemba was much better than boat as a sophomore. aside from an extra rebound, their stats could not be more similar. i never once questioned kembas heart or toughness in three years, but he was NOT a great decision maker in 2010. i distinctly remember a moment 5 minutes into the Texas game, Kemba committed his fifth turnover and you could hear and feel the disgust throughout Gampel.

Kemba '10 35.2mpg, 14.6 ppg, 5.1apg, 2.9 topg, 2.1spg
Boat '10 36.3mpg, 15.4 ppg, 4.4apg 3.0 topg, 1.5spg

Kemba '10 .403/.339/.767 on 11.1/3.3/5.9 attempts
Boat '10 .429/.333/.785 on 11.7/4.3/5.0 attempts

Kemba '10 20.2 PER/.525 TS%/23.4 usg%/17.3 TOV%
Boat '10 18.6 PER/.546 TS%/25.4 usg%/17.4 TOV%

stats can lie, but they can't lie that much. they both had plenty of great moments mixed with plenty of head-scratchers. you can say your eye always told you that Kemba had 'IT' and argue that the upperclassmen in '10 held him back, but the fact remains that he was the point guard of a team with plenty of talent that didnt even make the NCAA tournament.

having said all of that, Kemba is my alltime favorite Husky and I would be happy if Boat showed 1/4 of the improvement that Kemba made from his sophomore to junior year. and I agree that Kemba was more enjoyable to watch than Boat as a sophomore, but I dont see any evidence that he was a better player.


i will also edit to add that kemba was almost certainly a better defender, but

1)its really hard to evaluate individual defense because there is so much noise
2)pg defense is less important than any other position on the court
3)kemba had the luxury of dyson next to him to help take the pressure off of matchups against bigger guards

still, i would concede that boats defense is very poor and if you argue that the gap in D between kemba and boat is what separates them as sophomores, it would be hard to argue

 

[Jerry1714]

Sorry,have to go with jerry on this one. forget the stats we are talking two different teams with other factors to look at stats. i was a huge fan of kemba from day 1 and i remember him having his ups and downs in his first couple seasons but boat has gone stretches of just being putrid. sure he is a better scorer than kemba as a soph but he is a FAR WORSE decision maker on the court which is the point jerry is making and i agree. we`re not slandering anyone by saying boat is a poor decision maker and definitely is worse than kemba and even bazz was. that being said bazz and kemba learned and i think boat will to and if he does he could be one of the best players in the college game.

Thank you, just because I think boat needs work on his decision making, a lot of it, doesn't make me a "slander". I'm not sure he knows what that means.

Boat has the talent to be an all American, and I pray he is, but his game is behind kembas especially in the decision making department which is vital to a pg's success.

 

[Jerry1714]

No man you said he is worse at creating his own shot than boat, at their respective ages. Why are you bringing up a flawed +\- stat and assist stats??? I agree he needs to work on decision making perhaps kemba was a little further along... But light years?!?!?!!

He is worse at it. If both were standing open I'd rather have boat take it, without a doubt.

Top of the key a decent size guard on both of them? Give me kemba any day of the week.

Did you watch the gtown game? Just one example of many

 

[whaler11]

If you think Walker being light years ahead of Boatright after two years is revisionist history you must not own a television. It's ridiculous to compare Boatright to Walker in any way shape or form.

 

[James]

Boatright has insane intangibles and a better leader already. thing is that title really whiped your memory of sophomore kemba I guess.
Listen I'm a kemba Fan boy and consider him a star in the league. FYI .

 

[Perspective]

Boat has the talent to be an all American, and I pray he is, but his game is behind kembas especially in the decision making department which is vital to a pg's success.

Yeah man. No.

The Jerry fellow has given you all the information you need. The stats are virtually identical. You tried to go to some unlisted stats, but you didn't even look them up? Assists to TOs are virtually the same. But you threw that out there.

Fact is, as mentioned above, you're not remember 10 Kemba, you're remembering 10 Kemba with the rosy veneer of 11 Kemba.

Kemba was tough to watch his sophomore year. I was dreading the next year. I was shocked at how much he improved.

And don't forget that Kemba arguably had more to work with on offense. Ryan doesn't have the guns around him. He didn't have the guys who can bail him out with 10 on the shot clock.

I'll give 10 Kemba a clear "better" for the category of defense. Ryan gets burned way to much on D. Kemba was also better at ball control in traffic. Kemba clearly also had a better attitude, and better control if his emotions.

All that aside, the difference between 10 Kemba and 13 Boatright is not huge.

If Boat enters the draft I'll consider one of the stupidest decisions I have ever witnessed, assuming his goal is to maximize career potential.

 

[Danzz]

I don't care about the stats, just talking about what I see. Ryan is probably a better shooter when open, but he cannot create his own shot, this is something kemba always could do. Ryan needs to add a lot of muscle to his body.

Ryan was similar to kemba as freshmen, but not after sophomore year. There are way to many times Ryan just dribbles and dribbles and dribbles some more into a turnover or a god awful shot. I feel like he forgets there are 4 other guys out there too much.

Ryan is a better athlete but I don't see how you can compare the two as basketball players

One of these guys is an up and coming NBA star and the other isn't on anybodys draft list.

 

[Danzz]

Boatright has insane intangibles and a better leader already. thing is that title really whiped your memory of sophomore kemba I guess.
Listen I'm a kemba Fan boy and consider him a star in the league. FYI .

Better leader? No.In fact Bazz is the leader of this team and Boatright isn't.

 

[joober jones]

Ironically enough, they're both #11.

 

[James]

Please continue on with our second leading scorer slander. Maybe it's better he just leaves so his ball hogging next year doesn't send you into hysteria.

 

[willie99]

Kemba started at the pg as a sophomore and did exactly what RB did this year. JD played the 2 guard. JC had no confidence in Kemba running the pg so he move JD to the 1 guard. Unfortunately that was a worse disaster because JD couldn't run the team and the decision ended up neutralizing what he did well as a 2 guard.

I always felt that it was one of the worse coaching moves JC made. The other was moving KFree to the 3 the season after the national championship.

If RB did not have SN to help him everyone would be pointing to him as JD II. Unfortunately for JD there was no SN player to run the show and let KW develop. Imagine this season with no SN. You would have had RB, OC and RJE running things. Well that is what happened in KW's sophomore season. There was no upper class man with pg skills.

we're going back in time now, but I think he moved KF to the 3 because that would be his position at the next level

 

[msgordon]

One of these guys is an up and coming NBA star and the other isn't on anybodys draft list.

.....
this is exactly why its hard to be unbiased when comparing them as sophomores

 

[HobokenHusky]

One of these guys is an up and coming NBA star and the other isn't on anybodys draft list.

Kemba was on very few, if any draft list as a soph. In fact, he was a late first/early 2nd guy as a junior before the 11 games. Amazing how quickly that gets wiped away after a NT. I love Kemba, I am naming my future dog Kemba, But you guys are killing Boat unjustly. He needs to learn to share and improve decision making, but he's a special talent for his size.

 

[huskiesnyc]

I was much more worried about Kemba going pro after his sophomore year than Boat. Why you ask? Because he was a projected late first round pick. Boat is nowhere to be seen. Lets calm down he will do the right thing and come back.

 

[huskiesnyc]

Kemba was on very few, if any draft list as a soph. In fact, he was a late first/early 2nd guy as a junior before the 11 games. Amazing how quickly that gets wiped away after a NT. I love Kemba, I am naming my future dog Kemba, But you guys are killing Boat unjustly. He needs to learn to share and improve decision making, but he's a special talent for his size.

This is not accurate

 

[HobokenHusky]

This is not accurate

Can you support that with a link? Otherwise it's your word against mine. I might be wrong, but considering where he ended up drafted, he wasn't a lottery guy before the BET, and def not a 1st round guy as a soph.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

The fact that we have seen two point guards show a big jump in their Junior years does not mean that every Sophomore PG will do so. Kemba showed great improvement from a foundation of having enough humility to see the need to improve and make it a reality. He was said to have worked with Blaney to restructure his jump shot. That was a huge undertaking. He learned to play a little slower, how to create space, how to be a positive team leader, how to never give in, how to not get tired, how to get to most of the critical rebounds and loose balls, how to keep his head up and smile (even through the rough times), and how to make the critical stops.

Shabazz started his Junior admitting to making mistakes in the way he tried to become a leader of the team, about how he needed to learn to be more positive with teammates. He handled his Coach retiring after he stayed out of loyalty to him and joined in to support Ollie. He handled the talk of Boat being given the PG role (even though it never made sense to me, btw). He played with pain and had surgery without really enough time to get fully in shape before the season started, but played kemba-like minutes all season and came to become the team leader through his hard-earned maturity and making the most of the opportunities to make the big play. He finally was put back into the PG role when it was obvious to everyone that he was light years ahead of Boat as the quarterback of the team. He went on to have one of the best seasons for a PG in the Calhoun era (extended).

Ryan Boatright could become pretty good, maybe even better than that, if he can find the humility to recognize how far he has to go and how much he has to learn. This is what I think he lacks right now, but I hope that either I am wrong or that he can find the guts to get help and to learn how to really improve. It looks like he thinks he is much better than he really is and this could be the thing that prevents him from getting much better at all. I think that he will improve, but man, he really has to learn a lot. He has to learn how to create space to get his shot off. He needs to learn to play with his head up and look to pass first. He needs to really become committed to learn how to play defense because he is a poor fundamental defender. He needs to be as happy (or happier) with an assist as making a basket and this did not seem to be the case this year. He also needs to shoot a lot better by taking better shots and not playing 1 against 5.

I think that Shabazz had an advantage over Boat in that he had Kemba as a Junior to model himself on as a freshman. Shabazz was not the player or leader as a sophomore that he was this year. I think that Boat saw himself as a peer to (or even a better talent than) Shabazz, so that he did not have the role model to learn from. I hope Ryan remembers all those times late in the year when he got frustrated and hung his head as a message that he has to earn greatness and that he has a long way to go to find it.

 

[huskiesnyc]

Can you support that with a link? Otherwise it's your word against mine. I might be wrong, but considering where he ended up drafted, he wasn't a lottery guy before the BET, and def not a 1st round guy as a soph.

I don't have a link, but I remember the anxiety around here that there was a good chance he was gone. Kemba might not have been a lottery guy before the BET, but it was pretty much him and Jimmer chasing NPOY right fr the start

 

[Jerry1714]

Can you support that with a link? Otherwise it's your word against mine. I might be wrong, but considering where he ended up drafted, he wasn't a lottery guy before the BET, and def not a 1st round guy as a soph.

Here is one for you. http://www.draftexpress.com/article/NCAA-Weekly-Performers-22610-3406/

I guess these nba guys talking about his ability to create his own shot and being a potential first round pick have terrible eyes too James?

 

[ctchamps]

we're going back in time now, but I think he moved KF to the 3 because that would be his position at the next level

That was the reason and at the time I applauded the choice to try giving it a shot. But to stay with all season was a mistake imo.

 

[aboogieee]

The fact that we have seen two point guards show a big jump in their Junior years does not mean that every Sophomore PG will do so.

But I do like the odds..

 

[BoatShow]

Kemba was light years ahead if Boatright after his sophomore year.

Boatright has a long long way to go as a point. I find his talk to the NBA to be laughable.

I didn't compare the players' ability or NBA readiness at all. Just said both had a tendency to over penetrate and force shots rather than dish.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I was much more worried about Kemba going pro after his sophomore year than Boat. Why you ask? Because he was a projected late first round pick. Boat is nowhere to be seen. Lets calm down he will do the right thing and come back.

I don't think that is right. Maybe a borderline first round pick, maybe. The 2010 mess didn't exactly highlight anyone's skills.

By the end of Maui, it was clear that it was going to be a special season for Kemba though. It was a two man race for NPOY by mid-December.

 

[Jerry1714]

Can you support that with a link? Otherwise it's your word against mine. I might be wrong, but considering where he ended up drafted, he wasn't a lottery guy before the BET, and def not a 1st round guy as a soph.

Here one saying he was a lottery pick entering his junior year
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/NBA-Draft-Prospect-of-the-Week-Kemba-Walker-3588/

You might want to try google next time, this way you can know what you are talking about