Bouk vs Jalen Adams | The Boneyard

Bouk vs Jalen Adams

YearoftheHusky

YearoftheHusky

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Anyone else see similarities?

Uber talented, Uber athletic. Sometimes so much so that they seem to be disinterested or going through the motions and still end up with 20

Neither loved contact at the rim, or tried to avoid it with their athleticism.

Decent long range shooters, better all around scorers.

Very likable kids with very lofty and perhaps unfair expectations as the next fill in the blank (Bazz, Kemba, Ray, Rip) who takes us to a better place.

Neither surrounded by a consistent supporting cast.

Each had an off court hiccup and matured from it.

Not sure my point, but I feel like everyone wants everyone to have the killer instinct and lead us to the promised land when even some very good players are just not wired that way.

Thoughts?
 
YearoftheHusky said:
Anyone else see similarities?

Uber talented, Uber athletic. Sometimes so much so that they seem to be disinterested or going through the motions and still end up with 20

Neither loved contact at the rim, or tried to avoid it with their athleticism.

Decent long range shooters, better all around scorers.

Very likable kids with very lofty and perhaps unfair expectations as the next fill in the blank (Bazz, Kemba, Ray, Rip) who takes us to a better place.

Neither surrounded by a consistent supporting cast.

Each had an off court hiccup and matured from it.

Not sure my point, but I feel like everyone wants everyone to have the killer instinct and lead us to the promised land when even some very good players are just not wired that way.

Thoughts?
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You think Bouk tries to avoid contact at the rim? He embraces contact TOO MUCH for someone his size.

Jalen is a much better passer.

Bouk is a world's better pure athlete.
 
Not at all.

Bouk is a pure bucket getter and a special, special talent with a deadly alpha mentality.

Jalen often frustrated me with his focus and drive. Very good player, but not close to the echelon of Bouk.

This goes back to the idea of finding comparisons/similarities. Let Bouk be Bouk and Jalen be Jalen.
 
Bouk a better athlete, Adams was more slick around the court. Jalen was really underrated. I loved Jalen's time here and I said a few days ago to imagine that we had both of them on the same team. Would've made life a whole lot easier. Jalen just didn't have a good enough supporting cast to free him up so often time he would have to take the reigns too many times.
 
YearoftheHusky said:
Anyone else see similarities?

Uber talented, Uber athletic. Sometimes so much so that they seem to be disinterested or going through the motions and still end up with 20

Neither loved contact at the rim, or tried to avoid it with their athleticism.

Decent long range shooters, better all around scorers.

Very likable kids with very lofty and perhaps unfair expectations as the next fill in the blank (Bazz, Kemba, Ray, Rip) who takes us to a better place.

Neither surrounded by a consistent supporting cast.

Each had an off court hiccup and matured from it.

Not sure my point, but I feel like everyone wants everyone to have the killer instinct and lead us to the promised land when even some very good players are just not wired that way.

Thoughts?
Expand ...
I have trouble coming up with a worse comparison. Jalen Adams avoided contact like the plague, Bouknight seeks it out more than maybe any other scorer I remember seeing. Bouknight is a million times better than Adams.
 
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Jalen is a very talented player. He is doing very very well in the G league and it is not at all a stretch to compare them.
however bouk has better length, speed, is even more athletic and a crafty finisher like jalen is. Jalen has a better jump shot now but Bouk is only going to continue to improve on his. Plus bouk is taller, a better rebounder and has similar court vision to Jalen. Also, bouk is a clear nba 2 guard while jalen’s position is more fluid. I’ve noticed he’s been playing a lot of 2 in the g league. Jalen has better one on one moves but bouk is much younger and that part of his game is still developing.
The biggest similarity they have is that they are both very natural basketball players and get to where they want to go easily and gracefully .
 
Kenny11 said:
Jalen is a very talented player. He is doing very very well in the G league and it is not at all a stretch to compare them.
however bouk has better length, speed, is even more athletic and a crafty finisher like jalen is. Jalen has a better jump shot now but Bouk is only going to continue to improve on his. Plus bouk is taller, a better rebounder and has similar court vision to Jalen. Also, bouk is a clear nba 2 guard while jalen’s position is more fluid. I’ve noticed he’s been playing a lot of 2 in the g league. Jalen has better one on one moves but bouk is much younger and that part of his game is still developing.
The biggest similarity they have is that they are both very natural basketball players and get to where they want to go easily.
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Bouk is averaging 1.6 AST his sophomore year. Jalen averaged 6.1.

Jalen and Bouk do not have similar court vision. Passing was probably one of the few things Jalen didn't ned to work on to make the league--it's probably the biggest knock on Bouk's draft status (just ahead of injury history and shooting % from deep).
 
RF79 said:
No! No comparison at all. When I see Bouk ball JAdams has not come to mind once.
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The player boneyarders have compared him most to is Lamb but I think the best comparison is a much more skilled Dyson
 
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husky429 said:
Bouk is averaging 1.6 AST his sophomore year. Jalen averaged 6.1.

Jalen and Bouk do not have similar court vision. Passing was probably one of the few things Jalen didn't ned to work on to make the league--it's probably the biggest knock on Bouk's draft status (just ahead of injury history and shooting % from deep).
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I like Bouk as a passer. It’s not his role to distribute but I think him and Jackson have the best vision on the team especially when driving and kicking or hitting the roll man.
 
Kenny11 said:
I like Bouk as a passer. It’s not his role to distribute but I think him and Jackson have the best vision on the team especially when driving and kicking or hitting the roll man.
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Fair enough. I think he has potential as a passer as well. His awareness of what's happening on the court are elite. I think learning to make those passes (not just see them) with both hands is the next step for him.
 
We don't have to compare UConn players to other past UConn players. Bouknight isn't like any past UConn players. They actually probably play more alike but this would be like comparing Brimah to Okafor.
 
husky429 said:
Fair enough. I think he has potential as a passer as well. His awareness of what's happening on the court are elite. I think learning to make those passes (not just see them) with both hands is the next step for him.
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That’s true.
As great as Cole was in the second half yesterday when he drives he really doesn’t see open guys. If he’s not hitting that floater it can be very frustrating.
 
I put in the chat yesterday that Bouk was having a vintage Adams performance. But I was more talking about the body language and "me ball" game he was playing for a lot the game. His game yesterday actually reminded me a lot of senior year Adams and sophomore year Bazz put in a blender.

As a player Bouk is leaps and bounds above Adams (and Bazz). As a leader, like Adams, he leaves something to be desired. But Bouk is only a sophomore so not really fair me to say that. Adams was a cancer to the team culture and played with a poor attitude even as a senior.
 
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husky429 said:
Fair enough. I think he has potential as a passer as well. His awareness of what's happening on the court are elite. I think learning to make those passes (not just see them) with both hands is the next step for him.
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I think this team is barely figuring out how to play together still. This is a weird season. The team was Bouk only at the beginning of the year. The rest of the players grew a bit into their roles while he was gone. And now they are figuring out how to play together again. I think that heavily influences how we view Bouk right now, particularly as a passer.

Also to the premise of the thread, I see very little similarity between Bouk and JA. And not to add to the noise, but Bouk is a better player halfway through a disjointed second season than JA is right now.

I think Hamilton is the most similar player to me, including with regards to how we use him on the team. But Bouk is shorter so that obviously affects things. But from an offensive play style perspective I think he's the closest to me.
 
Maybe this could be fun...NBAdraft.net has the scoring system (1-10) for players and Bouk's hasn't been filled in yet. What would you score him, and based on your score, what previous players (uconn or otherwise) compare from their database?

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I do think of them similarly since both put up shots near the rim that I never think have a chance of going in. Jalen maybe did this even more than Bouk and frequently scored this way. In Jalen's signature game against Cincy (I'm not talking about the game his freshman year with the heave and OT), Jalen was hitting practically everything. I think he could score with his back on the floor.

That being said, Jalen's defense was nowhere near as good as Bouk's.
Jalen was a better passer.
Until recently, Bouk took care of the ball more, but now he looks worse with it than Jalen did.
Jalen needed to be a PG, but Bouk is a 2 guard.

I just see their creativity on drives/near the rim as being quite similar. Jalen had outstanding body control as well.

EDIT: Just checked and Jalen does have some excellent numbers in the G league:

48 games / 18.6 pts avg. / 49% shooting / 39% from 3 / 85% FTs / 4.2 rebounds / 4.5 assists / 1.3 steals / 2.9 turnovers
 
We can speculate all day, but I believe Jalen could've been a 1st round pick if he was under this staff for 4 years. The kid definitely bleeds blue, he still watches UConn games. Just unfortunate what happened during his time here.

However, Bouk is the better player.
 
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Not even close these 2 players. Adams was good but didn't have the separation ability or athleticism of Bouknight. Also, you guys see Bouknight all over the floor? The kid has a motor. He's smooth and easy, but he is also high activity. Bouknight is a better version of Jeremy Lamb.

Edit: Great discussion. I think best SG/SF wing talent since RIP. Kemba, Shabazz, Gordon were all essentially PGs. I actually like his NBA potential more than Gay's due to motor.
 
DayDayTFS said:
Jalen is sooo underrated by UConn fans due to his teams performance his 4 years, which was not entirely his fault. Bouk is clearly the more gifted scorer/athlete.
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I think this was exactly my point. I am in no way saying that Jalen was as good a player as James. I just see similarities in the way we set our expectations for them and then based their performance off of our expectations.
 
Bouknight has been banged up and frustrated for two games and some people are acting like he has some major attitude issue and is causing team chemistry issues.

Guys, he's just frustrated and he's clearly not 100%. He's used to being able to get wherever he wants but his legs still aren't under him and he's dealing with a bunch of nicks and bruises.

Yeah the body language the last two games hasn't been great but he's a competitor. His body language has been poor because he's not playing up to his own standards not because he's lazy or disinterested. It's like people forgot what he looked like before the elbow surgery.
 
JMick said:
Bouknight has been banged up and frustrated for two games and some people are acting like he has some major attitude issue and is causing team chemistry issues.

Guys, he's just frustrated and he's clearly not 100%. He's used to being able to get wherever he wants but his legs still aren't under him and he's dealing with a bunch of nicks and bruises.

Yeah the body language the last two games hasn't been great but he's a competitor. His body language has been poor because he's not playing up to his own standards not because he's lazy or disinterested. It's like people forgot what he looked like before the elbow surgery.
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He's also getting hacked a lot...that last dunk was definitely frustration from that (and to get 20 points).
 
Some similarities, both are great finishers around the rim. But Bouk is a much better athelte and player.
 
Basically what most people said. I really liked Jalen Adams. He played well but couldn't do everything himself. If he had teammates with talent like his freshman year for his soph to senior years, more UConn fans would think better of him.

Of course I really like Bouk too. He's a star. But, If you replaced Jalen Adams, with Bouk on those Jalen teams, I'm not sure if even Bouk would make those teams so much better.
 
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