Current Roster's NBA Potential

[HooperScooper]

Mullins - 1st round
Reibe - 1st round
Karaban - late 1st early 2nd. Bench piece.
Reed - 2nd round, probably makes a team on D and rebounding
Demary - ?? Which version? Last week's version for sure. Needs consistency
Stewart - wish it was so, not seeing it
Ross - no.

With Alex my question really comes down to what he wants to do. His parents are (I believe) Ukrainian immigrants. His game is well suited to Europe. Even if he's a 7th man on an NBA team he might choose to go be a star in Europe.

His dream is the NBA. He’s not going to Europe until all avenues to the NBA are closed.

His parents have been here a very long time. I don’t think he has any ties to Europe.

 

[superjohn]

Mullins - 1st round
Reibe - 1st round
Karaban - late 1st early 2nd. Bench piece.
Reed - 2nd round, probably makes a team on D and rebounding
Demary - ?? Which version? Last week's version for sure. Needs consistency
Stewart - wish it was so, not seeing it
Ross - no.

With Alex my question really comes down to what he wants to do. His parents are (I believe) Ukrainian immigrants. His game is well suited to Europe. Even if he's a 7th man on an NBA team he might choose to go be a star in Europe.

I highly doubt AK wants to play in Ukraine.

 

[RuffRuff]

I highly doubt AK wants to play in Ukraine.

Heard the Odessa Knicks have some space on the roster.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I highly doubt AK wants to play in Ukraine.

 

[thekollieman]

Kemba didn't even get Big East player of the year, that honor went to Tyler Hansbrough's younger brother.

That sounds insane, but do they give those out with consideration to the conference tournament or just regular season? Cuz UConn was like 0.500 that year.

 

[aceboon]

That sounds insane, but do they give those out with consideration to the conference tournament or just regular season? Cuz UConn was like 0.500 that year.

It's a regular season award, Notre Dame finished 2nd in the conference with a 14-4 record while UConn finished 9th with a 9-9 record, and Kemba was shooting tour dates that entire conference season.

 

[DogMania]

I seem to recall Newton was a pretty good defender. I haven't noticed Demary's athleticism. He plays mostly below the rim and is not particularly fast. I hear people say what a good defender he is but he has had trouble keeping guys in front of him and not fouling. I'm not saying he is a bad defender, I just don't see him as good as stay Steph Castle or Andre Jackson or from my day, Ricky Moore. I buy that he is our BEST on-ball defender, but that isn't saying much. We don't have a lot of elite athleticism on defense. Maybe Jayden Ross but he has not figured out how to use his athleticism yet. I credit our defense success to better switching and help defense. We are more connected this year and so I credit the coaching staff. Maybe I am just not astute enough to recognize Demary's athletic and defensive greatness, but that's my take for what its worth.

Newton had good positional size making it hard for smaller guards to shoot over him. He had good defensive instincts making him a good defender, not a great one. Fortunately we had Jackson and Castle to lock down the other team's best perimeter scorers.

As for Demary, he's a very good defender, though was slowed
early on due to a calf injury where he missed some games. He went a long stretch getting into foul trouble that kept him on the bench, but also limited his aggressiveness. The past 2 games he only picked up 2 fouls in each one. It's no coincidence that he had 5 and 3 steals the past 2 games.

I think he's finally figuring it out.

 

[jackanddanny8]

I’m so rooting for Tristen to get a shot. I think he can play enough offense and enough defense and he’s a winner. Why can’t he be a capable backup PG somewhere? Wouldn’t shock me to see Newton back on the UConn bench one day either. Hurley loved him.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I think there are a lot of coaches and especially GMs in the NBA that need to be put out to pasture. They have the math wrong on analytics, undervaluing interior play. In addition, too many GMs keep swinging for the fences on athletes, resulting in a lot of players at the end of NBA benches who literally can’t play basketball. Look at the last 10+ drafts, and look at how many wasted, Hail Mary picks there were in the first round of players that never contributed in their careers. Some of that was the result of very undeveloped players jumping to the NBA to get paid, but with House and NIL, there are a lot of experienced, skilled older players, so why are GMs still drafting like it is 2015?

In terms of coaching, there are too many old school coaches that overplay their starters, resulting in a lot of fatigue injuries. OKC has SGA at 33 mpg, and Williams at 30.3. Everyone else is under 30, which is how it should be. On the other side of the coin, Thibodeau was fired for wearing out his starters and Mike Brown is doing the same thing. Doc Rivers wasted the last two seasons overplaying an old roster that broke down at playoff time.

NBA teams need more players that can actually play basketball, and the coaches need to make those players mid season minutes eaters. Colleges paying players is creating deep classes of highly skilled, experienced players that can contribute immediately.

 

['70graduate]

Realistically I think Mullins and Reibe. Maybe Ball. The rest I don’t see.

I see Karaban.

 

[Lafayette]

Latest mock on ESPN has Mullins, Karaban, Solo, Reed drafted in rounds 1 and 2. Take it with a shaker of salt though.

Solo - probably tests but has definitive work to do like Silas last year.

 

[Donyell 360]

I think it’s fair to say Okafor and Gordon didn’t reach their utmost potential, but they were both still good (ROY and 6MOY, respectively). Okafor was the face of a franchise until chronic back injuries derailed him and BG was pretty nasty but peaked early and faded. Thabeet was a bona fide draft bust, no disrespect to a great Husky - just a fact. I was an infant when Donyell was drafted so my perspective only goes as far as his wikipedia page.

Edit: did Okafor not get the Naismith award in ‘04?

I think Emeka won defensive player of the year and was a finalist for Naismith but did not win it. No doubt Emeka could have had a better career if not for injuries, but avoiding injury is part of the test of greatness IMO. Ben Gordon was a nice player, but he didn't live up to expectations for a #3 draft pick.

Donyell is my favorite Husky all-time as you might guess. But he was considered one of the greatest busts in the NBA draft history because he was the last draft class without a rookie salary cap. $42M at the time was a lot of money for a marginal player. I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect his lopsided deal was a significant catalyst for the rookie salary cap. His contract really handcuffed the Timberwolves. He hung around the league though and salvaged his career turning into a decent starter, though not an all-star.

I'm still waiting for UConn to have a top 3 draft pick that turns into a bona fide superstar. The way it is structured now, not sure I will see it happen. But as long as UConn keeps winning, I couldn't care less really.

 

[Excalibur]

Adama is far more polished and in command of his skillset.

But he can't guard the position.

 

[Excalibur]

I seem to recall Newton was a pretty good defender. I haven't noticed Demary's athleticism. He plays mostly below the rim and is not particularly fast. I hear people say what a good defender he is but he has had trouble keeping guys in front of him and not fouling. I'm not saying he is a bad defender, I just don't see him as good as stay Steph Castle or Andre Jackson or from my day, Ricky Moore. I buy that he is our BEST on-ball defender, but that isn't saying much. We don't have a lot of elite athleticism on defense. Maybe Jayden Ross but he has not figured out how to use his athleticism yet. I credit our defense success to better switching and help defense. We are more connected this year and so I credit the coaching staff. Maybe I am just not astute enough to recognize Demary's athletic and defensive greatness, but that's my take for what its worth.

The "best on ball defender" on a top 5 team in just about every defensive metric "isn't saying much".

This place . . .

 

[Husky68]

Mullins = Christian Braun
Karaban = Sam Hauser
Reed = Isaiah Stewart

Funny this got me thinking as old guy:

Mullins - Pistol Pete type fluid movement
Karaban - Bill Bradley
Reed - Willis Reed
Demary - Clyde Frasier
Ball - Wally Wonder of the old Philadelphia Wilt/Greer/Jackson/Walker team
Newton - Earl the Pearl
Cam - Frank Ramsey
Clingan - Walton
Ross - Michael Cooper
Stewart - Kurt Rambis

 

[Donyell 360]

Newton had good positional size making it hard for smaller guards to shoot over him. He had good defensive instincts making him a good defender, not a great one. Fortunately we had Jackson and Castle to lock down the other team's best perimeter scorers.

As for Demary, he's a very good defender, though was slowed
early on due to a calf injury where he missed some games. He went a long stretch getting into foul trouble that kept him on the bench, but also limited his aggressiveness. The past 2 games he only picked up 2 fouls in each one. It's no coincidence that he had 5 and 3 steals the past 2 games.

I think he's finally figuring it out.

I hope you are right about Demary figuring it out and the thus the best is yet to come. I am certainly bullish on him too. But you didn't really argue against my questioning Demary's athleticism. I associate athleticism with: vertical leap, quickness, explosiveness, acceleration, coordination, anticipation, balance. Maybe those last 3 apply to Demary but that's not what stands out to me when I watch him. His strength is what stands out most to me.

 

[thekollieman]

I hope you are right about Demary figuring it out and the thus the best is yet to come. I am certainly bullish on him too. But you didn't really argue against my questioning Demary's athleticism. I associate athleticism with: vertical leap, quickness, explosiveness, acceleration, coordination, anticipation, balance. Maybe those last 3 apply to Demary but that's not what stands out to me when I watch him. His strength is what stands out most to me.

I remember watching his UGA highlights after he committed to UConn and there were tons of powerful throw downs, so I feel like he’s got it in him but maybe with our offense/options it’s not there for him as naturally.

 

[aceboon]

I've watched the Kings knock off the Rockets and Lakers in back to back nights with 6'10", 250lb Dylan Cardwell playing a role in real minutes both nights. He played 5 seasons at Auburn, never averaged more than 5pts and 5rebs, and made 4 3s in 5 years, folks who think Tarris doesn't have a chance of playing in the NBA really aren't paying attention to what end of the bench/back end rotation bigs look like.

 

[3rdbass]

I hope you are right about Demary figuring it out and the thus the best is yet to come. I am certainly bullish on him too. But you didn't really argue against my questioning Demary's athleticism. I associate athleticism with: vertical leap, quickness, explosiveness, acceleration, coordination, anticipation, balance. Maybe those last 3 apply to Demary but that's not what stands out to me when I watch him. His strength is what stands out most to me.

Alot people were surprised how athletically gifted Steph Castle was after her left UConn. They felt like they didn't quite see that when he was playing. I do think our offense doesn't really promote good athletic one on one moves that you will see in the NBA so I would be a little hesitant to say Demary isn't that athletic. He clearly is way more athletic than Newton.

 

[imno1]

I would compare Jayden Ross to Tyrese Martin in terms of build, which explains why some see him as having NBA potential. But Ross has a long way to go to show he can do what Martin did at UConn. But with one more year after this, anything is possible. I'm not sure who a good former Husky comp for Jalyn Stewart would be. Maybe Tyler Polley? He plays in Europe which is where I imagine Stew ends up.

Polley I believe is in the G League. I don’t really see much similarity between the 2. TP was a 3 point specialist but didn’t have much game beyond that.

 

[IndyLives]

If you asked this question at the beginning of the year, many would have said Reed had a very good shot.

Kind of shocked over his lack of improvement. Even Danny has called him out. You can make an argument his game has actually regressed. At this point, I doubt he gets drafted at all.

 

[HW611]

I've watched the Kings knock off the Rockets and Lakers in back to back nights with 6'10", 250lb Dylan Cardwell playing a role in real minutes both nights. He played 5 seasons at Auburn, never averaged more than 5pts and 5rebs, and made 4 3s in 5 years, folks who think Tarris doesn't have a chance of playing in the NBA really aren't paying attention to what end of the bench/back end rotation bigs look like.

All you have to do to be an NBA center is rebound well, protect the rim, and finish.

Playing in the high hedge here is probably prepping him to guard pick and rolls at the NBA level. Even though he still gets a little lazy here with that.

 

[superjohn]

I've watched the Kings knock off the Rockets and Lakers in back to back nights with 6'10", 250lb Dylan Cardwell playing a role in real minutes both nights. He played 5 seasons at Auburn, never averaged more than 5pts and 5rebs, and made 4 3s in 5 years, folks who think Tarris doesn't have a chance of playing in the NBA really aren't paying attention to what end of the bench/back end rotation bigs look like.

Wait, they're not all 7'1 athletic Europeans who drain threes?

 

[Gurleyman]

I think Emeka won defensive player of the year and was a finalist for Naismith but did not win it. No doubt Emeka could have had a better career if not for injuries, but avoiding injury is part of the test of greatness IMO. Ben Gordon was a nice player, but he didn't live up to expectations for a #3 draft pick.

Donyell is my favorite Husky all-time as you might guess. But he was considered one of the greatest busts in the NBA draft history because he was the last draft class without a rookie salary cap. $42M at the time was a lot of money for a marginal player. I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect his lopsided deal was a significant catalyst for the rookie salary cap. His contract really handcuffed the Timberwolves. He hung around the league though and salvaged his career turning into a decent starter, though not an all-star.

I'm still waiting for UConn to have a top 3 draft pick that turns into a bona fide superstar. The way it is structured now, not sure I will see it happen. But as long as UConn keeps winning, I couldn't care less really.

Jameer Nelson won all the npoy awards that year for an undefeated St. Joe’s team. It was probably a reasonable vote at the time (pre-tourney vote) - Emeka missed a couple games and was hampered in others. And we were a 2 seed in the tourney, whereas SJU was overall No. 1 with a small ball offense and Nelson running the show.

 

[Donyell 360]

Polley I believe is in the G League. I don’t really see much similarity between the 2. TP was a 3 point specialist but didn’t have much game beyond that.

Do you have a better comp? Someone similar to Stewart who made it to the NBA? I couldn't think of one which is why I have a hard time seeing Stewart in the NBA.