Dan Olson: "The Best Recruits I've Seen" | The Boneyard

Dan Olson: "The Best Recruits I've Seen"

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Hint: #1 & #2 are Huskies

www.espn.com

Women's basketball recruits who turned into WNBA stars - and some who missed the mark

Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart are among the highly touted high school prospects who turned into WNBA stars.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

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I would be curious to see how he views Paige and Azzi in comparison to each other and historically at the guard position??
 
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pacific 44 said:
Hoop gurlz had Ms. Griner at a rating of 99,so i am surprised that she wasn't number 3.
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Glen Nelson Hoopgurlz founder and Chris Hansen now at ProspectsNation were the ones mainly doing ESPN evaluations back in 2007-09 when Griner was still in HS. Dan is telling you about the top prospects "He personally saw" and quite possible Griner was not among them.
 
reno tony said:
Deshields......really?
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Deshields has always had unlimited potential. Even now as a WNBA all-star, I feel she is just scratching the surface of her potential.

Unfortunately she went to schools where she was immediately hailed as a savior and expected to carry the team. Now that she's on a team with veteran leadership where she is not expected to do everything, she is flourishing.

If she had gone to a well-run program that developed her talent, such as UConn, she would have been an NPOY caliber player.
 
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Orangutan said:
Deshields has always had unlimited potential. Even now as a WNBA all-star, I feel she is just scratching the surface of her potential.

Unfortunately she went to schools where she was immediately hailed as a savior and expected to carry the team. Now that she's on a team with veteran leadership where she is not expected to do everything, she is flourishing.

If she had gone to a well-run program that developed her talent, such as UConn, she would gave been an NPOY caliber player.
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DeShields has always been judged on her talent more than what she produced on the court. Blaming her coaching? Not me. My problem with her has always been her sense of entitlement, lack of defense and her lack of an elite 3 pt shot. From her first year at UNC to her last year at Tenn she never hesitated at taking 20 shots a game and making 6.
A legend in her own mind.
 
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Alydar said:
DeShields has always been judged on her talent more than what she produced on the court. Blaming her coaching? Not me. My problem with her has always been her sense of entitlement, lack of defense and her lack of an elite 3 pt shot. From her first year at UNC to her last year at Tenn she never hesitated at taking 20 shots a game and making 6.
A legend in her own mind.
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Exactly and coaching is to blame. A real coach would not have let that behavior go. So yes blame coaching.
 
Alydar said:
DeShields has always been judged on her talent more than what she produced on the court. Blaming her coaching? Not me. My problem with her has always been her sense of entitlement, lack of defense and her lack of an elite 3 pt shot. From her first year at UNC to her last year at Tenn she never hesitated at taking 20 shots a game and making 6.
A legend in her own mind.
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The post is about best recruits, not best college careers, so yeah it's about talent moreso than production.

Even still, she is a legit WNBA all-star right now in her second year. So we're not talking about someone who is all hype.

As soon as she got to Chicago, she fell in line behind Vanderquigs and there has been no trace of this "entitlement".

It leaves me to conclude that she just needed a little guidance and structure.

Her defense is pretty good as a pro. Of Chicago's rotation players, she was 2nd behind Cheyenne Parker in defensive rating and defensive win shares.

That leaves 3 point shooting as your remaining complaint and that's an area where she could still stand to improve.

Not saying she is faultless but I think a lot of the flaws she displayed in college are correctable.

Anyhow, she was certainly an excellent recruit. Let's not forget she led a very young UNC team to the Elite Eight as a true freshman.
 
CocoHusky said:
:eek: Yea. Dangerfield, Butler and DeShields willingly coming off the bench would have been marvelous.
I would have gladly traded all three of them for Morgan Tuck though. :D
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If DeShields would have landed at UConn, I can’t see her coming off the bench her senior year.
 
I have equated Aubrey to DD in the past in terms of her physical gifts. Guessing we will see how the master craftsmen molds Aubrey into a multiple AA/DPOY perhaps
 
MDoggie said:
Exactly and coaching is to blame. A real coach would not have let that behavior go. So yes blame coaching.
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You may be right or maybe "real coaches" succeed because they avoid some very talented players. Not saying Geno wouldn't have taken her out of HS but sometimes even great talent can create more problems than they are worth.
 
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DeShields' father is a big mouth I don't think Geno will like him..
 
Alydar said:
You may be right or maybe "real coaches" succeed because they avoid some very talented players. Not saying Geno wouldn't have taken her out of HS but sometimes even great talent can create more problems than they are worth.
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True.
 
Alydar said:
You may be right or maybe "real coaches" succeed because they avoid some very talented players. Not saying Geno wouldn't have taken her out of HS but sometimes even great talent can create more problems than they are worth.
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I thought for sure Geno recruited Deshields in high school.
 
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So these blurbs are relevant to UConn's interest in Deshields

"There was never any doubt she was the kind of talent coming out of high school that could have kind of a Maya [Moore] impact on a program," Auriemma said. "It was managing all the other stuff that went along with it that was going to be an issue for wherever she went. Now that she's at a place that's used to that, they know how to do that somewhat.

Asked how hard UConn recruited her, she said, "I would assume it was pretty hard. [Auriemma] would come to games. Sometimes he was there and I'd have no idea. He would sit up at the top and nobody knew it was him. He'd call me and say he was there. I thoroughly enjoyed the recruiting process with UConn. I really did. It was just kind of far."

So, I guess Geno window shopped but did not really pull the trigger.
 
Orangutan said:
The post is about best recruits, not best college careers, so yeah it's about talent moreso than production.

Even still, she is a legit WNBA all-star right now in her second year. So we're not talking about someone who is all hype.

As soon as she got to Chicago, she fell in line behind Vanderquigs and there has been no trace of this "entitlement".

It leaves me to conclude that she just needed a little guidance and structure.

Her defense is pretty good as a pro. Of Chicago's rotation players, she was 2nd behind Cheyenne Parker in defensive rating and defensive win shares.

That leaves 3 point shooting as your remaining complaint and that's an area where she could still stand to improve.

Not saying she is faultless but I think a lot of the flaws she displayed in college are correctable.

Anyhow, she was certainly an excellent recruit. Let's not forget she led a very young UNC team to the Elite Eight as a true freshman.
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I think this is spot on. Deshields has flourished in a more structured system in Chicago and playing for a team where she isn't clearly the best player.

In college it seemed like there was a certain level of wanting to bask in the glory of her own greatness rather than wanting to work hard, improve, and win at all costs. I don't think she was very challenged by her coaches and she likely wouldn't respond well to someone who did push her. She was so talented that she could coast and still put up a great stat line. Talented player, but not someone who would've done well under the likes of Geno, Dawn, or Muffet.

I do think once she got to the pros she realized she'd have to work her butt off if she wanted to produce and become a go to player. As a result, she's clearly put in the work and has grown up a lot which we've seen pay off so far. Diamond hasn't shown an inkling of entitlement or laziness from games I've seen and is likely only going to get better from here on out.



On the flip side, I think someone like Griner has had somewhat of a reverse in mentality as a pro. BG at Baylor was extremely dominant and improved leaps and bounds every year. She transformed Baylor from being a 4 seed as a freshman to the heavy championship favorite her final 2 years. I really thought she was going to cement herself as the clear best player in the world once she hit the pros, as no one else has her combination of size, length, mobility and coordination. BG has certainly had a very impressive career, but watching her now she just doesn't appear to have the same focus and drive that she did her first 3 seasons. Seems like she goes through the motions and isn't as focused about coming away with a W. She went from being DPOY twice in her first 3 seasons to being All-Defensive 2nd Team in 3 of the last 4 years. She should absolutely be on the first team every season with her ability and skills. Might be a harsh critique for someone who has averaged 20 ppg the last 3 seasons but I honestly think she could be more dominant than she is, and that Phoenix should be a LOT better than they've been the past 4 seasons.
 
Orangutan said:
Deshields has always had unlimited potential. Even now as a WNBA all-star, I feel she is just scratching the surface of her potential.

Unfortunately she went to schools where she was immediately hailed as a savior and expected to carry the team. Now that she's on a team with veteran leadership where she is not expected to do everything, she is flourishing.

If she had gone to a well-run program that developed her talent, such as UConn, she would have been an NPOY caliber player.
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So as the story goes, do you agree she has become one of the top 3 WNBA stars from her recruiting status behind Maya and Stewie. All I heard from you was about her potential and blaming her lack of success on the coaches or the high expectations of her team and nothing about her greatness as a College or WNBA player. There are dozens of players I would put in front of her. I'll kick it off with a few UCONN favorites... Skylar Diggins and Candace Parker. Then there are Tina Charles, Neka Ogwumike, Elena Delle Donne and Brittney Griner, just to name a few.
 
I will say one thing about Deshields...… I like .her sense of humor. When she was asked if she was the best high school player out of Georgia and she was reminded that Maya was from Georgia..... she said she was the best. How can you not love a person who is that hilarious.
 
[/QUOTE]

The post is about best recruits, not best college careers, so yeah it's about talent moreso than production.

Even still, she is a legit WNBA all-star right now in her second year. So we're not talking about someone who is all hype.

As soon as she got to Chicago, she fell in line behind Vanderquigs and there has been no trace of this "entitlement".

It leaves me to conclude that she just needed a little guidance and structure.

Her defense is pretty good as a pro. Of Chicago's rotation players, she was 2nd behind Cheyenne Parker in defensive rating and defensive win shares.

That leaves 3 point shooting as your remaining complaint and that's an area where she could still stand to improve.

Not saying she is faultless but I think a lot of the flaws she displayed in college are correctable.

Anyhow, she was certainly an excellent recruit. Let's not forget she led a very young UNC team to the Elite Eight as a true freshman.
[/QUOTE]
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Alyadar has been spot on. You're hyping her the same way Olson is.

First off- a fundamental of basketball is to shoot. Now if we're talking ALL-TIME GREATS -- if you're a wing and you can't shoot a 3 well -- that's a huge knock. You're just glossing over Alydar's comments with "That just leaves 3 pt shooting." Well it's huge. She hasn't shown in college or WNBA that she can shoot the basketball. Otherwise show the stats that show as a wing that she's a good shooter.

Now on a lesser note-- she hasn't shown in stats she is a good passer either. Sure she can probably make a beautiful pretty pass- but overall what has she shown? The only thing someone can comeback with is "I know I watched her . . ." Well in response some of us could say "We know . . . you're hyping her."

Fro example-- what you are mentioning here is DRating/DWin Shares. Sure terrific defender. But let's look at her offensive stats and her overall stats:
1--- She is 10th on her team in Offensive Rating.
2-- She is 5th on her team in Offensive Win Shares
3-- She is 8th on her team in Efficiency FG%
4-- She is 6th on her team in Player Efficiency Rating
5-- She is 5th on her team in Win Shares
6-- She is 8th on her team in Win Shares per 40 minutes

***With all this inefficiency she leads the team in Usage. So how is it that we still shouldn't draw the conclusion that she is a gunner and either not that good of a passer or an unwilling passer?
Then to boot we have to read Olson mention her and Jordan in the same breath? Doesn't all this show she is a lot of hype if you put her in the "ALL-TIME GREAT LIST" as Olson has?

IMO you and others give her the hype which makes her a wnba star. Not saying she is not a star at some smaller level but she is not an extreme star other than in name only at this point.
 
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