How good is STONE really?

[BankShot]

Because I too am a believer that we have a great shot at getting him and WILL sign him, but my question is, how good is he?

Maybe I'm gun shy from 2012, because Andre looked like an unstoppable force in his highlight reels, a FREAK who should have came in and dominated college basketball. I'm glad to see him play like a MONSTER in the NBA now but his UCONN season left much to be desired.

What kind of player do you expect STONE to be, what college big man does his game resemble? Is he more Andre or say Julius Randle? Maybe someone else? Plenty of hype with this kid, and it seems like he's a no brainer ONE and DONE, is it worth it?

Interested to hear everyone's insight on him, his game, and how good you think he will be in his first and only college year.

The thought of having him, 3rd year Brimah, Facey, Lubin, and Enoch is down right scary, very reminiscent of those 2004-2006 teams with Meka, Boone, Armstrong, and Adrien, difference compared to 06, we will have plenty of ball handlers to dominate the back court (Adams, Purvis, Cassell, Samuel)

 

[nomar]

Drummond had a great freshman year. Maybe not compared to our expectations, or to Anthony Davis, but if we could get that kind of production out of Stone, I'd be psyched. (Except for FTs. I'd expect better than 30% from the line...)

The gap between Andre's expected output and his actual production was way down the list of reasons why the team underachieved that season, IMO.

(To answer your question, I don't know how good he is.)

 

[upstater]

He'd be the fourth best big man UConn has landed since Corny Thompson. Third best would be Andrew Bynum.

And people should not get their hopes up here. Stone's family is very tight with Wisconsin. I feel a little bit like this kid is going through the process but the ties that bind him to madison are very strong. Which explains the tepid national recruitment of a top 10 kid.

Sure he likes UConn, but I will be genuinely surprised if he lands in Storrs. And if I had to bet, I would need at least 5 to 1 odds, but probably wouldn't put money down unless you gave me 10 to 1.

 

[tcf15]

Good article on Stone from July by Luke Winn: http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2014/07/17/diamond-stone-post-uconn-kentucky

"He's probably the best high-school post scorer we've seen since DeMarcus Cousins," said Evan Daniels of Scout.com, which has Stone ranked as the No. 1 overall player in the 2015 class. "He's just polished on the offensive end. He's not physically dominant yet, but he has terrific hands, great touch, he can hit hooks over both shoulders, he has counter moves, and he can step out and hit jump shots."

Also, in that article, Diamond says his parents are going to move with him to whichever school he ends up at, so I think that works against Wisconsin. Can't necessarily sell the close to home aspect when your family is going to move with you.

 

[CGarr]

His cousin, who plays on the female US Basketball team, just chose Notre Dame over Wisconsin. Hopefully Diamond shuns the hometown team too.

I've only seen him play in a couple of those USA games on ESPN 3. IMO he's polished/mature not just raw talent like Andre.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I've heard Jared Sullinger comps before, which I would obviously be ecstatic with.

 

[nomar]

I've heard Jared Sullinger comps before, which I would obviously be ecstatic with.

No kidding.

BTW, Sullinger is poised for a breakout season for the Cs. Depending on minutes, he could put up 20 & 12. He recently had back-to-back games of 21/19 and 15/17, in not very many minutes.

 

[boog204]

Because I too am a believer that we have a great shot at getting him and WILL sign him, but my question is, how good is he?

Maybe I'm gun shy from 2012, because Andre looked like an unstoppable force in his highlight reels, a FREAK who should have came in and dominated college basketball. I'm glad to see him play like a MONSTER in the NBA now but his UCONN season left much to be desired.

Stone seems to be infinitely more talented; in terms of pure basketball talent, than Andre. The difference is that Drummond may be the best athlete at his size ever. The college game was never going to treat AD very well as his game is transition and playing the pick and roll game. Stone will be a big time college player.

 

[Stinger92860]

Also, in that article, Diamond says his parents are going to move with him to whichever school he ends up at, so I think that works against Wisconsin. Can't necessarily sell the close to home aspect when your family is going to move with you.

How can they do this? Would they need to find new jobs, for what is likely a 10 month stay? Does he have any brothers or sisters?

 

[Yonick]

Drummond's season was a bit erratic because he committed so late. Plus, everyone on that team was not on the same page.

With no upcoming sanctions, plus a timely commitment, along with a together team, I would expect a fine 2 (hopefully longer) year career for Stone.

 

[CGarr]

How can they do this? Would they need to find new jobs, for what is likely a 10 month stay? Does he have any brothers or sisters?

It somehow happens all the time. I don't get it either.

Duke boosters bought Chris Duhan's mom a house and gave her a secretary job when she moved from New Orleans to Charlotte.

 

[uchuskies2009]

How can they do this? Would they need to find new jobs, for what is likely a 10 month stay? Does he have any brothers or sisters?

They would likely be able to afford missing 10 months of work, potentially, when it is likely their son will be making millions a year later. It's a risk, but a calculated one that I'm sure they have considered. We also don't really know about the family's financial situation, so it's hard to speculate on that.

 

[James]

drummond had an elite freshman year numbers wise. it was team chemistry. not his 11/9/3 blocks in the big east conference.

 

[aceboon]

How can they do this? Would they need to find new jobs, for what is likely a 10 month stay? Does he have any brothers or sisters?

I don't get it but it seems to happen often, DeAndre's family packed up and moved with him once he came here.

 

[chapwilvaug72]

any child who is ok with mommy & daddy going to clg with him is not leaving nest any time soon

when you were a frosh, did you want dad and mom there watching your every move? what would shirley or loretta or leanne or brigette or lana or jane or jill or tammy think?

oh; i forgot anne, barb, julie, helene, dianne, mari, heidi, roxy, lily and gabriella

a frosh in the jungle-those were the daze

this child is probably signed up to take speed reading class & any other noncredit prep class needed at the big boy campus in madison so he is ready to rock FALL '15

lotsa lucck dudes

 

[CallMeBruce]

Josh Boone's mom moved down the street from me with his aunt when he came here. I actually went down to hang out the night he was drafted. It was pretty crazy.

Re: Drummond, he should have been better, just looking at how good he was the next year. He had one of the very best rookie seasons (efficiency-wise) by a center ever, and every other center who was comparable as a rookie, and I mean every single one, had been a no-doubt superstar in college the year before. By PER, he was better than Ewing, Olajuwon, Sampson, Walton, Parish, Camby, etc.

 

[Jay-Bone]

I always thought we didn't get the ball to Drummond enough. More so drive and dish, than expect him to create. Didn't pound it down to him enough to get his footing (literally and figuratively). Team dynamics most likely attributed to that. Is it me or did he have a game where he stole the ball at half court, went down and slammed it, then the next play did the exact same thing. That ranks up there with when Doug Wrenn slammed an alley-oop off the backboard from Khalid and when Stanley put up about 18 in the first half of a game for the most "Why the hell not all the time? / What could have been?" moments.

I try hard to tamper my expectations for freshmen, but simply Stone's presence, like Andre, will be satisfactory enough. 6 and 6 with good d will make me happy. We can't expect and don't want to rely on him to run the team like Wiggins with KU and Parker with Duke. He's to be a compliment.

 

[UConnSwag11]

i dont think calhoun knew what to do with drummond... he did have a great freshman year, i think the lack of team chemistry especially with trying to play with oriakhi hurt him... he is a huge body, took up a lot of room, and you can see how great he's doing in the NBA

 

[RipCity]

I think if Drummond shot 50% from the line, he would've gone up a lot stronger with it more often and probably would have put up crazy numbers even in his freshman year.

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

It somehow happens all the time. I don't get it either.

Duke boosters bought Chris Duhan's mom a house and gave her a secretary job when she moved from New Orleans to Charlotte.

Uconn Boosters/Staff did this with Ray Allens mom when she moved here from South Carolina (Not the house part, but they did get her a job in a bank).

 

[nomar]

It somehow happens all the time. I don't get it either.

Duke boosters bought Chris Duhan's mom a house and gave her a secretary job when she moved from New Orleans to Charlotte.

Basically, Duhon's mom was Penny Hardaway's mom in Blue Chips: "l plan on moving to a new and better job. l have references.... l would also like a house with a lawn. My children have never had a lawn."

Not a secretary job, by the way.

Duhon's mother, Vivian Harper, landed a job working for a Duke booster; co-workers say the job opening was never posted and that Harper was overpaid and lacked qualifications. When a manager at the company asked why Harper was moving from Louisiana, supervisors informed him that her son, one of the nation's top recruits, had signed to play at Duke.

* * *
The next summer, Harper rented out her house in Slidell and headed for a two-bedroom apartment in Durham, N.C. There she found a job at NCM Capital Management Group, a billion-dollar money management firm owned by Maceo Sloan, who displays in his office the basketball he received as a gift from Duke's 1991 national championship team.

How Harper learned of the NCM job is unclear, because the full-time position she got in its operations department was never posted, according to several former employees. No details were available from Harper, who initially offered to provide her resume to prove her qualifications for the position. When contacted later, she said, 'I'm not interested in talking to you.' Attempts to reach Duhon were unsuccessful.

Robert Sinclair, former manager of operations at the NCM, said Harper was the only candidate for the position. He also said when his supervisors gave him Harper's resume and he questioned her move from Louisiana to Durham, his supervisors explained, 'Her son is going to play at Duke.'

Sinclair said he recalls Harper having some banking experience, but lacking a Series 7 General Securities license, which allows agents to sell stocks, bonds and other investment vehicles.

* * *
Sinclair and two other former employees said Harper started at a higher salary than other account specialists and got a significant raise in her first few months on the job. Sinclair declined to provide details, other than to say, 'She didn't make entry level.'

Boozer, too. His dad got a cushy job in the Triangle. Plenty of Happy Kuykendalls in Durham. This one was named Robert Ingram.

Three months after moving to Durham, according to Boozer's wife, Renee, Carlos Boozer Sr. was jobless. He finally found one at GlaxoSmithKline, a pharmaceutical company then run by Robert Ingram, a close friend of Krzyzewski.

'And I'm proud of it,' Ingram said of his friendship with Duke's coach.

Boozer approached Ingram at a Duke game and asked if he knew of any job openings at GlaxoSmithKline, according to Ingram.

'Bob is a great friend of mine,' Boozer Sr. said. 'We still talk and get along well. . . . Bob loves Duke.'

But Ingram said he simply gave Boozer contact information for the company's human resources department and had no influence on Boozer getting a job in the research and development division.

'I shouldn't do that,' Ingram said, adding that he never discussed the matter with Krzyzewski.

Boozer initially said he worked as a programmer and made $125,000 per year. But when told former co-workers said he was an administrative assistant, Boozer recanted, saying he earned about $40,000 annually doing administrative work. He said he lost the job because the company merged and his division was moved to Philadelphia. His departure came about six months after Carlos Boozer Jr. left Duke for the NBA. In addition, Ingram had retired as GlaxoSmithKline's CEO and president of U.S. operations.

Duke is teflon. These were blatant, reported in the press, and they still got away with it.

http://bandwagonboy.proboards.com/thread/641

 

[CGarr]

Basically, Duhon's mom was Penny Hardaway's mom in Blue Chips: "l plan on moving to a new and better job. l have references.... l would also like a house with a lawn. My children have never had a lawn."

Boozer, too. His dad got a cushy job in the Triangle. Plenty of Happy Kuykendalls in Durham.

Duke is teflon. These were blatant and they got away with it.

I first became aware of it when Duhon was on the Knicks. MSG did a pregame segment on his upbringing in projects of New Orleans before a Hornet game. Went to his old apartment and playground. It was obviously not a pretty picture.

A couple weeks later before the Bobcat game they did the same thing. This time visiting the house his mom moved to when he attended Duke. All I remember is the nice yard with a white picket fence and thinking WTF.

Back then there were articles and a tons of message board chatter about it. Can't seem to find anything about it now. I remember reading an article from a local North Carolina paper breaking down all the shaddiness. Seems like its a widely accepted practice though. Never new the tidbit about Ray.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

drummond had an elite freshman year numbers wise. it was team chemistry. not his 11/9/3 blocks in the big east conference.

One of the biggest fallacies on the boneyard is that AD didn't have a great freshman season. He did.

 

[Dove]

How good is Stone?

His high school bus doesn't pick him up. He picks up the bus.

He once scored a basket while just thinking about it.

He's the kind of player who, when he says a certain college is kind of cool, that coach creams his pants.

Proms are thrown for him, not the class.

Where ever he goes he is always on center court.

When he goes to church late the minister pauses and apologizes for starting early.

He is the most interesting player in the world.

 

[Jluc]

Back to the original question of this thread...really good.