Is Solo Ball joining UConn teammates on path to the NBA? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Is Solo Ball joining UConn teammates on path to the NBA?

If/when he is able to use his athleticism to score at rim and play defense, in addition to his stellar shooting he will be a lottery pick. I think he will need one more year after this one to get there, but who knows.
 
CardiacAndre7 said:
Him and Andre Jackson are enigmas. Incredible athletes with great physical profiles, yet really struggle finishing at the rim. It’s very confusing to me.
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Imagine if we built a player with Andre’s height, defense, rebounding, playmaking, and screen setting and Solo’s shot?
 
Kembacity said:
It shouldn’t be understated how difficult it is to gracefully roll the ball off your fingers with the right spin for the angle you’re coming in at while you’re running at full speed and bouncing against bodies in the paint.

Hoping all of you guys understand the game of basketball and have played it so you don’t sit at home on your couch shouting at a 20 year old kid for missing “at the rim”.
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These guys are basketball players on full rides to the best college basketball team in the nation? What are you on about here? Layups are hard now?

PS, I’ve played basketball for 20 years and was on a club team in college. I understand how to play. And yeah, I get disappointed when a guy like Solo misses repeatedly at the rim, sue me.
 
Kembacity said:
It shouldn’t be understated how difficult it is to gracefully roll the ball off your fingers with the right spin for the angle you’re coming in at while you’re running at full speed and bouncing against bodies in the paint.

Hoping all of you guys understand the game of basketball and have played it so you don’t sit at home on your couch shouting at a 20 year old kid for missing “at the rim”.
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It's difficult but with his shooting talent and physical traits, all he needs to be good at it is experience.

Castle has his hesi moves to gain a little separation from the other bodies, and Cam was great at getting free for long enough to get off a clean shot. Ball just needs to develop some of that "old man game."
 
CardiacAndre7 said:
These guys are basketball players on full rides to the best college basketball team in the nation? What are you on about here? Layups are hard now?

PS, I’ve played basketball for 20 years and was on a club team in college. I understand how to play. And yeah, I get disappointed when a guy like Solo misses repeatedly at the rim, sue me.
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We may have been spoiled by going from Marcus, to AJ, to Kemba, to Bazz, to Boatright, to Jalen, etc. They made a lot of guard things like finishing contested layups easy. Maybe it wasn’t that easy.
 
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I love Solo's shooting and rebounding and his D is certainly improving. That said, finishing near the rim and basic guard level passing would make him a much better player.
 
Kembacity said:
It shouldn’t be understated how difficult it is to gracefully roll the ball off your fingers with the right spin for the angle you’re coming in at while you’re running at full speed and bouncing against bodies in the paint.

Hoping all of you guys understand the game of basketball and have played it so you don’t sit at home on your couch shouting at a 20 year old kid for missing “at the rim”.
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I don’t understand why he just doesn’t dunk more.
 
HuskyWarrior611 said:
Prime example of why you have to watch games and not look at a computer.
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I’d like to see what the percentage is when dunks are removed. 100% of dunks should be converted, and Solo gets a decent amount on fast breaks.
 
ctbro1999 said:
I think it's been reported Solo has a 45"+ vertical. And he has a very long wingspan....more akin to a 6'5-6'6 person, not 6'3. But I also read that he was actually one of the shorter kids on his teams growing up until sometime between freshmen and sophomore year in HS, where he had a huge growth spurt (think he went from 5'4 to 6'3" in less than 2 years). So I want to believe he's still going through a process of figuring out how to fully utilize his current height/length.
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I'm surprised that Solo doesn't handle the ball better since he was one of the shortest players early in HS. I would have assumed that would have been a strength, but I would be wrong unless his growth spurt mucked it up.
 
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TheHorde said:
I’d like to see what the percentage is when dunks are removed. 100% of dunks should be converted, and Solo gets a decent amount on fast breaks.
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I’m pretty sure a lot of the attempts are either cuts to the rim when he’s super open or yeah, the dunks and layups on fast breaks.

Not a lot of drives to the rim/contested finishes.
 
TheHorde said:
I’d like to see what the percentage is when dunks are removed. 100% of dunks should be converted, and Solo gets a decent amount on fast breaks.
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He has 6 dunks, so he's 16/31 or 51.6% with those excluded. So still not struggling, you'll have to find a new narrative to spin
 
Huskybass said:
I love Solo's shooting and rebounding and his D is certainly improving. That said, finishing near the rim and basic guard level passing would make him a much better player.
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If he had that and Jeremy lamb sophomore year level handle he’d be one of the best guards in the country.
 
navery12 said:
He has 6 dunks, so he's 16/31 or 51.6% with those excluded. So still not struggling, you'll have to find a new narrative to spin
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He is though, we all watch the games.

Driving and finishing is not a part of his game at this point. I don't remember a single attack of the rim for a dunk in the halfcourt so he's basically getting about two shots at the rim per game and he makes about one of them a game.

I liked that he drove some yesterday even though it didn't go too well.
 
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navery12 said:
Nothing like breaking out the eye test when all of the stats don't back up your argument
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Oh they back it just fine. You also have uncontested layups included in those numbers. Numerous other people are disagreeing with you on this for a reason. I love the kid but it’s an area of his game that can be improved.
 
He exponentially improved his shooting from last season to this season. I haven't seen him on any NBA mock drafts, so fair to assume it won't happen this year

If he makes half that exponential improvement next year on driving/finishing, then I see a lot of NBA value in a freak athlete built like a tank who is lights out from three and can get to the paint. He's undersized but the wingspan helps
 
superjohn said:
He is though, we all watch the games.

Driving and finishing is not a part of his game at this point. I don't remember a single attack of the rim for a dunk in the halfcourt so he's basically getting about two shots at the rim per game and he makes about one of them a game.

I liked that he drove some yesterday even though it didn't go too well.
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I'm not disagreeing that it's not a part of his game, my only point is that when he does he's shooting it well. I started out by saying it's a really small sample size of shots at the rim
 
TheHorde said:
Oh they back it just fine. You also have uncontested layups included in those numbers. Numerous other people are disagreeing with you on this for a reason. I love the kid but it’s an area of his game that can be improved.
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So far it's only 2 people disagreeing with me, and anytime I find myself agreeing with either one of you I have to take a step back and re-evaluate my life decisions
 
CardiacAndre7 said:
Him and Andre Jackson are enigmas. Incredible athletes with great physical profiles, yet really struggle finishing at the rim. It’s very confusing to me.
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Not sure anybody goes into Andre’s category… ultimate athletic freak
 
navery12 said:
So far it's only 2 people disagreeing with me, and anytime I find myself agreeing with either one of you I have to take a step back and re-evaluate my life decisions
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Omg same! I’ll take my eye test comment over your petty insult, which automatically means you lose the debate. But I’m sure you need to reevaluate plenty lol. So what did Castle, Newton, and Hawkins shoot at the rim?
 
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navery12 said:
So far it's only 2 people disagreeing with me, and anytime I find myself agreeing with either one of you I have to take a step back and re-evaluate my life decisions
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And there are more than 2 people on this thread that have the opinion Ball is not a great finisher. Perhaps two have gone back and forth with you, that might be true. But the thread has more than that that feel that way.
 
TheHorde said:
Omg same! I’ll take my eye test comment over your petty insult, which automatically means you lose the debate. But I’m sure you need to reevaluate plenty lol. So what did Castle, Newton, and Hawkins shoot at the rim?
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Castle shot 61.2%, Newton shot 50.6% and then 59.7%, and Hawkins shot 44.1% and 54.8% at the rim
 
I'll go on record saying that future performance is not predicated on past results for Ball. IMO he is just beginning to feel comfortable playing at the college level. It takes some players longer to get to this point. When he feels real comfortable we'll get to see their athleticism.
 
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uconnfan68 said:
I don’t understand why he just doesn’t dunk more.
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I think this is part of the perception we have. We see that muscular, body, we know he has great hops, and long arms, so naturally when he attacks the rim we kind of expect Dwayne Wade. We expect him to get up and posterize guys, even bigger guys.

The only thing I can come back to on that also ties into his relative lack of rebounding, I don't think he likes contact very much. Strength aside, he's just not a very physical player.
 
REB1094 said:
He exponentially improved his shooting from last season to this season. I haven't seen him on any NBA mock drafts, so fair to assume it won't happen this year

If he makes half that exponential improvement next year on driving/finishing, then I see a lot of NBA value in a freak athlete built like a tank who is lights out from three and can get to the paint. He's undersized but the wingspan helps
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Yep, I don't think his height will be detrimental to him. His arms are really long and he has huge hands.

Screenshot_20250102_164944_Instagram.jpg
 
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