Jalen Adams PG Comparison

[Kitaman]

Remember Isaiah Briscoe? He left uk after two seasons but damn if he wasn't considered the next great one. Anyway we got Jalen 'instead' and he was at the time a great pickup.

If he is not progressing, dominating and/or playing high level then what is he being taught, and not taught? I really feel Jalen could be our next superstar but he needs to be managed better. Steph Curry at Davidson didn't have a great roster, nor Buddy Heild at Oklahoma.

If Jalen is our next AA he needs to start showing that quality in being able to take this team to higher levels. Kemba had freshman, and Bazz had no NBAer's yet both put the team on their shoulders. I'm not saying Jalen has to win a Championship, just saying that he needs to start proving he can win games with this group of players if he wants to leave UConn as an AA.

Isaiah Briscoe, From Wikipedia:
After going undrafted in 2017 NBA draft, Briscoe joined the Philadelphia 76ers for the 2017 NBA Summer League. In six games for the 76ers, he averaged 5.5 points and 2.2 assists per game. On September 14, 2017, he signed a training camp contract with the Portland Trail Blazers. He was waived by the Trail Blazers on October 13, 2017 after appearing in six preseason games.

 

[mauconnfan]

The biggest differences between Adams and those three players is that Adams is working with an absolute tire fire of a roster and he’s not actually a point guard.

Square peg, round hole.

Right now he's part of the tire fire I'm afraid. He's certainly one of the best but nothing to boast about. I believe you have something on the PG thought, not a PG now and would be better as an off guard/combo with someone like Alterique so he's been robbed of some spacing again. I mean 2-3 guys collapse on him when he gets to the middle of the lane or penetrates. But as a leader have a plan when you get there knowing this and make good decisions. Like it or not teams are not afraid of Anderson and Vital both are nice pieces but not AG. But he needs to bust his butt more, play harder both ends and there would be nothing to complain about.

 

[navery12]

Am i the only one that is not convinced that bringing back the same team next year with our incoming freshman class of course, isn't necessarily going to lead to better results? I don't see the problems that we are having on the floor vanishing because a year has passed.

I'm sure there's others that would agree, but I don't. This roster is not lacking top end talent, the talent is just playing very poorly and has not developed (something consistent under KO). If you told me we brought back this team with the freshman coming in, with a new coach I think this team would look good. But that's a moot point as a new coach likely means mass changes to the roster

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Jalen Adams would be insane if he had a ball handling PG next to him to reel him in, and a halfway decent roster.
He would have the potential to be one of, if not the best offensive player in UConn history. As good as Kemba and Shabazz were, they carried teams on pure hard work to maximize their abilities, smarts, balls and leadership. Neither of them have the athleticism of Jalen.

 

[Huskybass]

Jalen has the best athleticism of the three. Nobody outhustled Kemba and Shabazz was the smartest and craftiest We are very fortunate to have all 3 as Huskies.

 

[superjohn]

Jalen Adams would be insane if he had a ball handling PG next to him to reel him in, and a halfway decent roster.
He would have the potential to be one of, if not the best offensive player in UConn history. As good as Kemba and Shabazz were, they carried teams on pure hard work to maximize their abilities, smarts, balls and leadership. Neither of them have the athleticism of Jalen.

Holy hyperbole batman. Jalen is more athletic than Bazz and has some more size than both of them but he's not the freak athlete many here make him out to be. Unfortunately I don't ever see him being close to as good as either of them for a host of reasons.

 

[8893]

Jalen Adams would be insane if he had a ball handling PG next to him to reel him in, and a halfway decent roster.
He would have the potential to be one of, if not the best offensive player in UConn history. As good as Kemba and Shabazz were, they carried teams on pure hard work to maximize their abilities, smarts, balls and leadership. Neither of them have the athleticism of Jalen.

Jalen has the best athleticism of the three. Nobody outhustled Kemba and Shabazz was the smartest and craftiest We are very fortunate to have all 3 as Huskies.

I agree with both re Jalen’s athleticism but I think life teaches that smarts, balls, leadership and craftiness can go a long way to make up ground; whereas sheer athleticism without a healthy dose of those attributes often falls short.

I also agree that, without a healthy Alterique, Jalen doesn’t have nearly the supporting cast that either Kemba or Shabazz had, so I’m not sure it’s totally fair to judge him under these circumstances; but for whatever reason he hasn’t displayed those other characteristics much imo.

And his defense blows.

 

[husky429]

Holy hyperbole batman. Jalen is more athletic than Bazz and has some more size than both of them but he's not the freak athlete many here make him out to be. Unfortunately I don't ever see him being close to as good as either of them for a host of reasons.

He's not in the best of shape and has just-ok lateral speed. He does have hops, and terrific body control.

 

[LStudfellow]

Jalen Adams would be insane if he had a ball handling PG next to him to reel him in, and a halfway decent roster.
He would have the potential to be one of, if not the best offensive player in UConn history. As good as Kemba and Shabazz were, they carried teams on pure hard work to maximize their abilities, smarts, balls and leadership. Neither of them have the athleticism of Jalen.

Amazingly, I find myself agreeing with what SuperJohn said as much as any one else on here about this. Jalen's problem isn't his athleticism, or his basketball skills. His problem continues to be between the ears. He is too often lazy, immature and seriously lacking in leadership skills. Terry Larrier's comment a few weeks back to me was not an indictment of Kevin Ollie - it was a ringing indictment of both him and Jalen.

If Alterique is done for this year we are in serious trouble - not just because we will miss his talent or point guard skills, but because he has already proven to be more of a leader than Jalen as ever been.

Greatness does not come to those who take the easy, lazy way out, as both Jalen and Terry do time and time again. Is Ollie partly to blame for this? To some extent. But when does Jalen get called on the carpet for his too-often selfish, half-assed actions both on the court and off as his responsibility, and not Kevin Ollie's? The guy is a junior, a 22-year-old junior at that. Maybe he needs to be held accountable for his own actions more often.

Oh... and happy birthday to Jalen. His birthday was yesterday. Just noticed it when looking at his bio on uconnhuskies.com.

Hopefully he taps into his more mature, responsible self in this new year.

 

[superjohn]

I agree with both re Jalen’s athleticism but I think life teaches that smarts, balls, leadership and craftiness can go a long way to make up ground; whereas sheer athleticism without a healthy dose of those attributes often falls short.

I also agree that, without a healthy Alterique, Jalen doesn’t have nearly the supporting cast that either Kemba or Shabazz had, so I’m not sure it’s totally fair to judge him under these circumstances; but for whatever reason he hasn’t displayed those other characteristics much imo.

And his defense blows.

His defense is rough, he takes a lot of plays off, and his set shot holds his game back a lot and should have been fixed a while ago It's a shame because he is a magician in the lane and around the tin.

 

[8893]

His defense is rough, he takes a lot of plays off, and his set shot holds his game back a lot and should have been fixed a while ago It's a shame because he is a magician in the lane and around the tin.

Yeah his moves in the lane are the thing that stands out to me. He can thread the needle as well as anyone we’ve ever had.

 

[intlzncster]

Oz recently said that the team is starting to think they won’t have a scholarship available for 2018. That would mean one of Adams or Larrier staying. If both were to stay, there would need to be a transfer out, too. Larrier may be able to grad transfer depending on how he’s doing in the classroom, too.

There's always a transfer. Not even wanting anybody to leave, but kids come to college for a chance to play; if they are buried, they'll look for minutes elsewhere to get that chance.

 

[intlzncster]

I hope JA calls DHam and asks him it what it’s like living the G League life

If you gave him a do-over, I'm fairly certain DHam makes the same decision today.

 

[intlzncster]

How is Jalen more athletic than Kemba Walker? Not as fast, not as quick, strength is a tossup, as KW was really strong for his size. Kemba doesn't wear down physically over the course of a game. And Kemba's doing that without taking a single play off.

Jalen's bigger, and probably jumps higher (probably due to size).

 

[WrenchFan69]

If you gave him a do-over, I'm fairly certain DHam makes the same decision today.

Absolutely he would. If he ever wants to go back, the time he's spent already in the NBA this year would pay for the rest of his college education.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

If you gave him a do-over, I'm fairly certain DHam makes the same decision today.

With Daniel Hamilton it was well-known that he just straight up hated going to school. I’m not sure how Jalen feels about that though.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

How is Jalen more athletic than Kemba Walker? Not as fast, not as quick, strength is a tossup, as KW was really strong for his size. Kemba doesn't wear down physically over the course of a game. And Kemba's doing that without taking a single play off.

Jalen's bigger, and probably jumps higher (probably due to size).

What always blew my mind about Kemba and Boat was that they typically played 35+ minutes and played balls to the wall for that entire time and never seemed tired. That was a huge advantage at the end of games. Jalen looks like he’s having an asthma attack at the first tv timeout.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Holy hyperbole batman. Jalen is more athletic than Bazz and has some more size than both of them but he's not the freak athlete many here make him out to be. Unfortunately I don't ever see him being close to as good as either of them for a host of reasons.

What of that was hyperbole? I used the word potential.

I never said Jalen would ever be anywhere close to those other two in a UConn uniform, because he's not. Although he has higher NBA upside than Shabazz I would think.

I highly rate Jalen's ability to get to the basket and ability to score, but it's mitigated by the head on his shoulders. I seriously think in the right situation, surrounded by the right supporting UConn cast, he would have the potential to become an all time Husky great. But that's not going to happen. That's all I'm saying.

Just by watching Jalen for going on three years now, he is bursting with talent. The dude can take over a game when his head is on straight. I absolutely love his game and ability. He just has had a **** team around him and doesn't have the intangibles to overcome that.

 

[Mr. French]

What of that was hyperbole? I used the word potential.

I never said Jalen would ever be anywhere close to those other two in a UConn uniform, because he's not. Although he has higher NBA upside than Shabazz I would think.

I highly rate Jalen's ability to get to the basket and ability to score, but it's mitigated by the head on his shoulders. I seriously think in the right situation, surrounded by the right supporting UConn cast, he would have the potential to become an all time Husky great. But that's not going to happen. That's all I'm saying.

Just by watching Jalen for going on three years now, he is bursting with talent. The dude can take over a game when his head is on straight. I absolutely love his game and ability. He just has had a **** team around him and doesn't have the intangibles to overcome that.

Totally. Not hyperbole, he could, talent wise, be the most dangerous of the bunch. He's oozing with basketball ability.

But he's yet to turn that corner the way the others did, and frankly he's never really shown THAT aspect: those intangibles and BBIQ that made those guys great.

Obviously, the best players are not always the most talented. You saying that shouldn't be taken to task; you're 100% right.

 

[Storrs South]

Can I just ask where narrative has come from that Jalen isn't a leader?

IIRC, Jalen is the one usually directing traffic and I remember often last season he would get very animated talking to other players after someone made a mistake. In fact, while Purvis/Brimah/Facey were the seniors last year, I always remember that Jalen was the one taking control of the situation based on who was doing the talking and motioning guys around on the court.

Some may say he doesn't make others better, but last I checked he averaged 6 assists a game where the only people shooting better than him from 3 were two freshman (Vital/Jackson). And the last time anyone got close to 6 assists a game was Shabazz in 2011-12 (5.8 APG) & AJ Price 2007-08 (5.8 APG) and last to exceed that was Marcus Williams with 8.6 APG in 05-06. He's so good at getting to the rim that he draws a crowd and creates open looks for others and often can make a nice pass to get it to that guy (no guarantee that guy will make it as we have seen time and again).

If you want to talk about defense, then yes it's not good and that may be what people are referring to and that requires effort and BBIQ but also can tie into leadership I suppose.

I look at these numbers and think it really just boils down to being more efficient from 3, playing better defense, getting to the line more frequently, and getting the FT% back to where it was last year. That's quite a list of to-do items but 10 games (he's actually only played in 9 -- hi scooter!) is still a small sample size.

Similar to my post in the Larrier thread, what's frustrating about this team is that we've seen the talent come from these players in flashes but it isn't gelling enough to be play 40 minutes of quality basketball.

No surprise, but if this team has any hope of turning this around, it's going to come down to Adams/Larrier/Vital stepping up because as we have seen there is not a lot of room for error with this team. The bigs are better than we thought while simultaneously being as bad (or raw) as we thought they would be.

P.S. This team must have a record for most traveling calls since the beginning of the 2016-17 season.

 

[Deleted at users request]

It would've been great to have him come in at the right time to play with Boat instead of RP and Gibbs. Smh

 

[mauconnfan]

He's not in the best of shape and has just-ok lateral speed. He does have hops, and terrific body control.

I'm curious with all of this "not in the best shape" talk the last 2 years? What makes everyone so sure of that, he can score when he wants at the end of games. Why does everyone insist he's not in great shape?

And lateral movement - oh he has it. He guarded excellent in the last 4 minutes of the Oregon game, best defense I have ever seen from him and he didn't look tired either.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Can I just ask where narrative has come from that Jalen isn't a leader?

The narrative that he isn't a leader comes from the fact that the team has been very sub par for going on 2 years now, maybe more. The narrative that Jalen isn't a leader comes from him sleepwalking to start a majority of the games he's played the last 2 seasons. The narrative comes from him celebrating a 3 against Monmouth, and Columbia. Or when he's trying to make fancy passes that lead to turnovers against Syracuse, down 10.

It is not a knock on his ability. He's always going to get his points, and largely, he's been the difference in our close wins this season, by taking games over down the stretch.

He just isn't the type to take over a team, on the court and off the court, consistently.

Just by watching many Celtics games, for example (no, I'm not comparing him to Kyrie Irving's ability), but Kyrie will always come out with the first punch it seems. Once Kyrie gets going early in the game, it draw attention to him and opens up other players. Jalen needs to do similarly. He needs to make his presence felt early and take over the scoring. Then the defense will be drawn to him, and it will open up others.

 

[Kenny11]

I'm curious with all of this "not in the best shape" talk the last 2 years? What makes everyone so sure of that, he can score when he wants at the end of games. Why does everyone insist he's not in great shape?

And lateral movement - oh he has it. He guarded excellent in the last 4 minutes of the Oregon game, best defense I have ever seen from him and he didn't look tired either.

Jalen has been rumored as a guy who works on his game but not as hard as the most dedicated college players. I thought he came into last season out of shape, which is why he was banged up to start the season but I don't see that now. He looks to be in good shape even though his body hasn't really transformed since high school.

 

[superjohn]

I'm curious with all of this "not in the best shape" talk the last 2 years? What makes everyone so sure of that, he can score when he wants at the end of games. Why does everyone insist he's not in great shape?

And lateral movement - oh he has it. He guarded excellent in the last 4 minutes of the Oregon game, best defense I have ever seen from him and he didn't look tired either.

Because he takes a lot of plays off, plays matador D, and visibly looks to be huffing and puffing at times.

 

[Storrs South]

The narrative that he isn't a leader comes from the fact that the team has been very sub par for going on 2 years now, maybe more. The narrative that Jalen isn't a leader comes from him sleepwalking to start a majority of the games he's played the last 2 seasons. The narrative comes from him celebrating a 3 against Monmouth, and Columbia. Or when he's trying to make fancy passes that lead to turnovers against Syracuse, down 10.

It is not a knock on his ability. He's always going to get his points, and largely, he's been the difference in our close wins this season, by taking games over down the stretch.

He just isn't the type to take over a team, on the court and off the court, consistently.

Just by watching many Celtics games, for example (no, I'm not comparing him to Kyrie Irving's ability), but Kyrie will always come out with the first punch it seems. Once Kyrie gets going early in the game, it draw attention to him and opens up other players. Jalen needs to do similarly. He needs to make his presence felt early and take over the scoring. Then the defense will be drawn to him, and it will open up others.

I agree with these points, I was more pointing out that he does exemplify certain leadership qualities but hard to defend some of the points brought up here. IIRC, maybe it was Dom Amore but at the beginning of the year someone said Alterique was establishing himself as a leader which I found surprising so maybe everyone here has a point.

I would just say I don't think it's an issue of him not caring enough or that he hasn't taken some leadership role, it just might not be sufficient to what the team needs or comparable to recent UConn guards. Or hey maybe it's on the coach to development him further in that arena. It's hard to say.

 

[blackbird]

The biggest differences between Adams and those three players is that Adams is working with an absolute tire fire of a roster and he’s not actually a point guard.

Square peg, round hole.

I whole heartedly disagree with this statement.

Jalen is significantly better at the point guard spot than he is as just a scorer.

Leadership wise though...I’m not sure he naturally is one. He seems to be a “I’m a leader if I have to be” kind of person. He’s been more than willing to give that role to Larrier two years in a row now, and in fact is more than willing to be passive in general.

I also do t think he “sleep walks.” He’s almost too excited to start a game.