Jalen Adams

[BuffaloHusky]

Better than Jalen:

• AJ Price
• Kemba Walker
• Jeremy Lamb
• Shabazz Napier
• Ben Gordon

On a similar level:

• Khalid El-Amin
• Ricky Moore
• Ryan Boatright
• Taliek Brown
• Marcus Williams

Worse than Jalen:

• Tony Robertson
• Rashad Anderson
• Craig Austrie
• Jerome Dyson
• Albert Mouring
• Rodney Purvis
• Sterling Gibbs
• Christian Vitale
• Antwoine Anderson

I think this is more accurate than my assessment except I believe Marcus Williams was superior and although Jeremy Lamb is a significantly better pro prospect, I'm not sure he'd win more games with this current roster and would lean towards putting him at a similar level.

 

[superjohn]

Better than Jalen:

• AJ Price
• Kemba Walker
• Jeremy Lamb
• Shabazz Napier
• Ben Gordon

On a similar level:

• Khalid El-Amin
• Ricky Moore
• Ryan Boatright
• Taliek Brown
• Marcus Williams

Worse than Jalen:

• Tony Robertson
• Rashad Anderson
• Craig Austrie
• Jerome Dyson
• Albert Mouring
• Rodney Purvis
• Sterling Gibbs
• Christian Vitale
• Antwoine Anderson

El-Amin and Marcus Williams are light-years ahead of Jalen. I would also take Boat over him.

 

[Huskybass]

EL AMIN???? He's better than Jalen on Moxy alone. Come on now.

So is Marcus Williams.

EDIT: El Amin. Really?????

El Amin came up HUGE in the National Championship game. Nothing that Jalen has done is even remotely in the same league.

In my mind Jalen is on a par with Jerome Dyson. Both very good college players, but not leaders. And both likely to make a nice living overseas.

 

[pj]

True, they are winners. I would hope that Jalen could have been a winner too under another coach and with better teammates. Jalen has some real strengths, but we've had a lot of players that were better at winning.

 

[CTBasketball]

Better than Jalen:

• AJ Price
• Kemba Walker
• Jeremy Lamb
• Shabazz Napier
• Ben Gordon

On a similar level:

• Khalid El-Amin
• Ricky Moore
• Ryan Boatright
• Taliek Brown
• Marcus Williams

Worse than Jalen:

• Tony Robertson
• Rashad Anderson
• Craig Austrie
• Jerome Dyson
• Albert Mouring
• Rodney Purvis
• Sterling Gibbs
• Christian Vitale
• Antwoine Anderson

This is just a real hot take. Real hot.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

He’s honestly putting up his best shooting numbers of his career, shooting over 50% overall and close to 38% from three. His scoring average is identical despite playing 7 less minutes a game and having a few real clunkers (headband game). We complain that he disappears when things get tough and scores all his points in garbage time. If he did start trying to take over early those same people would call it “hero ball.”

Here’s another interesting Jalen tidbit: he currently has 1611 career points. That’s good for 16 all time. Ironically enough, Jerome Dyson is next on the list. If he scores his average for the next 13 games (reg season and at least one AAC tournament game) he’ll have 1865 good for 6th with a real shot at top 5. Granted he’s played 4 seasons compared to most other players in this stratosphere playing 3. However, he has not had the benefit of deep tournament runs.

 

[CTBasketball]

He’s honestly putting up his best shooting numbers of his career, shooting over 50% overall and close to 38% from three. His scoring average is identical despite playing 7 less minutes a game and having a few real clunkers (headband game). We complain that he disappears when things get tough and scores all his points in garbage time. If he did start trying to take over early those same people would call it “hero ball.”

Here’s another interesting Jalen tidbit: he currently has 1611 career points. That’s good for 16 all time. Ironically enough, Jerome Dyson is next on the list. If he scores his average for the next 13 games (reg season and at least one AAC tournament game) he’ll have 1865 good for 6th with a real shot at top 5. Granted he’s played 4 seasons compared to most other players in this stratosphere playing 3. However, he has not had the benefit of deep tournament runs.

He’s a pretty good stat stuffer, but he's not the player/leader we need him to be. He’d be an excellent #2 option, which is not possible on this team.

 

[pj]

He’s a pretty good stat stuffer, but he's not the player/leader we need him to be. He’d be an excellent #2 option, which is not possible on this team.

Yes, exactly. Some of our best players of the past played that role of the #2 stat stuffer, e.g. Jeremy Lamb to Kemba. In the right environment Jalen's strengths would have shown brightly.

 

[jibsey]

I feel very strongly that some of the players mentioned would not thrive in Jalen's situation either what with the lack of front court and talent.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I feel very strongly that some of the players mentioned would not thrive in Jalen's situation either what with the lack of front court and talent.

He's probably going to go down as one of the biggest "what could have been" stories in UConn history, and a lot of that is on him, but plenty of it is due to circumstance as well.

 

[Palatine]

Suppose this was JA's third season playing besides Gilbert, it could have been. They probably would have traded games being Batman and Robin. And the seasons would have been better. Ahhh, what might been.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

He’s a pretty good stat stuffer, but he's not the player/leader we need him to be. He’d be an excellent #2 option, which is not possible on this team.

He's probably going to go down as one of the biggest "what could have been" stories in UConn history, and a lot of that is on him, but plenty of it is due to circumstance as well.

He still has almost half his senior season to go. The team could go on a crazy run...

 

[upstater]

It is very hard to make these comparisons.

El-Amin was instrumental in a national championship, a clear leader.

On the other hand, his last season at UConn did not go that well when he was featured. If you didn't know who either player was and what they had accomplished, and you watched video tape of their last seasons, you'd be hard-pressed to choose between them.

Both of them had no help their last seasons at UConn. Freeman similarly flamed out at SF in that last year for El-Amin. This also happened to Boatright who put up lots of points with great effort in what turned out to be a dud of a season at UConn.

It would be easier to compare them when they had people to play with.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Should Jalen have been PG1 from the getgo? Gibbs was not a PG but I’m sure he came here to try and show he could do it for the next level.

JA
Gibbs
Hamilton
Miller
Brimah

With Rodney playing the microwave. Stop me if this has been brought up...

 

[BlueDogs]

There a difference between a scorer and stat stuffer. A scorer makes key shots when they need to be made. They get their points but even on off nights they make a difference in outcome when it matters.

 

[olehead]

Better than Jalen:

• AJ Price
• Kemba Walker
• Jeremy Lamb
• Shabazz Napier
• Ben Gordon

On a similar level:

• Khalid El-Amin
• Ricky Moore
• Ryan Boatright
• Taliek Brown
• Marcus Williams

Worse than Jalen:

• Tony Robertson
• Rashad Anderson
• Craig Austrie
• Jerome Dyson
• Albert Mouring
• Rodney Purvis
• Sterling Gibbs
• Christian Vitale
• Antwoine Anderson

I'm with you most of the way. Though Rashard seemed more a forward, he's on your list so he's gotta move up mid-tier. Big-time clutch, hit big game shots.

Dyson has to move up a group. Fearless, Really good scorer, great on break, his play for a period there helped stabilize our team.

Mid-tier Honorable Mention:
Albert Mouring:
Great scorer, short-time, does not immediately come to mind within the pantheon of great UConn guards.

My 2 cents. And great list, and oh where's Chris Smith?

 

[Chief00]

He deserves his kudos today he was very good. Need more of this though vs better teams. He’s the guy needs to live up to that.

He’s been better lately let’s see.

Agree, we go as Jalen goes. It’s also fair to point out that because of our lack of talented Bigs, Jalen has often been effectively doubled team. Danny has brought that up as a factor.
A dichotomy is that Jalen is not a point guard as his assist to turnover ratio testifies to, yet he seems to be most effective when he has the ball rather than playing off the ball as Rip often did. This complexity, Chief doesn’t quite have a handle on how to optimally coach it, even in his senior year. The riddle that is Jalen. But, for those who don’t like him, let me say he is a great kid. You are right to get frustrated for moments with his play - but he loves UConn and he’s a nice guy.

 

[Chief00]

I'm with you most of the way. Though Rashard seemed more a forward, he's on your list so he's gotta move up mid-tier. Big-time clutch, hit big game shots.

Dyson has to move up a group. Fearless, Really good scorer, great on break, his play for a period there helped stabilize our team.

Mid-tier Honorable Mention:
Albert Mouring:
Great scorer, short-time, does not immediately come to mind within the pantheon of great UConn guards.

My 2 cents. And great list, and oh where's Chris Smith?

No, PJ got Jerome Dyson right.

 

[Excalibur]

It is very hard to make these comparisons.

El-Amin was instrumental in a national championship, a clear leader.

On the other hand, his last season at UConn did not go that well when he was featured. If you didn't know who either player was and what they had accomplished, and you watched video tape of their last seasons, you'd be hard-pressed to choose between them.

Both of them had no help their last seasons at UConn. Freeman similarly flamed out at SF in that last year for El-Amin. This also happened to Boatright who put up lots of points with great effort in what turned out to be a dud of a season at UConn.

It would be easier to compare them when they had people to play with.

It's very difficult to win with one great point guard and no reliable wing scorers.

 

[upstater]

It's very difficult to win with one great point guard and no reliable wing scorers.

Yes, El-Amin tried but... that season was difficult for him, like Boatright's last season.

 

[mauconnfan]

Yes, El-Amin tried but... that season was difficult for him, like Boatright's last season.

And JC being too nice to KFree allowing him to showcase his "wing" abilities. Bad move, he needed to be that guy we always knew, get the lunchpail and sit on the block.

 

[AdamaNation]

Here’s a list of UConn players from the last 20 years who started at least 10 games at guard in one season. Who would you have Jalen Adams slotted ahead of? Just trying to understand the meaning of “a lot of”.

Khalid El-Amin
Ricky Moore
Albert Mouring
Taliek Brown
Tony Robertson
Ben Gordon
Rashad Anderson
Craig Austrie
Marcus Williams
Jerome Dyson
AJ Price
Kemba Walker
Jeremy Lamb
Shabazz Napier
Ryan Boatright
Rodney Purvis
Sterling Gibbs
Christian Vitale
Antwoine Anderson

That’s NASTY list!!

 

[AdamaNation]

He’s a pretty good stat stuffer, but he's not the player/leader we need him to be. He’d be an excellent #2 option, which is not possible on this team.

Can you be good without leading?

 

[Excalibur]

And JC being too nice to KFree allowing him to showcase his "wing" abilities. Bad move, he needed to be that guy we always knew, get the lunchpail and sit on the block.

Part of the problem is that we didn't have anyone else to play there. I guess the thought was that Ajou Deng or Doug Wrenn could take over, but that didn't materialize.

 

[AdamaNation]

Agree, we go as Jalen goes. It’s also fair to point out that because of our lack of talented Bigs, Jalen has often been effectively doubled team. Danny has brought that up as a factor.
A dichotomy is that Jalen is not a point guard as his assist to turnover ratio testifies to, yet he seems to be most effective when he has the ball rather than playing off the ball as Rip often did. This complexity, Chief doesn’t quite have a handle on how to optimally coach it, even in his senior year. The riddle that is Jalen. But, for those who don’t like him, let me say he is a great kid. You are right to get frustrated for moments with his play - but he loves UConn and he’s a nice guy.

Didn’t he lead the league in assists his sophomore year? He had some better talent and scoring options. Since then.... not so much. Guys need to score to register assists. Creation needs execution to give stats other than low fg% and opposing def boards.