Jalen Adams | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Jalen Adams

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.
 
CTBasketball said:
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.
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BigErnMcCracken said:
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.
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He still has almost half his senior season to go. The team could go on a crazy run...
 
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.
 
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...
 
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.
 
pj said:
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
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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?
 
.-.
mauconnfan said:
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.
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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.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
olehead said:
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?
Expand ...

No, PJ got Jerome Dyson right.
 
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upstater said:
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.
Expand ...

It's very difficult to win with one great point guard and no reliable wing scorers.
 
T-Squared said:
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
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That’s NASTY list!!
 
.-.
CTBasketball said:
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.
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Can you be good without leading?
 
mauconnfan said:
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.
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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.
 
Chief00 said:
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.
Expand ...
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.
 
CTBasketball said:
Junior year Jerome Dyson!
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Jerome was the anti-Leader he though he could take over at crunch time usually with the opposite desired effect.
Jaylen is like sophomore Kemba.
That season could have had a far different outcome if only Kemba assumed the total leadership role.
I know some of you guys will hate this observation , but Kemba’s confidence surged when KO came on board as the guard coach maybe it’s a coincidence but I don’t believe in them.
 
olehead said:
My 2 cents. And great list, and oh where's Chris Smith?
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He specified 'last 20 years'. For the record (and added Doron and Scotty), I posted the same thing then deleted it upon reread of the OP.
 
.-.
Chief00 said:
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.
Expand ...

It's not a riddle, it's a box. You're trapped in that box, because there's simply not enough talent around to give you viable options/solutions to the problem.

Jalen's got some things in his game that I really don't like. Too sloppy with the ball) is number 1 for me. And I don't think he quite has that focus (maybe even killer instinct--he's too nice) that some of our other greats did.

But he's been left with an absolute dearth of talent his entire career. Unless you are truly a transcendent, once in a generation talent, it's really tough to combat that.
 
intlzncster said:
It's not a riddle, it's a box. You're trapped in that box, because there's simply not enough talent around to give you viable options/solutions to the problem.

Jalen's got some things in his game that I really don't like. Too sloppy with the ball) is number 1 for me. And I don't think he quite has that focus (maybe even killer instinct--he's too nice) that some of our other greats did.

But he's been left with an absolute dearth of talent his entire career. Unless you are truly a transcendent, once in a generation talent, it's really tough to combat that.
Expand ...

Lacking the complementary talent is what makes Jalen look worse than he is. Everybody needs it. Even Kemba, who is superior to Jalen, led us through a 4-7 stretch in 2011 as the team was waiting for Jeremy Lamb to emerge as that knockdown perimeter scoring threat that would open the court for Kemba.

Had Jalen had more talent around him, and the coaches found a way to exploit his strengths and hide his weaknesses, we'd think he was a great player. As it is he's clearly a very good player.
 
pj said:
Lacking the complementary talent is what makes Jalen look worse than he is. Everybody needs it. Even Kemba, who is superior to Jalen, led us through a 4-7 stretch in 2011 as the team was waiting for Jeremy Lamb to emerge as that knockdown perimeter scoring threat that would open the court for Kemba.

Had Jalen had more talent around him, and the coaches found a way to exploit his strengths and hide his weaknesses, we'd think he was a great player. As it is he's clearly a very good player.
Expand ...

Yes and no. I think this is truenfor his finishing.

His lack of of a three ball? Not so much.

How about bad defense? Not so much.

He would look BETTER for sute with a higher quality supporting cast.
 
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husky429 said:
Yes and no. I think this is truenfor his finishing.

His lack of of a three ball? Not so much.

How about bad defense? Not so much.

He would look BETTER for sute with a higher quality supporting cast.
Expand ...

Agreed. It's defense and three point shooting that will keep him from the NBA, and from elite status in college.
 
upstater said:
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.
Expand ...
El Amin backs my idea that the best player isn’t always the leader. I’m pretty sure R.I.P. was the guy here as was Donny Marshall and Ollie with ray
 
pj said:
Lacking the complementary talent is what makes Jalen look worse than he is. Everybody needs it. Even Kemba, who is superior to Jalen, led us through a 4-7 stretch in 2011 as the team was waiting for Jeremy Lamb to emerge as that knockdown perimeter scoring threat that would open the court for Kemba.

Had Jalen had more talent around him, and the coaches found a way to exploit his strengths and hide his weaknesses, we'd think he was a great player. As it is he's clearly a very good player.
Expand ...
Kemba already dominated and won the Maui, he was going against the best conference of the last 10-15 years night in and night out. Went undefeated outside of conference play, hit more clutch shots and buzzer beaters than you could count on two hands. Comparing anything from Kemba's junior year to anything Jalen has ever done at UConn is insane even for this board.
 
.-.
intlzncster said:
It's not a riddle, it's a box. You're trapped in that box, because there's simply not enough talent around to give you viable options/solutions to the problem.

Jalen's got some things in his game that I really don't like. Too sloppy with the ball) is number 1 for me. And I don't think he quite has that focus (maybe even killer instinct--he's too nice) that some of our other greats did.

But he's been left with an absolute dearth of talent his entire career. Unless you are truly a transcendent, once in a generation talent, it's really tough to combat that.
Expand ...
He floats, doesn't have any of the competitiveness of past top players at UConn.

He gets by on his natural talent but has never locked himself into the game mentally and literally (locked himself in the gym) like our past greats. It shows up when things aren't going his way and he looks aloof and it shows up in him never tightening up his flaws. Never developed the left, doesn't know how to draw fouls, never improved his three ball.

It's a shame because coming out of high school he pretty much looked like a lock for an early entrance into the league.
 
MervthePurvis said:
El Amin backs my idea that the best player isn’t always the leader. I’m pretty sure R.I.P. was the guy here as was Donny Marshall and Ollie with ray
Expand ...

A lot of this is simply positional. The PG, especially in college, is generally the natural leader of the team.
 
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