I don't know if it was talked about here at all but I saw on twitter a quick 2 minute interview with Diggins and the guy asked him who he's going to help recruit with him ... he said Samson right away and then "the kid from DeMatha, I can't think of his name now ..." and then someone reminded him "Hawkins."
I am going to keep on beating this drum. The #1 thing I am loving most about Hurley and staff is that they obviously have a blueprint of what kind of attitude, character, and mental makeup they are looking for in each and every young man they recruit. It goes beyond their basketball talent (of course hugely important, but so too are the intangibles if you want to win titles. Just ask Calhoun).
It was the biggest intangible that Kevin Ollie misunderstood the most about recruiting... It constantly felt like he was shoving square pegs into round holes, and the recruits he brought in just didn't fit together. And it showed in our often disjointed, uneven and way too often lackluster play, game in and game out, over the last 4 years of his tenure.
The contrast is so stark. It was similar to what Calhoun and his staffs were looking for. Of course talent is at the top of the list... but the intangibles are what drew him to guys like Chris Smith, Lyman DePriest, John Gwynn, Nadav Henefeld, Ray Allen, Ricky Moore, Richard Hamilton, Khalid El-Amin, Caron Butler, Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, Jeff Adrien and of course most recently Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz and Ryan Boatright and others.
Calhoun LOVED gym rats.... winners. Guys who HATED to lose. Guy who would take it personally when you tried to steal their lunch money, do whatever it took to get it back, and then take yours.
THAT is the kind of young man that Dan Hurley is recruiting as well. He challenged Rahsool, and Rahsool jumped at the chance. We are going to LOVE having this young man quarterbacking our team. So did Sanogo, Jackson, Martin and the guys he brought in last year.
Notice how almost every new recruit mentions his desire to help recruit others to play with them? Gaffney, R.J. Cole and most of the others do it also. It's a brotherhood. That is what Calhoun built... and it is what Dan Hurley is building right now, right before our eyes.
The good times are just starting folks... they really are here again. AND IT'S SO FREAKING EXCITING!!!