Stephen A Smith on UK and Cal | The Boneyard

Stephen A Smith on UK and Cal

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Another poster said essentially the exact same thing in another thread, but was funny to hear Stephen A Smith say it. Granted, I can't stand Smith, I did think he was pretty spot on when he answered questions about Harrison's remark in the presser and Cal's coaching.

Basically brushed off the Harrison remark, and said it was a teachable moment, but nothing should be made out of it (funny watching ESPN roll out all the AA staff to comment...waiting for Al sharpton to pop up on next round of sportscenter). THen when asked about Cal he talked about how he's an amazing recruiter, and gets his players to play together and buy into his "system." However, when it comes down to big coaching moments he is just not on the level of other HOF type coaches, and just hasn't shown the ability to lead a team with the exception of the Anthony Davis team (which required little to know effort on his part due to Davis' dominance).

The last remark was funny, too, as they mentioned how Cal was getting inducted into the HOF, but Ryan is not
 
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Can't believe that is being a made big deal of. Peter King alluded to Okafor's dad and uncle as "idiots" for chiding AP voters on the POY balloting. Why isn't that getting more play? If the twin had said that bitch ass no one says anything. That is essentially all that was meant by that. Oh well.
 
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Can't believe that is being a made big deal of. Peter King alluded to Okafor's dad and uncle as "idiots" for chiding AP voters on the POY balloting. Why isn't that getting more play? If the twin had said that bitch ass no one says anything. That is essentially all that was meant by that. Oh well.

Can you imagine is the roles were reversed and Frank said that about the Harrison twin? If that was the case he legit might not even get drafted...
 
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Can you imagine is the roles were reversed and Frank said that about the Harrison twin? If that was the case he legit might not even get drafted...
It would mean something totally different. It just would and it's probably a conversation best had in the cesspool. Black youth used that word with a lot of different meanings. Not saying it is right, it just is different. Sad that people want to make an issue of this.
 
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huskiesNhoos said:
Another poster said essentially the exact same thing in another thread, but was funny to hear Stephen A Smith say it. Granted, I can't stand Smith, I did think he was pretty spot on when he answered questions about Harrison's remark in the presser and Cal's coaching. Basically brushed off the Harrison remark, and said it was a teachable moment, but nothing should be made out of it (funny watching ESPN roll out all the AA staff to comment...waiting for Al sharpton to pop up on next round of sportscenter). THen when asked about Cal he talked about how he's an amazing recruiter, and gets his players to play together and buy into his "system." However, when it comes down to big coaching moments he is just not on the level of other HOF type coaches, and just hasn't shown the ability to lead a team with the exception of the Anthony Davis team (which required little to know effort on his part due to Davis' dominance). The last remark was funny, too, as they mentioned how Cal was getting inducted into the HOF, but Ryan is not

Davis wasn't a dominant offensive player at all - his legend of dominating college basketball has become something of a myth. Defensively, sure. He was a beast as a rim protector. But he averaged about 13 ppg and made one basket in the national title game. He's fantastic on offense now in the NBA and showed flashes here and there at UK, but they weren't more than flashes. He wasn't the guy they rode to the title, like Carmelo or Kemba. That was actually a balanced team that was well constructed since Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb came back, plus Darius Miller as a senior, so they had a little bit of quality experience around Davis and MKG, who didn't have to do more than they were capable of. And the pieces fit really well (Jones and MKG were good rebounders when AD sold out on shot blocks, they had a good mix of shooters and drivers, etc.). Teague was maybe a bit of a weak link, but he played well enough not to screw it up. I think they ended up with six guys averaging in double figures - making them more like UConn 2009 with a balanced lineup than UConn 2011 with one superstar.

Without Doron Lamb coming back as a dangerous marksman to open up spacing for MKG and that busted jumper of his, I don't think they sniff a title, but we'll never know.
 
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Davis wasn't a dominant offensive player at all - his legend of dominating college basketball has become something of a myth. Defensively, sure. He was a beast as a rim protector. But he averaged about 13 ppg and made one basket in the national title game. He's fantastic on offense now in the NBA and showed flashes here and there at UK, but they weren't more than flashes. He wasn't the guy they rode to the title, like Carmelo or Kemba. That was actually a balanced team that was well constructed since Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb came back, plus Darius Miller as a senior, so they had a little bit of quality experience around Davis and MKG, who didn't have to do more than they were capable of. And the pieces fit really well (Jones and MKG were good rebounders when AD sold out on shot blocks, they had a good mix of shooters and drivers, etc.). Teague was maybe a bit of a weak link, but he played well enough not to screw it up. I think they ended up with six guys averaging in double figures - making them more like UConn 2009 with a balanced lineup than UConn 2011 with one superstar.

Without Doron Lamb coming back as a dangerous marksman to open up spacing for MKG and that busted jumper of his, I don't think they sniff a title, but we'll never know.

Hmmmmm, Was he needed in the championship? I know it looked like a close game (8 point win) but UK built a 14 point halftime lead. They kind of coasted and then allowed KU back into the game toward the end. Davis had 16 rebounds and 5 assists. The previous game against Louisville he had 18 points.

I do think he was clearly above in college anything we've seen since Kevin Durant.
 
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upstater said:
Hmmmmm, Was he needed in the championship? I know it looked like a close game (8 point win) but UK built a 14 point halftime lead. They kind of coasted and then allowed KU back into the game toward the end. Davis had 16 rebounds and 5 assists. The previous game against Louisville he had 18 points. I do think he was clearly above in college anything we've seen since Kevin Durant.

He was never needed on offense, any more than we needed Thabeet's offense in 2009. They beat Indiana 102-90 and Davis scored nine. His postseason scoring (including SEC) was 12-15-12-16-15-9-18-18-6. Good (13 ppg), but by no means dominant. His 18 points against Louisville was on 7-8 shooting. More opportunistic points than being a go to guy.

I do think Davis showed more long term potential in college than someone like Jahlil Okafor has this year. But Okafor is significantly ahead of him as a collegiate scorer. Emeka was a better college player as a junior (obviously if Davis had stuck around until he was a junior, that would be a no contest). Davis has taken his game to another level in the pros and will probably be the best player in the league shortly, but he was a work in progress at UK who benefitted from a good team around him and not having to do more than he was ready for.
 
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He was never needed on offense, any more than we needed Thabeet's offense in 2009. They beat Indiana 102-90 and Davis scored nine. His postseason scoring (including SEC) was 12-15-12-16-15-9-18-18-6. Good (13 ppg), but by no means dominant. His 18 points against Louisville was on 7-8 shooting. More opportunistic points than being a go to guy.

I do think Davis showed more long term potential in college than someone like Jahlil Okafor has this year. But Okafor is significantly ahead of him as a collegiate scorer. Emeka was a better college player as a junior (obviously if Davis had stuck around until he was a junior, that would be a no contest). Davis has taken his game to another level in the pros and will probably be the best player in the league shortly, but he was a work in progress at UK who benefitted from a good team around him and not having to do more than he was ready for.
I like Okafor as an offensive player but i wonder what type of defense and rebounding hes going to bring to the league. Id actually consider taking Townes #1 if i had the pick. I think Townes is going to be a beast in the NBA.
 
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Okafor reminds me of AL Jefferson. True post up center who can score, but will have some issues with the modern center that can draw him out from the basket.
 
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Davis wasn't a dominant offensive player at all - his legend of dominating college basketball has become something of a myth. Defensively, sure. He was a beast as a rim protector. But he averaged about 13 ppg and made one basket in the national title game. He's fantastic on offense now in the NBA and showed flashes here and there at UK, but they weren't more than flashes. He wasn't the guy they rode to the title, like Carmelo or Kemba. That was actually a balanced team that was well constructed since Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb came back, plus Darius Miller as a senior, so they had a little bit of quality experience around Davis and MKG, who didn't have to do more than they were capable of. And the pieces fit really well (Jones and MKG were good rebounders when AD sold out on shot blocks, they had a good mix of shooters and drivers, etc.). Teague was maybe a bit of a weak link, but he played well enough not to screw it up. I think they ended up with six guys averaging in double figures - making them more like UConn 2009 with a balanced lineup than UConn 2011 with one superstar.

Without Doron Lamb coming back as a dangerous marksman to open up spacing for MKG and that busted jumper of his, I don't think they sniff a title, but we'll never know.
You're wrong, Anthony Davis was totally dominant at UK. He is the best defensive player over the last 20 years and they didn't need him to score a ton but he was incredibly efficient. If you watched that title game you would know that Davis completely dominated it.
 

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You're wrong, Anthony Davis was totally dominant at UK. He is the best defensive player over the last 20 years and they didn't need him to score a ton but he was incredibly efficient. If you watched that title game you would know that Davis completely dominated it. /s
Fixed that for you
 
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It would mean something totally different. It just would and it's probably a conversation best had in the cesspool. Black youth used that word with a lot of different meanings. Not saying it is right, it just is different. Sad that people want to make an issue of this.

Disrespect is disrespect, period. But these kids get it from their leader, the guy that doesn't think he needs to watch film, the guy that won't give the other team credit, the guy that says it's about the players, not the program. If they never won another game it would be too soon.
 
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If you watched that championship game and did not recognize immediately how much better anthony davis was than anyone else on the court you should stop watching basketball. He absolutely controlled that game from the defensive end-you could not score on them. Last night they were bigger and deeper, but did not have anyone close to davis (who is a top 5 player in his 3rd season) and Wisconsin is a very good, smart team. At the end of the game, again, cal crumbled and was unable to figure out a way to score.

Cal is a terrible in game coach who is a great recruiter and a media darling. He hypes his ability to turn top 10 kids into 10 top picks, which is i guess supposed to be impressive and every time they lose he turns on the doublespeak and cries about how young his kids are so we all know how difficult their lack of experience is to deal with (and the media won't blame him outright) and then pretends to fall on the grenade claiming that same youth is why they lost.
 
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superjohn said:
You're wrong, Anthony Davis was totally dominant at UK. He is the best defensive player over the last 20 years and they didn't need him to score a ton but he was incredibly efficient. If you watched that title game you would know that Davis completely dominated it.

He dominated defensively and controlled the boards, but if they needed him to score they were in trouble. He shot 1-10 and the one came late. Obviously, he played his role very well and it wasn't like UK would have been better off with Jorts out there. But 1-10 is 1-10. Of course I think Davis was the best player on the floor, similar to how Kemba was the best player on the floor against Butler and showed great leadership and energy - defended well, grabbed rebounds, hustled all over the place to set the tone, etc. But 5-19 is 5-19. He didn't have a dominant game for the final chapter in that story, which was a bit of a bummer, but holding the trophy made that an easy pill to swallow.

Davis was efficient because his degree of difficulty on his shot selection was still very low at that point. Occasionally he would try to face up, but wasn't very good at it yet. So he'd get some athletic put back dunks and lobs, and had some days when he looked serviceable in the post, but he wasn't ready to be the focal point of an offense. He was a piece of a very good offensive puzzle at that point. I don't think he was capable of being more than that at that stage of his career. It's different now that he's developed his range and refined his shooting touch and become a beast on offense too - but we'll never know since UK had five other legit scoring options.

I will say I was thankful that he was only going to be there one year before he became just ridiculous as a sophomore (was hoping they'd lose so he could be on his merry way before figuring it all out). You could see he was close to becoming as good an offense as he was on D (unlike Drummond, who had no offensive game at all and had a long way to go).
 
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Granted I'm white so maybe I don't have the proper perspective to understand, but I'm more offended by the fact that Harrison is constantly such a poor sport. The fact that he didn't shake hands after the game combined with this disrespectful remark means more than some racial slang.
 
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If you watched that championship game and did not recognize immediately how much better anthony davis was than anyone else on the court you should stop watching basketball. He absolutely controlled that game from the defensive end-you could not score on them. Last night they were bigger and deeper, but did not have anyone close to davis (who is a top 5 player in his 3rd season) and Wisconsin is a very good, smart team. At the end of the game, again, cal crumbled and was unable to figure out a way to score.

Cal is a terrible in game coach who is a great recruiter and a media darling. He hypes his ability to turn top 10 kids into 10 top picks, which is i guess supposed to be impressive and every time they lose he turns on the doublespeak and cries about how young his kids are so we all know how difficult their lack of experience is to deal with (and the media won't blame him outright) and then pretends to fall on the grenade claiming that same youth is why they lost.
I hate when Calipari complains about "youth" in his interviews as to why his team loses or plays poorly. I believe its hypocritical. Its his choice as to who he recruits and I think its a load of garbage when he claims that he doesnt know how long his players will be around for. You can tell the difference between a one and done type player and a kid that has talent but will be around for 3-4 years.
 
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I'm white but I totally see what he was saying/where the jest was.

It's really just the scenario, having just lost, and being at the live press conference, where you scratch your head and wonder how he doesn't have the foresight to imagine how his words might be misinterpreted.

Or maybe that's what he wanted; a little injection of media attention to tide him over until the draft.
 

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Stephen A Smith should never be the sports moral authority on anything, but ESPECIALLY when it comes to something that could have racial implications. I'm not really sure what Harrison said really even was racist. But reverse racism is just racism.
 
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I can't think a single black friend who is a generational contemporary of mine that I haven't heard say that same thing jest or even mean spiritedly that I thought more than one second about it being 'insensitive.' Competitive kid who lost a game saying something pretty much every kid like him says almost every day.

Poorly timed. Poor taste, maybe but whatever.
 
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He dominated defensively and controlled the boards, but if they needed him to score they were in trouble. He shot 1-10 and the one came late. Obviously, he played his role very well and it wasn't like UK would have been better off with Jorts out there. But 1-10 is 1-10. Of course I think Davis was the best player on the floor, similar to how Kemba was the best player on the floor against Butler and showed great leadership and energy - defended well, grabbed rebounds, hustled all over the place to set the tone, etc. But 5-19 is 5-19. He didn't have a dominant game for the final chapter in that story, which was a bit of a bummer, but holding the trophy made that an easy pill to swallow.

Davis was efficient because his degree of difficulty on his shot selection was still very low at that point. Occasionally he would try to face up, but wasn't very good at it yet. So he'd get some athletic put back dunks and lobs, and had some days when he looked serviceable in the post, but he wasn't ready to be the focal point of an offense. He was a piece of a very good offensive puzzle at that point. I don't think he was capable of being more than that at that stage of his career. It's different now that he's developed his range and refined his shooting touch and become a beast on offense too - but we'll never know since UK had five other legit scoring options.

I will say I was thankful that he was only going to be there one year before he became just ridiculous as a sophomore (was hoping they'd lose so he could be on his merry way before figuring it all out). You could see he was close to becoming as good an offense as he was on D (unlike Drummond, who had no offensive game at all and had a long way to go).

I think you're selling him short. Certainly, he wasn't a dominant offensive player during his lone season at Kentucky, but to the extent that he wasn't the go to guy is because they didn't need one that year. Davis may not have been the Kemba sort, somebody capable of creating his own shot at will, but given his excellent efficiency - 61% from the field, 71% from the line - it isn't hard to envision him averaging 18-20 points per game at a lesser program (like Illinois).

His face up game was incomplete and his post game unrefined, but as you concede, he did look to have the makings even at the time of somebody with the full tool set. His athleticism mixed in with flickering spurts of skill would have made him an adequate, albeit unreliable alpha dog on certain rosters.

I guess while you view him as a supporting piece on offense, I saw him as a vital cog to an ultra-efficient machine. And on the other end, we don't need to debate - he was a transcendent talent and in my mind the best college freshman since 'Melo.
 
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