UConn in the NBA March ‘25 | Page 2 | The Boneyard

UConn in the NBA March ‘25

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It’s pretty crazy that for a few years of Drummond’s career, 25/18 would just be another day at the office

Clingan with a nice 13/13/3blk as well. As we all expected, the two bigs hit 1 three and it was Drummond that did it

Not UConn related but Reed Sheppard (#3 overall) had arguably the first good game of his career with 25 points on 10-17. Cam Whitmore also put in 27 points on 10-19 to go with 11 rebounds. Their great games got spoiled by SGA’s 50 piece (18-30 FG, 5-9 3P, 10-10 FT. Sheeeesh)
 
Clingan had a 13 and 13 game on a back to back, a bounce back performance after fouling out in 11 minutes the previous game good adjustments and experience for him he needs these starts going into his 2nd year.

AD has had a very impressive career, he’s 31 so he could have another 3-5 years, keep latching onto contenders I wish the Knicks signed him after losing Hartenstein.
 
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Sad to see AJ has been relegated to the bench in Milwaukee, has barely played in the last 3 games and didn't play last night.

I know they traded for Kuzma, but I figured they would try to find some minutes for him off the bench as an energizer.
 
Mets1432 said:
Sad to see AJ has been relegated to the bench in Milwaukee, has barely played in the last 3 games and didn't play last night.

I know they traded for Kuzma, but I figured they would try to find some minutes for him off the bench as an energizer.
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He never really devloped his offensive game besides improving his 3pt shot.
 
Don't think there's a pathway to a long-term NBA career with the way AJ plays offense, Bucks now have multiple options to turn to on the wing that play adequate defense while at the same knowing that you're allowed to score.
 
HuskyWarrior611 said:
Really wish he came back for that extra year to develop a more confident offensive game.
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I honestly don't think it would have changed anything, just would have continued to take a backseat to DC/AK/TN/SC, it's something with the way he's wired that is just missing that extra component. It's like if you turned the scoring passiveness of Ben Simmons/post KD signing Draymond and turned it up to 10. I've seen more than a handful of occasions with the Bucks where AJ has been thrown a perfect lob opportunity and instead of just catching and dunking it he'll come down with the ball and kick it out to a 3 point shooter. Only so long you can survive with his mindset on offense in the NBA as a wing.
 
aceboon said:
I honestly don't think it would have changed anything, just would have continued to take a backseat to DC/AK/TN/SC, it's something with the way he's wired that is just missing that extra component. It's like if you turned the scoring passiveness of Ben Simmons/post KD signing Draymond and turned it up to 10. I've seen more than a handful of occasions with the Bucks where AJ has been thrown a perfect lob opportunity and instead of just catching and dunking it he'll come down with the ball and kick it out to a 3 point shooter. Only so long you can survive with his mindset on offense in the NBA as a wing.
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He was starting to develop it towards the end of his junior year. He was a lot more aggressive attacking the rim than previously.

I don’t think he would’ve been an elite scorer or anything. Just continue to perfect that ability so he was capable of it by the time he got to the league.
 
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aceboon said:
I honestly don't think it would have changed anything, just would have continued to take a backseat to DC/AK/TN/SC, it's something with the way he's wired that is just missing that extra component. It's like if you turned the scoring passiveness of Ben Simmons/post KD signing Draymond and turned it up to 10. I've seen more than a handful of occasions with the Bucks where AJ has been thrown a perfect lob opportunity and instead of just catching and dunking it he'll come down with the ball and kick it out to a 3 point shooter. Only so long you can survive with his mindset on offense in the NBA as a wing.
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It wouldn’t have really done anything for us IMO. Steph is/was a better player in pretty much every aspect. We all love AJ and not taking anything away from him, but that’s kinda just how it is.
 
CardiacAndre7 said:
It wouldn’t have really done anything for us IMO. Steph is/was a better player in pretty much every aspect. We all love AJ and not taking anything away from him, but that’s kinda just how it is.
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He probably would've went undrafted if he came back. He would've went from a starter the year before to a guy off the bench in 23-24. He had three seasons at UConn and nearly two seasons in the NBA with the best coaching in both places and has yet to show off any kind of scoring package.
 
CardiacAndre7 said:
It wouldn’t have really done anything for us IMO. Steph is/was a better player in pretty much every aspect. We all love AJ and not taking anything away from him, but that’s kinda just how it is.
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Unpopular opinion here (what’s new) but in my scenario it would’ve been a switch on who declared for the draft and who didn’t.

Andre had actual skills he needed to work on and develop. The other guy didn’t and never had much of a shot at cracking an NBA lineup anyways.

In this scenario Steph would’ve actually been able to play the position he wanted to too.

We were great so it’s not like it would’ve changed anything winning wise. But it would’ve been a lot of fun to see Castle, Andre, and Clingan terrorize teams on defense together and then fast breaks consisting of Castle and Andre. While rooting for his continued development as an overall scorer.
 
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HuskyWarrior611 said:
Really wish he came back for that extra year to develop a more confident offensive game.
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I'm not sure in offense it would of developed. Maybe if was at a school where they do more ISO offense he would be forced to develop. For someone who can dribble as good as AJ it is surprising he doesn't create more on offense for himself.
 
3rdbass said:
I'm not sure in offense it would have developed. Maybe if was at a school where they do more ISO offense he would be forced to develop. For someone who can dribble as good as AJ it is surprising he doesn't create more on offense for himself.
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Simply being comfortable going to the basket and finishing would’ve been great.
 
3rdbass said:
I'm not sure in offense it would of developed. Maybe if was at a school where they do more ISO offense he would be forced to develop. For someone who can dribble as good as AJ it is surprising he doesn't create more on offense for himself.
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yea that's the one thing I never understood with AJ, a guy with his size, footspeed, and handle should be able to get to certain points on the floor and create for himself but that goes back to his mindset again. He just has no scoring instincts and isn't wired to score, I would love to see what an offseason training & development session looks like for him.
 
aceboon said:
yea that's the one thing I never understood with AJ, a guy with his size, footspeed, and handle should be able to get to certain points on the floor and create for himself but that goes back to his mindset again. He just has no scoring instincts and isn't wired to score, I would love to see what an offseason training & development session looks like for him.
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I wonder what he was taught in high school? Just jump over everyone. He surely didn't get taught well on his ability to create a shot close to the basket or the midrange. Too bad as he always had good skills besides the ability to score. The problem at UConn was we had other scorers in front of him in Hawkins, Newton and Sanogo that I think Hurley just wanted him to be the glue guy and didn't develop his offensive game further. I mean we were lucky that we could get in the dunkers spot by the tourney came around so he would be more effective on offense. Obviously that doesn't work as well for a 6'6" guard in the NBA.
 
aceboon said:
yea that's the one thing I never understood with AJ, a guy with his size, footspeed, and handle should be able to get to certain points on the floor and create for himself but that goes back to his mindset again. He just has no scoring instincts and isn't wired to score, I would love to see what an offseason training & development session looks like for him.
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That’s the weird thing: as much as development of skills can get you there, there’s a certain innate ability with scorers. As you say, it’s how they’re wired. Some guys have all the tools but not that mindset.

I think of guys like Sticks, Kelly Oubre, Wiggins even - they are where they are from raw talent and development, but they’re not superstars because that innate scoring mentality is lacking.
 
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Mr. French said:
That’s the weird thing: as much as development of skills can get you there, there’s a certain innate ability with scorers. As you say, it’s how they’re wired. Some guys have all the tools but not that mindset.

I think of guys like Sticks, Kelly Oubre, Wiggins even - they are where they are from raw talent and development, but they’re not superstars because that innate scoring mentality is lacking.
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I don’t think the mindset of those guys are comparable to someone like Andre. When people talk about those guys they can score but people expect them to be All-Star players.

I get what you’re trying to say but Andre wishes he had the ability to score 20 points in any game ever. He doesn’t have one skill or ability he’s confident in to score a basket. Those guys just don’t have the will to be “the guy”. Which is something I think Andre actually has mentality wise. Just none of the actual skills to confidently apply it.

It’s bizarre none of his coaches thought it would be important to teach him that seeing how talented he is doing everything else.
 
funny note about Jeremy Lamb from an article in The Athletic that was posted today chronicling the end of the De'Aaron Fox era in Sacramento, he's dating the daughter of the Kings owner.


But Anjali still appeared to have influence throughout Sacramento’s organization, as she and Lamb became a more visible part of the Kings’ decision-making tree early this season. They were often spotted courtside next to Vivek in the proverbial power seats at games and were believed by many within the organization to be gaining a growing influence in the bigger-picture path forward.

“We’re all going to be working for Jeremy Lamb soon enough,” one Kings employee joked to The Athletic at the time.
 
Shoutout to Steph for respecting the coin
 

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