What position will Purvis play?

[pj]

Boat has to develop his point guard skills but with instruction from Ollie/Hobbs/etc and his drive to excel, is there any doubt that he'll be much better in 2013-4 now that he's played a full season and had a summer to reflect?

He will be drafted by the NBA. They will appraise his spot at the end of the year and he'll make his decision. He'll need to improve a heck of a lot to be a first round draft pick; maybe he'll do it.

But if the worst came to worst, he leaves and has to play in Europe for $100k or $200k, is that so terrible? He will be earning money and developing his game.

Not saying he should go, I would love to have him as a senior and that may well be the best development path for him giving him the greatest exposure, experience, and earnings power. But we've seen that when one or two stars leave (Bazz and Deandre), the other stars tend to leave too. They don't get excited about building a team with freshman, even if the newcomers are as talented as DHam, and would rather start afresh in the pros. With Bazz and Deandre going, I think Boat decides to go too.

 

[pj]

There are 19 players out of 450 that are LISTED at 6'0 or less. That is reduced to 6/450 if you talk about players LISTED at 5'11 or shorter. My point is not that you cannot make it at Boats size, but rather that at his size it is a huge stretch to make it in the NBA, which will depress his draft status. And most of those who stuck stayed 4 years, likely because of similarly tepid draft prospects as underclassmen(Off the top of my head: Kyle Lowry, will bynum, peyton siva, ish smith, JJ Barea, Darren Collison, Isaiah Thomas, shane larkin, patty mills).

Great post. Yes, leaving early makes it more likely he starts his career in Europe, rather than the NBA. It might make it more likely he finishes it there. But, with a great year and if he displays an ability to run the team and generate assists without turnovers, I think he'll make the jump. He wants to be there, and the timing of other players means his senior year would be a bit of a rebuilding effort -- there will be a lot of talent but key pieces will be newcomers, so the chemistry will have to be built from scratch, and that takes time and effort.

 

[david]

I don't know if he will stay or go after this season, but let's look at the pros and cons of staying:

Pro: Gets to run a team that should be very good for a year. Gets a degree. Avoids the deepest draft class in the past 10 years. Gets more time to develop. Has a chance to win a national championship. Has a chance to increase his stock.

Con: Loses out on a year of making $. Risks getting injured and/or dropping on draft boards (unlikely given the 2013 draft class)

If I was making his decision for him it would be a no brainer, I'd have him stay for his senior year. But money can be quite alluring, so I could also see him leaving.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I don't know if he will stay or go after this season, but let's look at the pros and cons of staying:

Pro: Gets to run a team that should be very good for a year. Gets a degree. Avoids the deepest draft class in the past 10 years. Gets more time to develop. Has a chance to win a national championship. Has a chance to increase his stock.

Con: Loses out on a year of making $. Risks getting injured and/or dropping on draft boards (unlikely given the 2013 draft class)

If I was making his decision for him it would be a no brainer, I'd have him stay for his senior year. But money can be quite alluring, so I could also see him leaving.

"Gets to run a team that should be very good for a year." - But probably not as good as this year's. I don't think this appeals to him.

"Gets a degree." - If you think he honestly cares about this you're deluding yourself.

"Avoids the deepest draft class in the past 10 years." - This might matter, I suppose

"Gets more time to develop." - I don't think Boat thinks he'll have anything more to learn. For him, not declaring has been more about a lack of exposure than about a lack of self-perceived talent.

"Has a chance to win a national championship." - I think this is secondary for Boat, and he probably feels this coming year is his best chance anyway

"Has a chance to increase his stock." - Perhaps. But I think Boat thinks that your stock goes down if you stay four years, because if you were really that good (and thought you were really that good), you'd have left already.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

"Gets to run a team that should be very good for a year." - But probably not as good as this year's. I don't think this appeals to him.

"Gets a degree." - If you think he honestly cares about this you're deluding yourself.

"Avoids the deepest draft class in the past 10 years." - This might matter, I suppose

"Gets more time to develop." - I don't think Boat thinks he'll have anything more to learn. For him, not declaring has been more about a lack of exposure than about a lack of self-perceived talent.

"Has a chance to win a national championship." - I think this is secondary for Boat, and he probably feels this coming year is his best chance anyway

"Has a chance to increase his stock." - Perhaps. But I think Boat thinks that your stock goes down if you stay four years, because if you were really that good (and thought you were really that good), you'd have left already.

That would sort of imply that he thinks that Bazz is a loser. How things look now may not be very much like the way things look after the upcoming season for Boat. He somehow came to see some reality and decided to come back for this year. When this season is over, he will be dealing more with the reality of projections and interest from NBA scouts and input from KO. The story on how he does this season is not in, so there is critical missing information that will have a big say in his decision.

 

[Waquoit]

Sounds like he can play the Chris Smith role. He's the 1 when playing with Omar and the 2 with Samuel.

 

[ctchamps]

Absolutely have no clue what RB will do in two years. But I can tell that he is shaping up to be the Boneyard lightening rod if UConn struggles at any point this season.

Check that: RB will be the designated player in the Boneyard Doghouse this season. Possibly joined by TO.

 

[James]

Absolutely have no clue what RB will do in two years. But I can tell that he is shaping up to be the Boneyard lightening rod if UConn struggles at any point this season.

Check that: RB will be the designated player in the Boneyard Doghouse this season. Possibly joined by TO.

it's interesting both of them are the two who get piled on the most. I don't forsee olander exiting the doghouse though. hasn't gotten better at all for four years

 

[Huskyforlife]

it's interesting both of them are the two who get piled on the most. I don't forsee olander exiting the doghouse though. hasn't gotten better at all for four years

he's already in the dog house, but i agree he needs to get better.

 

[ctchamps]

it's interesting both of them are the two who get piled on the most. I don't forsee olander exiting the doghouse though. hasn't gotten better at all for four years

TO's horrible season relegated him to the Doghouse. No matter what RB does, good bad or indifferent, he's going to be put in the doghouse. He's the Taliek Brown and Jerome Dyson guy!

Other guys will take hits but Ryan will be the guy some fans will love to hate! He's the gay, black, intellectual, north easterner at a klu klux clan rally in the Bayou.

 

[Waquoit]

Check that: RB will be the designated player in the Boneyard Doghouse this season. Possibly joined by TO.

Nah, TO will retire the trophy.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Re: Ryan and the doghouse, IMHO it will depend on how he plays and how he handles himself, especially in adversity if such occurs. The cocky attitude will be fine if he backs it up and is a good teammate, but mostly if he is a good teammate. If he tries to force things and put building his own stats above the needs of the team, he will get a hard time. If he works really hard and does not force things, I think he will be treated fine. It seems to me that he has a long way to go to be as good as he thinks he has been. He has not been a good defender, nor a good distributor/team leader. He needs to slow down and play a smarter game, be less frantic, and learn how to create space to get his shot off. I personally think that he needs a senior year to be the primary point and to build his game.

 

[ctchamps]

Re: Ryan and the doghouse, IMHO it will depend on how he plays and how he handles himself, especially in adversity if such occurs. The cocky attitude will be fine if he backs it up and is a good teammate, but mostly if he is a good teammate. If he tries to force things and put building his own stats above the needs of the team, he will get a hard time. If he works really hard and does not force things, I think he will be treated fine. It seems to me that he has a long way to go to be as good as he thinks he has been. He has not been a good defender, nor a good distributor/team leader. He needs to slow down and play a smarter game, be less frantic, and learn how to create space to get his shot off. I personally think that he needs a senior year to be the primary point and to build his game.

Can't disagree with anything you're pointing out.

What I hate about the Boneyard are all the strong opinions people have regarding how the game went. What I love about the Boneyard are all the strong opinions people have regarding how the game went.

Often I'm reading stuff and come to the conclusion we're justifying our perspectives just as much as justifying what took place. Lets say a pg makes a pass to a post player and that post player fumbles the ball, gets it stolen, charges into his defender or shoots up a horrible shot. And let's say the post player does this repeatedly such that giving him the ball is more a liability than a positive. So the pg observes this and realizes the post option is not available. This has happened in the past. I've seen posters nail the pg and I've seen posters nail the post player. In other words it becomes subjective.

I love all the arguments and points of view. The sum of all of us is far greater than individual points of view. But it really baffles me how so many of us really don't understand our nature. It seems we don't realize our internal biases. We only see them in others. Or maybe we do realize them and just don't give a darn. Maybe we're short and love nailing big guys. Or vice versa. Maybe something about player x reminds us of someone we hated growing up vs. player y. It's easy for us to overlook why we hate certain people. A lot of the time it's subconscious.

RB already has a lot of negative descriptors assigned to him even before the season begins. IMO he won't be getting any benefit of the doubt. Just the opposite. He will be the one we will focus our disappointment or anger on. It's easy to say a player with limited court vision is a selfish player as opposed to having a limited skill. In the latter its about the playmaking only and we can excuse the player. In the former it is placing a judgement about the person that puts that person in a bad light. And lots of us do it.

Attitude is an important component to a players and teams development. So it is fair to offer suggestions about a player or team's attitude. But it is equally fair to realize that the viewer has attitudes as well. This forum is loaded with intelligent people with a wide assortment of attitudes. In most cases those who are assigning blame, doing it incessantly, doing it with vitriol, doing it with the need to demean a person, are the ones with the attitude problem. But if that person is with a large enough chorus, it becomes difficult for him to see that maybe the problem exists within himself as much as it resides with the team or a particular player.