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Message: [QUOTE="RF2044, post: 139136, member: 40"] I know that Moqui knows this, but I'll obligatorily qualify my response by pointing out that I am not anti any of our players, or looking to prop one up and put down the other. I genuinely like both players we're discussing here--and I think both are going to be key factors in the team's performance, this year and next year. The purpose of this rebuttal is not to slam Southerland. I love Southerland's offensive production, and his KenPom stats are impressive. But I complete disagree with some of the assessments I've seen of Fair's game in this thread. Here's an alternative scouting report: He's a very similar player to KJ, only better at every phase of the game at this stage of his developmental curve than Joseph was when he was a sophomore. Every phase. Fair is bigger. He's a better rebounder. He actually handles the ball very well, both in the open floor [which he hasn't shown much of yet--more on this later] and in half court sets. He's a better mid-range shooter now than KJ is as a senior. He's a better zone defender than KJ was at the same stage, in part because he works harder at it, in part because he's got tremendous basketball IQ, and in part because he's rangy and can cover a lot of ground. He's shown himself to be a threat from three--but clearly this is an area of his game that needs to improve, just like it needed to improve for KJ coming off of his sophomore season. I want to highlight the basketball IQ comment above. Some players have "it" -- an innate feel for the game that simply can't be taught. It enables them to think two steps ahead and be in the right position to deflect passes or snare a rebound. CJ has "it." And being a smart player manifests this year in him deferring to the more experienced players this season instead of trying to do too much. People who don't think he can put the ball on the floor and create are going to be very, very surprised next season when they see him do it at will. It also means that he isn't forcing bad shots or trying to do too much. Next year, when he's a starter and main cog, he'll assume more of a role and shoulder a bigger load with respect to scoring. Right now, he's doing exactly what the team needs him to do, and playing within himself. You and I have had discussions about the CJ / Southerland thing dating back into last year. And as you know, I'm not turning this into an anti-Dirty position. I'm impressed that's he rebounding better, doing a better job of defending, and finding ways to contribute even when his shot isn't dropping--something that he wasn't able to do last year. I just don't buy that he's the key to offensive balance and spacing the floor next season, just like I never bought that argument when people made it about Mookie the previous two years. Nor does the minutes distribution support that contention. Here's hoping that Southerland is able to expand his game even further next season. And here's hoping that CJ does the same. But at the end of the day, I think CJ is the better player. People weren't talking about KJ as an NBA prospect when he was a sophomore [hell...at the beginning of that year, there was actually a thread started by a board member claiming that KJ lacked the athleticism to ever be a contributor at the Big East level]. Then, coming off of his impressive sophomore year, people were pretty hung up on his inability to shoot threes consistently, until he silenced those critics as a junior. I think we're going to see a similar pattern with CJ. Spot player as frosh who earned minutes, 6th man / key contributor / role player as a soph, impact player / emergence as an NBA prospect as a junior and senior. And at the end of his career, a guy who is universally viewed as being better in every phase of the game than KJ, who is contending for first team all conference honors as a senior. [/QUOTE]

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