McD’s - Bazley

[Trueblue25]

If he puts on 15-20 pounds we may have a gamechanger

 

[jimb]

If he puts on 15-20 pounds we may have a gamechanger

When Chukwu, Dolezja, and Bazley are on the court together next season, we may have the thinnest and lightest front court in all of Division 1.

 

[Trueblue25]

When Chukwu, Dolezja, and Bazley are on the court together next season, we may have the thinnest and lightest front court in all of Division 1.

Thats ok. Its hard to get rebounds when your shots blocked or the entry pass is stolen.

Also helps that 2 of those 3 have range out to 18, Bazely out to the perimeter


Bazely will still be thin at 210, but hes longer and more skilled/athletic than his competition.

 

[EastCoast2]

If he puts on 15-20 pounds we may have a gamechanger

He may need to be nicknamed "Thickburger"

 

[orangepassion]

More athletic Prince

Prince was very athletic, albeit short

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

Prince was very athletic, albeit short
View attachment 125523

And per Charlie Murphy (R.I.P.), "that dude could ball."

The uniform thread would be epic.

 

[cuse10]

On Bazley:

• Overall, like what I saw - prototype for our systems. Probably a better fit than any 3/4 not named Barrett or Little.
• Better rebounder than I expected, given his relatively lean frame. He is not Warrick skinny, but he is not Warrick athletic either.
• Good at a lot of things, not necessarily great at anything. Will pair well with Brissett, because both are 3/4s (and Marek too).
• Not a 5, though he did match up with East bigs a bit.
  
• I get the Odom comparisons, but he's Odom-lite at this point. At that age, Odom was a better athlete, smoother ball handler, etc. I have a hard time coming up with a good comparison because he is less of a two then some of the guys i am thinking of - maybe Kyle Anderson who played at St. Anthony's, UCLA, and is now with the Spurs.
• Since the other combo guard/2 strikes me as the only unsettled starting position for us, I'd like to see how he does playing with the best shooter/scorer of the three of Carey/Boeheim/Hughes. Bazley is going to open things up out there and a fourth offensive option should be able to take advantage nicely. The 18-19 team should be better offensively than this year's team (a healthy Sidibe and improved Marek would really cinch it), but will still probably not be in the realm of the 16-17 team.

My other observations:

• Didn't finish watching. Game was pretty terrible. Shooting was really poor.
  
• Barrett, Little, then everyone else. I've been impressed with Little since I saw his team play Monteverde back in December.
• Jones was most complete PG. Quinnerly was really poor.
• Naz Reid was most impressive big. Really nice frame and well-coordinated to boot. Given our lack of a 5 in this class, I don't get () how a kid like him ends up at LSU, and a kid like Moses Brown, who is less skilled, but would be a nice fit in our zone, ends up at UCLA.
• Zion Williamson will not be too bad of a match up for us, but he is going to give a lot of teams problems.
• Cam Reddish was clearly skilled, but he is a 2/3 tweener, and without a real 4 to couple him with, probably isn't the best fit for our zone.

Anderson's nickname was "Slow Mo" because of his lack of athleticism and explosiveness. Bazley has him beat there.

 

[kidorange]

I'm surprised with all the player comparisons I'm not hearing Wes Johnson. Wirey, long, explosive to the rim, same haircut. Wes shot 3.5 3's a game for us at 41% and 2 blocks. I can see about the same for Baze. Bazely has a little better handle obviosly and the Wes we saw (junior season) was probably a more polished scorer.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

And per Charlie Murphy (R.I.P.), "that dude could ball."

The uniform thread would be epic.

Prince took his basketball very seriously
Prince's Career As A Basketball Player Was Legendary, Too | HuffPost

 

[JrodCuse]

The symbol?

Shoot it! Shoot the J!

 

[rocklloyd]

zion williamson has weak thumbs.

 

[kidorange]

zion williamson has weak thumbs.

Think you take him down in a thumb wrestling match (without a sneak attack)?

He doesn't scare me on the court. And if he stays a couple years, I could see him get too big for his own good. Now if OT was settled by a dunk contest, like a hockey shootout, we might have problems.

 

[sufandu]

When Chukwu, Dolezja, and Bazley are on the court together next season, we may have the thinnest and lightest front court in all of Division 1.

Watch out for the wind that blows in the dome. It may push them out of position.

 

[SoBeCuse]

I'm surprised with all the player comparisons I'm not hearing Wes Johnson. Wirey, long, explosive to the rim, same haircut. Wes shot 3.5 3's a game for us at 41% and 2 blocks. I can see about the same for Baze. Bazely has a little better handle obviosly and the Wes we saw (junior season) was probably a more polished scorer.

I don’t know. Baze is more smooth than explosive. Wes is a quicker/high-flyer. More well-rounded than Wes. Taller too. Both wirey yes.

 

[kidorange]

I don’t know. Baze is more smooth than explosive. Wes is a quicker/high-flyer. More well-rounded than Wes. Taller too. Both wirey yes.

Baze was timing rebounds and darting into the lane from the outside. He didn't get any last night (except on a dead ball) but I expect some huge put back slams from him.

 

[Trueblue25]

zion williamson has weak thumbs.

Shaky thumbs at best

 

[Shark58]

He may need to be nicknamed "Thickburger"

Thinburger

 

[SoBeCuse]

Baze was timing rebounds and darting into the lane from the outside. He didn't get any last night (except on a dead ball) but I expect some huge put back slams from him.

Noticed that too! Yup. He’s longer. I just think Wes was more sudden/explosive.

 

[Jake]

Finally got a chance to watch the McD's game. Nas Little and Naz Reid both impressed me the most. Williamson reminds me of Paul Harris...

To Bazely...

Really like the intangibles he showed. Played hard, cheered hard - sometimes these five * kids don't act like that. Love his frame - would not be surprised to see him ad 10lbs quickly, I expect he will before November. Still reminds me of Coleman more than anyone, and a touch of Wes.

Tayshaun Prince could eat fries for every meal, but he wasn't going to gain weight. Darius will.

We got a really good one who seems like a good teammate. We are going to be loaded next year.

 

[edowd26]

Finally got a chance to watch the McD's game. Nas Little and Naz Reid both impressed me the most. Williamson reminds me of Paul Harris...

To Bazely...

Really like the intangibles he showed. Played hard, cheered hard - sometimes these five * kids don't act like that. Love his frame - would not be surprised to see him ad 10lbs quickly, I expect he will before November. Still reminds me of Coleman more than anyone, and a touch of Wes.

Tayshaun Prince could eat fries for every meal, but he wasn't going to gain weight. Darius will.

We got a really good one who seems like a good teammate. We are going to be loaded next year.

My hope is that you mean derrick?

 

[IthacaMatt]

But as I have said before those of you expecting a low post rebounding power forward will be very disappointed in Bazely. That's not his game. I saw him play 3 times in person this year. All around team player cones to mind. He is not a back to the basket player. More of a face the basket drive or shoot and always willing to hit the open guy. He s 6'9" but closer to a SG than a PF.

I agree with this. He's a 6-9 small forward. He's got some similarities to Donte Greene, although he's better on the dribble drive, but not quite the 3 point shooter. I just hope he doesn't play like the showboat that Greene was, and that he doesn't shy away from rebounding and contact. I think he is going to be great on the break; can't wait to see that!

 

[IthacaMatt]

Baz was the 3rd leading rebounder on the Nike EYBL circuit last summer. He can't just be a perimeter guy.

Well, there's obviously a difference between where he plays on offense and where he plays on defense. In all the clips I've seen, he's not a low post guy at all. I would bet that he gets more of his boards on the defensive end than the offensive end by a decent margin.

 

[IthacaMatt]

The thing is, people have to prepare themselves for freshman Wesley Johnson. Which was still pretty good at Iowa State before his injury, but Baz is after all a freshman and will have some growing pains, and the doubters will sqwak. The question will be by the end of the year do we get Junior all league level Wesley Johnson or will he only graduate to sophomore Wesley Johnson by then? With all league Wes Johnson, this team will do damage

I think this is a very good post.

The difference between Wes and Baz is that Wes comes nowhere near the handle that Bazley has. If he did, he'd be a star in the NBA.

And on the other hand, Bazley can make a 3, but it takes him time to get it off. Wes was a hell of a 3 point shooter by the time he got to us. I think he shot 41% in his one year for us.

The one thing they both have in common is that they are bananas on the break.

 

[Cusesky8214]

I agree with this. He's a 6-9 small forward. He's got some similarities to Donte Greene, although he's better on the dribble drive, but not quite the 3 point shooter. I just hope he doesn't play like the showboat that Greene was, and that he doesn't shy away from rebounding and contact. I think he is going to be great on the break; can't wait to see that!

I think he was averaging 10.9 rebounds a game in EYBL last summer and 10.5 rebounds a game for his high school team this year. Not that he will do that against bigger college athletes but I think he doesn't shy away from going after rebounds.

 

[IthacaMatt]

We’ll see re: quickness. Definitely good conversation and really wasn’t trying to be rude. The versatility he shows is tremendous. As far as LB burger boys the only one who really stands out to me with that physique is Zion. The others are just considerably stronger than Bazely and he needs to put some work in there. He’ll definitely create mismatches all over the place. I hope we can bring in a guy now with some beef and strength to bang on the glass. Since to me Bazely seems more of a perimeter guy I worry about still having Sidibe/Chukwu being able to get outmuscled down there. Oshae is awesome but even he can’t compete sometimes with stronger PF types. But, yeah, very excited for Bazely’s arrival.

That's why Boeheim said back in November that he planned to add another big in this class. Totally agree. He's another lively big body, but Bazley is not going to fix our interior defense all by himself.