So... Rak's going to have a big year. I said it

[RF2044]

No chance. McC is one and done. We all knew Melo was, and we all know this kid is. He will be gone in the top 5. Many people disliked MCW last year, but without him we wouldnt have sniffed the Final 4. We all knew he was gone, and he was.

I believe Grant is gone. He will play well enough to be guaranteed top 20 by scouts. The kid is our best player in all reality. CJ is just steady as can be... If CJ and Grant leave, as expected, we will still be just fine.

Ennis, pick your 2 guard (loaded), Roberson, McC, Rak.
Bench of DC, multiple 2 guards, incoming frosh, etc...

Next year, if Grant comes back, we will be a consensus top 5 pre-season team. Will be special.

This, of course, all assumes Ennis doesnt leave. That is something we dont even want to think about.

If Grant has the year many of us think he's capable of, then there is no question that he'll be knocking on the door to the lottery. The question is, will he jump or will he return?

Presumably, he won't have the financial pressure that others do, given that his father was an NBA player. So that compulsion to declare to start earning a paycheck might not be as big of a pull as it might be for many [most?] other NBA prospects. He also might like the idea of being the focal point of the offense for a year. And he might decide that [small sample size here, but going on what we saw in the Canadian scrimmages] that if he's getting knocked down a lot at this level, then he might be better served by using another year to build his physical maturity and get stronger--which would better position him to make the jump the following year.

We just don't know which factors will be important to him.

 

[TBCuse11]

If Grant has the year many of us think he's capable of, then there is no question that he'll be knocking on the door to the lottery. The question is, will he jump or will he return?

Presumably, he won't have the financial pressure that others do, given that his father was an NBA player. So that compulsion to declare to start earning a paycheck might not be as big of a pull as it might be for many [most?] other NBA prospects. He also might like the idea of being the focal point of the offense for a year. And he might decide that [small sample size here, but going on what we saw in the Canadian scrimmages] that if he's getting knocked down a lot at this level, then he might be better served by using another year to build his physical maturity and get stronger--which would better position him to make the jump the following year.

We just don't know which factors will be important to him.

i certainly hope u are right. MCW had no financial pressures though and he left.

 

[RF2044]

i certainly hope u are right. MCW had no financial pressures though and he left.

But MCW's family weren't millionaires [making the assumption that Harvey Grant is], and they'd just lost their house.

I'm not suggesting that MCW wouldn't have jumped without that happening, but I'm fairly certain that it became a fait accompli once it did.

And I'm not sure about Grant's motivation--just pointing out that financial pressures / desire to take provide for his family might not be factors for him.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

No chance. McC is one and done. We all knew Melo was, and we all know this kid is. He will be gone in the top 5. Many people disliked MCW last year, but without him we wouldnt have sniffed the Final 4. We all knew he was gone, and he was.

I believe Grant is gone. He will play well enough to be guaranteed top 20 by scouts. The kid is our best player in all reality. CJ is just steady as can be... If CJ and Grant leave, as expected, we will still be just fine.

Ennis, pick your 2 guard (loaded), Roberson, McC, Rak.
Bench of DC, multiple 2 guards, incoming frosh, etc...

Next year, if Grant comes back, we will be a consensus top 5 pre-season team. Will be special.

This, of course, all assumes Ennis doesnt leave. That is something we dont even want to think about.

I didn't say McC wasn't a one and done, I think he is. I was reponding to Otto who said he thought McC would be the go to guy no matter who is on the roster. I was saying if Grant is here he would be option number 1, IMO.

My point on McC being over-hyped is I think people are expecting too much from him - like him being better than Grant is now. I think a lot of his value in the NBA draft will be based in large part by his potential, and not necessarily on his college production.

 

[TBCuse11]

I didn't say McC wasn't a one and done, I think he is. I was reponding to Otto who said he thought McC would be the go to guy no matter who is on the roster. I was saying if Grant is here he would be option number 1, IMO.

My point on McC being over-hyped is I think people are expecting too much from him - like him being better than Grant is now. I think a lot of his value in the NBA draft will be based in large part by his potential, and not necessarily on his college production.

oh ok i agree. Ennis will be an option over McC as well...

 

[billsin01]

That's the point- each name I mentioned matured and "got IT" at some point, despite some of our fanbase declaring them busts.
The bottom-line is that "fans" are quick to make declarative statements, long before they're valid.
Most every major star at SU had at some point, self-appointed Einstein(s) saying they wouldn't amount to much.
Fans are impatient-and every name I mentioned certainly experienced that dynamic BEFORE making their breakthrough.

I'm with you on impatient fans, but I think my point was that I"m not really sure those guys were really called busts? Forth's game really never changed in 4 years and he won a national title as a frosh. RJ was a good player as a soph and a contributor as a relatively lightly regarded recruit (at least nowhere in the mcd's range or even top 50 if I recall correctly).

Anyway, point is Rak has struggled for two full seasons despite being a big-time recruit. Fairly or unfairly he's gotten a lot of criticism for it. I think Fab is a somewhat interesting comp or maybe a guy like Darryl Watkins is even better. I just don't think it quite works with the other example.

That said, yes fans (myself included) are impatient.

 

[Ghost]

Good post. I'll add that he doesn't seem to have a good innate feel for the game. Some guys do [CJ / Moten], others don't seem to have those same instincts. I think that can hamper player development, as well.

I would tend to drift toward thinking this is his biggest issue. I know people sometimes harp on the lack of effort, but I think while that was an issue early on I don't think much more of an issue with him than most other players we have. The reputation seemed to stick much of last year, but I thought after the third of the year the effort was there - I just think the instincts aren't up to par.

That being said, is Rak capable of 8/8 - absolutely. Do I think that's where he is - prolly not. I'm reserving judgment until November though.

 

[orangefan13]

I think Rak was a year behind the curve. He was supposed to make the jump to PF last year for us, but even if he did it wouldn't have helped to much as we needed him for big minutes at center.

I think he has made a huge jump in the offseason. Hes much more mobile, dribbles like a sf(maybe not the craftyness but has a real nice handle all of a sudden), is explosive with and without the ball, and hes playing solid rotational defense at the four. Once again he was second in team net points in the canadian trip behind Grant by a wide margin, doubling keita, and gbinijes net points (yet nobody is bashing them, and I am not saying to do so).