Minnesota Sports Forum

longstrangetrip wrote:

Camden wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:It's astonishing to me that draft pundits are still talking about Zach Lavine. Yes, he can really jump, but so could Rodney Williams. The guy can't even crack the starting lineup at UCLA. LaVine shows up as a lottery pick on a couple boards, but I don't see him going anywhere in the first round. He needs to stay in school to prove that his athleticism can translate into performance...it hasn't yet.

Agreed. Believe me, I like LaVine's potential a lot, but right now the college game looks too fast for him. Needs to stay in school at least another year and let the game come to him. Maybe take a page out of his teammate Kyle Anderson's book and play at his own pace.

I don't know if you saw it yesterday, cam, but Lavine announced that he will be in the draft this year. He's unhappy with how he has been treated at UCLA. So he's going to come out in a stacked draft after not playing that many minutes as a freshman. Huge mistake...he might not go first round.

More relevantly, Stauskas just hit his first three :)

Yikes. I didn't see that he declared, but someone will be getting a high potential player for a bargain. Hopefully not us in the first round, though. He's not ready.

And oh yes, I'm watching. I actually have my Florida Gators playing Michigan in the title game.

Cam, I'm still not that impressed with Stauskas. Defensively, he was weak in that first half. Offensively, it seems like the only thing he can do is pull up for jumpers. I love his quick release and size as a SG, but he seems like a one-way player that can stretch the floor and that's about it.

(BTW, small sample size theater on my part. I haven't watched him much this season, so this is just based on my very recent observations).

He was cold tonight, Q. Also looked like Tennessee was overplaying him on defense. Vols wings were paying more attention to Stauskas and Robinson than they were the pick and roll for Morgan (15 pts). Stauskas shot 5-12 from the field and 3-8 from three. Two of those three-pointers were chucked due to him catching the ball with the shot clock about to go off. Oh well.

He did have two huge buckets down the stretch though. Big time finish at the rim with two Vols swatting at him around the 5:00 mark. Then had a clutch three ball around 3:00 mark.

I didn't see a weak player on defense. He got burnt twice to the rim in the first half, but second half didn't allow his man any easy looks and I think maybe one bucket was scored on him.

Could have played better, I won't argue that. A cold shooting night doesn't lower my hype about him, though.

Does this team need another white player that plays below the rim? :)

PorkChop wrote:Does this team need another white player that plays below the rim? :)

Lol low blow! Could use more shooters, though. Pow pow. :thumb:

Watching Gary Harris now. My other favorite in the draft.

Camden wrote:Watching Gary Harris now. My other favorite in the draft.

Big Ten might have 3 teams in the final 8...clearly the strongest conference. Another reason to get excited about Harris and Stauskas...knowing that they went up against the best all year.

Harris defensively looks like he's on a completely different level than Stauskas. He is a tenacious SOB. I also like the fact he has some handles and can pass. His ability to shoot and score? Not so sure.....Seems like we have two different sides of the coin with the two Big Ten guards Cam likes.

Q12543 wrote:Harris defensively looks like he's on a completely different level than Stauskas. He is a tenacious SOB. I also like the fact he has some handles and can pass. His ability to shoot and score? Not so sure.....Seems like we have two different sides of the coin with the two Big Ten guards Cam likes.

You are right about his tenacity and toughness, q. Remember, he was an all-state football player as well as basketball in high school. The other thing people forget about Harris is how young he is...only 19, young for a sophomore. It's hard to understand why his shooting fell off so much this year, because he was lights out as a freshman and in high school. I see him as potentially a Tony Allen who can shoot...not a bad comp if he can live up to it. I think it's 50/50 whether he drops to 13, while I'm fairly certain Stauskas will be there.

Q12543 wrote:Harris defensively looks like he's on a completely different level than Stauskas. He is a tenacious SOB. I also like the fact he has some handles and can pass. His ability to shoot and score? Not so sure.....Seems like we have two different sides of the coin with the two Big Ten guards Cam likes.

He's no doubt the better defender. Not even close on that end. On offense, Stauskas has him beat. Better passer, better shooter. I'd call their finishing abilities a push, but if you wanna give Harris the edge as a finisher since he's the better athlete I wouldn't argue.

I fell in love with Harris' game last year. Stauskas got me this year. Lol it'll come down to who's available at 13 or wherever we end up. On Chad Ford's big board, he had Harris in the top-10 and Stauskas outside of it. Give me one of them and I'm a happy guy.