Rodney Williams #10 in '11 Mock

bruster

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http://www.nbadraft.net/2011mock_draft

I was kind of surprised to see that they would have Rodney at number 10 when he played very limited minutes last year. Sure he has a lot of upside, but it's definitely a stretch to put him that early in next years draft.
 


beyond wishful...
 


They description was last updated then but the comparison and grades are recent. They also recently just updated their mock so that's not out of date.

Yeah, Rodney previously was #3 in that draft. Sid mentioned the update in the "Notes" section one day of his column.
 


Obviously this is a very generous projection for Rodney based on his playing time and performance last year. If Rodny plays to the level to elevate him to a top 10 draft choice, the Gopher will have an incredible year. I am not expecting Rodney to progress that quickly, but do hope and expect him to be significantly improved this season.
 

Rodney doesn't have to average 20+ points per game to be projected as a lottery pick. Some people just don't understand how rare it is to have the combination of length and athleticism that he has. His potential is limitless. You can practice shooting and dribbling, you cannot practice being 6'7" with a possible 7-foot wingspan while having freakish athleticism.
 

I wish people would stop quoting NBAdraft.net as a reliable source. I do a lot on the NBA Draft and have known Aron Smith (who runs the site) for years, but in my opinion, it is ridiculous to have do a mock draft this early. If you recall they had Rodney #3 last year. NBADraft.net used to buy up the URLs of all the top players. One year they owned Carmelo Anthony.com, Darko Milicic.com. Amare Stoudemire.com, etc with the prospect of selling them to the players. If Carmelo Anthony is equal in every way to say Bleed Gopher, who do they rank higher Carmelo because they own the URL or Bleed Gopher, if they don't. I said something to Aron about this and they no longer buy up the URLs.

If you were to print out the early mock draft and look at it at the end of the year, it would not even look slightly the same. They had Willie Warren as a top five pick last year, B.J. Mullins the previous season. Neither player came close to being even a lottery pick and Warren was a second rounder this year.

I don't do a mock draft until all the players declare. My philosophy is to let the kids earn the hype. Several mock draft sites have incoming freshman like Harrison Barnes, Kyle Irving, Jared Sullinger and other dominating the lottery. Time will tell, but let the kids enjoy their college career. The minute Rodney was ranked #3, I can only imagine how many calls he got from friends, family, students and agents the minute that list came out. I love Rodney as a athlete and a kid, but he played 30 seconds in the NCAA Tournament. Let him earn his draft status.
 

I wish people would stop quoting NBAdraft.net as a reliable source. I do a lot on the NBA Draft and have known Aron Smith (who runs the site) for years, but in my opinion, it is ridiculous to have do a mock draft this early. If you recall they had Rodney #3 last year. NBADraft.net used to buy up the URLs of all the top players. One year they owned Carmelo Anthony.com, Darko Milicic.com. Amare Stoudemire.com, etc with the prospect of selling them to the players. If Carmelo Anthony is equal in every way to say Bleed Gopher, who do they rank higher Carmelo because they own the URL or Bleed Gopher, if they don't. I said something to Aron about this and they no longer buy up the URLs.

If you were to print out the early mock draft and look at it at the end of the year, it would not even look slightly the same. They had Willie Warren as a top five pick last year, B.J. Mullins the previous season. Neither player came close to being even a lottery pick and Warren was a second rounder this year.

I don't do a mock draft until all the players declare. My philosophy is to let the kids earn the hype. Several mock draft sites have incoming freshman like Harrison Barnes, Kyle Irving, Jared Sullinger and other dominating the lottery. Time will tell, but let the kids enjoy their college career. The minute Rodney was ranked #3, I can only imagine how many calls he got from friends, family, students and agents the minute that list came out. I love Rodney as a athlete and a kid, but he played 30 seconds in the NCAA Tournament. Let him earn his draft status.

All good points, can't argue with that.
 



Chris, I couldn't agree more. I would also add that there are a lot of great athletes in the NBA right now and eventually Rodney will have to improve his basketball skills to make and succeed in the NBA. Does everyone remember Gerald Green the former T-Wolve. He was/is every bit the athlete Rodney is, but he has had very little success in the NBA. I agree that Rodny has incredible athleticism, but he has to improve his basketball skills to meet the high expectations placed on him by the draft sites.
 

Chris, I couldn't agree more. I would also add that there are a lot of great athletes in the NBA right now and eventually Rodney will have to improve his basketball skills to make and succeed in the NBA. Does everyone remember Gerald Green the former T-Wolve. He was/is every bit the athlete Rodney is, but he has had very little success in the NBA. I agree that Rodny has incredible athleticism, but he has to improve his basketball skills to meet the high expectations placed on him by the draft sites.

Ditto. Unless Rodney improves by leaps and bounds this season he has no shot at playing time in the NBA anytime soon. Rodney Carney anyone?? Atheletes come and go. Rodney needs to find a strength other than jumping. It would be sweet if he did that this season though...
 

Ditto. Unless Rodney improves by leaps and bounds this season he has no shot at playing time in the NBA anytime soon. Rodney Carney anyone?? Atheletes come and go. Rodney needs to find a strength other than jumping. It would be sweet if he did that this season though...

This could be a coaching issue as well - not just Rodney!
 

This could be a coaching issue as well - not just Rodney!

Huh? The lack of skills issue is clearly on Rodney and to blame anyone beside him is ludicrious. Rodney needs to be working on all those issues outside the watchful eyes of Tubby or any Gopher assistant coach. Rodney KNOWS what he needs to work on and whether he chooses to or not will ultimately decide is nba draft potential.
 



no coaching is a big part of player developement, and i know tubby is coaching rodney, however the blame should be put I think on his high school coaches, cooper doesnt really stress fundamentals, and they obviously didnt try to maximize rodneys potenial. If he had gone to my school they have you working on ballhandling from day 1, even the post players.
 

no coaching is a big part of player developement, and i know tubby is coaching rodney, however the blame should be put I think on his high school coaches, cooper doesnt really stress fundamentals, and they obviously didnt try to maximize rodneys potenial. If he had gone to my school they have you working on ballhandling from day 1, even the post players.

Go Gophs - You seem to be just one more person who can look at systems and try to influence changes in them rather than condemn an 18 year old because he doesn't know what no one has told him. :clap:
 

High school coaches have limited time to work on individual skills and it's not fair to only blame them for his percieved lack of skills. He also played on a high level AAU program. Would you blame those coaches also? Do you know if Rodney has or had any interest in developing his skills or is he satisfied with being a highlight dunker? Honestly, fundamental skills are learned at an early age. It's hard playing catch up once you enter high school unless you are extremely motivated.
 




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