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Why does it bother you that he's projected as a FUTURE lottery pick? I guess we should all be angry and talk crap about Rodney because he hasn't lived up to that yet. Do you just get some pleasure from posting negative stuff about everything related to the team?

Art Vandelay said:
Potential lottery picks don't go scoreless in 4 minutes in a crucial game like this. Rodney very well could be a solid B10 player and even get a cup of coffee in the NBA, but I think any talk of that sort should be put to bed for now. This isn't college football where future NFL players need a year or 2 to develop. In basketball, if you're a stud future lottery pick, you make an impact almost immediately.
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Rodney is also an exception to the rules. How often do you see a guy with that kind of athleticism and length? A lot of players who fit that type don't often turn out in the NBA, but teams are willing to take the risk with those tools as potential.

Gopher Warrior said:
Joe Alexander is an exception to a lot of rules - not a 'path' that many can go. My recollection: the kid played in Asia and then got to the US for two years of high school ball. He was getting no interest from D-1 colleges and therefore went to Hargrave Military Academy for a year of prep school in hopes of getting scholarship offers. During that year, his stock grew, and Pittsburgh obviously offered him. A a relative unknown.. intriguing guy with potentially a ton of upside, but was still behind a lot of kids...

Contrast that with Rodney Williams, who had been on the recruiting radar of many for years, and has played AAU and with the big boys for years. Alexander played in only 10 games and less than 40 minutes the entire season -- Rodney plays 13 minutes a game and could earn more if he was playing better.

The only 'path' to the NBA for Alexander was to make people learn about who he was, and it was going to take time. Even after his junior year at Pitt, it was hard to figure out who he really was. The Milwaukee Bucks, with the 8th pick, learned that indeed they didn't know who he was. 2+ years after being drafted, Joey is the highest-drafted player ever to not have this third-year option picked up in the NBA.

But, there are plenty of examples of non-bigs that improve greatly over their college years and become high NBA draft picks (Gophers example.. hmm.. Willie!)
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Gopher Warrior said:
It doesn't apply only to Rodney. It applies to many people that are projected as potential first year contributors. Joe Alexander was not in the same situation. He never had a chance to play. Rodney gets to play. Once Joe had a chance to play, he did better than Rodney currently has -- the 1.3 average ppg is unfair - it's better phrased as, 'he barely touched the floor'.

But, fine - let's use Joe as the perfect example. I can't argue with logic like this:
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I guess I wasn't clear. I was referring to two different situations. Situation one(which is different) is that one was under the radar and one was not. Situation two (which is the same) is that they both came in as athletic freaks with loads of potential, but need extra time for their skills to catch up to their athleticism. You think that recruiting experts who project rankings determine how much playing time a coach gives a player? Give me a break. A coach gives a player playing time when they are ready to contribute. If Alexander was dominating in practice as a freshman like he did later in his college career he wouldn't have been sitting on the bench. He wasn't ready to contribute from day one and his playing time reflected that. Simple as that. He needed time for his skills to catch up in order to reach his potential, just like Rodney. Same situation. We'll see what happens when Rodney is given the time to develop.
 

I see we are probably never going to agree on this though, so I'll just leave it at that and let people discuss other topics.
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Sounds good.

GophersOnTheRise said:
He needed time for his skills to catch up in order to reach his potential, just like Rodney. Same situation. We'll see what happens when Rodney is given the time to develop.
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Oh, you're back! As I've said, Joe Alexander is an exception. He was living outside of the US and only had two years in the US playing high school basketball. No one had an interest, so he went to prep school. It's extraordinarily different than Rodney's situation and different from most any other player you might want to compare Alexander's freshman year in college to. Not to mention Alexander is a bust by anyone's definition.
 

freshtrout said:
Tubby will put everyone on the baseline and let LW create his own shot. Towards the end of the game yesterday, Tubby called that offense but LW didn't get off a good shot. I to want to see if RW will be that player someday.....hope so.
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I'd rather have Corey Joseph doing it.
 


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