FINAL GRADES

Before I change my mame to WE ARE FLORIDA GULF COAST, I will weigh in one last time on the 2012-13 ST John's basketball team.

GG-A+
No one has ever gotten so much acclaim for sitting out since Muhammed Ali. GG was given more credit not playing than playing. If it was me I would pull a George Costanza and leave on a high note.

Chris Obepka-C
Great skills. I think by time he is a Senior he becomes an adequate offensive player. Needs to improve rebounding for next season to around 7 or 7.5. Improved his free throw shooting from laughable to pathetic. Needs to get up near 50%.

Jakarr Sampson-B
Fell in love with his 18 foot jumper. Would like him to rebound a little better and bring his range out a couple feet and attack the basket. If he stays for 3 and he puts in the work the Malik Sealy comparisons could come true.

Christian Jones-INC
Lavin, hyped him, started him than played him sporadically. I think he could be a serviceable player.

Amir Garrett-D-
If he can throw his curve for strikes I think he will have a big future.

Dom Pointer-B-
Showed the greatest improvement IMO. He doesn't have a bad shot and should shoot more. I predict a 12-6-4 stat line for him. By his Senior year will be a ALL BE 1st teamer.
Needs to work on his overhand right.

Harrison-A
Was the team's best player and far and away best shooter. Watching some of Lavin's moves makes my eyeball roll so how can I blame Harrison. On a good team he would be the third option. Miscast as team's best player. Wish him the best at Baylor in 2014-15.

Phil Greene-C-
Stopped dribbling in a circle so that is one positive. Phil is extremely confident. That attitude is great if you are trying to pick up chicks not if you consistently jack up jumpers despite all statistical evidence telling you not to. Would be fine as a combo guard off the bench. As our starting shooting guard.......

Branch-D
There are extenuating circumstances, but it is fair to say that he has not played as well as we all would have hoped.

Bourgault-D
Jerked around but did not take advantage of the opportunities he was given.

Felix-INC
Jerked around as much as Marco but did not make any impression on me when he did play.

Lipscomb-A+

Lavin-D
If he stays around I think he will out recruit his coaching deficiencies. In the next couple years he needs to get some shooters and a point guard. I think he will.
Or he leaves and we hire Andy Enfield and his smoking hot wife-see page 60 of the NY Post

Branch has got to be better than a d. I'd give him a B pre injury / C- post injury.

Branch has got to be better than a d. I'd give him a B pre injury / C- post injury.

U can put lipstick on a pig....
 

 Can someone get an A if they are thrown out of class prior to Finals week?

 In all seriousness, I don't think anyone on this team or staff deserves anything close to an "A"..

JaKarr: A, he was freshman of the year for crying out loud.

Harrison: C+, averaged a ton of points, but very poor shooting percentages. I expected more. Bad attitude.

Sir'Dom: B, showed improvement, better offensive game, great defender.

Obekpa: B+, 2nd in NCAA in blocks. Far exceeded my expectations.

Branch: C, Turnover prone, looked pretty bad late in season.

Amir: D, very disappointed in Amir's season. Seems to have lost some explosiveness.

Marco: C-, pretty bad all around. Not the shooter he was hyped to be.

Greene: C-, inconsistent, poor court vision and still played a lot more pg than he should've.

Jones: ?, didn't see enough, but looks like he could be promising. Same for balamou.

Quote from: Amaseinyourface2 on March 26, 2013, 01:34:52 PM

Branch has got to be better than a d. I'd give him a B pre injury / C- post injury.

U can put lipstick on a pig....
 

Did you mean lipscomb?

While I agree that Balamou's grade is incomplete, he certainly made an impression on me. Dude hustles, and busts his ass every play. Haven't really seen him shoot the ball much, but I think if he can learn to shoot he could be a really good player. He can separate himself from defenders well enough, and is pretty good on the drive. Give him some time to adjust, and get him the ball in the right situation.

I think he should be pretty darn good as a junior.

Final grades:

Lavin C -
I think he showed that can be a good motivator. Still, in game 33, the players were one dimensional, and the roster had shaken out to a group of guys that couldn't shoot, rebound or pass. Next season is his make or break year.

Jakarr-A. Great debut. Next season he should be great.
Harrison -A. Our best player. We collapsed w out him. That much can't be debated.
Obekpa- B. A nice debut. He has tons to work on, but his rebounding improved as the season wore on. Will be a strong 4 year player.
Greene C+. He can't run the point, and he can't shoot, but he's out there, and took care of the ball. With practice, he can take another step forward.
Dom-B. He improved all around, but he's got to play smarter on defense. Too many silly fouls. He needs to shoot thousands of jumpers this summer.
Marco-F. He's not able to play at this level.
Jones-C. Hard to tell what he'll end up being. Let's see what he does this summer.
Felix C. Same as Jones.
Garrett D. He actually regressed. He's not good enough at bball to not work on his game over the summer. I love how hard he plays, but he way too raw for a guy about to be a junior.
Branch C-. He's too timid. He's talented, but he was a freshman in his Soph season. He needs to think about getting into the lane on every single possession.

Every single player on our team needs to play a ton of ball this summer and hit the weight room hard. I expect there will be some transfers. We finished the season w out one guy that could shoot a 3.

Final grades:

Lavin C -
I think he showed that can be a good motivator. Still, in game 33, the players were one dimensional, and the roster had shaken out to a group of guys that couldn't shoot, rebound or pass. Next season is his make or break year.

Jakarr-A. Great debut. Next season he should be great.
Harrison -A. Our best player. We collapsed w out him. That much can't be debated.
Obekpa- B. A nice debut. He has tons to work on, but his rebounding improved as the season wore on. Will be a strong 4 year player.
Greene C+. He can't run the point, and he can't shoot, but he's out there, and took care of the ball. With practice, he can take another step forward.
Dom-B. He improved all around, but he's got to play smarter on defense. Too many silly fouls. He needs to shoot thousands of jumpers this summer.
Marco-F. He's not able to play at this level.
Jones-C. Hard to tell what he'll end up being. Let's see what he does this summer.
Felix C. Same as Jones.
Garrett D. He actually regressed. He's not good enough at bball to not work on his game over the summer. I love how hard he plays, but he way too raw for a guy about to be a junior.
Branch C-. He's too timid. He's talented, but he was a freshman in his Soph season. He needs to think about getting into the lane on every single possession.

Every single player on our team needs to play a ton of ball this summer and hit the weight room hard. I expect there will be some transfers. We finished the season w out one guy that could shoot a 3.

Reasonable Poison

Epic fail from head coach to Lipscomb.

Marco Baldi F

Branch has got to be better than a d. I'd give him a B pre injury / C- post injury.

That is fair...Injury definitely affected his play

I think Poison is pretty dead on with those grades.  I'd add a caveat for Branch, simply because he looked like a much, much better player pre-injury.  And I think an "F" for Marco is a bit rough, just given the few solid moments he had (but I hear what you are saying Poison).

D'angelo-  A-   He was our best player when he was on the team. Our best shooter. Our best playmaker. Loses points for the suspension. He had to have been doing something that the other guys weren't, regardless of how major/minor it was.

JaKarr B+   Kid is a great talent. Super athletic, and ultra athletic. If his smarts were to ever catch up with the skills than the sky is the limit. He needs to understand that the 'first shot' is more often than not, not the best shot.

Pointer B   Improved a ton. Needs to become a smarter defender an and more consistent scorer.

Obekpa B-  His shot blocking is unworldly, butttt his offenses is unworldly bad. Some numbers that's I would love to see next year. 50% FG, 50% FT, 8 RPG.

Branch - C+   I'm a big believer in branch, think he really needs a good rebounder/outlet passer to reach his full potential. Is at his best when given the outlet and is able to beat the other team up the court with his pass, not his dribble. Shot must improve.

Phil C-   Phil got better as the season went on. Think he showed that he could go and get a good shot for him self a little bit. Hopefully next year hell look to get a few easy ones and than take an open three. Phil will become a MUCH better player if he were able to make his team better in other ways besides just scoring the basketball.  Shot needs to improve.

Jones, Marco, Felix, Lavin - C    Didn't see a lot of great stuff out of these guys but I saw and like the potential in all of them. Go get better over the summer.

Jerseys- C -  I don't mind the blacks, but if your gonna come with another alternate then you have got to do better than those dull gray ones. I'm not talking Baylor crazy, but give me somethin better than that!

Obekpa needs to get more credit for improving his rebounding skills MID SEASON. Dude was terrible to start the year at grabbing a board but he ended extremely strong.

Obekpa needs to get more credit for improving his rebounding skills MID SEASON. Dude was terrible to start the year at grabbing a board but he ended extremely strong.

Definitely. He will be a great rebounder eventually. I expect him to play 25ish mpg next year, and 8 boards in that time is great production.

I also expect at least 8 rpg next year. I think he'll get it no problem.

I think Poison is pretty dead on with those grades.  I'd add a caveat for Branch, simply because he looked like a much, much better player pre-injury.  And I think an "F" for Marco is a bit rough, just given the few solid moments he had (but I hear what you are saying Poison).

In all honesty, I wanted to give Marco a better grade, but he averaged under 3 points per game on the season. He has got to play elsewhere. I wish him all the best, but he's outclassed at this level.

I also don't see how any player on our team could get a grade lower than him.

Obekpa needs to get more credit for improving his rebounding skills MID SEASON. Dude was terrible to start the year at grabbing a board but he ended extremely strong.

Definitely, take away the two games he played less than 15 minutes due to fouls and he averaged 7 rpg once conference play started.  Also shot 68%% from the line the last two months.

Agree that Obekpa deserves a higher grade.  Kid was a FROSH and led the nation, or was runner-up, in blocks.  Crushed the SJU record.  And he improved thoughout the year.  Should we have expected more from him?