Josh Cunningham - PF - Morgan Park HS - Chicago, IL - BRADLEY

Quote from: Marillac on April 29, 2014, 11:10:40 PM

Quote from: boo3 on April 29, 2014, 08:37:04 PM

Obekpa is returning, no?   Thomas hopefully comes...  there is a center and PF.. Adonis the Giant is coming .

 Pointer is a SF who will be a senior.... Felix is a Small forward ( he's not a guard)... Christian Jones is a PF i believe..

 I just named 6 forwards... . This notion we have no front court isn't true. Is it ideal? no..

 And whether you like it or not, we will have a 3 guard  starting lineup. 

Obekpa was the key and far more important than Sampson.  We have two 6'11 guys to back Obekpa up at the five....we're bigger than we've been in years.  I don't expect too much from Jones, but he's a sturdy body that won't get pushed around.  Dom and Felix can both play the four in a 2-3 zone or in man against smaller PFs.  It's not like PFs are 6'10 anymore.

If the bigs just get out of the way of the guards, that alone will make us better than last year.  This also leaves out Keith "I'm going to outwork you" Thomas and his 9 boards a game.

Are you joking?  Obekpa more important than Sampson?  That's an absurdity.  Obekpa never came near mirroring nor even came close to being able to make up for The loss of Sampson.  Felix can play the 4?  Are you on drugs?  Mr.  " I'm going to outwork you" is still uncommitted.  If he commits, he will need 15 boards a game to outwork his opponents who are not juco players but rather Big East players like the entire Xavier team that destroyed us on the boards twice.

Fans here better hope that Thomas is far better than Jakarr and that felix at 6'3" can out producer 6'9 Sanchez and Gift because as of now, those are their replacements...  It's friggin sad...

Why are you acting like Sampson was a stud?  Did he make single good decision at the end of close games?   Did he hit a single front end of a one-and-one in the second half?  Did he give us any defense down low?  Sampson-Sanchez-Pointer destroyed any chemistry that team could have had. 

Sampson COULD have been a monster next season, but last season he couldn't cover an ant with a king-size comforter.

Quote from: MCNPA on April 29, 2014, 11:58:44 PM

Quote from: Marillac on April 29, 2014, 11:10:40 PM

Quote from: boo3 on April 29, 2014, 08:37:04 PM

Obekpa is returning, no?   Thomas hopefully comes...  there is a center and PF.. Adonis the Giant is coming .

 Pointer is a SF who will be a senior.... Felix is a Small forward ( he's not a guard)... Christian Jones is a PF i believe..

 I just named 6 forwards... . This notion we have no front court isn't true. Is it ideal? no..

 And whether you like it or not, we will have a 3 guard  starting lineup. 

Obekpa was the key and far more important than Sampson.  We have two 6'11 guys to back Obekpa up at the five....we're bigger than we've been in years.  I don't expect too much from Jones, but he's a sturdy body that won't get pushed around.  Dom and Felix can both play the four in a 2-3 zone or in man against smaller PFs.  It's not like PFs are 6'10 anymore.

If the bigs just get out of the way of the guards, that alone will make us better than last year.  This also leaves out Keith "I'm going to outwork you" Thomas and his 9 boards a game.

Are you joking?  Obekpa more important than Sampson?  That's an absurdity.  Obekpa never came near mirroring nor even came close to being able to make up for The loss of Sampson.  Felix can play the 4?  Are you on drugs?  Mr.  " I'm going to outwork you" is still uncommitted.  If he commits, he will need 15 boards a game to outwork his opponents who are not juco players but rather Big East players like the entire Xavier team that destroyed us on the boards twice.

Fans here better hope that Thomas is far better than Jakarr and that felix at 6'3" can out producer 6'9 Sanchez and Gift because as of now, those are their replacements...  It's friggin sad...

Why are you acting like Sampson was a stud?  Did he make single good decision at the end of close games?   Did he hit a single front end of a one-and-one in the second half?  Did he give us any defense down low?  Sampson-Sanchez-Pointer destroyed any chemistry that team could have had. 

Sampson COULD have been a monster next season, but last season he couldn't cover an ant with a king-size comforter.

Who's going to make the good decisions at the end of close games?  Hit the end of one and one?  The defense down  low?   You realize we haven't replaced Sampson, Sanchez nor Gift yet right?  Nor Hooper and Bourgault..  Thomas going to make up for all of this? Cmon?

MCN, remember when you said christian Jones could be a similar player to Alex Poythress? Now you talk about him like hes a DIII walkon. All hes done is had 18 months to improve his game.

For me it is worse not offer yet to Jessie Govan (a Top 60 local player) than losing the recruitment of a player (Josh Cunningham) against the local team.

MCN, remember when you said christian Jones could be a similar player to Alex Poythress? Now you talk about him like hes a DIII walkon. All hes done is had 18 months to improve his game.

No, I said athleticism/body type.  Don't misconstrue.

Why are you acting like Sampson was a stud? 

Why are you acting like he sucked? HE was BE ROY as a freshman and as a sophomore averaged 13 points and 6 rebounds a game while shooting 50 percent from the floor. He was a highly productive player with some flaws in his game.

Did he make single good decision at the end of close games?   Did he hit a single front end of a one-and-one in the second half?  Did he give us any defense down low? 

In the first place, those questions are kind of dumb, because those are not the attributes that define a "stud." Wilt Chamberlain was a crappy FT shooter, and he was about the studliest BB ever. So there's that. And in the second place, the answers are probably, probably, and yes (he shut down the POTY). So even by your own dopey criteria Sampson was about half a stud.

Sampson-Sanchez-Pointer destroyed any chemistry that team could have had. 

If that is true - and it isn't: Lavin destroyed any chemistry the team could have had by changing the starting line up every game and shuffling the players in and out at random for two thirds of the season - could you please explain why Coach Tesla played those three chemistry destroying players for a combined 75 minutes per game? Usually coaches play the players they think give them the best chance of winning. Why did Lavin give significant minutes to players who you are describing as cancerous losers.

Another player off the Board.   I assume most of the reasonable junior college players are gone at this point.  Where do we go from here?  Are there any graduates available?  Do we take a transfer, even though they would not play during 2014-15?  Do we take a remaining guard, even though the remaining guards are not likely to be 'studs' and we are loaded at that position next year?  Is it best to hold the scholarships 'for the next class and have the current team work on their conditioning?

Quote from: Marillac on April 30, 2014, 12:07:15 AM

Why are you acting like Sampson was a stud? 

Why are you acting like he sucked? HE was BE ROY as a freshman and as a sophomore averaged 13 points and 6 rebounds a game while shooting 50 percent from the floor. He was a highly productive player with some flaws in his game.

Quote

Did he make single good decision at the end of close games?   Did he hit a single front end of a one-and-one in the second half?  Did he give us any defense down low? 

In the first place, those questions are kind of dumb, because those are not the attributes that define a "stud." Wilt Chamberlain was a crappy FT shooter, and he was about the studliest BB ever. So there's that. And in the second place, the answers are probably, probably, and yes (he shut down the POTY). So even by your own dopey criteria Sampson was about half a stud.

Quote

Sampson-Sanchez-Pointer destroyed any chemistry that team could have had. 

If that is true - and it isn't: Lavin destroyed any chemistry the team could have had by changing the starting line up every game and shuffling the players in and out at random for two thirds of the season - could you please explain why Coach Tesla played those three chemistry destroying players for a combined 75 minutes per game? Usually coaches play the players they think give them the best chance of winning. Why did Lavin give significant minutes to players who you are describing as cancerous losers.

Thank you.   
Marillac you've gone off the deep-end with your criticism of Sampson.   Jakarr was a very good player for us, albeit one with holes in his game.
You started off with a valid premise, that Sampson could be a blackhole on offense sometimes, killing the ball-movement, and that his rebounding and defensive effort was inconsistent.   These things are true.    But you've framed your comments so narrowly as to only include his flaws and ignore the 2 years of good play he gave us.   

Quote from: Amaseinyourface2 on April 30, 2014, 12:43:15 AM

MCN, remember when you said christian Jones could be a similar player to Alex Poythress? Now you talk about him like hes a DIII walkon. All hes done is had 18 months to improve his game.

No, I said athleticism/body type.  Don't misconstrue.

Sorry, that's my mistake..

"Scary things that he's only going to get better. He really says like an upperclassmen and series I think he's one watching him play, but it's just his poise. When he works on his handle a little bit as well as his post moves, he'll really be fantastic. Kudos to the staff on landing this kid. Really an unknown gem and it's rare to find those in the USA lately."

"I'll add that he's almost a clone of UK's freshman Alex Poythress. Same body type, skill set, size etc. really not a huge difference from what I've seen."

"No idea how he was on nobody's radar? Kid is built like a senior and isn't missing all too much in his game. Looks like a lot of people dropped the ball except our staff. Good for us."

"Didn't say same level right now. Just strikingly similar games, build height etc. Poythress certainly further ahead at this point, but lots of similarities of you watch them."

"Yeah, I have a hard time not picturing him as an upperclassmen on this team even though he's just a young buck. Crazy part is that he's going to get a ton better over time here too."

Quote from: MCNPA on April 30, 2014, 08:36:29 AM

Quote from: Amaseinyourface2 on April 30, 2014, 12:43:15 AM

MCN, remember when you said christian Jones could be a similar player to Alex Poythress? Now you talk about him like hes a DIII walkon. All hes done is had 18 months to improve his game.

No, I said athleticism/body type.  Don't misconstrue.

Sorry, that's my mistake..

"Scary things that he's only going to get better. He really says like an upperclassmen and series I think he's one watching him play, but it's just his poise. When he works on his handle a little bit as well as his post moves, he'll really be fantastic. Kudos to the staff on landing this kid. Really an unknown gem and it's rare to find those in the USA lately."

"I'll add that he's almost a clone of UK's freshman Alex Poythress. Same body type, skill set, size etc. really not a huge difference from what I've seen."

"No idea how he was on nobody's radar? Kid is built like a senior and isn't missing all too much in his game. Looks like a lot of people dropped the ball except our staff. Good for us."

"Didn't say same level right now. Just strikingly similar games, build height etc. Poythress certainly further ahead at this point, but lots of similarities of you watch them."

"Yeah, I have a hard time not picturing him as an upperclassmen on this team even though he's just a young buck. Crazy part is that he's going to get a ton better over time here too."

Now that is funny. During his better days he gave reports like that too all of our recruits. Lol

This what what, the first game of the season?  Jones fell off the radar after that.  He's a sick athlete and still think he is.  Kid can dunk from the free throw line and is strong.  He has a nice jumper too but I haven't seen any indication he can rebound. I was still really comparing them physically, but was excited about his play early.  At that point in time he looked quite good.  Maybe I had a few too many that day, who knows.