Rambunctious said:
Bazemore will never sniff the NBA - - that was funny. Let's see, he's too small for the 3 spot in the NBA. 6-5 no matter the wingspan, is not going to cut it in the NBA at that spot. He can't handle the ball well enough to even be a 1 in the CAA, so he can't play the PG spot in The Association. Let's see, that leaves the 2 spot...and guess what? He can't shoot - - no stroke from distance.
Yeah, he's going to the NBA.
Look for Bazemore to be in Europe.
Skeen and eventually I think we'll see, Veal, will be better pro prospects than Bazemore by the end of this season. You can't teach 6-9, 250. Also, Jenkins will be a better prospect based on reputation and body build. Bowles will definitely get some looks in the NBA.
And I hate to say this, but Bradford is not going to be an NBA player. He's a tweener size-wise, just like Bazemore, but he's less athletic than Bazemore. He does have a better shooting touch no doubt. Brad's just not quick enough or a big enough athlete to make it in the NBA at his size/position. Now he can be a beast at times in the CAA.
I'm not entirely sure you watched the same Kent Bazemore last season, it sounds like you are talking more about him as a freshman than sophmore.
His stats last year weren't eye popping but then again, he was a sophmore on a deep and talented junior/senior lead team. He deferred to quite a few other players before stepping up towards the end of the year.
Against VCU in the last 2 games of the season, he had 6 assists and 3 turnovers. For the season he had a 1.64 assist to T/O ratio. By comparison, Joey R. had a 1.08 asst/to ratio as a sophmore when he was playing a combo guard spot like Bazemore.
The observation about his shooting touch is certainly accurate, 30% as a 3 point shooter isnt going to get it done as a 1 2 or 3 in the NBA. Without a doubt that is his biggest flaw as a player right now, something I'm sure the coaches will work with him on quite a bit.
But you aren't looking at the whole picture. He was only a sophmore last year. He made a leap towards the end of the season, even a biased VCU fan would have to admit that. Look at the stats.
Bazemore started the year 1/12 from the 3 point line. From that point on, he went 8/18 from the 3 point line for the rest of the season. While its a fairly small sample size, 44% is a pretty solid shooting number from behing the arc, even if he didn't attempt alot of 3's.
But the bigger point is that he has the most POTENTIAL of anyone in the CAA based on his sophmore season. With Gerald Lee now gone, Bazemore will see a much bigger role in the offense and will more than likely be utilized as one of the primary weapons in Taylor's system. Other than Charles Jenkins, he probably has the best slashing ability of anyone in the CAA and quite possibly might be the most athletic player in the CAA. His vertical and wingspan for a player his size is incredible (he has longer arms than Gerald Lee with more athleticism than anyone in the CAA).
He was already an all-CAA defensive first teamer as a sophmore and with Larry gone, could definetly be the defensive player of the year next year when you take into account his blocked shots for a guard and near the top of the league in steals. Early reports are he has packed on 10-15 pounds of muscle in the offseason working out and should be ready to have a breakout year as a junior.
Again, this is all hypothetical, so take it with a grain of salt......but I figured since you are arguing "potential", its hard to argue that anyone in the CAA has more POTENTIAL than Bazemore.
6-5 combo guards with a 7-0 wing span, freakish athleticism, lockdown defense and solid rebounding and shooting %'s (49% from the field as a sophmore) do not grow on trees. I agree 100% his shooting from beyond the arc needs to improve (like I said though, it was 44% over the last 20 or so games of the season), but considering that is the only dent in the armor he has (as a sophmore no less), his potential is greater than just about anyone else in the CAA. Call me a homer if you want, it doesn't mean I am wrong.
