Comments on: Crystal Ballin’ Texas Hoops: Part I – A Look at the Players

By: Trips Right

Trips Right — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:45:47 +0000

I’m bumping this because Damion James is coming back and shit just got real. Plus, ip has an interesting take on Shawn Williams and it needs to be read. I don’t think I’m asinine for typing that Hamilton is more talented than Williams, but hey, I’ve been wrong before.

By: ip

ip — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:23:46 +0000

This notion that Jordan Hamilton is more talented than Shawn Williams is the most asinine thing I have ever heard. The problem is that most of you who write this stuff have no basis for it other than what you’ve read on another website and based on rankings. I live in Cali and have seen Jordan Hamilton play numerous times and while he can play he is nowhere near as good as all you clowns on this site try to make him out to be. His own AAU coach told me that he was good but he wasn’t as good as he or other people think he is. Greg Hicks over at Scout.com has told me repeatedly that he is vastly overrated and he does all the scouting for the West Coast. Dave Telep who is the head scout at Scout.com told me point blank that there were kids who made the McDonald’s team who weren’t as talented as Shawn Williams and Telep has a vote on the committee. You take that for what it’s worth and stop all this crazy talking ya’ll doing man.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:53:34 +0000

Coaching in the NBA is all about contracts. In the NCAA its about scholarships. One is guaranteed, the other is not.

That’s why most college coaches have no success in the NBA, they don’t have the leverage they did in college.

I think it might have been Chuck Daley who said “they have to LET you coach them”

By: justaguy

justaguy — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:26:15 +0000

Bradley showed some incredible explosion off the floor and I think Clack might be the last guy Texas has had with this type of ability to finish.

Jay Williams must not have been wearing a helmet in that motorcycle wreck.

By: B2

B2 — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:03:59 +0000

He might be getting some minutes next year.

By: 98

98 — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:50:32 +0000

just saw that. awesome athlete.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:49:51 +0000

Andybody watching Avery Bradley in some dunk contest on ESPN right now?

He is in first after the 1st round. I think it is safe to say that he can finish at the basket.

By: The General

The General — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:27:20 +0000

The talent in the NBA is much more evenly distributed than in college basketball. Therefore, the difference is often coaching.

In college, you can get by collecting talent and being better than most of your opponents.

I don’t think we will see massive improvement in college coaching with younger coaches. The money has been extremely attractive for 20 years, and there certainly has not been a massive improvement.

By: Kafka

Kafka — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:01:49 +0000

“…the level of coaching acumen throughout college sports is less than most people realize”.

Agreed.

“This is one area where Barnes’ emphasis on executing ‘our stuff’ makes sense. Time is allocated more towards executing our offense or defense with only slight tweaks for certain opponents, as opposed to installing packages for certain teams”.

Disagree. It is so painful to watch a Barnes’ offense. It is not common to see Barnes exploit mismatches and weaknesses (as you say, he just runs his offense). It may be necessary to tweak your offense (emphasize different plays, for example) every time there is a substitution.

I think coaching will probably improve a bunch with the younger coaches. When the older coaches started out, coaching paid much less than it does now (and so attracted less talented people). The older coaches reaped a bonanza as coaching salaries skyrocketed during their careers.

Coaching pays so much now that smart young men that would have gone into a more traditional, professional career in the past will now consider going into coaching.

By: Ricky

Ricky — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:58:00 +0000

“The main evidence of this is the lack of success of college coaches going to professional sports.”

At first read I was in agreement, but then the more I thought about it the more I am not so sure. The reality is that most professional head coaches end up failing, though they seem to get recycled more often than failed college coaches. The lucky ones get by because they happen to get hired by a team with enough talent for them to keep their jobs for several years. The good ones actually dominate with superior talent or manage some success with mediocre talent. I have to admit I am not that big of an NBA guy, so feel free to put me in my place if I am wrong, but it seems there is a really high percentage of NBA firings compared to the guys who have long tenures.

That said I am not sure how the failure percentages compare between college and pros. I think pro coaches have less time to figure it out but have much more talent to work with, while college coaches have a greater responsibility to do more than just teach basketball to their players (most of whom will make a living doing something else) to win on the court which gives them more leeway on the W-L front.