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(01-19-2015 03:22 PM)jthrashr Wrote:  

(01-19-2015 02:53 PM)BlazerGold09 Wrote:  In reference to Dirk, who knows what he'll bring to the team. So rarely are any of our players ready out the gate like Cokley and Lee. Heck, it's taken over half the season to get them playing consistent.

Maybe, but Dirk is a 6'5 JUCO transfer who happens to be shooting 47% from three while attempting seven three-pointers per game. I willing to bet he plays big minutes next year.

Good point. We'll take him with open arms!

(01-19-2015 03:22 PM)jthrashr Wrote:  

(01-19-2015 02:53 PM)BlazerGold09 Wrote:  In reference to Dirk, who knows what he'll bring to the team. So rarely are any of our players ready out the gate like Cokley and Lee. Heck, it's taken over half the season to get them playing consistent.

Maybe, but Dirk is a 6'5 JUCO transfer who happens to be shooting 47% from three while attempting seven three-pointers per game. I willing to bet he plays big minutes next year.

I'd be shocked if he wasn't a big time performer from day 1 at UAB. His shooting is sorely needed. I think we are going to have a log jam at guard, and I'm not sure who the odd man out will be.(brown is playing 35 a night. Norton is the future. Baxter is solid. Watts has been an impact guy lately.). It's a damn good question to have to ask. If Cokley and lee can bulk up like Mehinti did, we are going to finally have the team in place that Haase has invisioned.

Dirk Williams is awesome, I saw him play in person a few years ago. He has a great shot and can jump out of the gym. He is a big time hustler and is one of those "go to guys" when the game is on the line. He will definitely be a starter for us next year. I think he has NBA potential. Hopefully his academics are ok, I think that is what held him back from a D1 offer.

Forgive me for being jaded. HCJH has shown in past that he can bring good JUCO recruits. None have been great, yet.

(01-19-2015 11:14 PM)BlazerGold09 Wrote:  Forgive me for being jaded. HCJH has shown in past that he can bring good JUCO recruits. None have been great, yet.

Chad?

No, Chad was not great. He could have been, but he only played one year on a mediocre team. Great indicates successful. Chad did not succeed.

True

Boy, imagine a lineup with

Frazier
Brown
Lee
Cokley
Mehinti

(01-20-2015 12:10 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  No, Chad was not great. He could have been, but he only played one year on a mediocre team. Great indicates successful. Chad did not succeed.

You can be a great player on a bad team. It happens all the time in sports. If that isn't the case, than I suppose Adrian Peterson isn't a great running back, and cousins isn't a great player in the nba. Chad single handily won games for us last year. Cj also played very well for us last year.

I think Haase has done a pretty decent job recruiting juco guys. Rideau was a swing and a miss. Collins(was he juco?) just seems like a guy we picked up to fill a roster. If he worked out, great. If not, no big deal.

You can look at juco stats and tell a lot. Dirk's shooting percentages are very good. It looks like he was a sixth man, but has been starting the last six games. In those games, he has had 19, 24, 9, 8, 27, and 20. He has scored 20 9 times this year. How many 20 point games do we have this year as a team? He may not come in and score 20 a game 15 times, but if we can consistently get him hitting threes and putting up 10-15 a game, that is going to be huge. I have high hopes for him.

Chad was a quitter. He was not great. He had the opportunity to sit out a semester and come back. He close not to. He was an abuser and a quitter. Not the definition of great.

That's not the definition of a good person. We could see that on the court last year though, and a certain somebody always told us we didn't know what we were talking about. You can be a good player without being a good person. Ever heard stories about what type of person Michael Jordan is? Tiger Woods? Ray Lewis was involved in a freaking murder, and he is considered a great player.

Fine. You think he was great. I don't. Even with the off the court issues aside, I don't think he was a great player.

(01-20-2015 10:01 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Fine. You think he was great. I don't. Even with the off the court issues aside, I don't think he was a great player.

He was pretty good. I'd take every single player on our current roster over him, however. These kids have a good attitude and are team players.

Don't not dwell on the past. Instead focus on the future.

(01-20-2015 10:47 AM)the_blazerman Wrote:  Don't not dwell on the past. Instead focus on the future.

Nobody is dwelling on it. There was a comment made about juco players under Haase. In the past decade very few UAB players have put up numbers chad did on the court. If we don't think he was a great juco signing, then there might as well be no such thing. I was not a fan of his attitude while playing here, and obviously I'm not a fan of the off the court crap. But he was a very good player on the court.

Was that a Ray Watts joke?

Yes. Bentley actually used it in his speech yesterday as well.

I figured if I had to explain it, might as well not.

I'd say he was very good, but not great. He could put up great scoring numbers, but he was often inefficient, ball hogging, turning the ball over frequently. I also don't know that he was a very good rebounder or defender.

I reserve great for Squeaky (in his own way), Paul Delaney, Robert Vaden, Eli Millsap, and Aaron Johnson (probably Mo Finley too, but I only became a UAB fan at the end of his playing time, so I can't reliably comment on his whole career).

Honorable mentions go to Marvette Mcdonald, Lawrence Kinnard, Demario Eddins, Cam Moore, and Jamarr Sanders.

His stats were very similar to sanders. And Chad was a pretty decent rebounder for a guard. My point is he was a great juco recruit. If you don't call him a great juco recruit, than we will never have one because any expectation beyond what he did is ridiculous. I believe most players would turn into a ball hog if the rest of the team couldn't make any shot. i don't know why in defending him so much, because I complained about him a lot, but to say he wasn't a great juco pickup is just ridiculous to me.

He was a solid Juco with skill at scoring and rebounding. He was streaky and turnover prone, often because he called his own number so much. He could take the team on his back, score 20 and win, or he could have six turnovers. Effort was spotty.

When he was on he was very good. He wasn't the second coming.