The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Ultimately EG is going to have to decide if his stock is the highest by trying to come back to UAB and have a monster year, or going the G-League route.

I truly believe he could average 15 and 8 assists with plenty of peripheral stats if he continues to grow.(and he grew last season, without a doubt). I don’t believe for a second he would be out of the rotation, or not a big part of what we do next season if he returns. Can he learn to play within a system would be the question he has to answer.

If he goes the G-League route, he is going to have to be one of the best players in the league, because most of the guys there are on the cusp of the NBA, they are just lacking in one thing or another. It would be a much tougher route in my opinion, but it’s paid. I see no way Gaines is drafted before the back end of the 2nd round, or is undrafted based off of tape to date. That basically means a two way contract at the very best.

I hope he chooses the first option, but if he doesn’t I’ll pull for him to make the NBA one day. He’s a great player with a really high ceiling, I hope he figures it all out.

(05-24-2023 12:00 PM)WesternBlazer Wrote:  EG just needs to realize that every play does not have to be part of a highlight reel. Just calm down and make the play that's needed - make the correct decision. The SportsCenter plays will happen as they will.

That's a huge part of it. If he cut down on the brain fart turnovers and quit trying to make most plays into a highlight, he would be so much better. If he literally did nothing to improve his game (i.e. shot the same percentage, didn't get stronger, didn't develop a mid range game) he would be so much better by just simply by cleaning up his mistakes.

As hard as I have been on him, I want him back.

He could provide a ceiling, another level, that this team probably doesn't have without him.

EG developed a little sneaky good 3 to last year. If we have 5 guys on the roster who are legit threats to shoot we are miles ahead of last season. It was Jelly, maybe EG, the occasional Ledarius, and toward the end of the year we had Ty go crazy

I think he will have a monster year if he comes back.

Our team will be amazing if he’s back. We could legit have a next 5 off the bench that’s every bit as good as the starting five. That’s exhausting to other teams. Seeing no drop off in production of the starters get foul issues or tired.

Also I’ve been seeing videos of KJ Satterfield and holy crap he looks amazing

Allow me to join the chorus hoping to see EG back in gold and green. Take him off the point and maybe run some plays that take advantage of his skill set, and he could be off the chain.

Really hoping the NBA dalliance is him gathering information to bring back and use to improve his game for 23/24.

(05-24-2023 02:54 PM)grendelson138 Wrote:  Allow me to join the chorus hoping to see EG back in gold and green. Take him off the point and maybe run some plays that take advantage of his skill set, and he could be off the chain.

Really hoping the NBA dalliance is him gathering information to bring back and use to improve his game for 23/24.

One week left.
He has until 4pm on Wednesday May 31st to withdraw from the draft and retain his eligibility.

Interestingly I found a couple of threads on reddit about Eric Gaines from NBA draft subreddits. There was one guy on there that said he was a UAB fan and watched him in all 39 games, but other than that, these were non-UAB basketball fans. Their observations were interesting and largely mirrored our own on here:

Pros:
Insane athleticism and speed
good defender, largely due to ^^
improved shooting
good passing ability
good wing span
decent height for an NBA point guard
can fill up the stat sheet other than scoring

Cons:
TURNOVERS and being careless with the ball
very underweight and waifish
even with better shooting %'s not a naturally good shooter
poor finishing % at the rim
old player by NBA draft standards to still be so raw and unpolished
poor body language and arguing with coaches on the sideline, even LATE in the year
technical fouls

Most people, like most of us here, said he was either undrafted this year or a Gleague/two way player at best. Most people thought he'd be best served by coming back to UAB.

Just interesting to hear the outside perspectives and know that I am in fact not crazy in my criticisms of Eric Gaines.

FWIW, I brought about 5 experienced basketball fans to UAB games this year that would otherwise not have come to our games. Each one of them had the same basic, very underwhelming opinion of Gaines, largely due to the insane amount of turnovers and non-turnover poor decisions he made on the court. The consensus was the highlight reels had really fooled people with Gaines.

I would be VERY surprised if he is drafted this year. If he is drafted late, or is not drafted and signs a gleague contract, I don't think he will ever amount to much in the league and will float around a while before ending up in Europe. If he comes back, proves his worth, balls out, and improves on his deficiencies, he could be an NBA player. THREE full years in high level college basketball and he is still a VERY raw and unpolished product. He has a lot to improve on. Can he? Absolutely.

I am not a vindictive person. I hope he is drafted and does well and has a great career. The 30+ year player/fan/objective basketball observer in me just doesn't see that happening this year. But I have been wrong many times before.

I call it like I see it. There were games where Gaines was the best player on the floor. He was probably the best player on either roster in our game at home against Final Four participant FAU. He has that potential. It just hasn't all clicked yet for whatever reason. I still say Eric Gaines looks like an insanely gifted natural athlete who started to play the game of basketball very, very late. Either that, he's had bad coaches, or he doesn't taking coaching to heart. But I think he showed last year that he can be coachable.

Anyways, rant aside.. I again say I hope he comes back and balls out. I am a biased UAB fan, and him coming back likely makes us better and could provide this team a ceiling it doesn't have without him.

It'll be interesting either way. He's definitely the most polarizing UAB player I've ever watched.

Nobody said your opinions were wrong or crazy. You wrote the same thing over and over and over and over. That’s what wore on people.

I tend to do that bc people are homers on here and watch our teams with blinders on. I don't do that. I call it like I see it.

I don’t think I saw a single person on this board say Gaines was a perfect player, or anything close to that. People defended him when he was constantly getting bashed at times. I think it’s a situation where both sides are right, and people wound up talking through each other instead of actually comprehending what the other person was responding with.

He got talents but he is not good for the chemistry of the team

(05-26-2023 03:06 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  I don’t think I saw a single person on this board say Gaines was a perfect player, or anything close to that. People defended him when he was constantly getting bashed at times. I think it’s a situation where both sides are right, and people wound up talking through each other instead of actually comprehending what the other person was responding with.

What he said

Tweet from AK -

https://twitter.com/CoachAK13/status/166...59138?s=20

It was a WHITE OUT in Miami tonight with everybody wearing white t-shirts. When will they learn?

Anyone heard anything on EG? I know we i to have a few days left till we know but I feel like some on here we’re hearing he was gone/ back at various times this off season. I don’t think I’ve seen EG back in bama for a while but not sure that means anything

I haven’t seen where any team he has worked out for sees him as anything more than a potential UDFA signing that could play in summer league and try to earn a two way (g league) contract.

No idea if that’s enough for him to stay in the draft or not. Something to keep in mind is that he’s already 22 and will be 23 before next year’s draft, which is practically collecting social security age when compared to top nba prospects. He might just feel that he could progress more as a player in the pros than he could returning to school.

(05-28-2023 07:37 PM)BlazerMatt Wrote:  I haven’t seen where any team he has worked out for sees him as anything more than a potential UDFA signing that could play in summer league and try to earn a two way (g league) contract.

No idea if that’s enough for him to stay in the draft or not. Something to keep in mind is that he’s already 22 and will be 23 before next year’s draft, which is practically collecting social security age when compared to top nba prospects. He might just feel that he could progress more as a player in the pros than he could returning to school.

I’ve commented on his age many times. It’s a huge red flag that he is still this unpolished at his age. Not too long ago, the NBA was drafting guys straight out of high school. All professional sports want to see an early breakout age. 22-23 and still unpolished AF is a big red flag in that evaluation. But to be fair there are obviously positives to balance that out.

I just cannot fathom him getting drafted.

Hopefully I’m wrong and he is taken as a lottery pick.