A decent Rodney Williams comp?

Donate To GopherHole
P

Plinnius

Active member
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
3,101
Reaction score
5
Points
38
While sizing up Miami's roster, I came across DeQuan Jones. Jones, much like Williams, was considered a raw super-athlete. Rivals and Scout gave him five stars. ESPN graded him a 96 and provided this evaluation:


Jones is one of the best finishers in the nation. He has the ideal physique for the "three" with long arms and huge hands. His dunks were of the spectacular variety as he elevated over defenders at an alarming rate throughout the event. His ability to get to the rim in traffic is Jordan-esque. He has an extremely quick first step and can carry defenders on his hip to the rim. He's a gifted scorer and can slash to the basket with ease. Despite his athletic prowess, his skills have a ways to go. His jump shot has range out to the stripe, but his shot is erratic and quite flat in its trajectory. In addition, he's very adept at going straight to the basket, but when he has to utilize a crossover move, his handle is quite raw. Jones is a high-major talent who has the upside to be an NBA player someday if his perimeter skills smoothen out.



How well did he perform as a freshman? You judge.
 

In his defense,

he did put up 11 points in 21 minutes against North Carolina Central.
 

hey plinnius

did Rodney bang your mom on your bed or something?

please tell us why you hate the kid so much.
 

Hey the accomplice

the accomplice said:
did Rodney bang your mom on your bed or something?

please tell us why you hate the kid so much.
Click to expand...
That was uncalled for.

Rodney is a wild card coming in next year. We know the athleticism, but haven't seen much other than highlights of him dunking. Rodney with a mid-range jumper would be killer.
 

Well we can hope for a career like DJ's. The athleticism is there, he can start to contribute as a defender, while working on his offensive skills. Also hopefully tubby can get this kid to play with more intensity.
 


Mikie S

It's really not uncalled for.

If you've read some of the other threads where Plinnius rags on Williams relentlessly you'd know what I was talking about. I'd just like to know why he's pissed at Rodney?
 

Agreed accomplice I am really sick of hearing people rip on Rodney before he plays a game here. There is a reason he has been rated so highly he obviously has some talent and I'm sure he can do more than dunk.
________
Silver surfer vaporizer
 

Shows how ignorant Plinnius is..

Rodney is his own self and NO comparison is possible until he steps on the court!

Plinnius is a douche bag! Ignore him!
 

the accomplice said:
It's really not uncalled for.

If you've read some of the other threads where Plinnius rags on Williams relentlessly you'd know what I was talking about. I'd just like to know why he's pissed at Rodney?
Click to expand...

In what way have I ragged on him? I've said that I don't think he'll play much next year. I've said that I'd like to see a video of him showing off something other than his leaping ability. I came across a player that had a similar scouting report.

What is causing you to get so pissed off?
 



The only thing I really don't understand is why everyone wants to suggest he'll be a bust if he doesn't come in and absolutely tear it up from the outset. Just give the kid a chance to play all four years please before railing him before he has even practiced yet.

Do I think he'll be a star from day one? No. But the kid has the tools. That goes for any recruit in any year. No doubting he has ability and lots of it, which is a good place to start from. But this fixation on him being a star right away or bust just confounds me.
 

GopherFan75 said:
There is a reason he has been rated so highly he obviously has some talent and I'm sure he can do more than dunk.
Click to expand...

Does he currently have talent or is it conjectured that he'll develop that talent in the future?
 


Plinnius said:
Does he currently have talent or is it conjectured that he'll develop that talent in the future?
Click to expand...

I would say yes to both questions. He obviously has talent, otherwise he wouldn't have been invited to numerous all-star events and camps and he wouldn't have been recruited by Tubby to play in the Big Ten either. I'll also take my chances on Tubby helping him refine that talent during Rodney's career with the Gophers.
 



MRJ said:
The only thing I really don't understand is why everyone wants to suggest he'll be a bust if he doesn't come in and absolutely tear it up from the outset. Just give the kid a chance to play all four years please before railing him before he has even practiced yet.
Click to expand...

I think that's exactly what even his critics have said... he'll be good, he just won't play much this year due to his limited skillset. Give him some time to develop though, and he could be a hell of a player.
 

This thread blows

First: I dont think Rodney will get that many minutes as a freshman from what I saw this year.

Second: I hope Rodney has a great 4 year career as a Gopher, graduates, and gets to play pro ball some where.

Third: I dont care for the personal vitriol between folks on this board who I assume are all Gopher fans.

Lets all lighten up a bit.

Oh, and 4th: Rodney, practice your free throws !
 

Rodney Williams is going to struggle at the next level, at least as a freshman/sophomore. His overall national ranking has plummeted during his senior season in Scout, Rivals and ESPNU. Minnesota should have gone after Trent Lockett (6-foot-5, 195 lbs.) of Hopkins. Lockett has a much better basketball body than Williams and even passed him as the second best recruit in the state (behind Royce White). Lockett's skills are also more advanced and refined than Williams'. But I guess no one knew Williams was going to plateau like he did during his senior season.
 

Rodney was generally regarded as a better prospect at the time Lockett committed to ASU. Any ex post facto speculation with respect to who we should have been after may not be meaningful. (Scout is still high on Rodney although I don't care much about ranking except top 20 or so) I can envision Lockett as a solid contributor from the first year on. Then again, Rodney may be a bigger payoff in the long run. I won't have any issue if Rodney breaks out in his junior year as I think that could be our year in contention, if not the banner year. We will see in his sophomore year the real evidence if he indeed can be a stud or may fade into mediocrity.

It took two years for Mo Pete to really get his shooting and ball handling down.
 

I must admit I am a little biased toward Lockett because I have seen him play about a dozen times this season and have only seen Williams on highlight films. Good point though, his sophomore season will be pivotal. I think it would be wise for Williams -- and possibly better for the program -- to red-shirt a season and bulk up.
 

Tubby generally does not give out non-medical red shirts, so don't count on that.

I think the biggest problem with rodney's development, and the reason he plateaued, is that his team played him as a center often. They always played him in the post, where he could do a lot of impressive offensive putbacks and block a lot of shots against shorter, less talented opponents. With a prospect like rodney though, his coach really should have done what was best for his development, and that is to play him at his natural position, so he can develop as a slasher, ball handler and most importantly, a shooter.

I fully expect him to improve a lot under Tubby, but it's no surprise that he plateaued so much in high school. At least he had AAU ball to improve as a guard/wing, but I really believe that even more so than with other players, his career will come down to how much he wants to be the best player he can be. It'll take a lot of work, but he as all the tools to be a special player in a couple years.
 

Last month there was a thread that asked how I would change college basketball. One suggestion I had was to make dunking illegal. I said that it was not so much that I didn't like seeing dunks in games, but rather that highly athletic players spend so much time working on their slam dunk highlight video form, that they don't work on the actual skills that make for successful team basketball. I wrote that while thinking about Rodney Williams, among others.

A bit of history. The NCAA did ban dunking in 1967 and it was in place until the 1976-77 season. And how much did it hurt the college game? Well that is the exact time-frame that NCAA basketball assumed the popularity it has today. The very game that defined the new popularity of college basketball (Houston vs UCLA in the Super Dome) was played at the start of that period. Lew Alcinder, Bill Walton, and Dr J all played during that period. I can make a case that Larry Bird and Magic Johnson developed there tremendous floor games in high school under the no-dunk rules before arriving on the college scene at about the time the dunk was re-legalized.

As flashy as it is, the dunk is a very minor part of determining who wins a basketball game. For a guy expected to be a perimeter player in college, it's disturbing that we only see a minor skill highlighted in numerous videos and not the basic shooting, passing and ball-handling skills that will determine how successful he becomes on the college level.
 

Saber said:
Tubby generally does not give out non-medical red shirts, so don't count on that.

I think the biggest problem with rodney's development, and the reason he plateaued, is that his team played him as a center often. They always played him in the post, where he could do a lot of impressive offensive putbacks and block a lot of shots against shorter, less talented opponents. With a prospect like rodney though, his coach really should have done what was best for his development, and that is to play him at his natural position, so he can develop as a slasher, ball handler and most importantly, a shooter.

I fully expect him to improve a lot under Tubby, but it's no surprise that he plateaued so much in high school. At least he had AAU ball to improve as a guard/wing, but I really believe that even more so than with other players, his career will come down to how much he wants to be the best player he can be. It'll take a lot of work, but he as all the tools to be a special player in a couple years.
Click to expand...

Tubby has offered redshirt options to players (at UK anyway) but they declined.

Most recruiting services (except Rivals) continue to rate Rodney Williams in the Top 50 (or so) recruits in 2009 class.

I'm told (by someone in Dinkytown) that ex-Gopher Trent Tucker likes Williams best among 09 Gopher recruits.
 

it's not possible to say that those players wouldnt be the same if they were allowed to dunk in games
 

I just don't see a spot for Williams on the team as a freshman. Whose minutes is he going to take. Hoffarber's? Joseph’s? Bostick's? Carter's? I know Tubby doesn't red-shirt that often, but Williams is a project, and projects take time to develop. Throwing him into the mix right away would only mean that he would get man-handled in the most physical conference in college basketball. His overall athleticism is intriguing, but I think he NEEDS to sit out one year.
 


Weisbrod said:
I just don't see a spot for Williams on the team as a freshman. Whose minutes is he going to take. Hoffarber's? Joseph’s? Bostick's? Carter's? I know Tubby doesn't red-shirt that often, but Williams is a project, and projects take time to develop. Throwing him into the mix right away would only mean that he would get man-handled in the most physical conference in college basketball. His overall athleticism is intriguing, but I think he NEEDS to sit out one year.
Click to expand...

Make sure to tell Tubby that. He needs to know what he's getting and obviously doesn't. And its not like Hoffarber, Joseph, Bostick and Carter were so good that they should automatically be penciled in as getting all of the minutes. None of them were so good that they couldn't be replaced in the lineup at some point.

Classifying Williams as a project is a bit on the extreme side, don't you think? Just because all you've seen of him is dunks and you've seen other guys play a lot more, such as Trent Lockett, doesn't mean he has nothing to bring to the table.

In addition, he's only dropped precipitously in rankings on Rivals. Scout still has him in the top 50 (at #34), as does Hoopmasters (#41) while ESPN has him at #42. In other words, Rivals is the only service that has him as LOW as top 100 that I have seen.

I'll repeat what I said earlier, let Tubby and Rodney work together and see what happens. But to assume that he'll be lucky to see anytime and that he needs all this major work on everything in his game is a bit presumptuous at this point.
 

OK, I would like to state that I have NOTHING against Rodney Williams. I just think Minnesota fans need to be a little careful before we expect him to contribute as a FRESHMAN. I think he is going to be a better than average player in the Big Ten, just not right away. I think he has all the physical tools to be a slasher and a handy defender. His jump shot is a work in progress. I just don't see him grabbing minutes from guys that can shoot (Hoffarber and Joseph). I think we all know that Minnesota needs shooters at this point. That's not to say Williams won't be a good, maybe great, player someday. Again, I just don't think he'll make a huge impact as a raw 6-6, 175-pound freshman slasher. Give this guy time, he could be something special .
I would never second-guess anything Tubby does. If he throws Williams in the mix right away, so be it. Coach Smith knows 1,000 times more about the game and his players than I do...
 

Weisbrod said:
OK, I would like to state that I have NOTHING against Rodney Williams. I just think Minnesota fans need to be a little careful before we expect him to contribute as a FRESHMAN. I think he is going to be a better than average player in the Big Ten, just not right away. I think he has all the physical tools to be a slasher and a handy defender. His jump shot is a work in progress. I just don't see him grabbing minutes from guys that can shoot (Hoffarber and Joseph). I think we all know that Minnesota needs shooters at this point. That's not to say Williams won't be a good, maybe great, player someday. Again, I just don't think he'll make a huge impact as a raw 6-6, 175-pound freshman slasher. Give this guy time, he could be something special .
I would never second-guess anything Tubby does. If he throws Williams in the mix right away, so be it. Coach Smith knows 1,000 times more about the game and his players than I do...
Click to expand...

Fair enough. There are a few posters on here who if Rodney isn't an All-American right away, will undoubtedly write him off as a bust. That's the nature of sports. It's all about what have you done for me lately.

I'm with you actually in having some questions about certain aspects of Rodney's game. Having said that, we haven't had an athletic specimen like him on our roster in a LONG time. A lot of other scouts have also said he's a superior defender and is dynamite in transition, which if true, will get him court time early imo because Tubby loves guys that can play defense. I don't profess to know any more than you do, I can only go off what I've read.

Having said that, I expect that Royce and Mbakwe will both play a lot next year and will contribute the most of the four players in the class.
 


Rodney Williams As Rated By Recruiting Services

Hoopmasters #41. Scout #34. ESPN Scouts Inc #42. HoopScoop #50. PrepStars #38. Recruiters Handbook #33. RSCI #38.

Rivals at #100 seems out of whack with those others Top 30 or Top 40 ratings.
 

MRJ said:
Fair enough. There are a few posters on here who if Rodney isn't an All-American right away, will undoubtedly write him off as a bust. That's the nature of sports. It's all about what have you done for me lately.

I'm with you actually in having some questions about certain aspects of Rodney's game. Having said that, we haven't had an athletic specimen like him on our roster in a LONG time. A lot of other scouts have also said he's a superior defender and is dynamite in transition, which if true, will get him court time early imo because Tubby loves guys that can play defense. I don't profess to know any more than you do, I can only go off what I've read.

Having said that, I expect that Royce and Mbakwe will both play a lot next year and will contribute the most of the four players in the class.
Click to expand...

I must admit, when I heard the Gophers inked Mbakwe, I was VERY excited (even though it was a few years late). Speaking of physical specimens, Mbakwe has an NBA-ready body. He will be able to hang with anyone on the boards in the Big Ten and maybe throw in 7-11 points per night.

I also agree about Royce. As a sports journalist, I was able to observe him up close and speak with him on a number of occasions during his senior season, and I must say, I was impressed. He's another guy that could possibly make it to the NBA some day. I think Tubby is going to be very careful with White because throwing him into the wolves could be damaging, especially for a player that's used to being the best player on the floor all the time. With that said, he is the highest rated recruit of any incoming freshman in the conference. I think he'll have some spectacular performances as a freshman, but have just as many rough games too. In the end, he'll be just fine. He plays with a swagger and edge that cannot be coached. Bravo to the coaching staff at the U for locking him up right away.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom