Cam Christie’s development and impact

[Formerswish]

I've haven't been paying a lot of attention to the NBA draft and undrafted players who enter the NBA in the past few years but I've watched reasonably closely over the last 20 + years.

It's not like every NBA forward or center these days is a capable 3 point shooter. Yes, far more are than used to be but that skill set doesn't appear much for a fair number of them.

A surprising number of players make the NBA at least on a short-term basis and many of them are undrafted but make a roster for a period of time as free agents. The NBA has its own version of lower cost scrubs.

Can Payne make it there? It's possible. I could see him as a Lavoy Allen type or potentially a Paul Reed caliber player. I think improving his free throw shooting would be more important that developing a reliable 3 point shot.

I agree that Payne has a chance to be an NBA player, and agree that he has a ways to go before having a chance. Specifically, Payne needs to not only develop a reasonably reliable short jumper and jump hook to have more opportunities to score, he needs to clean up his ball handling enough to be able to get by defenders when he puts it on the floor.

His ticket to the NBA would be his defense and his incredible motor. His energy, explosiveness and strength are plenty to play in the big leagues. At this point, assuming he did work on his jumper and free throw shooting pretty hard this past off-season, I'd be surprised if he improved these things enough to be considered an NBA prospect any time soon. But after 2.5 more years of improvement? Maybe. And if it does take him that long to develop more offensively, we get to sit back and watch that incredible energy and motor help us approach the top of the Big Ten standings the next 2 years.

 

[Bobek]

Wouldn't be surprised if he declares after this season...unfortunately for us

He’s not a draft pick right now just based on the last three games. I hope no one is trying to convince him of that.

 

[TheRealUncleRico]

Cam gives me the same vibes I got from a freshman Andre Hollins, shows up in big moments. I’m very excited to see how he continues to grow. He has the potential to be even better.

 

[MNVCGUY]

The game yesterday was a good reminder of how far Cam still has to go and how he would almost certainly benefit from at least one more year of college basketball. When Garcia went down the team needed someone to step up and take charge and he wasn't able to do that unfortunately.

He is playing really well for a true freshman but he understandably still has plenty of work to do on his game.

 

[MplsGopher]

Would’ve been interesting to know how it would’ve finished if his late three attempt (that got cleanly blocked) had instead gone in.

 

[Gopheritnow]

I agree that Payne has a chance to be an NBA player, and agree that he has a ways to go before having a chance. Specifically, Payne needs to not only develop a reasonably reliable short jumper and jump hook to have more opportunities to score, he needs to clean up his ball handling enough to be able to get by defenders when he puts it on the floor.

His ticket to the NBA would be his defense and his incredible motor. His energy, explosiveness and strength are plenty to play in the big leagues. At this point, assuming he did work on his jumper and free throw shooting pretty hard this past off-season, I'd be surprised if he improved these things enough to be considered an NBA prospect any time soon. But after 2.5 more years of improvement? Maybe. And if it does take him that long to develop more offensively, we get to sit back and watch that incredible energy and motor help us approach the top of the Big Ten standings the next 2 years.

He has had a problem lately getting too far under the basket, making it much easier to disrupt his shot. His floor coverage is ridiculous. He picked up a loose ball in the lane 8’ from him before anyone else basically moved.

 

[MNVCGUY]

He has had a problem lately getting too far under the basket, making it much easier to disrupt his shot. His floor coverage is ridiculous. He picked up a loose ball in the lane 8’ from him before anyone else basically moved.

Yeah, he did that a couple times against Iowa where he dribbled himself into a bad position instead of just going back up with it. Will be interesting to see what his NBA prospects look like in a few years but he moves really really well for a guy his size.

Just wish he would stop picking up ticky tack fouls on the perimeter. If he is going to get fouls he needs to make sure they come from defending the rim, not the 3 point line.