good thing there is depth. pop so far looks like the guard that buzz had to run off. marcus williams?

flow stopper

Pop is gonna be ok I think. You can see him starting to get it.

Mgbako… you can see the potential but he needs to be more than a tall, long armed 3 pt shooter which is kind of what he's been so far. He's also been a turnover machine. To be fair , he hasn't practiced or played much yet with this group. Has only played 58 mins to date . Maybe needs a blood transfusion from Agee .

What exactly does the best version of Mgbako look like? Doesn't seem like he has the handles to really create for himself.

halfastros81 said:

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Mgbako… you can see the potential but he needs to be more than a tall, long armed 3 pt shooter which is kind of what he's been so far. He's also been a turnover machine. To be fair , he hasn't practiced or played much yet with this group. Has only played 58 mins to date . Maybe needs a blood transfusion from Agee .

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He just needs to trust his foot is OK and get back into playing shape.

I bet he looks like what he did last year sometime in January for us.

going way back here, but from what ive seen so far he sort of reminds me of Anthony Jones at Baylor from 2008-2011 or so. Those kind of tweeners must be equally exciting and frustrating for coaches.

I don't honestly know. Haven't seen him play enough . I'm willing to guess the hands , dribbling , passing issues are timing and conditioning from not having played enough in general recently and with this group. I think it's reasonable to say he needs to be somewhat of a help on the boards and defending in the paint at 6 ' 9" . I hope the best version can hit open 3's which he has done but also pass or move to the basket when he's overplayed and also move without the ball to set up scoring/rebound opps.

Redfishag93 said:

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Mgbako played very well at the NBA predraft camp last year against very good competition, and was considered a 2nd round pick if he had come out.

That's enough for me to know he can be a very good sec player. I just think he needs time coming off the injury.

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Was that not the NBA summer league?

Redfishag93 said:

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Mgbako played very well at the NBA predraft camp last year against very good competition, and was considered a 2nd round pick if he had come out.

That's enough for me to know he can be a very good sec player. I just think he needs time coming off the injury.

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I think the question for him, like it is for a few guys on our team, is can he play physical basketball.

He looks great in a space and shoot style game, which the NBA predraft camp scrimmages definitely are. But we need him to be more physical and play some ugly basketball. He's 6-9, he can't be soft on the boards and not give us any help defensively in the paint.

Right now he's basically a taller Dominguez, but again, he's still working his way back, we'll see where he is in a month or so.

Coming into the season- I thought they would be our 2 best players.

At this point- they are maybe our 4th and 5th best payers. Totally disappointed with them thus far but much season left.

We are only gonna get better

I'll clarify: for Mgbako- I feel his effort is lackluster and his overall feel for the game is still way off even with only a handful of weeks with the team. He is a very experienced player and isn't playing g that way.

I'll still say- I'm only disappointed "so far." A handful of games ago- our team was playing like trash and each week since you see a building momentum and chemistry. I'll hold out hope that this occurs for Mgbako and Pop.

His tape didn't exactly scream "first to the floor" kind of guy anyway, but certainly he needs to improve there some for sure.

I think the only player I'd say I'm disappointed in so far is Federiko.

I think for most everyone else it's either too early to tell (Griffen, it looked like he was starting to put it together before he got sick, Mgbako, Isaacs) they're better than I expected (Agee, Lane, Vinson, Clemence, Dominguez) or they're about what I expected (everyone else).