The interview was made after Sharpe had been to one day of practice...... it isn't as if he made that interview after a month of practices. Calipari said he was having the same issue with his freshman that had been there with lots of practices. I don't know what the practice habits of Sharpe are, as I have not seen him in practice daily..... but I do know that I am not drawing ANY opinions based on what Calipari said in an interview after a single practice. Further, the general belief was that Sharpe was not seeing the floor no matter what, that the adults around Sharpe would not allow it.
Right, not drawing conclusions based on the results of one practice no matter how many shots he missed. But my big question before was WHY didn't he play? Was it an eligibility issue with early entry, or was he just not good enough. What I got out of that interview was that Cal was open to him playing at some point depending on the situation - that he was ready, and if the team had a need (injury). So it was never an eligibility issue. The team eventually had a need, and Sharpe never saw the floor, I think that answers the question I had. I highly doubt that if he was killing Tyty in practice that Cal still wouldn't throw him out there when all three of their guards got hurt.
Most of those that have followed the situation closely believe that Sharpe was never going to play this year and that was beyond Calipari's control.
KG went to the Wolves at 5. He was way more advanced out of high school than Sharpe. I'm not saying Sharpe isn't talented, but he’s got a long way to go.
I heard that Cal at one point was open to playing him and went to talk to he and his family, but I think they decided not to play. I heard that Sharpe was initially open to playing though. Who knows?
I'd be concerned too--not with his talent but with the people that's helping him make these decisions. Sure if he had suited up and actually played for Kentucky he might have gotten exposed or, worse, injured but that's the risk pretty much every collegiate player goes through. Why not encourage him to play and strengthen his case to be a top pick? There have been plenty of players that went to Kentucky ending up as a lotto pick without huge playing time.
The general consensus is that he should not have played late in the season if he as not playing early in the season.... and he was late enrolling to UK so he wasn't in a situation like others. They were being advised by professionals, whether they want to publicly say it or not. There was very little payoff for them to have Sharpe play late in the season. He is likely going top 5-6 anyway.
I guess--and this is where my ignorance comes into play--my question is if he didn't intend on playing at UK at all...then why didn't he just go to the G League or another professional league where he could actually get some burn time? Was it just due to timing? Like you said he will most likely land in the top 5-6 but I'd imagine Sharpe could have put himself firmly as a top 3 pick had he actually saw court action at any level this year.
Yea and I can definitely see that like "You're a lock for top 5-6...why the hell do you want to risk getting injured or lookin bad?" but at the same time if Sharpe's as good as everyone says he is he would have steamrolled through competition in college and put himself in the "Should he go #1?" conversation. It's hard for me to recall any highly touted/rated high school prospect bypassing ANY kind of competition--college, G-League, international play, etc--because he's (or rather his inner circle) is content with a top 5-6 landing spot.
Top 5 is already 15+ million guaranteed. If he played and tried to go #1, then he would have a lot more to lose than to gain.
I am not in the room when and where discussions were being made but committing to UK likely was so that he could practice with elite players and coaches and it left open for a return next season if it turned out that was the best option. I am not saying that Sharpe is going to have an incredible work ethic or mentality, I really do not know. However, when you have someone that is 17 years old, they are going to listen to what their parents and advisors tell him to do...... What I think we are seeing is what has long been the case in other countries... these very elite kids are realizing they can get more benefit forgoing high school and being around top college programs and professional programs. The fact that these kids can sell their likenesses may help save college basketball for awhile, but it is only a matter of time before all of the top 5-10 kids in a class start going to some version of a professional league while 17-18 years old.
It could be that he did not want to go to the G-League but also did not want to stay in high school. At UK he gets to practice and be coached by elites.... and he also gets some college experience..... and he saves his eligibility if for some reason his stock tanked.
He should be a high school senior, he left early and only after there were question about whether he actually would even be eligible to enroll in college early - so his situation is a little different and there have not really been a lot of test cases because this is all relatively new. I am sure that teams in the top 5-6 will grumble about him not playing this year, and having limited tape of him because of COVID. However, at the end of the day he will go high if he does well at private workouts and teams have seen enough of him to have some feel for him as a player. He could be a bust, it is possible, but he also could be a Hall of Famer. The same discussions were being had when Garnett and Bryant, O'Neal and Bender all skipped college.
All this arguing back and forth about Shaedon is making me want Shaedon should the pick be 4 or 5. Just how I'm feeling on a Monday guaranteed to flip by Wednesday. In the video posted in this thread, he already had the body of a 4 year vet plus the wingspan.
The two ways he would have more to lose than to gain is either 1. getting injured or 2. not being as good as everyone thought he'd be. #1 is understandable but also something no one can really predict. If it's #2 then yea it was the best decision his family/inner circle could have made for him. Otherwise I don't see how playing at UK or anywhere else would have significantly dropped his stock.
