Have you heard of AAU? He dominated the same players (Gordon, Bayless) in AAU ball and in All Star practices. Also, he has played against professionals. The difference is that Gordon and Bayless are playing in optimum situations, Mayo is playing off the ball for the first time ever and he is still have a great freshman season.
It could also be a matter of Mayo not translating well to the next level. This has happened to a lot of high school players. We will see.
From what I have seen from him, Derrick Rose is the best PG coming out of college in a decade. Better than Chris Paul or Deron Williams.
oj is definitely not living up to the hype. there were talks about him sitting out one year after graduation then declaring for the draft because he didnt wanna go to school.
That would be cool. He should have played Euro-ball or something. Hopefully he stops going to class next semester so this 1yr deal thing is exposed for the sham it is.
its tough for an 18yo boy fresh out of high school to make it in another country on his own. never the less, oj has no conscience when it comes to shooting.
After watching him against Stanford yesterday, Mayo may not be Michael Beasley, but he definitely isn't a fraud.
OJ Mayo's USC got knocked out by "Beast"ly's K-state. Its funny how 'experts' were picking USC to be in the top eight...the seeding system is whack.
You have to admit the loss to K-State was a complete surprise. If the two teams played 10 games, USC would probably win 8 times. K-State is dominated by freshmen who show their immaturiy quite often. But USC made two huge mistakes: They got behind early and were in foul trouble. The better team lost but that's why you play the games. It isn't called March Madness for nothing.
I wasn't completely suprised.. I picked Bill Walker and Beasley over OJ in every single one of my brackets. I'm in 6.
The Telfair comment may be dead on. I don't really like what I've seen from him as a frosh. You could be worse, but his efficiency as a scorer isn't good. Little less than 21 ppg from a little more than 16 shots per game. And those buckets are going to be much tougher in the league. Even as an off-guard, 3 assists a game is weak for a guy dominating the ball, and he's got an A/T ratio below 1. The next time I hear someone say he's above average on defense will be the first. Maybe he'd be alright with a running team building for the future, but he'll need a ton of polish and is a big risk as a potential bust. Derrick Rose certainly looks a lot better in almost every aspect. Better size for his height, more efficient scorer, better decision maker, better at protecting the ball and finding others, all the important aspects of a point guard. To be fair, he's not as good from distance and needs work on his range. Absolutely NO WAY would I say Rose is in Chris Paul or Deron Williams class, though. MAYBE he will be as heady a PG as them, but I personally doubt if his jumper will be reliable enough for him to be more than a 15 ppg as a pro. Evan
Good point, though guys like him (points not capable of being a point) need to land in perfect fit situations. In Cleveland, LeBron takes the vast bulk of the playmaking duties out of his hand, so he can play off and just hoist shots. Same deal with the Lakers (Farmar) and the triangle. Can't get away with it most places though unless you're the 2-guard in a miniature backcourt (Luther Head) or a backup for a high scoring/running team (Leanardo Barbosa, Anthony Carter). I don't know that any of those roles are one where you'd use a top-five lottery pick though. Eddie House guys are dime a dozen. Evan
I agree. You know the guy isn't a point guard, like it only took once to see gibson play in college and know he's not a point. they have the ball handling and creative ability they just don't have the natural instincts that make really good point guards. and both look for their shot too much. people forget, cuttino even played pg for the rockets a little as a rookie. but they are servicable and can be really good in the right situation as you say.
Mayo is the real deal in my book. He plays smart, shoots well and looks to create for others. What's his worst case scenario, being the the next Rashad McCants?
