https://www.audacy.com/923thefan/sp...-jalen-green-has-it-factor-kuminga-most-ready Brian Shaw: What was it like coaching this past season? It was really refreshing. We had 4 young guys who are high school prospects or I should say future NBA prospects but just recently graduated from high school that knew they had another level they were trying to get to. To my surprise, pleasant surprise, they all came in with a beginner’s mind, ready and willing to accept coaching and to do whatever it took to absorb as much information as they could, to learn about what it takes to be a professional on and off the court, what type of routines you had to develop, work ethic you had to have, mentality you needed to have and also getting an introduction to the terminology of the NBA game, the physicality and speed of the game. Coming in with those beginner’s mind, they were open to absorbing everything and learning as much as they could. For me, although they were being paid, it was different than when you’re coaching a team full of NBA guys that have years of experience that are making tons of money and they’ve already reached the highest level. These guys had something they were really trying to shoot for and understood that the staff that was placed around them to help them get to that point had experience in the NBA at every level from the training staff, the strength & conditioning staff and the coaches to help them get there. It was nice and it was refreshing. It was the purity and innocence kind of so to speak of it that made it nice for me. When you played college hoops, in those days, most players played at least 3 years. By the time they were drafted, you had a better feel for what they were as a player. They were a little older. Nowadays, we have 18-19-20 year olds coming into the league and maybe there’s a little more guesswork in terms of what they’re going to be in the NBA. Is that a challenge for NBA evaluators and coaches? Most definitely. That was one of the things that kind of really motivated me doing this job. I’ve been on the other end of it as a NBA coach. During my initial years of coaching, players were still able to come straight out of high school. You get these players who are drafted high in the draft. There’s this expectation because they’ve been drafted so high, they’ll make an immediate impact and the GM’s and front office execs that draft these young players want them to play immediately. A lot of times they aren’t or weren’t prepared to impact the game, impact winning for your team especially if you’re trying to win right now so there’s pressure put on them, pressure put on the coaches. The coach then has to make a decision: do I want to do what’s best for our team which may not be in the best interest of this young guy throwing him in there so early or am I going to follow what my bosses want me to do, which is throw this guy out there when he’s maybe not quite ready? I’ve been on the receiving end of that. One of the things I wanted to be able to do or change was hopefully this group when they come in, wherever they get drafted this year, the coaches that receives them will be pleasantly surprised with how much more prepared they are than some of the young players in the past because they’ve had this whole year to do everything kind of on a NBA level and get prepared for that. It’s very different than what they’re getting in college or overseas or anywhere else. Cavs have the number 3 pick. Jalen Green’s being talked about that pick quite frequently. What can you tell us about this kid? I’ve been around some very, very good players that came in the league around his age. Obviously played with and coached Kobe Bryant. Helped develop Paul George as a coach when I was with Indiana when he first came in the league. Andrew Bynum straight out of high school with the Lakers. Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball and the guys we had with the Lakers. Those players that are special players, they have this “it” factor that you hear people talk about. He has “it”. He has a knack for being able to figure things out on the fly. He has the mentality that he’s competitive and wants to win at everything. When we would run suicides or line drills during the course of a practice, he would blow everybody away. Not only did he want to win, he didn’t want anyone to even finish close behind him. Every shooting game, things we played —cards or dominoes or something off the court— he wanted to win everything. He has that type of mentality. He also has the work ethic. A guy that’s one of the first one’s in, one of the last one’s to leave. Asks a lot of questions. Wants to watch a lot of film of himself as well as players that came before him that maybe have similar type games to his and constantly just being a student of the game, which is very important. When you add all of that to the fact his athleticism is off the charts. I call it effortless athleticism. I can’t judge any of the other guys who weren’t on my team —Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Jalen Suggs— because I don’t know them and didn’t get a chance to see them other than what I saw on television when they played televised games but it’d be hard pressed for me to believe anybody out there is more talented, better prepared and has what it takes more so than Jalen Green. He’s been described as the most predictable prospect in this draft which goes to what you said, trying to get these guys more ready for the NBA than the typical 18/19 year old. It seems like those who cover the game feel like you have a good feel for what he is as a player. It’s been talked about, you mentioned it, his outstanding athleticism. How is he on the defensive side? That’s usually a challenge for young players. Where is he at defensively? You got that right. Much like most young players, especially at the guard position, they come into the league, they struggle. He was no exception to that rule when we first got started. Trying to figure out how to negotiate playing pick & rolls. That’s a big part of what the game is now. On-ball defense, he can slide his feet, stay laterally in front of people in isolated situations and things like that but he struggled with how to get up in his man and over screens and also if he was guarding a shooter off the ball, being able to figure out how to lock and trail and get over with a guy that’s a dangerous shooter but as I mentioned earlier, he’s such a student of the game and has a knack for figuring things out. He knew that was something he had to improve on so he asked to watch film on different guys and how they defend it. Have a really good video coordinator who was able to pull up footage of guys in the past like Tony Allen, Bruce Bowen, Gary Payton who are good on-ball defenders but also just good overall defenders that used different level of physicality, they understood angles and had good technique. As our season progressed, he got better and better at playing all the different facets of defense from team defense to individual defense. He’s a quick learner and because he’s such a student of the game, he caught on quick. From watching and then being able to go on the floor and put in the time to be able to apply it when it was necessary. Jonathan Kuminga, what do you like about his game? Everything. It may sound like I’m biased because I coached these guys but we really, really had a good group of players that were exceptional talents. Jonathan Kuminga was the youngest player we had on our team. When he first signed with us, I don’t think he even made 18 yet. He won’t be 19 until October. He’s only been in the country since 2014…2015 I want to say. For the amount of time he’s played basketball, he’s about 6’8, maybe a shade under 6’8. He’s the most, in terms of his body, he’s the most ready out of anyone on our team and maybe anyone in this draft in terms of his strength & physicality. Offensively, he can score from all three levels. From the three, midrange game, post-up. He has really good footwork down in the post. He can finish over and through contact. He’ll be a guy that gets to the free throw line a lot. He’ll have to improve his free throw shooting, which he’ll be able to do because he shoots the ball well. He just has to focus and concentrate more when he’s on the free throw line. The biggest asset talking about his physicality is his two-way ability. He can guard and absolutely lock down players from the 1-4 position. He has the strength to mix it up with big guys because he’s strong but also has the mobility and agility to be able to switch and keep smaller, quicker guys in front of him and use his physicality and length to keep them at bay. I worked out Jaylen Brown, did his draft workout for the Lakers the year he came out of Cal. Jonathan Kuminga reminds me a lot of Jaylen Brown. Jonathan is bigger but that type of athleticism, that type of two-way ability and ability to score at all the different levels and play with the physicality he plays with. […]
part of why Cade was my guy to go along with his height, wingspan, and skill level giving him so much positional versatility oh well…let’s get it
Some of the very best wing 3ball shooters in this draft. See how the rest of their skills compare. http://www.tankathon.com/players/co...n--jalen-johnson--corey-kispert--joe-wieskamp
Green's numbers looking real sweet next to King Cade especially when you take into account the difficulty in degree of the shots he was taking, the fact he was shooting from NBA three point range and the competition he faced.
Some secrets weren't meant to be kept. Even at this moment, it’s already spilling out, much in the same way it has over the last four years. First were the whispers, next texts and then Clutchfans msg boards. Over in Merced he goes by “Unicorn.” At Rucker he's known as “Muad’Dib.” In the Philippines it;s "Idol". Out in Mosswood they call him “Kahuna.” The Dome in B-More? They tagged him “Mute” because he had them drowning out the go-go music. In Atlanta, they just called him “Hot Damn.” I heard about it last fall. There was a run going on in Boston. The gym was mostly empty, save for a bunch of Boston-based NBA players and their regular pickup game. Training camp was starting in a few days, and these guys were trying to ease into shape The pros were halfway through their first game when he walked in. He paid his $7 entrance fee with change, plopping down a handful of quarters, dimes and nickels on the counter, then strolled over to an empty court on the side. They remember thinking he looked like the love child of Zendaya and a young Michael Jackson. “Of course I remember that night!” recalls Celtics forward Jaylen Brown. “First of all, he was wearing a vintage 1994 Houston Rockets championship t-shirt and these tiny-ass 70's shorts, and before he went out there he took his shoes and socks off. Who the hell plays barefoot?” He wasn’t wicked tall, but he wasn’t short, either, and his physique was somewhere in between skinny and fit. To warm up, he walked on his hands the length of the court and back. His balance was perfect. Then he did a bunch of somersaults, maybe five or six. He then walked over and, standing flat-footed, jumped up and grabbed the rim, swinging there for a few seconds. He dropped down and picked up a basketball and instead of spinning it on his finger, he simply balanced it there, the ball motionless, effortlessly floating atop his digit. He walked to ha;f court, toed the stripe, dribbled twice, then cocked the ball back and heaved it, one-handed, at the basket Swish. The ball fell to floor and rolled toward Jayson Tatum, so he picked it up and threw it back to him. He did it again. Swish. And again. And again. After the sixth consecutive make, the pros took notice. “Hey, young fella!” The shrill voice of Marcus Smart echoed through the gym. He turned around to notice the pros had stopped, and were all paying attention. “You wanna run with us?” The guy looked right at Marcus, spun the ball in his hands, then reared back and fired the ball high into the air, where it sailed over everyone’s heads, nearly skimming the ceiling and then ripping through the net on the court where the pros were playing. It was at least 150 feet away. The run ended 90 minutes later, heads shaking all around. He had missed four shots over six games, making 35 (they kept track). All 39 shots he attempted were from beyond the three point line, and none of the attempts were conventional jump shots. Instead, they came off the dribble: he’d take the inbounds pass, yo-yo the ball, run to his left or right and then pull back and fire. Three. No dummies, the NBA guys started doubling him in the backcourt, and he would simply dribble backward, drawing the two guys closer, then lob it up the court, where his teammates had a four-on-three break. The defense then decided to show a double-team but refused to commit, which would leave him with enough room to flick it up over the top. He was unguardable. He never celebrated, never spoke a word on the court. He just scored. They started calling him "Legal Tender" that night, about halfway through the games. When they finished, he went over and grabbed his shoes, a tattered pair of Hakeem Olajuwon signature model Spaldings, sat on the floor and laced them up. The NBA guys, halfway between disgusted and amazed, just stared at him. “Hey, hey man, what’s your name?” Tatum asked “Why?” “Because you just dominated a game full of NBA players. I’ve played basketball my whole life and what you just did was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. Ever. Better than McGrady's 13 in 30, better than Kobe's 81, better than Wilt’s 100. No one has ever shot the ball that well.” "The name's Green. Jalen Green."
Take Cade and take a deep breath. You'll be very, very, happy with Cade Cunningham. He knows how to overcome lack of explosion with his high skill set, hard work and intelligence. He is fluid, and quicker than he looks. He isn't a finished product.
Well no ****... If Green goes 1 , And the Rockets decide to go with Mobley over Cade ... Mr. Stone should be fired Speaking of Mr. Stone, if You’re reading this message boards... I’m an accountant with a lot of NBA knowledge... Holler at your boy lol
