You can see that Ennis is physically small. Anyone can see that by just looking at him. It can't be hidden. Nobody could miss it.
You can't minimize it by saying "Well actually Ennis is pretty jacked and benching 400 pounds. He's also 6'5"
Nice to know Fred would never do this
- Thread starter TedFlintKansas
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You can see that Ennis is physically small. Anyone can see that by just looking at him. It can't be hidden. Nobody could miss it.
You can't minimize it by saying "Well actually Ennis is pretty jacked and benching 400 pounds. He's also 6'5"
"Hey remember Tyler Ennis, the lottery draft pick from Syracuse?"
Recruit: "Yeah"
" Remember when Boeheim said he didn't have an NBA ready body is an interview months before the draft?"
Recruit: "Uhh..no"
"Oh, well he totally did!"
You guys don't get it. It has absolutely nothing to do with Ennis going pro. He is gone and the coach knows that. The whole purpose of the media show was to put out there that the kid is not ready for the NBA so if he fails in the NBA then he can tell the next player wanting to leave Syracuse early to look back at what happened to Ennis. I told him not to go because he wasn't ready yet and it ruined his career. Stay here and let me coach you so you will be ready for the big time.
Is it though? Is there that much of a difference between being physically ready for the grind of the NBA or being mentally ready to handle the grind of the NBA? Not being ready is not being ready no matter how you slice it. If I was an NBA executive I might be more concerned about drafting a guy that isn't physically ready to handle playing in the NBA. Can we throw the kid out there right away? Will he wear down 30 games into the season? Will he get hurt? Could he have durability issues that stunt his growth as a player long term? Can we place him in the D-League and wait for him to develop? Is our need immediate that the kid play for our organization right away? How long can we wait? Or... do we skip over this kid and draft another guy of similar talent at the same position that is physically ready to play?
I think this would be a concern if he came out and said something that had to do with his mental state/work ethic/something only JB would have an inside track on. It's not like he is giving new information through this interview. It probably didn't need to be said, but JB wears his opinions on his sleeves as most old time coaches do.
This would be like Fred saying Niang could get in better shape (whether these words have actually been spoken by Fred, I don't know) but hes a hell of a player and has a good chance at a career in the NBA. It's completely different to talk about ones physical being and mental. If Fred came out and said that, we would all rush to his defense and not berate him like we are Boehiem.
My guess is what he said on tv was probably toned down from what he told Ennis in person.
CyJack, we already know your ability to convince others of your view is poor. Now, competent recruiters, they can convince kids that Scott Drew is a Pete Newell prodigy.
I don't see how saying it so publicly before he fails in the NBA is a good idea. The coach could say the same things to future players whether he trashed Ennis in advance or not.
As somebody wanting to go to the NBA, I would never want my own coach saying something negative about me. He could have spun the size issue as an advantage because of his quickness, etc. Or he could have compared Ennis to other successful smaller players.
To me it just seems like sour grapes a bit on JB's part. Landing an absolute stud PG isn't exactly the easiest thing for a college coach to do and losing a guy like Ennis is a big blow for Syracuse. He won't be easily replaced and Syracuse wasn't exactly a great offensive team outside of Ennis and Cooney.
IMO... I didn't see any reason for him to bring up any negatives in regard to Ennis as a player. Who knows... maybe JB afterwards thought that was really dumb to bring that up. Maybe Ennis had told him that he was staying and then decided to bolt without talking to JB... who knows. Hard to judge intent without knowing more of the backstory.
Royce White was in trouble at Minnesota for multiple reasons and kicked off the team. He showed up at ISU with a lot of baggage and was great while here.....until he decided to drive down to the NCAA tournament separate from the team. It once again opened up questions about his anxiety and if he could handle every day NBA travel. Royce White needed Fred Hoiberg to make the phone calls and vouch for him to get taken in the top 20. Tyler Ennis doesn't have ANY of that baggage. He's going top 20 (probably top 10) no matter what.
Also, Fred Hoiberg needed Royce to get drafted high. He had just taken over ISU..... a program that had been poor for the last 8 years. He needed one of his guys to come in, play well, make a name for himself, and go to the league. It would help with recruits. So Fred worked the phones and said nothing but great things about Royce. It was mutually beneficial.
Jim Boeheim doesn't need to do any of that at this stage in his career. His resume speaks for itself and helps him to get players. He wins and gets players to the league. That will far outweigh any minor comment (that is true) he made about his freshmen PG.
What Boeheim said wasn't even bad. There isn't a NBA scout that doesn't know Ennis needs to get stronger. He's listed at 6'2 180 lbs and that seems like a stretch to me. No red flags were raised by his comments.
Fair enough. My opinion on JB is a little biased anyway because I think he is a d-bag. :biglaugh:
It's Friday... work is a little slow... and I need to keep myself occupied so a little CF debate goes a long ways. I'm sure I'm not the only one in that boat.
I don't really think that it comes across very well to say anything negative at this point. Also never liked Boeheim much and think it is kind of sad that for Wesley Johnson, he was a big improvement from his previous coach.
2 things...
First - Deadspin is not "media" in that you can take it seriously.
Second - did you even LISTEN to the interview or just go by what the "media" wrote?
No Ennis means next year is a question mark. Messed up JB's plans. Next year with Ennis back your guaranteed a season similar to this one and the last couple because the ACC is soft and Cuse has a way of scheduling the non conference to get through it with 0-1 losses. Can coast to a 3 seed. Now its a brand new team. And he can't sit his rookie PG and ease him in behind Ennis. Could be a long one of JB can't get these kids to play his zone the way he wants them to.
Its not a big deal. Jimmy Boeheim should have caught heat for accidentally calling his last time out with 2 minutes left not his comments on Ennis. But honestly as long as uconn doesn't win 2 more games I can handle the bad news re Ennis and Grant.
The comments he made were pretty honest and fair. (Although not accurate I don't think Ennis will get bigger, and I think Ennis made the right move he'd have been asked to be the main scoring threat and a different player than the one NBA scouts will be taking for being so controlled and safe with the ball. Ennis had a nice year but Cuse needs a PG who pushes it more in transition we played too slow with Ennis as our PG and the tempo really killed a lot of the teams energy on offense so its fine to move on and Ennis should be able to hang around on NBA rosters as a backup PG.)
He can say whatever he wants players go to Syracuse because Syracuse is on ESPN a lot won't effect recruiting.
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