Illini in the NBA

Status
Not open for further replies.
#301      
HensonHall71
Joel Goodson said:
chicago.suntimes.com

So good, so soon for Bulls’ Ayo Dosunmu? Illinois’ Brad Underwood scoffs at surprise

“People don’t really know these kids,” Underwood said. “You guys only know what you see.”
chicago.suntimes.com chicago.suntimes.com
Click to expand...
Good to hear Brad's take on Ayo's success. It was a bit odd that the writer framed Ayo as not having the "pure offensive skills" that many other college players had - Ayo was second in the Big Ten in scoring, a first team AA, won many awards, including the best PG in america - so to frame him as this "coming out of nowhere with limited ability in college" is just not true

He was one of the best players in all of college basketball last year and is now one of the best rookies in the NBA, it really shouldn't be that much of a surprise

It does fly in the face of so many of the "analytics picks" which teams are now doing which is purely looking at athletic and physical traits and translating that to success in the NBA - e.g. Patrick Williams who the Bulls picked #4 the year before after not starting for his college team and averaging 9 pts/game - but he tested well and had the physical tools that translate to success.

Essentially it boils down to --> because Ayo can't jump out of the gym, he was a second round pick - I think teams will start to rethink how they draft and have more balance to the weighting of traits they covet and not just pick the freak athletes
 
#302      
EyeoftheIllini
#303      
illinipimp
Was one of the best game closers in college last year. Anyone associated with the NBA who thinks he came out of nowhere is either ignorant, clueless or both. He’s only going to get better. Envision him with the Bulls for as long as he wants to play there and having a nice career.
 
#311      
IllinoisssssssVarsity
sacraig said:
WTF was DiVincenzo even doing there? I can imagine high school fast breaks with more urgency than that, and he even looked back and knew Ayo was right on his tail.
Click to expand...
Yeah man he just hasn’t been the same since he came back from that acl. I’ve always like his game. He was an extremely athletic guy (40+ inch vert) and sometimes those guys have more trouble adjusting to those injuries because they relied so much on their athleticism. I think that’s a big reason why the bucks traded him.
 
#312      
champaignchris
It's not weird for a second round pick like Dosunmu to be having the season he's having. There's a couple guys that go in the 2nd round every year that end up having nice NBA careers. What's weird is that Ayo doesn't really fit the prototypical 2nd round success story. The prototypical 2nd round success tends to either be: 1) undersized bigs that grit their way to a productive NBA career - Draymond Green (35th pick) and Dennis Rodman (27th pick, which was the 2nd round back then) would be your best examples, and Herbert Jones from this year is another; or 2) talented players with underwhelming or unknown track records (a lot of international players fall into this category - Kukoc, Ginobli, Marc Gasol, Dragic, Jokic).

It's a lot rarer for a guy to have the college success that Ayo had, who falls to the second round (or not get drafted) and then makes an NBA impact. It's not unheard of - Jalen Brunson and Devonte' Graham are both examples - but generally, if a well-known, well-scouted guy falls, the NBA scouts are proven correct. But you have to go back a ways to find a someone that falls into this category that isn't an undersized combo guard. You might have to go back to Malcolm Brogden to find someone with Ayo's size and college pedigree to fall to the second round and then have NBA success.
 
#314      
blackdog
champaignchris said:
It's not weird for a second round pick like Dosunmu to be having the season he's having. There's a couple guys that go in the 2nd round every year that end up having nice NBA careers. What's weird is that Ayo doesn't really fit the prototypical 2nd round success story. The prototypical 2nd round success tends to either be: 1) undersized bigs that grit their way to a productive NBA career - Draymond Green (35th pick) and Dennis Rodman (27th pick, which was the 2nd round back then) would be your best examples, and Herbert Jones from this year is another; or 2) talented players with underwhelming or unknown track records (a lot of international players fall into this category - Kukoc, Ginobli, Marc Gasol, Dragic, Jokic).

It's a lot rarer for a guy to have the college success that Ayo had, who falls to the second round (or not get drafted) and then makes an NBA impact. It's not unheard of - Jalen Brunson and Devonte' Graham are both examples - but generally, if a well-known, well-scouted guy falls, the NBA scouts are proven correct. But you have to go back a ways to find a someone that falls into this category that isn't an undersized combo guard. You might have to go back to Malcolm Brogden to find someone with Ayo's size and college pedigree to fall to the second round and then have NBA success.
Click to expand...

Going back even further another example is Gilbert Arenas who was taken 31st overall after leading Arizona to the title game and averaging 16 ppg as a sophomore. He might fit the undersized combo guard mold but he was listed at 6'4. Still your point stands that it's rare for someone to have his measurable and college success but still fall.
 
#319      
USAFILLINI
Put everything AYO directly into my veins. You gotta love this kid.
 
#321      
Bleedorangeandblue44
Had to look up these rosters just to see who Ayo is playing with and his team's chances of winning. Glad to see Gary Payton the coach - the Glove should appreciate a lot of what Ayo does. Stinks that Davion Mitchell is hurt. Always liked his game. Ayo does have LaMelo on his team but looks like the betting favorite is the team with Mobley, Cunningham and Wagner. Rooting for Ayo tonight to have a great night
 
#322      
BMoreIllini
I haven't watched all of this yet, but it just came up in my YouTube feed. 40 minute interview with Ayo conducted by NBC Sports Chicago posted today. I'm always so impressed with his professional demeanor and how he doesn't let anything get him down - it's all blessings and motivation for him.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back