Calillini
Now appearing in Tampa
Agreed. How can a first team All American AND Cousy Award winner be characterized as a “feel good” story.
Illini in the NBA
- Status
Um, because we all felt good? I'm spending a lot more of my energy on this being happy than feeling slighted.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Those awards mean jack in The League.
Ayo was pegged as either a G League or a deep bench (DNP/garbage time) guy. He's pretty much the definition of a "feel good" story.
Calillini
Now appearing in Tampa
Well, I hope he ends up making those “peggers” feel pretty stupid. I don’t think any Illini fans or many of our opponents had such a low opinion of him.
Calillini
Now appearing in Tampa
Talent, hard work, and a good attitude- take it every time
Started typing a long response to that post, but you summed it up very well. And if the original poster doesn’t agree, all he has to do is look at the Celtics bench where the previous year’s 1st AA and Cousy Award winner was — Payton Pritchard. He got 7 minutes last night. Other recent players who had same accolades as Ayo but haven’t found success are Frank Mason and Tyler Ulis — and they were actually taken a few picks higher in their drafts.
Nothing wrong with a feel good story. I always thought prior to his injury Derrick Rose was a damn fine feel good story.
Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
He also pronounced Ayo's last name differently in every highlight.
Many draft forecasts had Ayo as a first rounder. That's how the Bulls felt about him. So, yeah, I agree that I disagree with you two.
I've noticed that a lot. There's a bunch of YouTubers that cover the NBA and do it too. Also, Pritchard was a first round pick, not expected to be deep bench or G League. Not a great example.
Someone grabbed the snippet from Ayo's interview where he gave a shout out to the coaching staff
Loyalillini10
- Urbana, IL
Only because I cannot like this more than once.
I was more replying to the poster who said All American plus Cousy Award meant Ayo couldn’t be a “feel good” story, which I took as meaning he was destined for success. Pritchard, Ulis and Mason (and I’m sure there are more) all show that AA + Cousy doesn’t necessarily equal NBA success. I also thought Joel’s categorization of Ayo being pegged as G League/deep bench player was for this year rather than his entire career. And if you go back through this and the NBA draft threads, I think you’ll see more than one poster wondering if that was where he might be headed this year.
I get it, we’re all Ayo fans on here and are loving his success. But I’d guess that for about 80 percent of NBA fans and even at least 50 percent of Bulls fan, this is a feel good story. Nothing wrong with that. Just means Ayo is showing a lot of uninformed fans what he’s about and proving the doubters wrong.
This burns me up. It's literally their job to pronounce the names of players correctly.
Calillini
Now appearing in Tampa
Ok, to clarify, if you are referring to me as the guy who said Ayo “couldn’t be a feel good story”, that’s not exactly what I said or what I meant. I think the original original original author of the PAYWALL post linked to the board was dissing Ayo by making the headline of this article read like Ayo was nothing more than just a good feel good story, UNTIL NOW. I resented that implication by the author of the original original original linked paywall article.
I am not throwing shade on ANY of the posters on this board. All of us share Ayo‘s dream and celebrate his success to date.
It's just all last year while watching games, the announcers and coaches were always talking about Ayo and Kofi as NBA players. Any player is a roll of the dice. Lots of lottery picks don't pan out. The current trend in the draft has been to take kids that were highly recruited out of high school, but didn't even do that much in college, just based on their perceived ceiling. I'm happy to see a guy like Duarte with the Pacers do well. I didn't expect Ayo to come out of college and score 20+ a night as a starter (yet). I did expect him to be a solid rotation player that has not hit his ceiling. At the end of the season, when they do the mock redraft articles, I expect that Ayo will be ranked as someone that should have gone in the first round.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
If Ayo can hit the spot up 3, he's going to have a long and lucrative career.
3 & D players last a long time in todays NBA. Danny Green, Robert Covington, Trevor Ariza. And some even develop into stars like Khris Middleton.
Who is a better judge of NBA potential: NBA coaches and scouts, or a bunch of anonymous posters on an Illini fan forum?
Had you asked me that question a month ago, I'd have had no trouble betting on the coaches and scouts? But today?
I will save my beach house for a safer bet, thankyouverymuch.
Had you asked me that question a month ago, I'd have had no trouble betting on the coaches and scouts? But today?
I will save my beach house for a safer bet, thankyouverymuch.
Difference with Ayo compared to some of the other players on your list is Ayo is a big guard with PG skills. Not an NBA uber athlete but with his size and speed he puts pressure on defense on fast breaks. Defensively his size, wing span, activity create problems.
Between the ears he is very coachable and a professional. He will continue to get better. Next year he might be a reliable 3 point threat.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
This (kinda) old man is truly touched seeing a young man like Ayo with such a rare mix of talent, leadership chops, poise, and humility, having parents who obviously raised him well, enjoying success right off the bat in the league and making everyone who sees him, and is ignorant of his career at Illinois, sit up and take notice.
And now, if you'll excuse me I'll sign off by endorsing the Illni, America broadly, apple pie, and motherhood, and move along to change my handle to Captain Obvious.
(Oh, and any English teachers among us, please forgive me for that abomination of a run-on sentence up top.)
And now, if you'll excuse me I'll sign off by endorsing the Illni, America broadly, apple pie, and motherhood, and move along to change my handle to Captain Obvious.
(Oh, and any English teachers among us, please forgive me for that abomination of a run-on sentence up top.)
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
- Status