Looking ahead to 2021-2022

Status
Not open for further replies.
#277      
This might sound gloom and doom but I don't think we'll ever get another recruit like Kofi. That dude is once in a lifetime here and I'm really going to miss him if he truly is leaving. I hope this all just a way to build more hype for him returning for 1 more year. He'd be preseason all-everything and would be one of the favorites for National Player of the Year. With Curbelo leading the way I think Kofi could easily average 25 a game. The amount of press he'd get this coming year would be insane me thinks.
 
#278      
This might sound gloom and doom but I don't think we'll ever get another recruit like Kofi. That dude is once in a lifetime here and I'm really going to miss him if he truly is leaving. I hope this all just a way to build more hype for him returning for 1 more year. He'd be preseason all-everything and would be one of the favorites for National Player of the Year. With Curbelo leading the way I think Kofi could easily average 25 a game. The amount of press he'd get this coming year would be insane me thinks.
We will 100% have another recruit as good as Kofi. It just might take another 10-15 years.
 
#282      
Thinking about it, Kofi won't play a game in the NBA.
He blew his best opportunity here, needed to play at least one more year to work on his game as has been discussed here for sometime.
He may make a lot of money but it will be outside the NBA, his game as currently comprised doesn't work.
 
#283      
Thinking about it, Kofi won't play a game in the NBA.
He blew his best opportunity here, needed to play at least one more year to work on his game as has been discussed here for sometime.
He may make a lot of money but it will be outside the NBA, his game as currently comprised doesn't work.
Kofi has the kind of athleticism that can be molded into a good contributor in the NBA. My take is he will go to a G League team to work on his deficiencies and develop more basketball instincts and will have a roster spot in the league in 2023. If he stayed he'd make more money but I think he's ready to move on and work on his craft without worrying about being a student and having to worry about grades and long study sessions.
 
#285      
Curbelo's shot looks nice from the waist up, but he is inconsistent from waist down. Sometimes does a weird double jackknife, sometimes twists his legs and feet. But no major mechanical issues, so no reason without a lot of repetition and focus on consistency that he can't become a decent shooter.
 
#286      
Ramses Melendez with 30 pts/9 rbs and 4 assists in the 2021 Omni Elite Classic this weekend. Game is for elites in the NY tri state area. Scheduled to be in the game were Simeon Wilcher (247 #8), Jaylen Blakes (Duke) and Kyle Flipowski (247 #56 for 2022).
 
#288      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
Ramses Melendez with 30 pts/9 rbs and 4 assists in the 2021 Omni Elite Classic this weekend. Game is for elites in the NY tri state area. Scheduled to be in the game were Simeon Wilcher (247 #8), Jaylen Blakes (Duke) and Kyle Flipowski (247 #56 for 2022).
pretty good, pretty good
 
#292      
Thinking about it, Kofi won't play a game in the NBA.
He blew his best opportunity here, needed to play at least one more year to work on his game as has been discussed here for sometime.
He may make a lot of money but it will be outside the NBA, his game as currently comprised doesn't work.
Some players are hard to predict and we need to see against NBA talent. Believe Kofi is one them and when he settles on a role we will see.
 
#293      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
Thinking about it, Kofi won't play a game in the NBA.
He blew his best opportunity here, needed to play at least one more year to work on his game as has been discussed here for sometime.
He may make a lot of money but it will be outside the NBA, his game as currently comprised doesn't work.
If the guy was playing basically his whole life, I'd pretty much agree (with a hedge). But he may keep on improving and carve out a niche. I think he has a chance.
 
#294      
Ramses Melendez with 30 pts/9 rbs and 4 assists in the 2021 Omni Elite Classic this weekend. Game is for elites in the NY tri state area. Scheduled to be in the game were Simeon Wilcher (247 #8), Jaylen Blakes (Duke) and Kyle Flipowski (247 #56 for 2022).
Wonder if he will see time at the 4. At 6’7” and a quick athlete would fill a position of need if Grandison plays more at the 3.
 
#295      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
Wonder if he will see time at the 4. At 6’7” and a quick athlete would fill a position of need if Grandison plays more at the 3.
If he plays adequate (or better) D, I think he'll get some tick. And the vast majority of it will be at the 4.
 
#296      
Thinking about it, Kofi won't play a game in the NBA.
He blew his best opportunity here, needed to play at least one more year to work on his game as has been discussed here for sometime.
He may make a lot of money but it will be outside the NBA, his game as currently comprised doesn't work.
This is laughable. As though NCAA is the only place to develop basketball skill. In my opinion he was more likely to plateau here since he wouldn’t be challenged by the type of athletes he needs to face to expand his game.
You can debate whether or not he can become a NBA regular, but saying coming back to Illinois is the ONLY way he would ever make it just doesn’t make sense.
 
#297      

illini80

Forgottonia
This is laughable. As though NCAA is the only place to develop basketball skill. In my opinion he was more likely to plateau here since he wouldn’t be challenged by the type of athletes he needs to face to expand his game.
You can debate whether or not he can become a NBA regular, but saying coming back to Illinois is the ONLY way he would ever make it just doesn’t make sense.
Agree. Earning 2nd team all-American (and could have easily been 1st), is not any version of blowing an opportunity nor could it be any further from it.
 
#298      
I haven't noticed anything by the way of comment about the Titus & Tate show (I have been watching it on you-tube since the tournament), and since Titus is a former walk-on at Ohio State and Tate is an alumni of North Carolina, I suppose that might dissuade some from watching. Their tournament reactions were noteworthy. Titus obviously had an epic meltdown when OSU lost. And Tate had from the beginning picked the Illini to win the tournament, so his response to Loyola and Sister Jean was also epic in its own way. Anyhow, the point is that yesterday I watched them discuss, for nearly an hour I think, Illinois as a "tortured program" and some of that discussion revolved around Kofi. In the beginning, they had assumed Kofi would be gone. Then Katz came on the program about a week or so ago, and said that there was a chance that Kofi would return. So that got them considering that the Illini might be back in the thick of things. But then came Kofi's announcement. This led to some discussion, not necessarily of Kofi specifically, but rather that it was impossible to predict in general whether a player would or would not end up being successful in the NBA. That is why I tune out any discussion by the general public as to whether a player will succeed in his dream or not. Those professionals paid to decide who to draft don't get it right all the time. I prefer to just hope that whatever Kofi's decision is works out well for him. I personally do not think that Kofi's coming back for another year will be bad for him (it certainly would be great for us fans), and it may even be good for him. But it is by no means certain that it is necessary for him to achieve his dreams.
 
Last edited:
#299      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
Oh joy, we are so bored we're back to the moronic Kofi hot takes.

The man has been playing basketball for 5-ish years. Some of you have been making dumb hot takes longer than that.

Give. It. A. Rest.
 
#300      
This is laughable. As though NCAA is the only place to develop basketball skill
I agree with this sentiment. At the same time, I don't think there's a lot of grand platforms like the NCAA through which you can showcase yourself and improve your stock. If Kofi were to return, dominate, and improve, he could make a case for first-rounder next year.

I don't know what his motivators and goals are though. We'll see what his camp and the scouts think soon enough
 
Status
Not open for further replies.