That may be. But have you ever seen a good player let a coach hold them back? Good players find a way to make things happen when they are on the court, good coaching or bad. Any college team with 2 future NBA players on it should make the tournament.
I don't know... Armon isn't a flashy guy. He isn't the kind of player that can take over a game, and Babbitt doesn't seem like that kind of guy either. They are glue guys. Babbitt is a shooter and Armon is one of those hard nosed tough guards that Nate loves so much. That isn't really a recipe for success in the NCAA, but those are the guys that help win championships in the NBA. The Ducks had a lot of success when they had Ridnour, Jones, and Jackson back in the early 2000s because Rid and Jones could create their own shots. Jones was just so athletic, and Ridnour was crazy fast. They were dynamic at the college level, but not really so much in the NBA. I would think that's a good example of NBA talent getting to the tournament, but having limited success in the NBA.
Maybe that's true for guys I would call "special." But for players that project as more role-player level (which is what I see Armon and Babbitt as) I don't know if they have the power to overcome bad coaching and a bad system. Two other players out of that school -- Javale McGee and Ramon Sessions -- didn't win much there either and both are what I would consider solid or at least promising NBA players.
Rick Barnes has something of an excuse due to the conference he is in. Nevada is in the WAC where they play the likes of Utah State, San Jose State and Idaho. Seriously, if they had even made the NCAA tournament I would feel more comfortable. They couldn't even win the WAC conference tournament. I realize that isn't a perfect indicator but it seems like a team with 2 NBA level players should have at least made the finals of the WAC conference tournament.
Like I said, I thought the same thing, which is why I tried to hunt down some games of those guys (I found something like the last ten minutes of a game they won, and I watched a game in which they lost), I'm telling you there was absolutely no structure whatsoever, except that it was the Armon and Luke show where those two guys got 90% of the offensive touches but their teammates didn't crash the boards, they didn't defend, they didn't set picks. The result was Babbit doing a poor-man's Dirk impersonation, and Armon doing his Jordan impersonation -- It was "U-G-L-Y, they aint got no alibi," ugly.
Basically. That team had so much better structure on offense under Trent Johnson and even under Fox. I watched them probably a handful of times and they were awful, despite having possibly 3 or 4 NBA level players. I remember one game where they had a big lead at UNC and the Tarheels (who were horrible last year) went on a big run at the end of the game and won. It was nasty.
A regular season game, maybe. I'm talking about the playoffs, which is what really matters. He played in one game of the NBA finals that year, and it was all garbage time of a 39 point win. That shows you how much the coach trusted the rookie in meaningful minutes. But sure, if you're comfortable with a rookie having a good game in the regular season then completely disappearing in the playoffs, then good for you.
There is a difference between playing rookies as backups and relying on rookies. I'm fine with rookies as backups (and starters if they deserve it), and Armon is a pleasant surprise thus far.
Fair. But what about Sam Cassell? He hit the game winning shot in Game 3 of the 1994 NBA Finals and he was a rookie.
Also- Baby didn't disappear in the playoffs. They brought in PJ Brown late in the season and gave him Baby's minutes.
Well AJ looked pretty good to me last night. Is he the "PG of the Future" as Mike Rice said? Maybe, maybe not. I already feel more comfortable with the ball in his hands than I ever did Bayless. JB has more natural scoring ability and athleticism, but not much else. He looked good running the break last night. He looked good taking it to the basket with the weak defending Dragic guarding him (in the 4th quarter none the less). He looked pretty good running the offense - that play where he brought the ball up, tossed it to the wing, cut to the baseline, got the ball back and shook Dragic out of his shoes and threw a bounce pass to Rudy for a 3 was impressive. He needs to not get caught in the air with no where to go, as we saw a couple of times last night. One play he jumped and nothing was there so he darn near threw it out to half-court where Roy tracked it down. But Bayless did stuff like that every night. The bottom line is we saw more of a true PG from Armon Johnson in 9 minutes last night then we saw from JB in 2 years. Better handles, better court vision, better decision making, and better running the break. I'm sure that teams are going to do to him what they did to JB - make him beat you from the outside. While he'll never win a 3 point shooting contest, his stroke LOOKS decent. He could end up being a Derek Fisher type of guy who couldn't shoot a lick when he came into the league, but with hard work became respectable. You watch some guys, and you just know they will never shoot a lick (Andre Miller, Sessions, Rondo, etc.) but AJ looks like he could develop into a decent shooter. I'm mildly excited about this guy.
Johnson's really shifty with his dribble and can get by a defender at ease. Kinda has a little Kenny Anderson in his game.
Armon, You aren't supposed to be a competent player because you went to a small school that didn't make the tourney. Knock it off!
