Sacramento Kings may have hit a home run with Skal Labissiere pick

[shaolin style]

I will let Cal speak for himself and i dont need you lecturing me about anything basketball.

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What's he gonna say, "yeah he's really soft, I wish he was stronger and tried harder at UK." He said a variation of that same video mid season, and NOTHING CHANGED. It's coach talk. He is excelling more in the league because rebounding and defense are relatively less important than in college (especially on a non-playoff team). I wasn't lecturing, that would imply I thought you had the ability to learn something.

 

[FrankUnderwood]

Also what i noticed is that Skal does not take berating very well. He is the type of guy who needs constant positive reinforcement as a teaching tool. Cal is known to be very demanding and yells at his players. With Skals background in what he went through as a kid i imagine he would not take it very well and his confidence would collaspe.

I see what you're saying but if a player cant suck it up and take yelling by a coach in stride then they shouldn't be playing competitive sports.
Not saying skal couldn't ... I dunno. We don't know if "Cal yelling at him" was a big reason he was so vanilla during his time hear

 

[shaolin style]

I see what you're saying but if a player cant suck it up and take yelling by a coach in stride then they shouldn't be playing competitive sports.
Not saying skal couldn't ... I dunno. We don't know if "Cal yelling at him" was a big reason he was so vanilla during his time hear

Like Cal always says, UK isn't for everyone.

 

[FrankUnderwood]

Currently at my son's football practice - My kid as well as a few others are being "yelled at" by their football coaches as we speak lol
They seem to be taking it pretty well. Obviously people aren't gonna enjoy* being yelled at... and there's extremes but "yelling at players " is pretty much a coaching right of passage

 

[WildMoon]

Currently at my son's football practice - My kid as well as a few others are being "yelled at" by their football coaches as we speak lol
They seem to be taking it pretty well. Obviously people aren't gonna enjoy* being yelled at... and there's extremes but "yelling at players " is pretty much a coaching right of passage

People become driven by their on bias, that they turn blind eye to what is right or wrong. We see a great example of that right now with BleedingBlue.

 

[Supafuzz75]

Untrue.

He did play organized ball. I watched him play in a few games his senior year with one of em being against Oak Hill Academy.

They played like a 12 game schedule or something like that.. Was one of those made up type deal schools I call them.. And majority of games played weren't anywhere on Oak Hills level..

 

[MegaBlue05]

Also what i noticed is that Skal does not take berating very well. He is the type of guy who needs constant positive reinforcement as a teaching tool. Cal is known to be very demanding and yells at his players. With Skals background in what he went through as a kid i imagine he would not take it very well and his confidence would collaspe.

I played at (much lower levels) with guys like that. Some players excel under fire/verbal lashings. Others wilt. Skal was probably the latter as you said.

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

They played like a 12 game schedule or something like that.. Was one of those made up type deal schools I call them.. And majority of games played weren't anywhere on Oak Hills level..

So now your back tracking??

Id say 99% of HS's in the country do not play schedules like Oak Hill plays. How many of those games did Hawkins play in? Willis? Lol ya thats what i thought.

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

I played at (much lower levels) with guys like that. Some players excel under fire/verbal lashings. Others wilt. Skal was probably the latter as you said.

I played as well and i always had guys just like Skal on my team. May it of been in summer league, during season etc. I even had my head coach come to me and tell me he was going to yell at me about loafing on D before a game but it was meant for one of my teammates. He actually responded much better that way than coach directly calling him out. From then on for the next 2 years he would yell at me for what he wanted to get across to Demitrius.

Your exactly correct in some guys it lights a fire under them and some wilt. I always was the former.

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

People become driven by their on bias, that they turn blind eye to what is right or wrong. We see a great example of that right now with BleedingBlue.

No i have my opinions based on experience and what i saw with my own 2 eyes. Not on tv but in person.

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

I see what you're saying but if a player cant suck it up and take yelling by a coach in stride then they shouldn't be playing competitive sports.
Not saying skal couldn't ... I dunno. We don't know if "Cal yelling at him" was a big reason he was so vanilla during his time hear

Did you ever play sports??
Ive had yelling coaches and then coaches that treated you like professionals in that they tell you what they want you to do. Would sit and calmly tell you never raising their voice unless they were yelling a play out.
But id say by Cal yelling at him wasnt the reason he was vanilla it was because he was asked to play completly differently than anything that he was used too. But he had little to no confidence here. Look at those LSU highlights see him shooting jumpers and fades from 15'? He did that all the time in HS and thats where he scored his points from along with fast break lobs and put back dunks while breaking from the perimiter to the lane.
Thon Maker was the same as well. Many of those thin tall guys dont like banging as it takes a toll on em.

 

[WildMoon]

Did you ever play sports??
Ive had yelling coaches and then coaches that treated you like professionals in that they tell you what they want you to do. Would sit and calmly tell you never raising their voice unless they were yelling a play out.
But id say by Cal yelling at him wasnt the reason he was vanilla it was because he was asked to play completly differently than anything that he was used too. But he had little to no confidence here. Look at those LSU highlights see him shooting jumpers and fades from 15'? He did that all the time in HS and thats where he scored his points from along with fast break lobs and put back dunks while breaking from the perimiter to the lane.
Thon Maker was the same as well. Many of those thin tall guys dont like banging as it takes a toll on em.

You do realize that Skal scoring at UK was at marginally better rate than Kings...? or did you think that he had much better scoring rate at Kings than at UK...

 

[FrankUnderwood]

Did you ever play sports??
Ive had yelling coaches and then coaches that treated you like professionals in that they tell you what they want you to do. Would sit and calmly tell you never raising their voice unless they were yelling a play out.
But id say by Cal yelling at him wasnt the reason he was vanilla it was because he was asked to play completly differently than anything that he was used too. But he had little to no confidence here. Look at those LSU highlights see him shooting jumpers and fades from 15'? He did that all the time in HS and thats where he scored his points from along with fast break lobs and put back dunks while breaking from the perimiter to the lane.
Thon Maker was the same as well. Many of those thin tall guys dont like banging as it takes a toll on em.

That's exactly my point. His performance during his 1 season here was not "Vanilla "because Cal Yelled at him to much

 

[Supafuzz75]

So now your back tracking??

Id say 99% of HS's in the country do not play schedules like Oak Hill plays. How many of those games did Hawkins play in? Willis? Lol ya thats what i thought.

How am I backtracking? He played ball,, yes.. But was a throw together team just for him.. They played about a half regular season schedule and mainly a bunch of nobody's.. That's unorganized basketball just to keep him in semi shape.. Hell Willis and Hawkins played in way more competitive games than Skal did at that school..

 

[MegaBlue05]

I played as well and i always had guys just like Skal on my team. May it of been in summer league, during season etc. I even had my head coach come to me and tell me he was going to yell at me about loafing on D before a game but it was meant for one of my teammates. He actually responded much better that way than coach directly calling him out. From then on for the next 2 years he would yell at me for what he wanted to get across to Demitrius.

Your exactly correct in some guys it lights a fire under them and some wilt. I always was the former.

You were Pelphrey under Pitino. He got yelled at for his mistakes and everyone else's.

I wouldn't wilt, but sometimes I'd get mad and go into "I'll show you" mode and tried to do too much and then promptly found the pine. Lol.

 

[~Keyser Soze~]

Skal was not misused at UK. The kid couldn't play, period. I dont believe Skal was doing anything but sleep walking through to get to the pros. We had to have a defensive stopper in the paint and a rebounder. Moving Skal to a wing wasn't gonna do anything for UK.

Couldn't play in college but can play in the NBA? How exactly does that work?

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

You do realize that Skal scoring at UK was at marginally better rate than Kings...? or did you think that he had much better scoring rate at Kings than at UK...

What i know is that when you play in the nba it is completely different than college. Ive played against a bunch of nba guys and guys who played over seas. Its way different. Their is a much larger learning curve. I never got paid to play but ive cut my teeth with guys who did. Played against some of the guys who have their jerseys hanging in Rupp.
You saw Skal performing much better as time went on in the nba and got his chance when Cousins was traded. I will say this upcoming season he will be much better than last. Hes gaining confidence and the game slowing down for him.
Very proud of him. Always a cat

 

[CATFANINFLORIDA]

I always felt he played like he did not want to get hurt while here, thus the low effort. Just my opinion.

 

[LHScat]

I'm always pulling for Skal. I thought it was pretty apparent he just never got comfortable on the court here. When you're always thinking, you'll always be a step behind.

Offensively, he's a guy that really needs and takes advantage of space on the court with his great touch. That's just not the college game these days.

 

[KyFaninNC]

I always felt he played like he did not want to get hurt while here, thus the low effort. Just my opinion.

I think this was a lot of it, hence the lack of rebounding effort. At the same time I think Cal was trying too hard to make him a banger at the 5 spot, and Skal was always having to think, instead of just playing and reacting. I think Skal and Cal both deserve much of the blame.

People here bashing Skal saying he was only going thru the motions till draft day, may be right, but then they gave Diallo a pass for trying really hard to not even play 1 damn game.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Skal was great early on. He physically dominated versus Duke. People forget that.

Then it all changed.

It wasnt that he didnt care. He appeared to be a great teammate, cheering and smiling.

I truly think his guardians put so much pressure on him, he played with a fear of getting injured. Or they basically shut him down altogether for fear of injury.

 

[BoulderCat]

An extremely highly rated recruit, and now a budding NBA star. I just have to write off his year at UK as an anomaly.