Would ej Montgomery have been a 1st rounder wo OAD??
- Thread starter Wildcats1st
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Wouldn't be surprised he was highly touted coming out, he looked like he might join the Dukies for a while, tickled to have him land here, but didn't see the production I anticipated.
I'm starting to wonder if hes gonna stay in the draft the way cal is going after bigs.
I am very nervous a few scouts are going to tell him he is a late first round pick
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Guys like EJ are the reason the OAD exists. Kid may look good playing small players in HS and then get exposed in the NBA. It was costing a lot of GM’s their jobs. The one season in college is basically just another way to better scout these guys.
Agree....thought he would have been much more of a scorer.....missed a lot of easy shots
Will be that way again as well. There was a reason the NBA stopped drafting straight from HS yet they seemed to have forgotten again. When they end up drafting a lot of first round bust they will seek to change their draft policies again.
EJ’s problem was simply lack of playing time due to Reid and PJ. If he would have played as many minutes as hagans or kj he would be a lock to go in the 1st rd this year. Hope we get him back.
If he’s stupid enough to believe that then he can’t be helped anyway
and people still blame Cal for kids leaving early...this looks to me how Cal has been trying to adapt to the new reality. I think EJ returns and this time next yr we will be talking bout which car EJ , Hagans, Maxey, Brooks, Kahlil, Sestina, Richards, and of course IQ be buying or seen in..while we a still in the afterglow of winning #9
High level rebounder. Shot mechanics are good for his size. I think hes a better passer than we’ve seen but hes not good off the dribble. As Cal would say hes a play finisher not a play starter. Definitely has some fine tuning to do but excited to hopefully see him next season in an expanded rome.
What should worry everyone this year is that the agents are in the players ears. That’s like having a used car dealer for an ethics advisor.
Of course is all Cal’s fault. How? I have no clue but be assured the CLOD will spin it for us soon.
Of course is all Cal’s fault. How? I have no clue but be assured the CLOD will spin it for us soon.
Here's a hot take. I said from the moment EJ signed here he made a mistake. Cal does not like 6'10 soft perimeter players. Cal playing Reid in front of him lets me know he really dislikes EJ's game. Cal never plays experience over talent ever. He never let's a less heralded prospect get a a future NBA's guys clock, he flat out doesn't do it. He did it with EJ. I hope EJ goes pro not because I don't like the kid or because I don't think he can improve it's because even if he does, Cal doesn't know how to use players like him, he doesn't fit Cal's system.
If he leaves I really think that opens the door for Blackshear to come here. Cal loves bangers that can score and eat the paint that like that. He fits Cal's mold and even if EJ were to come back he'd def leave or transfer next year anyway and I'd take a year a Blackshear over a year EJ with Cal coaching.
If he leaves I really think that opens the door for Blackshear to come here. Cal loves bangers that can score and eat the paint that like that. He fits Cal's mold and even if EJ were to come back he'd def leave or transfer next year anyway and I'd take a year a Blackshear over a year EJ with Cal coaching.
Anthony Davis says hello. Definitely not a banger. Worked like hell on defense though. Hint hint hint.
are you shitting me? did you watch Davis play at UK? He and EJ are literally nothing alike. NBA AD isn't even like what you're talking about. EJ Montgomery wants to play PG
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Agreed. I think it's a very wise strategy for the NBA to make these guys play somewhere for a year before signing them to multi-million dollar deals. I think Montgomery will be a solid role player in the NBA. But he clearly wasn't ready yet. When you're a mobile 6-11 guy playing against typical high schoolers, it's easy to look good. Big men are most often the ones who need a little more time. We've had a couple exceptions to that rule with Cousins and Davis, even Adebayo. The thing Montgomery needs is some muscle and some strength. He also needs to improve his jump shot. He has the tools, he just needs to perfect them. I don't think he will get a first round projection. I don't even think he would be an early second round guy- maybe mid-second round.
EJ was known in high school as a massive underachiever with a bad motor. He was at one time the #1 prospect in the class and continued to fall down the rankings the more he played against bigger and better competition year in and out.
I agree with everything you said in terms of adding strength and improving his shot however I don't know if that will make him an elite prospect. He wants to play the game like a guard, he thinks he's a Durant type but he's not. He needs to learn the game inside out. He is a damn good passer, has great vision, feel, etc.... but it's damn good for a big not for a point forward or guard. I'd love for EJ to watch Jokic, Sabonis, Gasol, see how bigs who could pass great played the game. He could make such in impact using those skills and passing on the interior and finding cutting wings and guards. He doesn't need to be looking to be a set up man dribbling out on the perimeter. Learn how to really work in a high screen set. Like I said earlier learn to the play game as a very skilled big instead of wanting to be an under skilled wing. He'd benefit so much from that.
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The best thing for Montgomery is to come back to Lexington and work on his body all summer and other aspects of his game.
Love the kid and want him to come back, but I'm STILL waiting to see this "shooting ability." Kid made maybe a 7 or 8 jump shots on like 100 attemtps all year.
Same here but I didn't think he had a fair shake to work through his struggles with the depth we had in paint.
I see this a lot in these type of threads and the idea that straight out of HS kids were a bigger bust than kids who played in college is a total myth. I’ve posted numbers before, and it’s just not true.
If nobody ever saw Nick Richards play a college game he would have been a lottery pick. EJ would have been first round last year.
Strongly disagree. EJ was bad this year. No post game, and missed jumpers all year.
EJ has a great shot. It didn't show up here, but he is a very good shooter. At that size that is very desirable at the next level.
Begs to question why did they stop to begin with? Overall percentages may support what your saying but the reason an age limit was put in was due to the number of players who struggled, failed, or went undrafted and never made it to the league.
The only thing I can think of is that they didn’t have an established minor league system for kids who might not have been ready. Now they do and now they are going to make the change.
I think CBB fans are really gonna be upset when the NBA eliminates the OAD. I bet almost all the top 25 or 30 HS players opt for the draft. All these kids think they're ready and the next big thing. CBB will not get the great players.
AD, Wall, Boogie, Bledsoe, MKG, KAT, Fox, Bam, Murray,,,,, none would have played one second in a Cats uni IMO. Hope the whiners enjoy the watered down game..
AD, Wall, Boogie, Bledsoe, MKG, KAT, Fox, Bam, Murray,,,,, none would have played one second in a Cats uni IMO. Hope the whiners enjoy the watered down game..
Bledsoe was a late bloomer no way he was none and done. Coming out of hs Kat was known as a soft big who liked to shoot 3s. Wasn’t on mock drafts for the 15 draft til Jan of his one season. So he was somehow going to get drafted a year earlier? Fox maybe bam wasn’t even first round dec of his fresh year scouts thought he was a poor rebounder. There was a reason only 4 or 5 kids at most a season went straight to the pros! I mean most of our fresh haven’t been projected lottery even with the scouts anticipating a year of college but they are now all of a sudden going too? I think u will see the top 7 or 8 and a few morons ranked lower who think they are better than they are maybe lose 9 or 10 a year. Nowhere near the top 30
You really think KAT or Bam didn't think he was ready for the NBA? None of these kids are really ready but they think they are and their posse tells them they are. They aren't listening or even probably hearing to what scouts/Gm's or internet trolls. Hell, there's what a hundred early entrants this year for 6o spots, counting second round? Most of them are nowhere near ready but they don't believe it and they applied anyway. In their minds they're all stars..And IF the new deal allows them to come to college if they aren't drafted there will be a lot each year apply... and even if most ultimately come to school it will be a nightmare for college coaches. Image the cluster if the colleges have to wait till July to sign the kids that don't get drafted,
Best thing for Montgomery was to enter the Draft. Now he's going to be told about himself and they don't give a damn if he cares what he is hearing. Thing about being in the real world is you are trying to prove you are worth being a commodity to an organization. They don't care about your feelings, they care about production. This is a kid that so many in the thread have hit it perfectly-does he really want to succeed at basketball or just be out there? I said it last year and my hesitation is whenever you pass on recruiting a guy hard initially there is a reason. Montgomery and UK is an odd pairing. Montgomery is type who usually ends up at UNC or he picked a nice fit with Auburn for how he wants to play. At UK for Cal, you only succeed if you are mentally tough. This is a kid whose own mom has to remind him to dunk the damn ball, and he still doesn't do it as he should. He's always talked of a skilled player/shooter but doesn't make a lot of a shots and his FT stroke is marginal. He's soft/weak with the ball and provides no skill that a Pro team needs right now. He needs to return to college and possibly for 2 more years. Where that college is? Up to him.
Glad I'm not coaching because there isn't any sentimental attachment but watching him for 5 years now, I'm done with hearing of his "potential" and want to see production. To be fair, I thought he should've played more in Elite 8 game as he was a better fit for that opponent, but I'd also be looking to recruit to challenge him. He and Richards need wake up calls. No more "What they can be...." it's time to start showing it in games.
It's not that they have forgotten. Silver is eye balling the billions that college basketball is getting and he believes he can get his hands on it. The goal of ending one and done is to legitimize the G League, which of course it will do nothing but destroy the futures of a lot of great talent and run the NBA dry on red ink. The NBA was always better off letting college be their G league. They don't pay for a penny of it. Players enter the NBA much better developed and college affiliations run the marketing potential that some players have through the roof. Zion for example would have always been the same player on the court but his value to the franchise that drafts him has increased 10 fold after his one year at Duke compared to what it would have been if he bypassed college. To me this is that idiot Silver killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
Definitely agree with this. The G League will never have any popularity or following. I believe single A baseball in the minors probably attracts more fans than the GLeague ever will. Perhaps the G League draw would be equivalent to a semi pro baseball game I don’t know but I see many first rounders heading there in the future as anyone worth anything in HS is going to be making themselves available and like last time too many GM’s will take a chance for fear of missing out on the next great one.
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anon_013cn8yrfncx2
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A cynic might say that Cal is already prepared for the end of OAD by not signing guys who could leave straight from HS.
As for EJ, I don't think he'll ever improve more than marginally.
As for EJ, I don't think he'll ever improve more than marginally.
The thing most haven’t posted yet is it hasn’t even gone to the player association yet they will have the final say! They could careless about the NBA profiting off their hard work! They aren’t going want more players flooding and taking their spots! Be interesting if it comes back that you can go straight to the GLeague or stay two years in college to kinda force the hand of high school recruits to choose the GLeague get their payday earlier!
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