Thoughts on Sills? He is the one guy for me whose highlight videos don’t match up with his rankings. I see him shooting 3s on the move. I see him shooting deep 3s. I see him dunking with ease. I get it that they are highlight videos … but some of the stuff I’ve seen him do seems pretty high level (i.e., different from other highlight videos). If he really is 6’2" like the roster says, count me excited.
Is it possible that his recruiting rankings are artificially low b/c of how good his high school team was?
Desi doesn’t wow you with jaw dropping athleticism like others at his position. Don’t get me wrong he’s a very good athlete, but the elite prospects usually have an extra gear that maybe Desi doesn’t have. He also didn’t play last summer so that hurt his ability to be evaluated. That said I think he was probably rated fairly.
His competitiveness, dog mentality and fearless attitude stands out to me. He’s like some of the past Hogs that laid it all on the line. He might be 6-2, but I would probably say he’s closer to 6-1, but it’s been awhile since I’ve seen him.
I think I know how AR measures. I think it was Portis, who at the combine measured 6-8 1/2. He was listed at 6-10 his SO season. I think what happens is they measure with shoes (seems to add an inch), and anything over the inch mark gets you bigger. As an example. I’m 5-9 1/2. If AR measured me the way they do the basketball team, I’d be 5-11, an inch for the shoes, and over the 5-10 by half an inch they’d round up.
At least socks are uniform in height. Shoe height can vary quite a bit from shoe to shoe. What we should be more conscious of is wingspan. Probably more important in basketball than height.
While that is true, most of the time when guys are getting measured they are at camps/combines where they are playing in the same shoes they are measured in, so it’s not like guys are wearing some weird 2 inch shoes they can’t play in when they get measured and cheating the system. I’m like Dudley, however tall they are when they are playing is what matters, they aren’t playing in socks so their height in socks doesn’t matter at all.
Definitely entitled to that opinion, but anywhere it’s posted where the heights actually matter… team websites, recruiting sites, espn, cbs, mock draft sites, etc. they post the kids height with the shoes on. When the NBA starts listing people by their sock height that’s when other people will actually care what their sock height is, until then it’s kinda pointless for people to care what their height is with socks unless they are just curious.
Also, to your football comparison, you do realize that people walk around in shoes in everyday life scenarios, so their height in shoes is what people will see them in 99% of the time. I’m not sure about you but I’ve seen Hog basketball players hundreds of times over the years whether it be in the stores, at the games, on campus, etc. I’ve never seen one of them without their shoes on. You don’t walk around in pads, helmets, and cleats in everyday scenarios.
It’s my understanding that at the NBA combine, they measure players with and without shoes. I don’t have a problem with having both data points.
While there is not a great deal of variability between basketball shoe brands in the sole thickness, I suspect the difference is not zero. And if you only measure people in shoes, you invite cheating. Maybe, instead of wearing basketball shoes, someone shows up for their measurement wearing Hoka OneOnes, which are running shoes with very thick soles. Like this:
I wouldn’t play basketball in Hokas, but then I wouldn’t run in them either. But my friends who do love them (the thick soles are very squishy and reduce the shock of footstrike). And what if Hoka, which is a French company, gets into the basketball shoe market? Adidas and Puma are both German and both have an NBA presence; Puma is jumping back in this year with Ayton, Bagley and Porter out of this year’s draft, and veteran Rudy Gay.
If any basketball player ever got caught wearing some ugly shoes like that, the backlash they would receive would far outweigh any advantages they have of being 6’3 instead of 6’2 lol. Steph Curry got killed by fans and the media for releasing some shoes that weren’t halfway as ugly as those you just posted. I can safely say I don’t think you have to worry about any basketball player wearing those things.
Also, you’re forgetting most of the time when players are measured at camps and NBA combine, they are playing during that time. It’s not like they have a set day to get measured and they can wear some ugly thick sole shoes, then come back the next day and play basketball in their regular shoes. It’s all happening at the same time. And if anybody at the NBA combine came in with some obvious thick sole shoes when every single sports media outlet is there, they would get laughed out of the building, it would be memes and the internet would have a field day laughing at them.
I saw Sills play in an allstar game and I was not “impressed” but that doesn’t mean he isn’t good. It was one game. He did play good later in the game. I see him more of a PG so don’t count on shooting. I think a fair comparison is much like Beard. I know some didn’t like Beard but I thought he was one of the better point guards at Arkansas.
Sills niche is his defensive intensity. I’m not going to compare him to any prior Razorback greats but he absolutely loves guarding the opponents best offensive player. (He takes pride in that)
Every player is great at something for example Henderson is a dunking highlight reel but is a limited threat outside 15’.
Lol. I think Dudley first introduced the Alvin comparison. I’ve seen Sills play several times. I don’t claim to be a talent evaluator but my impressions were that he’s not a great ball handler (decent), not a great passer (average), he’s a decent shooter (but shoots 3s from his chin), not particularly quick (not slow either), he’s undersized for a combo, and not overly athletic. He plays hard just like everyone else on his HS team. I would compare him to Julysses Nobles (not necessarily negative) and in no way would he compare to an elite athlete/player like Alvin Robertson - or even remind you of a an “Alvin Type” of player… unless we are just being super general (eg Macon will remind you of Michael Jordan).
I just don’t see it but I have no experience evaluating and could very well be wrong. The good thing is that we will soon see for ourselves.