D-League: Reynolds out; Sumpter to Tulsa

Amile Jefferson attended Temple basketball practice on Thursday night per Adam Zangoria.

No mention on whether Mayor Nutter and Ed Rendell were there to greet him…lol   

I’m sure they will go on WIP and somehow say Villanova ‘screwed it up”  lol

Tough break for Reynolds.  At least there is some good news that Sumpter wants to keep his NBA dreams alive.  Do you think he has a shot to play the 3 at the highest level?

Do you think the highest level has a shot to be played at all this year?  or next year? 

Tough break? He opted not to play. That’s not a break, that is a decision.

Maybe next year. This season is slowly slipping away. Players can’t afford to lose two seasons though. They prob. can’t afford one.

Seems like Scottie is having a tough time deciding what he wants.
 - Didn’t want to stay in Europe, doesnt’ want to stay with his D-League team?, never giving it more than a year?   maybe another issue underlying this?

In all honesty…  No.  Sumpter’s problem has always been that he’s an undersized power forward you might find him listed at 6’8” but he’s closer to 6’6” and without an elite wingspan.  Those kinds of measurements and the fact that Sumpter isn’t an elite level athlete have pretty much put the nail in Sumpter’s NBA career before it even started.

*Prior to the 2007 NBA draft Sumpter was trying to transition to small forward to offset a number of the flaws I outlined above but his attempt ended with disastrous results.  

I never got the chance to see Curtis play abroad but based on the statistics out there he didn’t play too well so I imagine that the transition he was hoping for never happened.

Assuming his game hasn’t fallen off a cliff (shot 29% and 39% the last two years in France) Sumpter should find a way to be effective in the D-League, an NBA  Call-up on the other hand seems like wishful thinking though…

 He was an elite athlete prior to his two knee surgeries. He was also effectively a 3 at Villanova, at least offensively in the 4-out offense that doesn’t use a “true” PF. He shot 43% from beyond the arc as a junior, but that also seemed to suffer when he came back from his injury.

Also, he played the bulk of last season in Greece, not France, and shot over 50%.

An elite athlete?  Maybe by collegiate standards (arguable, and of course pre-injury), but by NBA standards Sumpter was far from an elite athlete when the 2007 draft rolled around and at the time he was also very much inbetween positions.

And that’s all I’m really getting at. Has Sumpter regained any of that athleticism? Has he managed to develop the requisite skillset to play small forward in the NBA? I can’t say one way or another, but his skillset coming into the draft was very much that of an under-sized stretch 4 which is why he tried to alter his game to be viewed as more of a true wing.

Despite his efforts the transition ultimately failed and is cited as one of the main reasons Sumpter had such a terrible outing at the Orlando Pre-Draft Camp.

I hope Sumpter succeeds but he’s 27, arguably in his athletic prime, and has yet to amass a notable professional basketball resume.

The odds are against Sumpter ever sniffing the NBA given the number of other similarly talented (younger) players out there…  

Good college career, by all accounts a good guy, but at the NBA level it takes more than good.

—

*Oversight on my part about the France-Greece thing. B.C. Maroussi plays in a fairly well regarded and more competitive league than JA Vichy, so Sumpter’s performance in Greece last year should be given more weight than his performance in France.

*Just wondering, do you think Sumpter is currently ready to contribute in the NBA? And at what level? Assuming there is a season (and I’m confident there will be one), what teams do you think Sumpter could help?

Brian…thanks for your reply above to NetsForce….well said…Go Curt!

Barney,
So was Rondae Jefferson!

Please tell me, even if you don’t believe it, that it’s not possible for Amile and Savon to end up at
Temple next year.

Do you think we have anyone on the board for 2012 or is it Amile or bust.

How big a deal do you think it is losing Savon and Amile going elsewhere?

Better to save the scholarship and go without?

Do you feel we have lost the BUZZ a wee bit, on the recruiting scene? We seem to have gone quiet!

Do you like the coaching changes?

Who do you think will make the biggest splash from the Freshman group.

20 W’s & NCAA invite possible?
Thanks!

Rondae can go to their practices anytime he wants basically.  His brother is on the team so it’s just a matter of how much conversation he is allowed with Dunphy.

I don’t see Amile at Temple at all regardless of Goodman’s situation.   Amile and his family have spent a lot of time cultivating his educational needs and sticking the kid in North Philly is not exactly the payback they expect from his hard work in private school.   And I know Temple isn’t a horrible school but many of it’s athletes have the academic index of community college students and that’s a fact I do know. 
Stanford is the tops but both Villanova, NC State are solid academic universities which he has intererst in still and although we may not be winning the overall battle, I don’t think Temple has anything on us with Amile.   Losing Amile to Stanford would not be bad.  Losing him to Ohio State would not be bad either.  If he chooses NC State, then I would say they outhustled our coaches because they have honestly done a good job chasing him. 
I don’t worry about Savon much because we lost him over academics.  I loved his potential on the court but he was appears to be a role player who excells best when surrounded by talented players.  He doesn’t handle the ball well, doesn’t shoot well and he needs to part of a strong team to use his great athleticism.   I though he would fit in with Amile and other Nova players very well if it had worked out but it didn’t.  It’s oddly quiet on his recruitment now so let’s see if he gets qualified for 2012 or not. 

As far as that remaining open scholarship, I am sick of Jay playing with a short roster.   Year after year we have thin bench and an empty scholarship not to mention walk-ons at the 11-12-13 position on the team that have nothing to contribute.   Fill the damn thing, we got 4 more coming open for 2013 so stop saving them like you get credit for not using them.  Syracuse, Pitt got so many players they are running out of uniform numbers. 
If you arent getting Jefferson then go find some 2 star 5’11 guard who shoots the lights out of the perimeter and let him be your 13th player.  D-III basketball is full of them.
If you want a bit of a project with enormous upside, you go get 6’11 Jordan Dickerson who is post grad at IMG (FL) and you can redshirt the kid a year.  You would have a 20 year old freshman whose defensive ability has some people thinking he has NBA potential down the road.
The 6’11 Chinese kid at Haverford may be another project to invest in.   He played on the U19 team for China last summer and Georgetown already offered him a scholarship but have to see how he plays here in the States.  .    

It’s very quiet recently but that may just mean that Jay is playing things close right now and waiting for these juniors (2013) to get started in their high school seasons.   We have a good number of scholarships offers out there.   We got burned academically by taking Savon early and the kid stopped doing his school work.  So Jay may be a little more skittish unless a kid has everything in order.  
Unfortunately Jordan Washington may be an academic question mark but I hope we stay on him closely and I am glad he stayed home in Queens at Pathway College Prep where he can handle his business.  Even if he does a post grad year at somewhere like Brewster, I think he would be great for 2014.   Anderson, Grant, Pena, Kennedy were all kids we waited for.  

I remain disappointed that Reggie Cameron is someone we aren’t closing the deal on early.   He was at Rutgers’ midnight hoops and I am not sure why Villanova hasn’t just tackled the kid to add the perimeter shooter we need.  Jay saw the whole Hudson Catholic squad at Team Camp in June.  He is not a great athlete but he is continually working himself into better shape and if Hudson Catholic starts knocking off teams like St Anthonys this year, Cameron may blow up even bigger on the National scene.  

The Twins are a powerball ticket and I don’t do so well at picking those numbers.   Conventional wisdom says they are Kentucky property.
Freeman has such a long list and Georgetown or UNC might be in his future but you never know.

Not sure where we stand on point guards after Arch but Britt is probaly going to UNC. 
Rysheed Jordan’13 and Ja’quan Newton’14  are the philly kids and we are chasing both so maybe we land one of them before next summer ends.   Conrad Chambers of Friends Central seems to be a PG on the rise and teammate Amile Jefferson will give him plenty of exposure this year.  

Shep Garner is a 10th grader I have been following for almost 2 years now although he disappointed me a bit last March when he was matched against Hilliard’s Liberty team in the States and had a bad game (as a 9th grader..lol).  Villanova is on the Roman Catholic HS kid and he is not only a perimeter shooter, he has developed some explosive moves to the rim also.  He is a kid from Chester so you know he played some competitive hoops growing up.  

I still believe we have the talent on the roster to win 21 games and go back to the NCAA.  We underachieved at that number last year but this year, that is the break-even point for me.   The juniors have to produce on the court for that to take place. 

Of the freshman, I expect the two 20yr old players in Kennedy and JVP to contribute early and often.  If they take some pressure off of Yarou, they would have done a good job.  Kennedy being vocal is a welcome sign that someone will open his mouth when needed.  I think Mouph is too quiet.

TJ may take some weeks to get into the offensive flow as a point guard but he should be a quality player by March and having him in games late will help our foul shooting.   He played at such a high level last year that expectations from some of us may be tough for him to match.
 
Hilliiard is a solid utility player and his perimeter shooting is his ticket to more or less minutes.  It’s obvious that Jay appreciates that the kid is a quick lerner and the kid’s length defending the three may help us.   . 

Nothing wrong with Ach other than he doesn’t offer a specific skill set to really stand out on this team but once the season starts, we can see where he stands.  It may be a quiet year for Yacoubou but he will have his moments when we see his winning pedigree stand out.   

Good stuff,thanks!!

Maybe but I think it is more likely there is a better fit for his skill set and a better pay check.  He may think his skill set is not a good fit for the NBA at least at this time.

PG Jared Sina (2013) of Gil St Bernards-NJ had decommitted from Alabama. 
Villanova is among many schools on his list.  Villanova coaches have been to his open workouts to see him.   http://blogs.mycentraljersey.com/hoopshaven/2011/10/04/jaren-sina-re-opens-big-east-locals-in-the-mix/  
http://www.nbebasketball.com/w3/2011-1103/jaren-sina-open-to-anything-in-second-recruiting-go-round/ 

In the recent Eddie Griffin Classic between NJ & Philly kids, both Amile Jefferson (philly seniors won) and Reggie Cameron (NJ juniors won) took home a MVP trophy for their teams. 

Cameron has mentioned in the past that his favorite player growing up was former Patterson Catholic All-American Tim Thomas.   Cameron attended PC with mules Mack and Kyle Anderson as a freshman before that school was closed.  He along with PG Kavon Stewart chose to go to Hudson Catholic and lead a basketball revival.

Anyways, I came across an old article which detailed the entire recruiting saga of Tim Thomas by Villanova before Thomas  arrived in Fall of 1996.  Very interesting situation and a lot more complicated then most people seem to discuss about that event.   Mike Jensen was one  of the reporters who co-wrote the article.   http://articles.philly.com/1996-10-13/sports/25665973_1_tim-thomas-villanova-steve-lappas      

Barney – great insight.

Isn’t Ryan A. an outside shooter as well as a PG?

If we offer for next year I would rather see another big even if a LT project over another guard.  Hopefully, the coaching staff additions will help us promote/develope a player from within at the guard position.

With us losing both Yarou & Sutton after next season, adding a big with that unused scholarship who we could redshirt would bring us back to numbers in 2013-14.  We know many bigs mature late so I am sure you can find one either here or International.  Jay doesn’t really recruit foreign kids who are outside the country although we now have a Chinese National team member 2 or 3 miles off campus.  The kid supposedly has excellent academic backround so even as a bust, he helps team GPA…lol. 
I mention Dickerson only because he was at Villanova’s Hoops Mania last year and he had a very impressive breakout summer at Hoops Group Elite in Reading.   Defensively, he is a stopper.in the middle blocking shots.  Having someone like Dickerson to go against Ochefu for a few years in practice would help both of those players develop tremendously.  

Some recent comments from September’s “Under Armour Grind” on both Damiel Ochefu and recruiting targets Shep Garner and Andrew Harrison.  
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/basketball/mens/story/_/id/7021904/under-armour-grind-session-recap 

>>> Villanova commit C Daniel Ochefu (Westtown, Pa./Westtown) had some impressive plays this weekend. He ran the floor, finished drop-off passes above the rim, hit a couple short corner jumpers and passed well out of the post to teammates cutting from the weak side. However, Ochefu must work to develop his back-to-the-basket game to take his game to next level.<<>>  Shep Garner  (Philadelphia/Roman Catholic)
2014, PG/SG, 6-2, 185 poundsThe combination guard has a very good basketball IQ and feel for the game. He attacks defenders off the bounce and can hit midrange, pull-ups and threes in the flow of the game. Garner uses his court vision to pass the ball on time and on target on a consistent basis. He has good strength for his size and although he is a good, not great, athlete he always gets to where he wants on the floor. Garner is tough and competes. He has offers from Florida, Penn State and Rutgers along with all the Philadelphia area schools including Villanova and Temple with Kansas and North Carolina watching closely. <<<

scotty never had a chance w/ his skills to go nba.lots of heart at vu, but too slow ,small, & too poor a ball handeler. find a job young man.

scotty never had a chance w/ his skills to go nba.lots of heart at vu, but too slow ,small, & too poor a ball handeler. find a job young man.