Hoops

OFFICIAL - Welcome new 36ers import PG Chris Warren

great post Paul.

Crowsfan, I think Lamb and Oriaki have talent and will be pretty good, but they are far from ready to dominate NBL opponents. I wasn't impressed by anyone else I saw in the NCAA title game.

The reason I asked you UConn's nickname was because I used the Huskies v Butler title game as an example and then you dismissed them as minor teams like Butler and BYU. You then went on to list UConn as one of the teams that would dominate NBL teams.

Based on what I saw of the Huskies team v Butler (a team with limited talent, but very good defense) they weren't that great a team. Walker was of course a standout and I agree would dominate in the NBL. Lamb and Oriaki showed they had some talent, but really didn't look ready to be NBL imports to me. Matt Howard on Butler, I could see had some ability, but had a shocking shooting night. The rest of the guys on both teams looked very ordinary to me.

Crowsfan you clearly aren't reading my comments and understanding them:

1) Butler were a very good NCAA team last year, otherwise they wouldn't have made the title game!
2) If you didn't understand my comment about weak links/ lack of depth in college teams, try reading KingJames' post just above which is another way of saying the same thing.
3) Please tell me which NCAA title winning Huskies players from last season, besides Kemba Walker, would make an NBL roster, much less dominate the NBL?
4) Now, for bonus points, please tell me the nickname of UConn's bball team...

I think its great that the Sixers went after a legit PG i.e. someone who played point at College

A big mistake in recruiting is trying to bring in guys that are interchangeable (i.e. Combo guards are risky because they try to be a jack of all trades, but are often masters of none--you get some guys that play the 1 and 2 spot who try to score and distribute the basketball, but whilst trying to do both they do none)

So good choice by the Sixers to go with a legit PG. Warren just has to worry about playing the game as a PG, and not as another role that he isn't used to.

Have to say that our level of professional ball is regarded to be high but we just can't match it financialy with european clubs no matter what level. With Carter going back to play ball in Sweeden which is ABA level at tops and getting paid better coin then he would most likely get in the NBL this proves why players continually choose to play in europe then in the NBL.

Isaac thats my point, its not what you say it all seems About what you dont say. Im just Saying.
Good signing though dont you think, obviously there are things that 36ers staff have no control over but all things equal warren should be good in the NBL.

The Stats For Warren on the NBL website are wrong!!
FG% on Eurobasket are wrong in the below box
His stats are

Senior year
2pt FG% = 49
3pt FG% = 34
FT% = 92

Junior year
2pt FG% = 51
3pt FG% = 40
FT% = 81

2’s and 3’s are lumped together for FG%.

Im sure you all picked up on this.

legit PG is what the Sixers need, let's hope he's that guy
not going to judge him till I've seen what he brings to the court

Anon 324112, I saw that too. I'm hoping that's one he has grown out of!

Crows fan, my point about Ben Allen is that there are players like him on almost every college roster.

Lets take the finalists from this years NCAA title game. The Huskies had Kemba Walker, but the rest of his NCAA champion team didn't look too good to me when I watched them.

The Butler team they played against had one thing going for them: good defence. But they couldn't score inside the three point line!

They were two of the best teams in College ball last year. How would they go against the Breakers or the Wildcats (esp with a healthy Redhage)?

I'm sure there are examples of great college teams you could point out that would smash a lot of NBL teams, but there are also great NBL teams who would embarass a lot of college teams. The Bullets of a few years back, The Tigers when they had Gaze, Copeland, Bradtke, etc. The Sixers teams with Mee, Brooks, Maher, Cat, Rees, Stiff and Rillie.

I just don't think you can say that College teams are clearly that much better than NBL teams.

Anon, with regard to an athletic SF who can attack the rim: we have two in Weigh and Creek already!

Barlow would be nice, but at this point we really need two bigs to round out a balanced roster.

Neville would give us a nice big frontline rotation, though we would be a little slow.

Ideally IMO, at least one of the bigs we sign has to be a hard nut who will play aggressively, rebound well and can score from putbacks and broken plays. Ie, a Dusty Rychart or a Dave Gruber or similar.

And it's literally all speculation before he lands here.

Let's support the dude and wait and see.

Colour me excited.

Welcome aboard Chris!

Re: this NCAA v NBL debate, while I agree that the elite NCAA talent that is drafted by the NBA each season is a cut above what we have in the NBL, that is balanced by the fact that a lot of NCAA teams have weak links in their lineup which NBL teams would exploit.

I admittedly don't watch a lot of college hoops, but when I've watched NCAA tourney games, its common to see one star on each team running rings around the other eight stiffs on the floor. Ben Allen is a perfect example of a guy who filled an impotant role for St Mary's but has struggled to step up to the pace of the NBL thus far.

So I think you'd get some interesting contests and that games could go either way, depending on which teams you picked on either side.

Anon #087,

"NCAA basketball is a fair bit below NBL standard. A good Div 1 team would be fortunate to get within 15 points of a good NBL team. Teams like the Breakers & Wildcats would murder any college team.

It's amateur basketball and they're kids, FFS."

Have you seen the NCAA players, they are crazy talented!! Any top 10 college program would beat any NBL team, Colleges ranked 10-25 would certainly be competitive and could win definently. Teams well outside the top 25 would not though beat NBL though.
They are not kids!
Quite a few players are 20 +.
These guys are beasts athletically and skill wise.
I mean these guys come straight out of college and go NBA, or to Europe or anywhere in the world.

For those that are interested, Draft Express has an in-depth scouting report on Warren from 2008 (freshman year).

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Chris-Warren-5057/

Speaking of Winder's stats as a comparison, I just looked it up and the guy only played 2 years for Texas and in his best season (senior year) he averaged 7.4 mins and 2 ppg!

Looks like he came from a JuCo or something and didn't have any impact until he started his D-League career. Even then, his best season was 14 ppg, 3 rpg, 2 apg, 1 spg.

Chris Warren's background and stats look pretty good compared to that!

Yes Jack, Rabbit is great! No Duck though... lets not go there ;-)

Are people not aware that there are actually legit tall players in the NCAA? they are taller than NBL players.
He wasn't playing against 5 guards who were all the same height as him.

He played against height all his senior year and still managed to put up 19.9ppg.

I don't know why people are saying height will be an issue, when he has played against people of height his entire life.
The reason why there isn't footage of him finishing at the rim over bigger players is because he is a SMART player.
He obviously picked when to go and when not to go, and why do people think that he HAS to go to the rim.
The kid can make a living in the mid-range game on pullups, hit 3 pointers and then chose when to attack the rim and not. A smart PG will not get blocked because he won't put himself in a position to get blocked (i.e. he will chose the right time to go) and Warren has that IQ and feel(Looks like he makes very good reads)

Is "Rabbit" an appropriate nickname?

Oh yeah, FEAR THE BEARD! That's gold Skip!

Like Isaac says, lets wait and see how he performs on court before we start proclaiming failure from web mountain!

I did like what I saw in that clip Isaac posted above. He looks to have similar ball-handling, speed and finishing ability to Ervin, but he also showed he can shoot the three, which Ervin didn't really do much last season.

So the ability is there, its really just going to be a question of how he transitions from being a college star to a professional import under pressure to prove himself game in game out.

One interesting thing to note from his stat line last season is that he averaged 8 three attempts per game! Could he be Rick Brunson on speed?!?!

Isaac Winder did not average an assist at college or any points i think, hardly a comparison.
Joel when has the SEC been average? And i follow Florida and know that when they Play ole miss they scout the hell out of Chris warren.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc5QcMAMppU

Thats Huge, I think Gary Ervin Came out of the SEC, and did not come out with thoughs Stats. Chris should be a star, fingers crossed. Well done coaches!!

Anon, it was a cheap sledge based upon the fact that the 1st video shown of him was losing a 3pt shootout.

Just joking about the fact that you would be better showing a highlight reel rather than a video of him being a runner up in a contest.

Nice Vid Muzz; looks like we got a mediocre 3pt shooter. Can we get that Andrew Goudelock guy intstead?

Ole Miss guard?