LOL Cade Davis not athletic

[tomkar98]

So he is a better rebounding guard than WW and Crocker?? I just dont see it...I hope he does well because he can see me but I have yet to see the rebounding/shooting....Crocker should be our best rebounding guard with WW behind him....so if WW is playing the point with crocker at the 2 and cade at the 3...cade has the oppertunity to be the worst rebounder on the floor...I may be missing something but I dont see it at all

He has a potential to be a great rebounder. This is believed to be true because he has such a high motor and give just about every play 110% of his effort. With that kind of presence, you tend to provide a better effort on the boards too.

 

[jmizzy4ou]

Of course, athletics didn't always work that way at all. Thousands of great athletes whose skin was not lily-white were not given a remotely a fair shake over the decades, and many -- not all, but many -- who now so loudly and frequently decry "political correctness" would, had they been born fifty years earlier, have been hurling epithets at Jackie Robinson from the stands.

And I'm not sure who you think is getting such a raw deal in other fields of endeavor (and who is being handed undeserved success), but we endured not decades but centuries in this country (and the colonies that gave birth to it) in which the only people who were allowed to pursue their dreams were white men.

Whatever you might mean by "political correctness" and the injustices it supposedly imposes upon society, they are nothing compared to the injustices that came before (and still, in many ways, continue).

Very well said......

 

[elmocarp]

Of course, athletics didn't always work that way at all. Thousands of great athletes whose skin was not lily-white were not given a remotely a fair shake over the decades, and many -- not all, but many -- who now so loudly and frequently decry "political correctness" would, had they been born fifty years earlier, have been hurling epithets at Jackie Robinson from the stands.

And I'm not sure who you think is getting such a raw deal in other fields of endeavor (and who is being handed undeserved success), but we endured not decades but centuries in this country (and the colonies that gave birth to it) in which the only people who were allowed to pursue their dreams were white men.

Whatever you might mean by "political correctness" and the injustices it supposedly imposes upon society, they are nothing compared to the injustices that came before (and still, in many ways, continue).

What a fantastically refreshing point of view to hear expressed on this board. Thanks for taking the time share it sky...

 

[elmocarp]

Regarding the theme of this thread, I don't get what is LOL about having the opinion that Cade isn't particularly athletic for a D1 basketball player. He isn't. That isn't some type of insult directed toward Cade...I don't understand why it matters. Cade is a fantastically conditioned athlete and he has superb size and strength for his position. But he isn't particularly quick laterally or off the floor. I appreciate it that he ran the fastest time in the mile run, but I'm not sure that is the iron-clad validation for a statement like "it is obvious that he's probably our best athlete." I don't think its obvious at all.

I love Cade on the team and there aren't many teams that have a guy filling the role of spot up shooter who has great size and strength and is a plus defender. But Capel doesn't have him spotting up outside because he wants to limit his offense. Its just his best chance to contribute to the team. He isn't great in transition and isn't a very strong rebounder, two of the easiest ways to gauge a guy's athleticism. He isn't necessarily unathletic, but it isn't the strength of his game.

 

[FaithfulSooner]

Sky your points on this issue were right on the money. It's too bad alot of people don't understand today that those injustices were really bad back in the day, and some of them still exist. I don't think it could have been said any better. MN's post is pretty much how I view Cade. Don't write him off just yet. We really need for Cade to put it together this year and be a leader on this team. BOOMER SOONER BABY!!!:clap

 

[BigTime]

Regarding the theme of this thread, I don't get what is LOL about having the opinion that Cade isn't particularly athletic for a D1 basketball player. He isn't. That isn't some type of insult directed toward Cade...I don't understand why it matters. Cade is a fantastically conditioned athlete and he has superb size and strength for his position. But he isn't particularly quick laterally or off the floor. I appreciate it that he ran the fastest time in the mile run, but I'm not sure that is the iron-clad validation for a statement like "it is obvious that he's probably our best athlete." I don't think its obvious at all.

I love Cade on the team and there aren't many teams that have a guy filling the role of spot up shooter who has great size and strength and is a plus defender. But Capel doesn't have him spotting up outside because he wants to limit his offense. Its just his best chance to contribute to the team. He isn't great in transition and isn't a very strong rebounder, two of the easiest ways to gauge a guy's athleticism. He isn't necessarily unathletic, but it isn't the strength of his game.

Some of you guys are going to be singing a different tune regarding Cade's "lack of lateral quickness" by the end of this year. I would say book it, but then the resident longhorn will be on my case again, and nobody wants that to happen to me.

How quickly we forget that many people were saying the same thing about Crocker as a freshman and sophomore, and now he is the best on the ball defender on our team. I believe (and this is just my opinion) that many will be touting Cade as one of the best defenders on our team by the end of next year.

Elmo, I respectfully disagree about your rebounding statement. Multiple sources of mine have told me several times over that Cade is a very strong rebounder for a guard. I suspect that we will see that more this year. Blake can make a lot of people look like a bad rebounder.

I don't think we have seen enough of Cade's transition game to make a judgment call on that either.

 

[DenverSooner]

I'm sorry, but being able to score well in timed drills or whatever, or doing an acrobatic dunk against air, doesn't make you an athlete.

The way Cade plays in ACTUAL games, and against actual D1 players (not the average joe), tells me he isn't on the upper end of athleticism. His foot speed on defense is below average. That is the number 1 thing I notice.

Isn't the exact opposite argument used to say guys like Kevin Bookout and Michael Neal are not athletic? We had numerous people say Kevin Bookout was not athletic notwithstanding that he played 2 college sports and could have played baseball if he had the time. I thought the knock on Kevin was he was not particularly quick and did not have a huge vertical. With cade there seems to be completely different measuring stick.

From my perspective you are not a scholarship athlete at the University of Oklahoma unless you are tremendous athlete. I really don't get these debates. Cade Davis is quick, has a big vertical, and is well coordinated.
He got minutes as a true freshman.

What else does he need to be "athletic"?

 

[elmocarp]

Look, I don't want to keep writing things that come off as knocks against Cade...I love the guy and I don't think debating his athleticism really says anything about him as a player, so I am sort of thinking this is a pointless debate.

That said, I mainly am taking exception with the "LOL" at people who have that opinion and the statement that it is obvious that he is the best athlete on the team. I think those two things are "obviously" ridiculous and that is my issue. If someone wanted to make a case that he is the second best athlete on the team (an equally absurd pursuit), I wouldn't agree but I think a valid case could be made at least. But to suggest that it is "obvious" that he is a superior athlete to Willie Warren is so far beyond absurd its hard to take seriously. I wasn't going to say anything about it, but this thread was well into 20 posts and I think pretty much all of them were affirming the original post.

I think Cade is a good athlete, I do. I don't think OU makes an athletic sacrifice when they give him minutes. But I don't think his athleticism (however you want to define or measure it) ever shows up in games. I can't think of a time that he made a play and I thought, "Wow...that was an athletic play." That's all I'm saying. Willie Warren, Tony Crocker and Ryan Wright have all shown those flashes in games, as did Blake Griffin, Taylor Griffin and Juan Pattillo last year. From what I have seen of them, I expect to see those types of things from TMG and Tiny as well. That's all I'm saying. His game is built on skill, size, strength and effort more than athleticism.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

Isn't the exact opposite argument used to say guys like Kevin Bookout and Michael Neal are not athletic? We had numerous people say Kevin Bookout was not athletic notwithstanding that he played 2 college sports and could have played baseball if he had the time. I thought the knock on Kevin was he was not particularly quick and did not have a huge vertical. With cade there seems to be completely different measuring stick.

From my perspective you are not a scholarship athlete at the University of Oklahoma unless you are tremendous athlete. I really don't get these debates. Cade Davis is quick, has a big vertical, and is well coordinated.
He got minutes as a true freshman.

What else does he need to be "athletic"?

And I've never understood comparing a D1 player to the average joe as the basis for calling a player athletic.

Yes, clearly Cade is athletic when compared to the average male. That does NOT mean, however, that he is athletic when compared to the average D1 ball player.

For those saying his defense was really good last year, I didn't see it. I remember a couple of good defensive games/series/plays for him, sure. But overall, his lack of quickness, which means ALOT more than pure speed in basketball, is lacking. Pretty much every D1 ball player is athletic to some extent. That doesn't mean Chris Walker is athletic to the same degree that Blake Griffin is.

I wouldn't call Neal particularly athletic either, though I think he was a bit quicker than Davis.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

yeah, being fast, strong and jumping high matters not.

In drills it doesn't. There are alot of guys that couldn't sniff a college scholarship that would "test" better than several current OU players. Davis doesn't play with those same "skills" on the court though.

 

[DenverSooner]

My point is that Bookout was a force on the court but was said to not be athletic due to how he would test. Cade tests very well but is said to not be athletic.

I am not comparing Cade to the average Joe. I think if you compare him to the average college basketball player or the average D-1 player, he comes out above average on athletic ability, such as speed, strength (based on weight), vertical, hand-eye coordination, etc.

Oklahoma is a premier basketball program. There are at least 200 schools playing D-1 basketball that don't even belong in the same sentence as OU when you are talking about talent. If you toss in lower divisions and Jucos there are a whole lot of young men playing basketball that could not remotely get a scholarship at OU.

 

[campbest]

Cade is a good athlete, definitely not "great" and not the "most athletic" on the team. Cade is an average defender, which is not a knock because there are a lot of players at the D-1 level who are NOT great defenders, it's tough at this level. He has good size, good athletic ability, but his lateral quickness is questionable.

All I remember is after the Nebraska game, there were a bunch of people having this same conversation and were pointing to the job Cade did on NU's shooter (Verlander?). Just didn't buy that argument Cade was a "great" defender because all Verlander did was stand there and then run off a few screens. Cade had a great opportunity to show something against Sherron in the KU game down the stretch, but he let Collins drain a three from the top of the key instead of forcing him to put the ball on the deck.