NBA- OU players and general (this thread only)

[WaymanFan]

I'll never get over how well AR is doing. I would have never guessed that. That's awesome

Obviously, no one saw this coming or he would have been drafted. During one of the Lakers playoff games, the announcer and commentator agreed that Reaves is the best undrafted NBA player since Ben Wallace. OU has done pretty well through the years with players who weren't expected to contribute much or at all on the NBA level. While Reaves is the gold standard, Gar Heard, Clifford Ray, Anthony Bowie, Brent Price and Eduardo Najera all played 8+ years in the NBA despite not being drafted in the 1st round.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Obviously, no one saw this coming or he would have been drafted. During one of the Lakers playoff games, the announcer and commentator agreed that Reaves is the best undrafted NBA player since Ben Wallace. OU has done pretty well through the years with players who weren't expected to contribute much or at all on the NBA level. While Reaves is the gold standard, Gar Heard, Clifford Ray, Anthony Bowie, Brent Price and Eduardo Najera all played 8+ years in the NBA despite not being drafted in the 1st round.

Well, we have talked a lot about this, but he went undrafted by choice once he reached a certain part of the second round. Multiple teams wanted him, and one in particular was getting ready to pick him, but he and his agent asked them not to because they already had a deal in place with LA that was better than what he would have ended up with as a second round pick.

While no no saw him being this good, he is a perfect example of how so many college fans who don’t follow the NBA fail to understand the kinds of players likely to make it. He has very good positional size. He had shown for two years at WSU that he was a very good shooter when he wasn’t also asked to carry the entire offense. And he had shown at OU that he could play the point and run a team. Plus, he was/is a better athlete than people realized. I was very confident his entire senior season, and even partway through his junior year, that he would have an NBA career. Teams look for physical traits and specific skills. Reaves can do a lot of things well, and when you throw in his size as a PG, it completes the package.

 

[BoulderSooner]

Obviously, no one saw this coming or he would have been drafted. During one of the Lakers playoff games, the announcer and commentator agreed that Reaves is the best undrafted NBA player since Ben Wallace. OU has done pretty well through the years with players who weren't expected to contribute much or at all on the NBA level. While Reaves is the gold standard, Gar Heard, Clifford Ray, Anthony Bowie, Brent Price and Eduardo Najera all played 8+ years in the NBA despite not being drafted in the 1st round.

as has been widely reported he could have been drafted in the late 40's and he agents made sure that he was not

 

[BoulderSooner]

Well, we have talked a lot about this, but he went undrafted by choice once he reached a certain part of the second round. Multiple teams wanted him, and one in particular was getting ready to pick him, but he and his agent asked them not to because they already had a deal in place with LA that was better than what he would have ended up with as a second round pick.

While no no saw him being this good, he is a perfect example of how so many college fans who don’t follow the NBA fail to understand the kinds of players likely to make it. He has very good positional size. He had shown for two years at WSU that he was a very good shooter when he wasn’t also asked to carry the entire offense. And he had shown at OU that he could play the point and run a team. Plus, he was/is a better athlete than people realized. I was very confident his entire senior season, and even partway through his junior year, that he would have an NBA career. Teams look for physical traits and specific skills. Reaves can do a lot of things well, and when you throw in his size as a PG, it completes the package.

also his shooting was very very predictable .. (not saying i saw him being this level of player) but he has great form .. was an elite FT shooter .. and shot it well as a spot up guy his freshman year at WSU

 

[WaymanFan]

as has been widely reported he could have been drafted in the late 40's and he agents made sure that he was not

You and Wichita are correct. I forgot about that. Regardless, in looking at that 2021 NBA Draft, how many players would have been selected over him in one of those hindsight re-drafts? Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley, definitely...maybe Scottie Barnes. Anyone else? Four years is enough of a sample size.

 

[BoulderSooner]

You and Wichita are correct. I forgot about that. Regardless, in looking at that 2021 NBA Draft, how many players would have been selected over him in one of those hindsight re-drafts? Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley, definitely...maybe Scottie Barnes. Anyone else? Four years is enough of a sample size.

I think more guys then that but not many more

cade mobley barns and sengun have all been all stars ..

jalen green suggs giddey kuminga and wagner likely go ahead of him ... but that still puts him in the top 10 ..

 

[NickZepp]

 

[MercedeSooner]

Unbelievable a kid works his way to this spot then gets an injury like that a week before the draft. He ll be back better then ever.

 

[hoopsaustin]

Yay for the 'ship. Still, id trade 2-3 nba titles to go back in time and get that 1988 OU natty instead. It haunts me and I wasn't even born until 6 months after

 

[WaymanFan]

Yay for the 'ship. Still, id trade 2-3 nba titles to go back in time and get that 1988 OU natty instead. It haunts me and I wasn't even born until 6 months after

Congrats to those who follow the OKC Thunder. Great drafting was the catalyst which earned them this title. If they stay hungry, they won't be one-and-done with title rings.

If you think 1988 haunts someone who wasn't born, imagine what it does to people like me who remember every waking moment of that game. Mookie steals the ball from Pritchard and goes in for an easy layup. OU is up 65-60, and it appears Larry Brown's strategy of "letting them play" in the first half while taking the air out of the ball in the second half, is going to backfire. KU calls a timeout. OU plays great defense on KU's next possession forcing a poor shooter named Chris Piper to take a shot at the top of the key. The damn ball goes in, and that was the beginning of the end for OU's title chances. And just like that, I'm back in therapy .

Staying with the NBA - OU theme, I mentioned more than a year back that I was really surprised the Pacers traded Buddy Hield and basically got nothing in return. More than a year later, I'm still scratching my head over that one. He had an expiring contract and they weren't going to re-sign him, but it's not like the guy is useless. Why didn't they at least get a serviceable bench piece that could have helped them THIS season?

 

[hoopsaustin]

Congrats to those who follow the OKC Thunder. Great drafting was the catalyst which earned them this title. If they stay hungry, they won't be one-and-done with title rings.

If you think 1988 haunts someone who wasn't born, imagine what it does to people like me who remember every waking moment of that game. Mookie steals the ball from Pritchard and goes in for an easy layup. OU is up 65-60, and it appears Larry Brown's strategy of "letting them play" in the first half while taking the air out of the ball in the second half, is going to backfire. KU calls a timeout. OU plays great defense on KU's next possession forcing a poor shooter named Chris Piper to take a shot at the top of the key. The damn ball goes in, and that was the beginning of the end for OU's title chances. And just like that, I'm back in therapy .

Staying with the NBA - OU theme, I mentioned more than a year back that I was really surprised the Pacers traded Buddy Hield and basically got nothing in return. More than a year later, I'm still scratching my head over that one. He had an expiring contract and they weren't going to re-sign him, but it's not like the guy is useless. Why didn't they at least get a serviceable bench piece that could have helped them THIS season?

Because if we had lost to buddy I would have died lol.

My dad still won't talk about the 1988 game

 

[WaymanFan]

My dad still won't talk about the 1988 game

To this day, it's the toughest sports loss I've ever had to digest. As an LA Lakers fan, Dallas Cowboys fan, LA Dodgers fan, and of course, OU football fan - I've lost count the number of big losses through the years, but nothing really comes close to that 1988 title game. The OU football losses that come closest would be the 1978 OU-Nebraska game in Lincoln and the 2017 playoff against Georgia. We were clearly the superior team in 1978, and no school should have beaten us that year. Against Georgia, while our defense was weak, we had a Heisman Trophy winning QB throwing to three future 1000-yard NFL receivers. Bad coaching cost us that game.

 

[skyvue]

I well remember a phone conversation I had with my dad the day of the game. He said, "Chances like this are rare. It could be many years before we're in another basketball title game." I knew he was speaking the truth, and here we are 37 years later without having made it to the championship game and who knows how many years it'll be before we do so again. It'll be too late for Dad--he passed seven years ago--and the odds are against it happening again in my lifetime.

All of which is to say, that was definitely a brutal loss. It was an exceedingly rare opportunity not taken advantage of.