TRAE!!!- Announced as Asst GM- Donation

MJSooner

MJSooner

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Named Asst GM, made the announcement himself on NBA Today-ESPN and makes $1M donation. That's the big announcement from OU Basketball.

Gotta love it.

Trae has done as much as any OU athlete giving back, being involved, and showing up for the OU community. And to think people called him selfish at OU.
 
MJSooner said:
Named Asst GM, made the announcement himself on NBA Today-ESPN and makes $1M donation. That's the big announcement from OU Basketball.

Gotta love it.

Trae has done as much as any OU athlete giving back, being involved, and showing up for the OU community. And to think people called him selfish at OU.
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He was selfish. But he’s been a great alum. This is really good news.
 
AnotherSoonerInTX said:
This is accurate. He was a ball hog as a player. But he loves OU and loves Norman. He takes every opportunity to represent OU.
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He had a high usage rate as a player, that doesn't necessarily translate to ball hog. It's hard to be a ball hog and lead the entire country in assists. It's hard to be a ball hog and have a 22 assist game in 40 minutes.
 
IndySooner said:
He was selfish. But he’s been a great alum. This is really good news.
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AnotherSoonerInTX said:
This is accurate. He was a ball hog as a player. But he loves OU and loves Norman. He takes every opportunity to represent OU.
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The dude led the nation in APG and probably would have averaged a double double if guys like Lattin, Matt Freeman, and Odomes could have converted his passes. And doesn't count his TOs when trying to force the ball. Hard to label a guy the leads the team and nation in assists as selfish and ball-hog.

Yeah, he was arrogant and cocky and played the game and flow like LK allowed. Austin Reaves did the same and was more of a ball hog than Trae. But that label didn't stick on him. I think it was more a problem with team chemistry which he got blamed for, and the selfish and ball hog label. IMO, the chemistry issues were as much to blame on Shepherd, McGusty, and Christian James as much as Trae.

In any case, he loves OU as much as anyone that has come through and has showed it both at OU and as a pro. Still a kid from Norman at heart.
 
MJSooner said:
The dude led the nation in APG and probably would have averaged a double double if guys like Lattin, Matt Freeman, and Odomes could have converted his passes. And doesn't count his TOs when trying to force the ball. Hard to label a guy the leads the team and nation in assists as selfish and ball-hog.

Yeah, he was arrogant and cocky and played the game and flow like LK allowed. Austin Reaves did the same and was more of a ball hog than Trae. But that label didn't stick on him. I think it was more a problem with team chemistry which he got blamed for, and the selfish and ball hog label. IMO, the chemistry issues were as much to blame on Shepherd, McGusty, and Christian James as much as Trae.

In any case, he loves OU as much as anyone that has come through and has showed it both at OU and as a pro. Still a kid from Norman at heart.
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100%
 


Looks like he's going to be involved with GM stuff like fundraising, player evaluation, and contract negotiation.

He already has some experience with this through his AAU club.

We need a full-time guy with GM chops, for sure. Trae knows more about this stuff than we give him credit for, though.
 
i said this should happen the other day. however you feel about him, and i do, when i saw him and his kid behind the sooner bench at the georgia game after atlanta canceled their nba game, i gained major respect for the guy. he will do almost anything for this school. not bad for only being here a year, with all the criticism he gets.

kudos, trae. thank you.
 
It is my understanding that Trae is a Jordan Brand Ambassador (or whatever you call it). Meaning for a gillion dollars a year, he helps find and recruit athletes to sponsor jordon brand stuff. If this is true, it might be that he can help recruit kids by getting them Jordan Brand endorsement NIL deals if they come to OU. Would fit, as OU is a Jordan Brand school. If so, this would dramatically increase our ability to attract, and get paid, big time talent for the roster. We wouldn't need the big money donors for basketball like most schools.

Be interesting just how this works or what exactly Trae can do related to NIL. Guys, this might be more than just a publicity stunt, this might be a really really big deal. It will be interesting to see. Either way, it is a win for OU.

As for Trae, I didn't think he was a ball hog and thought he was a superstar. Got beat up in conference play, and spent most of the conference games getting off the floor after being mugged, and I thought he didn't "hog" the ball enough. Outside of Manek, we sucked and if everyone other than Trae had shot the ball a little better, he would have set world records for assists. Ultimately and even though the physical play effected his shooting percentage, it was his desire to win and the inability of the other players to score, that forced him to get a higher number of shots up. No point in passing to folks that couldn't put the ball in the whole. I appreciated Trae coming to OU when he could have gone anywhere, and I appreciate his continued support of OU as a former player. Good on him.
 
Man, does the insistence of some fans to continue to dog TY get old. The criticisms aren't true, and even if they were, the critics never factor in the things like the underwhelming guys he played with (and it's funny that the critics never question those guys' attitudes), his young age, and the incredible national spotlight he was almost immediately thrust into.

As stated above, Reaves was ragged on while he was here, but somehow those critiques have fallen away. With Trae, they just won't die. I wonder why.
 
Great news about Trae...a welcome addition for sure! Look, we were in a position to be the #1 team in the country in early January, 2018...and wound up on the NCAA Tournament bubble. It's understandable that Trae got some of the blame for that collapse. The reality was there was a LOT of blame to go around, starting with Coach Kruger to Trae to whoever wouldn't buy in to him leading the team (like K McGusty). Outside of the Oakland A's in the first half of the 1970s, I can't think of too many success stories when the team chemistry is horrific. The bottom line with Trae is that he has been a great ambassador for OU basketball.
 
Should Joe C. get some credit for this development? I would presume so, but I don't pretend to know.
 
skyvue said:
Should Joe C. get some credit for this development? I would presume so, but I don't pretend to know.
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Probably 5%. I'm sure Trae reached out to him to be honest.

He'll get the credit if the team continuously makes the Tournament.
 
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