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'15 Belgium PG Thomas Akyazili (Signed to Colorado)

I know people always look for the next spencer but it will be nice to have someone who is more of a McConnell type point guard. Didn't some announcer say McConnell was the only point guard in the pac that could dribble, drive and think at the same time? Also very interesting he said that cu doesn't have a true point guard when collier is here.
 
Buffnik said:
The scouting reports have made me think of Akyazili along the lines of a Knutson in terms of usage rate. May never be a "starter", but a guy who the coaches can trust to log significant minutes and to be on the court at crunch time in the right situational matchups. Different skill set than Levi (who was pretty much a pure shooter who wasn't going to give a lot beyond that), but similar in usage to give Tad quality functional guard depth... something we haven't had since Tad's 2nd year when Ski was the 6th man while 3 guards were starting (Nate, Carlon & Mayor).
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Find it really hard to predict usage of our guards next season. You would have to assume that there's two guards who have already solidified themselves as effective every day starters, which hasn't happened. I do agree that ideally Akyazili begins as a 6th man type. His skill set is like a rocked up freshman Ski who will penetrate at will & can get hot from 3, but can't be relied on as a consistent deep threat.

onealcd said:
I know people always look for the next spencer but it will be nice to have someone who is more of a McConnell type point guard.
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Not sure where you got this comparison but Akyazili is only comparable to McConnell in skin color and size. McConnell is a pure PG & a reliable 3 shooter. Akyazili is a combo guard whose greatest strength is attacking the basket.
 
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BuffG said:
Find it really hard to predict usage of our guards next season. You would have to assume that there's two guards who have already solidified themselves as effective every day starters, which hasn't happened. I do agree that ideally Akyazili begins as a 6th man type. His skill set is like a rocked up freshman Ski who will penetrate at will & can get hot from 3, but can't be relied on as a consistent deep threat.



Not sure where you got this comparison but Akyazili is only comparable to McConnell in skin color and size. McConnell is a pure PG & a reliable 3 shooter. Akyazili is a combo guard whose greatest strength is attacking the basket.
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I was more saying someone who can pass the basketball and see the floor. This kid seems like a point guard who has a nice shot. Nothing to do with race I was just saying I like how McConnell sets up other players and passes the ball. McConnell is one of the best point guards in the nation so I wasn't saying it because he is white I was just saying how he plays. He is not a of who attacks the rim. Akyazili does not appear to be someone who can attack the basket in big boy conferences.
 
onealcd said:
I was more saying someone who can pass the basketball and see the floor. This kid seems like a point guard who has a nice shot. Nothing to do with race I was just saying I like how McConnell sets up other players and passes the ball. McConnell is one of the best point guards in the nation so I wasn't saying it because he is white I was just saying how he plays. He is not a of who attacks the rim. Akyazili does not appear to be someone who can attack the basket in big boy conferences.
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I never said you were comparing them by race. You have Akyazili completely wrong. He is listed as an SG or combo guard on several sites. He is a scorer who likes to attack the basket. His jump shot needs work & is a 30% shooter from 3. McConnell is a pure point who has never shot worse than 38% from 3. There are several scouting reports on Akyazili and I'm just echoing them. You can see on his highlights that he leans too far forward on his jumper & takes a little too long to load up. He does not have a nice shot yet. He does have a rock solid body for a teenager & has had to play hero ball for Belgium against the best teenagers in Europe.
 
BuffG said:
I never said you were comparing them by race. You have Akyazili completely wrong. He is listed as an SG or combo guard on several sites. He is a scorer who likes to attack the basket. His jump shot needs work & is a 30% shooter from 3. McConnell is a pure point who has never shot worse than 38% from 3. There are several scouting reports on Akyazili and I'm just echoing them. You can see on his highlights that he leans too far forward on his jumper & takes a little too long to load up. He does not have a nice shot yet. He does have a rock solid body for a teenager & has had to play hero ball for Belgium against the best teenagers in Europe.
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Honestly, the comparison that I like the most for Akyazili (God, we need to get him a nickname) is one that 'Nik made off of the board - Dwight Thorne. Kind of a jack of all trades, master of none. Can run the point in situations of a disaster, and is there as an emergency bail out in those situations, but really is just there to provide a swiss army knife technique in the backcourt. Only difference is Thorne was a much better shooter than young Thomas is right now.
 
BuffG said:
I never said you were comparing them by race. You have Akyazili completely wrong. He is listed as an SG or combo guard on several sites. He is a scorer who likes to attack the basket. His jump shot needs work & is a 30% shooter from 3. McConnell is a pure point who has never shot worse than 38% from 3. There are several scouting reports on Akyazili and I'm just echoing them. You can see on his highlights that he leans too far forward on his jumper & takes a little too long to load up. He does not have a nice shot yet. He does have a rock solid body for a teenager & has had to play hero ball for Belgium against the best teenagers in Europe.
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All I can see and have heard is PG including that interview above by first post.
 
buffaholic said:
What is the sample size people are looking at when quoting he is a 30% shooter from deep?
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Believe it came from the first post in this thread. 28.9% for 9 games on the 2014 U-18 team. Updated numbers for 2014-15 is 41.7% in 20 games which is much better on 5 of 12 shooting.
 
onealcd said:
All I can see and have heard is PG including that interview above by first post.
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Here are 4 links that describe Akyazili as either a PG/SG, combo, or SG. This includes some scouting on him that states that he played both G spots for Antwerpen. This also includes stats.

http://www.europeanprospects.com/xmas-tournament-kortrijk-2014-guards/
http://zagsblog.com/articles/recrui...yazili-planning-visits-duke-hosting-recruits/
http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Thomas-Akyazili/Summary/54201
http://www.europeanprospects.com/ponitka-and-akyazili-playing-each-other-in-oostende/

buffaholic said:
What is the sample size people are looking at when quoting he is a 30% shooter from deep?
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The sample size I am using is 25 games in which he made at least 1 FG attempt. This spans games with Belgium and Antwerpen. He is 17-54 from 3 or 31.4% His highlights show that the mechanics of his jumper needs work.

http://www.thisisbasketball.be/Players/4344
 
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The PG talk means a change to his game. Based on everything in the past, I was expecting him to be a Dwight Thorne type player.
 
Buffnik said:
The PG talk means a change to his game. Based on everything in the past, I was expecting him to be a Dwight Thorne type player.
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Ideally, he needs to be a PG. He's considered to be by far the best youth player that Belgium has, so the games in which he's logged the most minutes--Belgium U18 & U16, he was expected to play hero ball. I'm not arguing against him becoming a PG, just that he's not like McConnell stylistically at all.

Akyazili says his greatest strength is 1-on-1. Can't imagine McConnell would say that about his own game.
http://www.eurohopes.com/news/1890/akyazili-the-belgium-desire/
 
BuffG said:
Here are 4 links that describe Akyazili as either a PG/SG, combo, or SG. This includes some scouting on him that states that he played both G spots for Antwerpen. This also includes stats.

http://www.europeanprospects.com/xmas-tournament-kortrijk-2014-guards/
http://zagsblog.com/articles/recrui...yazili-planning-visits-duke-hosting-recruits/
http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Thomas-Akyazili/Summary/54201
http://www.europeanprospects.com/ponitka-and-akyazili-playing-each-other-in-oostende/



The sample size I am using is 25 games in which he made at least 1 FG attempt. This spans games with Belgium and Antwerpen. He is 17-54 from 3 or 31.4% His highlights show that the mechanics of his jumper needs work.

http://www.thisisbasketball.be/Players/4344
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That sample size is too small when we don't know what kind of team situation he was in. He had great shooting seasons and poor ones. I also heard Fran Franchilla say he was a good shooter, which may mean nothing of course!

Utah isn't recruting a 6'2" shooting guard who is a 31% shooter from outside, nor are they going to recruit a point guard who isn't a point.
 
I like how we just ignore best evidence completely around here. Actual 3 point shooting % against legit competition is a valid concern based on what we know.
 
The only real guarantees that I see are that he lacks explosiveness and athleticism, but it makes up for it with sheer hustle and Bball IQ. Natural born leader who will make smart decisions with the ball in his hands and keep guys like JHop etc. in line. Fundamentally sound.

Will most certainly not be an academic risk.
 
I have no idea how you guys come to some of your conclusions...
 
Goose said:
I have no idea how you guys come to some of your conclusions...
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hqdefault.jpg
 
Hkylw21 said:
The only real guarantees that I see are that he lacks explosiveness and athleticism, but it makes up for it with sheer hustle and Bball IQ. Natural born leader who will make smart decisions with the ball in his hands and keep guys like JHop etc. in line. Fundamentally sound.

Will most certainly not be an academic risk.
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Good to hear. I hadn't seen anything on academics and had been a little concerned since he hasn't been in normal academic settings for a while. I admittedly don't know much about what those youth club teams are like on the scholastic front. Relief if reports are saying he is a good student.
 
Hkylw21 said:
The only real guarantees that I see are that he lacks explosiveness and athleticism, but it makes up for it with sheer hustle and Bball IQ. Natural born leader who will make smart decisions with the ball in his hands and keep guys like JHop etc. in line. Fundamentally sound.

Will most certainly not be an academic risk.
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I know this is satire. If I'm wrong, please let me know. I think with the lack of post history and some of the serious racist opinions we do see here, goose and maybe Buffnik may have taken this seriously.
 
Rugged said:
I know this is satire. If I'm wrong, please let me know. I think with the lack of post history and some of the serious racist opinions we do see here, goose and maybe Buffnik may have taken this seriously.
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C'mon, the evidence is all right there in black and white.
 
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Buffnik said:
Good to hear. I hadn't seen anything on academics and had been a little concerned since he hasn't been in normal academic settings for a while. I admittedly don't know much about what those youth club teams are like on the scholastic front. Relief if reports are saying he is a good student.
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Nik fell victim. dammit.
 
Hkylw21 said:
I wasn't sure at first, so I didn't reply for fear of walking straight into one of these UBLs I hear so much about.
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No. Totally thought you'd joined some others by going full retard on the assumptions that are being made about people.

Apologies to you and hopefully a message to some others who are too quick to throw around comments that assume things about "fundamentals", "academics", "character", "leadership", etc. without having any supporting reports, film or coach evaluations/quotes.
 
Can he shoot? Watching the NCAA tournament makes one realize that having a shooter on the team might not be such a bad idea....
 
RalphieSpeaks said:
Can he shoot? Watching the NCAA tournament makes one realize that having a shooter on the team might not be such a bad idea....
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Depends on if you trust a small sample size of stats, or a small sample size of viewing that Fran Fraschilla has had and his opinion.

So we have no f'in clue to be honest.
 
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