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OT(ish): Chinese basketball pioneer with Stanford interest - Printable Version

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OT(ish): Chinese basketball pioneer with Stanford interest - washingtonismoney - 04-20-2017

Interesting article on a "Chinese basketball pioneer" who Stanford has interest in: http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/19169871/kevin-zhang-journey-becoming-young-basketball-pioneer

Re: OT(ish): Chinese basketball pioneer with Stanford interest - Bruce Wang - 04-21-2017

Thanks for posting.  If he's good, I hope we don't make the same mistake we did with Jeremy Lin.

Re: OT(ish): Chinese basketball pioneer with Stanford interest - Mick - 04-21-2017

(04-21-2017, 06:08 AM)Publius link Wrote:Thanks for posting.  If he's good, I hope we don't make the same mistake we did with Jeremy Lin.

Jeremy Lin ramped up his game considerably after college and during college.  As a sophomore, he started for Harvard against Stanford in a 111-56 loss, and scored 0 points in 21 minutes.  He had five personal fouls, two steals and a turnover.  TJ called it his worst college game, but Stanford had a Sweet 16 team that year.

Trent Johnson said he really didn't develop at all until his junior and senior seasons.  Stanford had committed to Landry Fields, and they had a big post game.  Harvard's coach Tommy Amaker took his time with Lin and did well with him.

And then, of course, no NBA team took him either.  Then Lin set a record by being the only NBA player to score 20 and have at least 7 assists in each of his first five starts.

Re: OT(ish): Chinese basketball pioneer with Stanford interest - JJJ - 04-22-2017

It makes no mention of his grades, but maintaining a high GPA despite a language barrier is no easy task. I hope for his sake that he doesn't neglect that part of his high school life.

Re: OT(ish): Chinese basketball pioneer with Stanford interest - DC 86 - 04-22-2017

(04-21-2017, 08:33 PM)Mick link Wrote:[quote author=Publius link=topic=16812.msg192092#msg192092 date=1492780109]
Thanks for posting.  If he's good, I hope we don't make the same mistake we did with Jeremy Lin.

Jeremy Lin ramped up his game considerably after college and during college.  As a sophomore, he started for Harvard against Stanford in a 111-56 loss, and scored 0 points in 21 minutes.  He had five personal fouls, two steals and a turnover.  TJ called it his worst college game, but Stanford had a Sweet 16 team that year.

Trent Johnson said he really didn't develop at all until his junior and senior seasons.  Stanford had committed to Landry Fields, and they had a big post game.  Harvard's coach Tommy Amaker took his time with Lin and did well with him.

And then, of course, no NBA team took him either.  Then Lin set a record by being the only NBA player to score 20 and have at least 7 assists in each of his first five starts.
[/quote]
Indeed. Lin didn't receive any scholarship offers out of high school, so Stanford was not alone in failing to forecast that he would improve to being an NBA caliber player. To his credit, Lin improved every year in college (FG% increased from .415 to .448 to .502 to .519); even so as a pro he repeatedly cut and was sent to the D-League multiple times before catching on with the Knicks for good. Granted Lin was in Stanford's back yard but it's unfair to characterize us as having made a mistake without benefit of hindsight. We did actively recruit him as a walk-on.

Re: OT(ish): Chinese basketball pioneer with Stanford interest - Bruce Wang - 04-22-2017

(04-22-2017, 09:15 AM)DC 86 link Wrote:We did actively recruit him as a walk-on.

He and his family wanted him to go to Stanford.  Johnson and his staff should have either given him a scholarship outright or stayed consistent on the preferred walk-on spot.  This is the 2nd biggest recruiting screwup by MBB since 1990.  Emeka Okafor being #1 by a mile.

Re: OT(ish): Chinese basketball pioneer with Stanford interest - GoodGrief - 04-22-2017

Auuuuuuuuugggggggghhhhhhhh EMEKA OKAFOR!!!!! the scab was just starting to form over that wound and you ripped it off. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

Re: OT(ish): Chinese basketball pioneer with Stanford interest - dabigv13 - 04-22-2017

(04-22-2017, 01:10 PM)GoodGrief link Wrote:Auuuuuuuuugggggggghhhhhhhh EMEKA OKAFOR!!!!! the scab was just starting to form over that wound and you ripped it off. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

This brough a chuckle. I wonder how many more years that will play for, I suspect a while...

Re: OT(ish): Chinese basketball pioneer with Stanford interest - washingtonismoney - 04-22-2017

(04-22-2017, 09:15 AM)DC 86 link Wrote:...it's unfair to characterize us as having made a mistake without benefit of hindsight. We did actively recruit him as a walk-on.

Heard a story secondhand -- no idea whether it's true. Apparently a young lady at Harvard was paired up her junior year with some guy. She's been dating him for a while, and (as young people of Harvard, and Stanford, and other Little-Lebowski-high-urban-achiever schools are wont to do), she's ambitious -- wants to go to med school or law school or something. But she's worried her boyfriend is not sufficiently serious. Why? He has the impractical belief he'll become an NBA player.

As you can probably guess her boyfriend was Jeremy Lin.

Re: OT(ish): Chinese basketball pioneer with Stanford interest - 2006alum - 04-24-2017

Not to pick at a wound, but I had never heard about the Okafor recruiting miss, so found this and thought I'd share it in case anyone else hasn't yet developed PTSD from the recruiting miss and wants to educate/self-harm themselves...