Friday, June 24, 2011

Hoops thoughts: Jones to BU and Reggie to OKC

I thought our focus would be on Reggie's future. Instead the bigger news happened down Comm Ave...

When the BU job opened, I said they should hire someone with BC ties. My hope was that they would give an opportunity to someone like Pat Duquette or give a second chance to someone like Al Skinner. Instead they hired Donahue's top assistant Joe Jones. While I am happy for Jores, this is a setback for BC. Jones has been our lead recruiter and was critical for us landing much of our 2011 talent. He was also experienced at this level and someome Donahue trusted. It will be very hard to find an Ace recruiter who understands Donahue and "gets" what it means to recruit at BC on short notice. As for how Jones will do at BU...I am not sure. His run as Head Coach at Columbia wasn't inspiring, but BU will allow him to cast a wider net on the recruiting trail and he inherits a program on the rise. Good luck to him.

Reggie Jackson to Oklahoma City was also a surprise. With all the speculation of preDraft side deals, OKC rarely came up as a landing spot. In retrospect it makes sense. The Thunder are one of those teams that puts a premium on statistical metrics and Reggie was a very efficient coilege player. The selection has some pluses and minuses. The good news is that Reggie was selected and will get a guaranteed contract. This justifies coming out early. It is also good news that he joins one of the rising powers in the NBA and is surrounded with young talent. The downside is OKC already has a lot of minutes and money tied into guards and wing players. Where will Reggie fit in? My guess is they view him as a combo who can give them solid minutes at the 1 or the 2. Can Reggie thrive like that? I don't know. I would have preferred he landed at a veteran team like Boston or Miami that need his fresh legs and instant offense. Now he will have to work hard to prove he can compliment Westbrook and not just be a Westbrook clone. But in the end Reggie made the right call and I wish him nothing but the best.

11 comments:

Erik said...

I echo your sentiments on Jones. Happy for him, wish we still had him. But just having him at all for a year was gravy. I don't know how Donahue was able to convince him to lead a head gig for an assistant role in the first place.

Anyway, I hope this leads to us playing BU. I'd always rather play BU/Northeastern/Harvard/Holy Cross over Stoney Brook, South Carolina Upstate, or Long Island U.

I'm excited that Reggis is going to a good team. Also, it's a feather in our school's cap to have another first rounder. I hope he can make a big impact.

Erik said...

You know what, let's just give a D+ to Rick Barnes.

2010 Draft -
Avery Bradley #19
Damion James #24
Dexter Pittman #32 (2nd pick of 2nd round)

2011 Draft -
Tristan Thompson #4
Jordan Hamilton #26
Cory Joseph #29

University of Texas, no Sweet Sixteens since 2008.

CT said...

Don't forget some guy named Durant in '07.

All the best to Reggie. I enjoyed his time at BC, esp. in the new system, which allowed him to showcase his creativity.

HUGE said...

Why does every commentator assume that Sefolosha's minutes are untouchable? He was a nonfactor offensively in the playoffs. With Jackson's length, he could become a comparable defensive player, but also have the ability to score. I think there are more minutes to be earned in OKC than many assume.

Peter said...

Agreed with above about Sefalosha. The OKC fans are not in love with him anymore. They say he stagnated quite a bit with his defense still being good though not great Nd being useless on offense. Minutes are available at the back-up 1 and 2. He'll have a chance to play it's just up to him to make the best of it.

ASyrett said...

I had read some things about OKC trying to move Maynor before the draft. They they are still looking to do that, it would free up a good amount of time for Reggie.

Talons of...Fury? said...

Feature on ESPN homepage about BC being in a pro sports town. Gene does a decent job of saying the right things.

Walter said...

That was a good read, I'm glad our school got interviewed for that series of college fb teams in pro towns.

I'm happy the fenway sports group does our publicity...but I'm still not convinced they do a good enough job of establishing BC football as THE preeminent boston/new england sports school - at least in fb.

The article highlights how boston is a prosports town, but boston is also a huge college town. BC should try some sort of program where other schools adopt bc's football team, or something similar.

John said...

I agree with Walter. Bring in people from other schools who like major college football.

mod34b said...

"BC should try some sort of program where other schools adopt bc's football team, or something similar"

What school other than Fairfield, St Joe in Philly and maybe Stonehill would be interested in this? Providence?? maybe.

BU? HC? Harvard? NU? Tufts? Brandies? UNH? Emerson? UMass Boston? UVM? URI? NYET from all.

mmason said...

I met Joe Jones when he came out to the West Coast this year to recruit at Loyola High of L.A.-- I'm out on campus on a sunny day and this confident, smart looking guy with a big grin and a BC Eagles golf shirt comes up to me and says "Go Eagles!" 'cuz he had heard I was an alum and immediately we were talking BC and who he was looking at in the SoCal local hoops scene. A fun, genuine guy. (Loyola was about to win the CIF Hoops Championship and Joe was checking us out--and was a close freind and college teammate of LHS Coach Jamal Adams.)

Joe Jones is a very impressive person--someone who was happy at Chestnut Hill and was key to this year's BC picks from California and so, it looks like we've just lost someone who was making a significant impact on our program on and of the court. Happy for Joe--bummed for us, though. Go Eagles--Ever Onward.