the DMN reported that the Mavs invited 5 players for a visit/workout....including Taj Gray
please let it be so
the DMN reported that the Mavs invited 5 players for a visit/workout....including Taj Gray
please let it be so
but they also brought in....*uckman. blech.
apprently, from what i read at Insider a couple weeks back, Taj aquitted himself pretty well in the camps and workouts--at least in terms of effort and working hard. possibly moving into the first round, it was said. though i emphasize possibly. for a guy who was decent FT shooter, i never understood why he didn't have a better 15 foot J.
Buckman has nice size and hits the boards. he's got a decent shooting range for a big guy. I don't see him as a scorer, but i could see him make a roster.
like Taj, maybe not this year but eventually.
Buckman will never play in the NBA. Ace McGee was 10x the player, heck Renzi was better.
Know thy self,
know thy enemy.
A thousand battles,
a thousand victories. - Sun Tzu (500 B.C.)
Renzi and Avila both outplayed Chris Mihm in their Sooner careers....but Mihm is in the League.
all i said is i could see Buckman make a roster...i didn't say he would.
Mihm got in on size alone, a legit 7 footer. Stone was more of a 6'9 type but not athletic enough to play a four, like Buckman.
Know thy self,
know thy enemy.
A thousand battles,
a thousand victories. - Sun Tzu (500 B.C.)
.Gray's worth unknown
By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
6/28/2006
NORMAN -- Tonight's NBA draft arrives cloaked in mystery. Sixty picks, 60 guesses, according to many who are handicapping the field.
It figures, then, the prospects of Oklahoma product Taj Gray are hazy at best.
Asked where he thought his cli ent might go, Jeff Austin, Gray's agent, said: "I wish I knew. His range is really broad. The earliest he would be considered, I think, would be (by) New Jersey at No. 23. He had really good workouts for them, and they liked him a lot. He could go as low as 45."
Or he might not go at all. Several mock drafts are Gray-less.
Some recall OU's 2005-06 season, the one beginning with Gray being named Big 12 Conference Preseason Player of the Year and ending with the Sooners eliminated one game into the NCAA Tournament and Gray on the All-Big 12 second team.
"At the end of the season, people had some real questions about him," Austin acknowledged.
Others measure Gray closer to 6-7 than the 6-9 OU listed him as.
From Scouts Inc.: "As an undersized power forward, he needs to prove himself."
So that's what Gray has been trying to do the
past several weeks.
He worked out, in Austin's estimation, for a dozen teams. Then he went to Orlando earlier this month for the NBA's official pre-draft camp.
Finally, his stock was headed back up.
"He really helped himself at Orlando and in the individual workouts," Austin said. "He was already in terrific shape when he went into the workouts, and he came in and worked very hard. He really impressed people with his energy, and people thought he was a great kid."
What he needed was some numbers to go with the work ethic and character, numbers a little flashier than the 14 points per game he averaged last season in Norman.
Maybe the 21 points Gray scored midway through his week in Orlando would do it. Rob Reheuser of NBA.com noticed and wrote: "Gray is clearly playing with a chip on his shoulder. . . It's not a stretch to see him make the league as an energy guy, regardless of whether he gets drafted."
Gray, of course, would just as soon change that "whether" to "where." Tonight will tell.
"This draft is really a difficult one to predict from the top all the way down," Austin said. "But one thing I'm confident in, based on feedback from (Gray's) workouts, is regardless of whether he is picked at the end of the first round or somewhere in the second, he'll do well.
"Taj will be an NBA player."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guerin Emig 581-8355
[email protected]
I don't think he's shown enough ability to consistently hit the midrange jumper for him to get drafted. But I'm not smart.
Maybe late 2nd round to the Mavs. That would be cool with me.
Sometimes I think I drink alot, then I see, like, the Motley Crüe behind the music, and realize I'm a huge *****.
mavs up! do they take taj?
Taj goes undrafted but its probably for the best!! IN the Nba there are no gauranteed contracts in the 2nd round so its probably better that he signs with a team that needs him and gets a better shot at making the team
Ranger Reese of OVJ country, Patrollin tha hood.
I Survived Drunkytown with OleVet and all I got was this rash!
With a record of 109-23 (.826) and six Big 12 championships in 10 seasons, Stoops has reason to be arrogant. But he is not. He is somewhere between humble and unimpressed.
~ Ivan Maisel
http://sportslife11.blogspot.com/
So Kelvin leaves having produced 1 NBA bench player in what 12 years. Please.
As many NBA players left the program during his 12 years.Originally Posted by fwsooner22
So, since new threads get ignored around here, I posted this about Taj around the end of Feb.
the_ouskullTaj Grey's NBA Prospects:
By: the_ouskull
Here's the deal... Does he have the size and athleticism to play in the NBA? Yes, he does... At the 3. (For the uninitated, the '3' means small forward. '1' is point, '5' is center, '2' is shooting guard, '4' is power forward.)
HOWEVER, at the NBA level, there are some other things that are required out of the '3' position. Tell me how many of these are things that Taj not only does well, but does NBA-caliber well...
- A consistant jump shot with 18' range and the ability to catch it and shoot it with no hesitation.
- Ball handling capabilities... not well enough to run an offense, but well enough to allow an offense to run through you.
- The ability to face the basket from 15 - 18 and drive to the hole, spot up shoot, or turn around and post it. (All of these require the aforementioned ball-handling.)
- When posting, the ability to pass well out of the post.
- The ability to move well without the basketball and create scoring opportunities through floor placement, setting good picks, and second-chance opportunities.
- The ability to defend both 4's and, occasionally, 2's... generally on defensive switches, even just for short periods of time. (Keep in mind that, in the NBA this could very well mean Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson... not to mention other 3's, like Paul Pierce.)
Taj Grey has the athleticism to play in the NBA, yes... but he lacks almost every other major category. Now, if he were able to put on 20-30 pounds of muscle, without losing any of his explosiveness, he could play the 4 in the NBA with many fewer problems...
...although he'd still have to work on passing out of the post and his 15' jumper.
...and his defense, specifically his post defense.
...and his rebounding.
Taj is a great college player, or at least he has the potential to be when he's not tiring and / or in foul trouble at the end of games. Taj has a LOT of work to do to stick in the NBA.
Skull=the most underrated poster in SoonerFans.com history. -- gdc, 09/05
skull makes people want to go sit in the corner and hang their heads in shame when he responds to their posts. -- birddog, 01/09
skull makes you feel like you are the dumbest motherf*cker on the planet... -- soonerinabilene, 08/09
My staff is getting tired of me making them read your posts. -- birddog, 10/09
As is pretty much always the case, I agree with Skull. -- A Sooner in Texas, 11/09
I think that speaks volumes of Coach Sampson's great job he did at OU...
taj signed with the Sacramento kings.
Not as a 1st round pick (ie - guaranteed contract) he didn't. He's summer league, and if he plays well there, they MAYBE. And honestly, the Kings REALLY need frontcourt help... Taj's problem is that he's not nearly the 6/9 OU called him, and frankly, they're gonna need him to rebound and block shots... something that none of their current forwards are very good at. Also, they REALLY need some youth and athleticism given that, of their full-time frontcourt players, roughly none of them, aside from the 1st year Jamal Sampson, have fewer than 7 years in the L. If Taj can get his defensive game solid and get some body on some people, he's got a really legit shot with the Kings. ...he's got the summer to show it.
the_ouskull
Skull=the most underrated poster in SoonerFans.com history. -- gdc, 09/05
skull makes people want to go sit in the corner and hang their heads in shame when he responds to their posts. -- birddog, 01/09
skull makes you feel like you are the dumbest motherf*cker on the planet... -- soonerinabilene, 08/09
My staff is getting tired of me making them read your posts. -- birddog, 10/09
As is pretty much always the case, I agree with Skull. -- A Sooner in Texas, 11/09
listen here Numb_skull
just sayin' is all he signed some sort of deal with them today
taj stinks.
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