PSA: Terker Posted his writeup on us
- Thread starter CyLoboClone
- Start date
If Burton isn't starting by the time conference play rolls around I will be shocked. He is an absolute freak and a game changer. Going to be fun to watch him out on the court with Morris/Niang/Mckay.
Since we are talking a fair amount about Burton, does anyone know how his outside shot looks? I know he's a fantastic athlete that will drive in on you and attack the rim, but what about outside shot?
Where does all of this "Thomas is awful" type stuff coming from? Had he lived up to his high school ranking and the hype so far? No, but he's been far from awful. He might so far have lacked the confidence of Naz Long or Georges Niang on offense, but it's not like he's this bumbling terrible character that's just constantly confused when he's on the court.
He has a nice stroke from 3. I know that was a point of focus for him during his year out. He isn't Long, Thomas or Cooke but doesn't need to be.
Burton became lethal from three point range during the CCL. Went there expecting the dunks and his athleticism and his three point shooting was a surprise. Seem to recall a couple of games where he made six consecutive three pointers. Niang was somewhat effective quarding Burton for about two-thirds of one game until Burton went on one of these streaks. Had Niang shaking his head and throwing up his arms. Some great trash talking between the two. Other than Niang, Burton was unquardable in a couple of the other games and those were other ISU guys on him.
Doubt Nader starts, it will be Thomas or Cooke until Burton is ready. We will need Nader's size off the bench
I would not be surprised if Naz is not fully healthy at beginning of season , maybe not until Big 12 season,,,but hoping his work ethic makes me wrong.
Disagree. Nader starts at the 3 and then rotates to the 4 when McKay goes out at the 16 minute mark. Or if there's foul trouble.
Burton is an absolute talent I expect to eventually start, but will wear out too quick at first based on ccl.
Wonder if Nader will start at first. Can always put carter in or rotate putting a small at three for a few. Always start your best five players. Comes down to whoever is performing.
Wonder if Nader will start at first. Can always put carter in or rotate putting a small at three for a few. Always start your best five players. Comes down to whoever is performing.
If we're just talking about who will be starting game 1 for us, then I think I'd go with....
Morris
Thomas
Nader
Niang
McKay
The only reason being.... I think Prohm at the beginning will just put Long and Cooke in sparingly and gradually increase their minutes as the games go on. Eventually either Long or Cooke (or maybe both) will be starting, but I don't think they will to start the season since they are both coming back from injury.
Morris
Thomas
Nader
Niang
McKay
The only reason being.... I think Prohm at the beginning will just put Long and Cooke in sparingly and gradually increase their minutes as the games go on. Eventually either Long or Cooke (or maybe both) will be starting, but I don't think they will to start the season since they are both coming back from injury.
Definitely is not a word you want to throw out here unless you are TJ or Prohm...
I didn't see any "Thomas is awful" type stuff in any of the comments on this thread, but maybe I missed them. I certainly have seen those comments before in older threads though and I agree with you for the most part. At times he looked questionable on defense early last year. But that seemed to improve as the year went on. I think the discussion happening currently, and Hornacekfan and I discussed this last week, is that many feel if Cooke is healthy that he has a really good chance of taking the 3rd guard position before Burton becomes available. Cooke put up pretty damn good numbers his freshman year. For reference, he shot 6% better from three as a freshman than Long did last year. Now, as said before, the Pac-12 is NOT the Big 12 in terms of competition. It will be interesting to see how Cooke slides into the team and how he performs this year. As stated by someone else earlier, I think if we see Thomas consistently starting in December/January, it means that he has made some BIG strides to earn those starts. Cooke is yet to prove himself at ISU, but if he can perform at a level equivalent to his first year at Oregon State, he could be a truly remarkable sharp shooter.
Just from what I've seen of Cooke, he's a better ball handler than Thomas. I would say it's a good bet he's a better shooter and defender too. You probably lose a little in rebounding going with Cooke over Thomas. If they really want to have a three guard lineup, Cookes probably the guy. Of course, Cooke is probably the backup PG so that would play into his playing time.
My hope would be that Prohm takes advantage of mismatches and uses the talent that he has. I think we can all agree that with a Healthy cooke and Naz, and another year for Thomas, we're stacked at two and three. Sprinkler in Nader and Burton at the 3 and you could go all sorts of ways with that lineup. Hopefully Prohm's making other teams guard us and not the other way around.
Either way,
My gut would say that its MM, Thomas, Nader/Cooke (depending upon who we're up against), Niang, Mckay until Burton is eligible and my assumption is that Naz isn't 100% come start of the season so he's not in there. Come midway through the season, it might be a completely different look.
I don't really think how you guys think Burton is a lock to start. For one coming in in the middle of the season is not an easy thing to do. I think he has a chance to be a good player just don't see Nader losing his spot. I think the first 5 is a lock with Thomas as the 6th man and Carter as the first big off the bench.
