Footwork, hands, boxing out, offense.
He’s not a pro, so let’s end that now.
Hope he gets with a good trainer/big man coach.
He’s not a pro, so let’s end that now.
Hope he gets with a good trainer/big man coach.
Cliff needs work.
- Thread starter SBP
- Start date
Don’t forget the pick and roll his defense basically cost us this game
Love his athleticism, but his defense needs to improve this off-season. If it improves like his offense did this year, he'll be a force next year.
But everyone said he was going to G league yesterday......This was his first time on the big stage in Tournament and struggled. He started well with his 12 footer to start the game but lost confidence after the early fouls.
His first basket was the 17ft.
Don’t think he made (or took) another outside/non-dunk shot.
If the offense is going to run through him next year he needs to spend serious developing a non-dunk offensive game.
He doesn’t even post up currently.
Don’t think he made (or took) another outside/non-dunk shot.
If the offense is going to run through him next year he needs to spend serious developing a non-dunk offensive game.
He doesn’t even post up currently.
I love Cliff but To be honest his offensive skill didn’t take a huge jump. 80% or higher of his points are on dunks. And majority of them he’s set up by teammates or circumstances . He hasn’t shown a post or mid game really at all. I think he still has a massive ceiling to go
Agreed not a chance he can play in the G league and for all his size length and jumping ability he isNOT a good shot blocker
Great season by him. I'm sure we will continue to see him improve. Nothing but love for that guy.
Cliffs improvement from last season was outstanding. Sky is the limit for him.
If there is any shakeup of the coaching staff - adding a coach to work with Clif on his offensive game would be a key.
Coach Thompson is 5’10” with a lot of basketball ops background.
Both Coach Knight and Coach Hobbs have the following in their bio:
Coach Thompson is 5’10” with a lot of basketball ops background.
Both Coach Knight and Coach Hobbs have the following in their bio:
- In addition to playing an instrumental role in recruiting, game planning and opponent scouting, is key in the development of the Scarlet Knights’ backcourt and perimeter players.
Cliff is a beast. Everybody needs work.
The best part is Pike has told us all Cliff does is work.
The best part is Pike has told us all Cliff does is work.
How many opportunities did he have this game?
Silver lining Cliff showing scout's he's not ready one on one defensively maybe even though he did do better against some other tougher matchups this year
He made tremendous improvement in all facets this season,but he clearly has a lot of areas to build up further.
It’s about poor balance due to thin legs/base. His momentum takes him out of plays. Also needs better positioning on defense, always seems on one side of the player allowing for opposite side easy moves.
The timing of this thread was ridiculous. What is wrong with some of our fans? We just had a magical season, really 3 in a row, and came up 1 play short in double OT. Some of our fans are the worst. Just minutes after a heartbreaking loss, you couldn't wait to post ripping a player and HC in other threads. Cliff improved a lot this year, and he and the staff know he has more work to do. I'm confident that he'll continue to improve. Unfortunately, our fans won't because they prefer to eat their own. GTFO.
Wow. Ok. Not ripping him but all the going G League talk rings shallow.. he is a good player who needs work. That’s the point. Love him, but he got exposed defensively. He’ will improve. And you should get a backbone. Not ripping our coach either. You won’t find a bigger fan or supporter than me. 40 plus years. I shed a couple tears last night.
Was just a complete mismatch for him trying to play the way we were. His defense was really disappointing in this particular game.
I have a backbone. These kind of posts were unnecessary right after the game. And there are plenty of bigger fans and supporters than you. Those are the ones that didn't come on here moments after the game to post crap.
He definitely jumped by leaps and bounds but I don't know if he will be ready even after next year; Look at Kofi he is and was head and shoulders better than Cliff and he came back this year because he was not going to get drafted and the way the NBA game is played today unfortunately not sure how good a pro he will be
It's very hard to predict these days how good college centers will do in the NBA. I think you need more athelticsm than sheer bulk, and you probably need a shot, not just post moves. Cliff has tons of the first, and may be developing the second. You also need to block shots, which keeps getting better with Cliff. If he's drafted or ends up in a serious professional league next year, it will be based on projections, which wouldn't be a huge gamble given that Cliff has shown that he is improving and works at it.
It's not inconceivable that Cliff would be drafted right now as there are players in recent NBA Drafts that have been selected in the 2nd Round with similar skills and offensive gaps that Cliff has. An example would be Jericho Simms who played 4 years at Texas. I seem to also recall someone saying Cliff has not played organized basketball for a significant amount of time - scouts would also take that into account in terms of his projections.
Message boards are comically unrealistic when it comes to predicting future NBA draft picks. First and foremost, the fact that a certain player is playing D1 as a Soph/Junior/Senior suggests that the odds are slim. With that said, Cliff is one of the few soon to be upperclassmen in the country that actually does have the potential to be on NBA radars. He needs at least 1 and probably 2 more years of expanding/developing his game to even consider professional opportunities (barring surreal improvement next season).
I'll explain it like I did for RHJ last year.
And why Garza kept returning to Iowa.
It's not about the NBA Draft calling - it's about the player deciding if they are done with college yet.
Clif's 2022 draft evaluation would be: Late 2nd round pick to likely undrafted
Alternatively, he can return to Rutgers for 2 years.
If he returns to Rutgers - his stock literally could not get worse.
The decision this off-season is ultimately: Am I done playing college basketball at Rutgers?
And likely go to G-League/overseas - start making money.
Or return to Rutgers and be a star on campus.
This is why Garza kept returning. And why Kofi keeps returning. And why RHJ returned.
Their draft stock couldn't get worse because it's already bottom of the barrel.
They aren't even being invited to the NBA Combine (approx Top 100 prospects).
So why not stay in college and be a star.
Jericho Sims is a different case because he was done with college.
He couldn't return so he had to stay in the draft with a late 2nd round grade. No other options
Look at Ivey. His stock literally can't get higher. He's going to be a Top 5 pick likely.
His options are return to Purdue and potentially lower his stock/get hurt.
Or declare for the Draft.
Good lord-let's not let facts get in the way. We started 2 of the last few games with post ups by Cliff as intentional first plays. Cliff needs work yes, but he has grown leeeeaaaps in year 2 from year one. He'll continue to grow and understand spacing, rotations etc better with another year.
Can we not be irrational. Cliff played at a really high level yesterday. In fact Caleb, ron, Clff and geo played at a really high level.
If cliff makes the same jump as he did this year, he will be an NBA prospect.
If cliff makes the same jump as he did this year, he will be an NBA prospect.
"2 of the last few games" had 1 post-up to start the game.
Thanks for proving the point.
How many times do we go to Clif in the post the rest of the game?
How many times did we last night down the stretch?
Nobody is saying Clif hasn't improved. Stop trying to make things up.
But there is still quite a ways to go to move his offense away from mostly dunks on alley-oops and hand-offs from Paul.
Exactly. He’s only in his 6th year of organized basketball. Made a leap from last year to this. Will make another leap next year. He’s putting it together.
Was not trying to say that Cliff should not return nor that his NBA Draft value does not have a chance to rise.....he should and it does.
Point was that if he did decide to take the jump to the NBA - it is not out of the question that he would be drafted in the 2nd round based on his physical attributes and potential. I think we are in agreement here.
Cliff needs a legit PG that can slash inside and dish either for dunks or for him to slide out and hit 10-15 ft jumpers.