Ament will improve

#51
#51
TheMookieMonster said:
He’s played 5 real power conference games. 5. You’re acting like it’s February, when it’s early December. He’s been unquestionably bad, but I’m not going to assume he’s going to suck the rest of the year with as much talent as he has.

Maybe he never figures it out, but focusing exclusively on his shortcomings as the entire reason the is team is where it’s at is stupid. This team has a lot of problems right now. Ament is only one of them.
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If you think Ament is going to dramatically improve by February then I’ll sell you some beach front property in Idaho.

Also, in your words - please elaborate on his talent. Everything he does Ok is relative to his height. If he was 6’8 he would hardly be a D1 player.
 
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#58
#58
TheMookieMonster said:
He’s played 5 real power conference games. 5. You’re acting like it’s February, when it’s early December. He’s been unquestionably bad, but I’m not going to assume he’s going to suck the rest of the year with as much talent as he has.

Maybe he never figures it out, but focusing exclusively on his shortcomings as the entire reason the is team is where it’s at is stupid. This team has a lot of problems right now. Ament is only one of them.
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He’s the most expensive problem, so he’s going to catch the most heat. I’m also not sure his problems are fixable. He’s extremely light in the shorts and unless the refs give him a favorable whistle and he gets to the line, he’s just not contributing much on either end.
 
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#60
#60
Ament is about 25 lbs away from being a lottery pick. Zero physicality all finesse. He is a 2 or 3 year player not a one and done as advertised. He is not an SEC level starter right now.

Illinois hit their layups and UT did not, I counted 12 missed layups from 3 feet before I stopped counting. None of these were blocked they all hit the backboard and missed the basket. I do not understand why Ament was defending their 7 footer and Estrella sat on the bench for most of the 1st half? No matter who was on him he would shoulder drive as far as he could then fake, our defender would fly then he would go around them for an easy layup. They never adjusted.

Basically, they were mugged by street punks who took their money and new shoes and left them bleeding on the sidewalk.

They need to wake up fast if they want to make the NCAA tournament much less final 4.
 
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#62
#62
VolsSportsFan said:
I think he'll get paid. But I'm not sure I agree on him having a "nice basketball career", depending on what that means.
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I think he will only continue to improve as he physically matures. He's 18 and clearly is skilled, but needs to gain weight and strength. I'm not ready to toss the baby with the bathwater in regards to his entire career, but I am willing to concede that we will likely never see him fulfill his potential at Tennessee.
 
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#64
#64
johnfnkelly said:
I too thought that was obvious. If he played anywhere else then posters like @cncchris33 , @TheMookieMonster , @bleedingTNorange would have been on board weeks ago.
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There may be a level of truth to this. I guess I keep waiting for the kid who Barnes spent the offseason praising like I've never heard before to show up. I try to defer to Barnes and when he speaks like that, it's tough to abandon that idea.

His defense has been especially disappointing. If he isn’t contributing on offense, he becomes a liability. He wasn't drawing fouls tonight, either. That has helped mask his poor shooting in previous games.
 
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#65
#65
He is basically a turnover machine. Should have had 3 turnovers on Tenn’s first 2 possession. Can’t guard other team’s forwards. Shot isn’t dropping right now and I think that is confidence from making so many mistakes.
I know he can’t sit because of what he’s getting paid but he shouldn’t start and definitely needs fewer minutes when he getting abused. When SEC season starts, he will be lucky to not get hurt.
 
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#66
#66
cncchris33 said:
There may be a level of truth to this. I guess I keep waiting for the kid who Barnes spent the offseason praising like I've never heard before to show up. I try to defer to Barnes and when he speaks like that, it's tough to abandon that idea.

His defense has been especially disappointing. If he isn’t contributing on offense, he becomes a liability. He wasn't drawing fouls tonight, either. That has helped mask his poor shooting in previous games.
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This right here is the best summary and way to explain Ament in my opinion. Barnes is to fault some here for the expectations on Ament with the way he talked him up.

Then his defense has really been just bad. And when he's sucking on offense like he has to go along with bad defense, he's become more of a liability than anything at the moment. Still time for him to turn this around, but so far it's been rough.
 
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#68
#68
Raiford62 said:
I don't see the super talent everybody is talking about. He dominated high school because of his height. He is not quick or explosive. I wonder who rates these kids. I just don't see it. I have seen several freshmen that are better than him.
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As of a few days ago, he was projected top five lottery pick. NBA is all about potential, though and the scouts love his height.

I don’t see it though but I’m not a NBA scout so….
 
#69
#69
He looks like he is thinking too much, to me. I'm sure it's hard learning Barnes's system and accepting the defensive demands, but poor guy seems to be cooked under pressure.

Give it time.
 
#71
#71
He’s very good at drawing fouls and hitting free throws. That will prevent defenses from beating the crap out of him like you all are expecting.

I think Nate’s biggest hurdles are adjusting to the speed of the game and his confidence. I believe that he’ll adjust with lots of season remaining. But there’s not much wiggle room now to make the NCAAT. They might be dropping 4 in a row.

It was a nice ride of consecutive weeks of being ranked. Was it 4 years plus a month?

Ament needs to be selfish on offense and go off. At least until JP is 100%.
 
#72
#72
TheMookieMonster said:
He’s played 5 real power conference games. 5. You’re acting like it’s February, when it’s early December. He’s been unquestionably bad, but I’m not going to assume he’s going to suck the rest of the year with as much talent as he has.

Maybe he never figures it out, but focusing exclusively on his shortcomings as the entire reason the is team is where it’s at is stupid. This team has a lot of problems right now. Ament is only one of them.
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It seriously might do some good for Barnes to start someone else and let Ament come off the bench for a game or two. Maybe that’ll help take pressure off the kid.
 
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#74
#74
Col_Cathcart said:
Unfortunately, that’s not something you can solve in a few weeks
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Yep. I mentioned that when we signed him. Folks kept telling me it was fine and it wouldn't be an issue. Well, it is and will continue to be this year. He's a thin finesse player that's not used to being pushed around like he is this year. He's a baby giraffe thrown in the middle of a pack of mature lions. We know how this goes. Add to that the chronic injuries with Estrella and Barnes has two major pieces he foolishly counted on not being there and functioning as he anticipated.

Along with Brown, Barnes would be wise to get that freshman project PG more minutes. Gillespie might need to be off the point a lot more going forward.
 
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