Ament will improve

#359
#359
BernardKingGOAT said:
That's not the flex you think. He sat for some lengthy periods.
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Right. I’ll be the first to admit that I was critical of Ament. It was fair at the time because he was paid $3M and was a liability at times. But no one ever said that he wasn’t ever going to figure it out. The question was, would it be soon enough to help Tennessee this season. Clearly, the answer is yes.
 
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#361
#361
NighthawkVol said:
Right. I’ll be the first to admit that I was critical of Ament. It was fair at the time because he was paid $3M and was a liability at times. But no one ever said that he wasn’t ever going to figure it out. The question was, would it be soon enough to help Tennessee this season. Clearly, the answer is yes.
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I guess we will agree to disagree on the fair part of it. Only a tiny few come in and dominate at the START of the freshman seasons. We were lucky to have one 51 years ago. IMO, he is paid what he is worth on the NIL market. Fans crazily think that should mean instant success.
 
#362
#362
BernardKingGOAT said:
I guess we will agree to disagree on the fair part of it. Only a tiny few come in and dominate at the START of the freshman seasons. We were lucky to have one 51 years ago. IMO, he is paid what he is worth on the NIL market. Fans crazily think that should mean instant success.
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The stud freshmen at KU, Duke, BYU, Houston, Arkansas, etc. came in and dominated right away. Ament was rated higher than most of them. It was fair to expect him to make an immediate impact, especially for the money he was paid.

All that matters now is how he plays down the stretch and in March, though.
 
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#363
#363
NighthawkVol said:
The stud freshmen at KU, Duke, BYU, Houston, Arkansas, etc. came in and dominated right away. Ament was rated higher than most of them. It was fair to expect him to make an immediate impact, especially for the money he was paid.

All that matters now is how he plays down the stretch and in March, though.
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Again, we will disagree in the fair part of it. Basketball is a sport where improvement is likely with someone of his skill set during the course of a long season. The age of instant gratification, with the resulting reactionary takes, exposes many of those as a lack of understanding about the game. MHO anyway
 
#365
#365
BernardKingGOAT said:
Again, we will disagree in the fair part of it. Basketball is a sport where improvement is likely with someone of his skill set during the course of a long season. The age of instant gratification, with the resulting reactionary takes, exposes many of those as a lack of understanding about the game. MHO anyway
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Think paying a kid $3M might have something to do with expecting, you know, a $3M player?
 
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#368
#368
NighthawkVol said:
Right. I’ll be the first to admit that I was critical of Ament. It was fair at the time because he was paid $3M and was a liability at times. But no one ever said that he wasn’t ever going to figure it out. The question was, would it be soon enough to help Tennessee this season. Clearly, the answer is yes.
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Some kind of did. But yes, many said he wouldn’t help this year.
 
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#370
#370
There’s nothing wrong with being critical of play on the court, especially in this day and age of pay before play. With it comes expectations.
Ament has been soft mentally and physically and everybody knows it.
There’s nothing wrong with giving props when players perform well as he wasn’t soft last night and actually fun to watch. I have tbh and say I haven’t enjoyed watching him play, much of it stemming from effort/ballwatching/defense side.
I will also for the first time say I can see why some Durant comparisons with his midrange and isos last night. He didn’t settle for 3s and didn’t force a play into 2 defenders. He got fouled on a couple more where players basically are in the halo and undercut with the body when he goes up. Thats going to be an ankle or something soon. If they aren’t going to call it, fine, my shooting elbow has to come down soon and some noses are going to have to get popped, incidentally, since he’s in my space. Probably won’t happen a 2nd time.
Must mention the only reason you know that move is because you’ve had it done to you a time or two.
 
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#371
#371
Skooter said:
There’s nothing wrong with being critical of play on the court, especially in this day and age of pay before play. With it comes expectations.
Ament has been soft mentally and physically and everybody knows it.
There’s nothing wrong with giving props when players perform well as he wasn’t soft last night and actually fun to watch. I have tbh and say I haven’t enjoyed watching him play, much of it stemming from effort/ballwatching/defense side.
I will also for the first time say I can see why some Durant comparisons with his midrange and isos last night. He didn’t settle for 3s and didn’t force a play into 2 defenders. He got fouled on a couple more where players basically are in the halo and undercut with the body when he goes up. Thats going to be an ankle or something soon. If they aren’t going to call it, fine, my shooting elbow has to come down soon and some noses are going to have to get popped, incidentally, since he’s in my space. Probably won’t happen a 2nd time.
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I am not sure it wasn't just a hesitation because of an adjustment to this level. Everybody didn't know it was "soft" mentally and physically because it wasn't a known for some of us that understand the adjustment of playing at the next level. Has nothing to do with "soft".
 
#372
#372
Skooter said:
There’s nothing wrong with being critical of play on the court, especially in this day and age of pay before play. With it comes expectations.
Ament has been soft mentally and physically and everybody knows it.
There’s nothing wrong with giving props when players perform well as he wasn’t soft last night and actually fun to watch. I have tbh and say I haven’t enjoyed watching him play, much of it stemming from effort/ballwatching/defense side.
I will also for the first time say I can see why some Durant comparisons with his midrange and isos last night. He didn’t settle for 3s and didn’t force a play into 2 defenders. He got fouled on a couple more where players basically are in the halo and undercut with the body when he goes up. Thats going to be an ankle or something soon. If they aren’t going to call it, fine, my shooting elbow has to come down soon and some noses are going to have to get popped, incidentally, since he’s in my space. Probably won’t happen a 2nd time.
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That’s understood. But logically, most freshmen (Boozer is a different dude) take time to adjust, and it has ALWAYS been discussed when he was recruited that Ament would not be physically imposing. I just ask people to be reasonable instead of writing players off 6 weeks at 18 years old. Yet, he was still averaging 16 points and 5/6 rebounds. You have to remember that 18 year olds are now playing 23 and 24 year olds in college. I don’t care how good you skills are, it’s a huge difference. Nate Ament will be a player at 23.
 
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#374
#374
VolGee4 said:
That’s understood. But logically, most freshmen (Boozer is a different dude) take time to adjust, and it has ALWAYS been discussed when he was recruited that Ament would not be physically imposing. I just ask people to be reasonable instead of writing players off 6 weeks at 18 years old. Yet, he was still averaging 16 points and 5/6 rebounds. You have to remember that 18 year olds are now playing 23 and 24 year olds in college. I don’t care how good you skills are, it’s a huge difference. Nate Ament will be a player at 23.
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If he stays in college another year, he will be a player at 19. We know that's highly unlikely but the adjustment factor to the next level up is always a difficult for most talent laden athletes. I just hate the "soft" label because it's actually not true for most
 
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#375
#375
VolGee4 said:
That’s understood. But logically, most freshmen (Boozer is a different dude) take time to adjust, and it has ALWAYS been discussed when he was recruited that Ament would not be physically imposing. I just ask people to be reasonable instead of writing players off 6 weeks at 18 years old. Yet, he was still averaging 16 points and 5/6 rebounds. You have to remember that 18 year olds are now playing 23 and 24 year olds in college. I don’t care how good you skills are, it’s a huge difference. Nate Ament will be a player at 23.
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Peat, Petersen, AJ, Acuff, Flemings, Petersen, Wilson, etc. all freshmen that showed up day 1 hooping. I don’t think it’s too much for us to expect for our million dollar freshmen to be producing the same out of the gate
 
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