Looking for Pons to be the biggest surprise of 2019-20 season

#7
#7
LAVol1 said:
Pons will improve in all areas of his game, and with his incredible athleticism, he'll be the star of the coming season. A Clyde Drexler type player.
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I made that prediction this year based on time put in the gym and offseason reports of his work and improvement. I'm in "see it to believe it" mode, now. Fool me once...
 
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#13
#13
LAVol1 said:
Pons will improve in all areas of his game, and with his incredible athleticism, he'll be the star of the coming season. A Clyde Drexler type player.
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Last year Pons became scared to shoot the ball.............that does not bode well for a player, as everyone will have shooting slumps.

Also I wish the young man well..........but hall of famer Clyde the Glide he is not.
 
#14
#14
If he wants to make a lot of money at the next level, he might want to switch to wide receiver.
 
#16
#16
Roustabout said:
He’s not a basketball player. Freakishly athletic but has terrible court awareness and skills.
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I think most of these negative post are under estimating the power of a confident mentality. This kid clearly lost any confidence he had. I worry much more about his mental toughness than his game.


The guy actually put up solid numbers when he was starting. Most would be surprised to know he shot 56% from the floor making 27/48 shots. 6/22 from 3 pt land isn't good but it isn't as awful as many here seem to suggest either.


Imo he simply didn't handle losing his job very good at all mentally
 
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#18
#18
All pons really needs to work on is becoming a knock down 3 point shooter. We should always be able to find him as a cutter given how athletic he is. Defensively he just needs to be a little smarter, but that's not really a surprise. If he can average 8 points per game, given how he contributes in other areas, than he will be a solid piece.
 
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#19
#19
“I think most of these negative post are under estimating the power of a confident mentality. This kid clearly lost any confidence he had. I worry much more about his mental toughness than his game.”

I agree, but I think that makes it worse. If one keeps playing and keeps practicing they will get better. To me Pons seriously looked scared to shoot the ball (unless right at the rim). Certainly he can get over that, but he will always have a shooting slump at some point. If one is or becomes “scared to shoot” your virtually useless offensively.
 
#20
#20
JoAllan said:
“I think most of these negative post are under estimating the power of a confident mentality. This kid clearly lost any confidence he had. I worry much more about his mental toughness than his game.”

I agree, but I think that makes it worse. If one keeps playing and keeps practicing they will get better. To me Pons seriously looked scared to shoot the ball (unless right at the rim). Certainly he can get over that, but he will always have a shooting slump at some point. If one is or becomes “scared to shoot” your virtually useless offensively.
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Bowden went thru the mental thing to some lesser degree. He darn near got the yips from the free throw line two years ago
 
#21
#21
BruinVol said:
Bowden went thru the mental thing to some lesser degree. He darn near got the yips from the free throw line two years ago
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I agree, but he kept shooting. Pons could be wide open but would always look to pass (once his slump started).

That is where I see the problem. Most bad slumps are mental, but if you simply quit trying your not helping that “mental” your compounding it.
 
#22
#22
JoAllan said:
I agree, but he kept shooting. Pons could be wide open but would always look to pass (once his slump started).

That is where I see the problem. Most bad slumps are mental, but if you simply quit trying your not helping that “mental” your compounding it.
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No doubt in my mind they he didn't handle it well
 
#23
#23
He began his sophomore season as a starter and he was featured on the pre-season hype video that was shown on TV and even at Neyland Stadium on the Jumbotron. It was the video of him "launching" for a dunk starting at the FTL. Expectations were inflated and smart opposing coaches quickly figured out how to exploit his deficiencies. Hopefully he'll respond after being humbled during the season by continuing to improve his game.

He had a bigger challenge than most new to the Barnes system as he wasn't fluent in English. Maybe he will make major improvements the next two years.
 
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#24
#24
Seemed like the injury happened shortly after he was taken out of starting lineup. With his athleticism I'm not quite ready to give up on Pons being a contributor to 2019-20 team.
 
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