2016 SF Kobe Paras (Commit)

[westojay]

Kobe was interviewed today on Unsportsmanlike Conduct, very good interview. I was very impressed with his level of maturity and how he talked about life and what is important. He has his head on straight.

[ictjay]

Know why UCLA didn't work out. Kobe is a hell of a lot smarter than Alford. Great interview.

[durden_tyler]

Not sure if already posted in this 10-page thread but (re) posting some Kobe highlights over the years:

(Credit: To all YouTube vid owners)













And lastly, Kobe on LeBron semi-facial (ok not actually, but Nike still wouldn't like it, right?)




So a few questions; is there a chance Paras starts? What sort of minutes will be getting as a freshman? Does your coach scatter minutes to all available players? Like a 10-man rotation as opposed to heavy minutes to the key stars?

(Also vids not showing; any help from mods will be appreciated )

[SonofFrankTomera]

It will be very difficult for Kobe to start IMO. Coach usually plays/trusts his upper classmen, unless they play strong defense (Khyri Thomas). I felt that Thomas didn't really have a great year defensively though, so....also coach usually sticks to a short rotation, only about 7 or 8 guys played the majority of the minutes last year but that doesn't mean Kobe, or Davion cant break through and add to that. Coach does like to redshirt guys that he believes can help down the line so that shouldn't be taken as a slap in the face. I would be more concerned if an incoming freshman is not red shirted but then plays very little.

[Jaysker12]

tlyer_durden, its a bit hard to project where kobe fits into the rotation considering we haven't seen him play live yet. Highlight tapes make every player look like Jordan.

That said, Kobe has the look of a very good player. if he doesn't end up a starter at some point throughout the season, then i predict us to be a very good team. There just aren't minutes at the shooting guard position for him - Marcus Foster likely mandates at least 30 mpg there, then we have senior Isaiah Zierden who played 32 mpg last season (no way he plays that many this season, but still). At the 3, Khyri Thomas played 20 minutes per game last season and was probably our best wing defender. Ronnie Harrell played 10mpg, mostly at the 3. Kobe looks like the most athletically gifted of the three - he could already be the most polished on offense - good handle plus an aggressive mindset, and decent looking jumper. Every freshman has to adjust to the pace of the college game, and Khyri is no slouch on offense, so it could be awhile before Kobe's impact outpaces his, if it ever does this year.

A lot of people say Mac doesn't give our young players enough of a chance. I wouldn't necessarily say that's true. I think he more so tends to rely on his more senior players. Our young players might get deprived of a few spare minutes because of this trend, but we haven't exactly had many world-changing freshmen come in over the past couple years. Khyri was by far the best one since Doug, but both Ronnie and Zach Hanson played roles for their teams. They just have to earn it in practice. Good players look good in practice, that's how you initially earn PT

[Jet915]

Kobe was interviewed today on Unsportsmanlike Conduct, very good interview. I was very impressed with his level of maturity and how he talked about life and what is important. He has his head on straight.

Here is link:

https://soundcloud.com/unsportsmanlike-conduct-1/july-19-seg-14-newest-creighton-commit-kobe-paras

[cu8493]

If Kobe is playing significant minutes this year, then he will have beaten out some really good players. If he isn't ready to beat out the older fellas for significant minutes, then a redshirt year is not necessarily a bad thing. It would allow him to adjust to college without the pressure of worrying about how much playing time he is or isn't getting. Kobe said he wants to work on his defense. Going against the likes of Marcus, Kyrie, Ronnie, etc. will give him great opportunity to develop his defense. Although sitting out a year can be difficult, it usually pays dividends down the road. As was mentioned before, its usually the guys Mac doesn't redshirt freshman year and who don't see much playing time that end up moving on. Look forward to seeing what Kobe can do, but don't want to see him waste a year playing garbage time. This will surely be the deepest team we have ever had.

[WBR Tom]

(Also vids not showing; any help from mods will be appreciated )

Thanks for the videos! The YouTube embed widget doesn't work with "https" URLs, which is strange because when you copy a URL from YouTube it has the secure https address by default -- the super-easy workaround is to just remove the "s" after pasting the URL in.

I fixed the ones in your post

Welcome to the board!

[section202jay]

If Paras does play this season he will be getting a max of 10 minutes per game. But McDermott is a very fair coach. If he's out-hustling others and playing well in practice, he will get the time he deserves. I could see him becoming our second option at the 3 guard spot rather than Ronnie Harrell, who has been known to not practice well. McDermott also likes to sometimes go with 4 guards like we did with Ricky Kreklow at the 4 spot a couple seasons ago. So Paras could see additional minutes there.

But to all Filipino fans - We have a talented team this season. Our starting rotation is practically set. Mo Watson, Marcus Foster, Khyri Thomas, Cole Huff, and Zach Hanson. Our options off the bench are numerous. You could see Isaiah Zierden, Toby Hegner, Davion Mintz, and Justin Patton off the bench before Paras. We also have another forward in Martin Krampelj, a native of Slovenia, who showed well last season before getting hurt. And don't forget about Ronnie Harrell, who I would guess is Paras's biggest competition for time since they're similar.

[Jet915]

#24