fritzpointer wrote:Question for hilltop, with so little info on Martin will he be ready to contribute from day one?
Hopefully Hilltop will weigh in as well, but here are my thoughts. I think he will contribute from day 1 for a few reasons:
1. He's older than the average incoming Frosh. I believe he's 19 now and will be 20 when he gets to campus.
2. His goal is to play professionally. He may want to get his degree and he may want to test the waters here to see how high he can go in the professional ranks. He may not be NBA, but he's likely to be playing somewhere for a check by the time he finishes.. In fact -
3. He already had a pro contract but he left before starting to come to the states -- to give us an idea of his talent level, the Krka team roster also includes
- Chris Booker from Purdue (All Big 10 honorable mention)
- Malcolm Armstead (Oregon and Wichita State)
- Wangmene Alexis (Texas and has bounced around NBA D league and summer leagues a couple of times)
In general the local guys may not be at the talent level of the imports, but that's a good benchmark in terms of talent. Prior to taking that contract he played for Krka II (sees like their developmental team) and for the U18 Slovenian team. He's faced some older guys and some talented guys, so I think the odds are good he's coming in with a good experience level to play in the BE from day 1
4. Mac's comments tell me he's a player (from the OWH article):
"Krampelj, who has a seven-foot wingspan, has a prototypical European playing style, Creighton coach Greg McDermott said.
“He can handle the ball, he can pass the ball, he can shoot the ball,” McDermott said. “He has very good bounce. I think he can play the small forward or the power forward positions. We’ll be able to move him around.
“I was impressed with his desire to become the best possible basketball player he could be. He’s ready to go to work.’’"
given our need at the 3 and 4 (Huff and Hegner are the two most likely players there) we need a guy like Martin to get minutes right off the bat.