a tale of two NYC guards

salty dog

Well-known member
Years back Norm Roberts went hard after Lincoln guard Lance Stephenson while another NYC guard Durand Scott quietly was recruited by University of Miami. Roberts failed to land Lance Stephenson and he went on to the University Cincinnati where he had an uneventful
one year before leaving for the NBA. Further disappointment came when he was not drafted in the first round. However Stephenson has now caught on with the Pacers and is helping the team with limited minutes. Meanwhile Durand is now in his senior year at Miami and was named ACC player of the week for the undefeated Hurricanes. Durand beat out Lance Stephenson for NYC player of the year in HS and it will be interesting if he can prove you stay in school play for 2 different coaches improve your game and become the better pro. Only time will tell.
 
Years back Norm Roberts went hard after Lincoln guard Lance Stephenson while another NYC guard Durand Scott quietly was recruited by University of Miami. Roberts failed to land Lance Stephenson and he went on to the University Cincinnati where he had an uneventful
one year before leaving for the NBA. Further disappointment came when he was not drafted in the first round. However Stephenson has now caught on with the Pacers and is helping the team with limited minutes. Meanwhile Durand is now in his senior year at Miami and was named ACC player of the week for the undefeated Hurricanes. Durand beat out Lance Stephenson for NYC player of the year in HS and it will be interesting if he can prove you stay in school play for 2 different coaches improve your game and become the better pro. Only time will tell.

That's a good theory, and one you hear talked about a lot.
But there's no way staying in school makes you a better pro.
There are plenty of reasons to stay in school: education for life and a career after basketball, social life, raise your draft stock so you get more money guaranteed, etc. All true.

But consider this, college players can work with coach 2 1/2 hours a day from November till March, and for maybe 1 day a week over the summer.

You get drafted and you practice everyday year round, not only team practices and summer league games, but usually workouts with a development coach like Rico, a nutritionist, and a trainer to run and lift with.
Over the summer, pros like JR Smith had better access to our coaching staff than our own players.

Lot of reasons to stay in school, including moving up the draft board, but becoming a better basketball player is not one of them.

Not for nothing, but this is why other countries have made ground on USA basketball. David Wright goes pro when he's 18, plays organized baseball year round and works on his hitting with professional coaching and training. The David Beckhams of the world do the same thing in soccer, and the Sid Crosbys do it in hockey.
Jakarr Sampson and Nerlens Noel though can't work with their coaches almost 7 months out of the year.

How would doing that for an extra three more years somehow make you improve more than a Moe or Lance who had double the games, practices, and coaching during that time?
 
And got paid. Good assessment, mostly we don't think of these things and how the NCAA tries to even things out to protect against the basketball factories dominating the sport, through excess, but in essence hurt the student athlete in development.
 
Roberts needed a big time recruit and Stephenson was a well hyped NYC PLAYER, destined to be one and done.. Stephenson wound up as a late signee to CINN and had a decent 1 year career. He hasn't done much in the pros. I'm glad he didn't play for St JOHN'S.. He had a lot of baggage in HS and still does in the NBA.

The recruit that Roberts needed the most was Sylvan Landesberg and did not get.. Syl went to Virginia under soon to be fired Dave Leitao and did not make the NBA. He probably would have done better as a player here, especially if he got to play for Lavin.

It's funny though, Landesberg and his advisors touted Virginia's well earned academics as a factor in his going there but, he never finished college? I guess he's playing in Europe or Israel or somewhere.
 
Landesberg has been featured on Inside Israeli Basketball cable show a few times. His father is Jewish which gives him "Law of Return" status which means he does not count against the roster limit on foreign players.
 
Years back Norm Roberts went hard after Lincoln guard Lance Stephenson while another NYC guard Durand Scott quietly was recruited by University of Miami. Roberts failed to land Lance Stephenson and he went on to the University Cincinnati where he had an uneventful
one year before leaving for the NBA. Further disappointment came when he was not drafted in the first round. However Stephenson has now caught on with the Pacers and is helping the team with limited minutes. Meanwhile Durand is now in his senior year at Miami and was named ACC player of the week for the undefeated Hurricanes. Durand beat out Lance Stephenson for NYC player of the year in HS and it will be interesting if he can prove you stay in school play for 2 different coaches improve your game and become the better pro. Only time will tell.

That's a good theory, and one you hear talked about a lot.
But there's no way staying in school makes you a better pro.
There are plenty of reasons to stay in school: education for life and a career after basketball, social life, raise your draft stock so you get more money guaranteed, etc. All true.

But consider this, college players can work with coach 2 1/2 hours a day from November till March, and for maybe 1 day a week over the summer.

You get drafted and you practice everyday year round, not only team practices and summer league games, but usually workouts with a development coach like Rico, a nutritionist, and a trainer to run and lift with.
Over the summer, pros like JR Smith had better access to our coaching staff than our own players.

Lot of reasons to stay in school, including moving up the draft board, but becoming a better basketball player is not one of them.

Not for nothing, but this is why other countries have made ground on USA basketball. David Wright goes pro when he's 18, plays organized baseball year round and works on his hitting with professional coaching and training. The David Beckhams of the world do the same thing in soccer, and the Sid Crosbys do it in hockey.
Jakarr Sampson and Nerlens Noel though can't work with their coaches almost 7 months out of the year.

How would doing that for an extra three more years somehow make you improve more than a Moe or Lance who had double the games, practices, and coaching during that time?

You guys are tough, I was bummed he didn't pick STJ either, but he starts for the Pacers and has a guaranteed contract. How much better of a pro career do you want at this point?
 
Roberts needed a big time recruit and Stephenson was a well hyped NYC PLAYER, destined to be one and done.. Stephenson wound up as a late signee to CINN and had a decent 1 year career. He hasn't done much in the pros. I'm glad he didn't play for St JOHN'S.. He had a lot of baggage in HS and still does in the NBA.

The recruit that Roberts needed the most was Sylvan Landesberg and did not get.. Syl went to Virginia under soon to be fired Dave Leitao and did not make the NBA. He probably would have done better as a player here, especially if he got to play for Lavin.

It's funny though, Landesberg and his advisors touted Virginia's well earned academics as a factor in his going there but, he never finished college? I guess he's playing in Europe or Israel or somewhere.




If I'm not mistaken Landesberg played point guard at UVA; I thought he'd be better at shooting guard.
 
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