I wrote many times last year that BA looked like the only player who cared when they were getting their teeth kicked in that they were getting their teeth kicked in. That doesn't mean that the rest of them didn't care - Ponds seems nonchalant no matter whether they're ahead by 30 or behind - but Ahmed is the only one who seems to take it personally. If he's able to channel the fire in his belly he has a chance to have a special senior year.
Bashir Ahmed to test NBA Waters
- Thread starter RedStormNC
- Start date
I wrote many times last year that BA looked like the only player who cared when they were getting their teeth kicked in that they were getting their teeth kicked in. That doesn't mean that the rest of them didn't care - Ponds seems nonchalant no matter whether they're ahead by 30 or behind - but Ahmed is the only one who seems to take it personally. If he's able to channel the fire in his belly he has a chance to have a special senior year.
So if I follow your line of reasoning, if Ponds looked like he didn't care but he cared, then BA may have looked like he cared but not given a crap. He could have looked like he was annoyed because the team was losing, or he could have looked like he was annoyed because he wasn't getting enough touches to showcase himself. Regardless, he did play hard and he does have the skills, size and athleticism to be a difference maker if he comes back, plays with discipline and buys in to the team concept. But the same could be said of a few other players (Mussini NIC) as well. We know we'll have more talent next season, just hoping to see a more cohesive unit.
I personally will be happy if Bashir comes back, he is not ready for the next level (i.e. NBA or overseas) but does have potential to get there as a supporting player. One thing I always noticed about him is that he does not have a soft touch/release when shooting the ball, his shots always hit the rim hard but on the flip side I think he is a good team mate to have and plays with energy.
You don't.
Yeah, that doesn't follow at all.
Horses have tails.
Some fish may have tails.
Therefore horses do not have tails.
Thank you Wittgenstein.
Or it could be you think poorly of him because you don't like his bloodlines.
Question: how can Ahmed be both a ball hog who doesn't play within the team concept and a malcontent who doesn't get enough touches to showcase himself. Answer: he can't, unless he's something of a sociopath. Do you think he's a sociopath?
Question: if Ahmed - the second or third scoring option - takes a shot every 2.5 minutes and that makes him a soul crushing chucker who only cares about himself, what does it say about a eighth man who takes a shot every 3 minutes? What if Ahmed averaged nearly twice as many assists per game as this hypothetical player. What if this hypothetical player - let's say he every once in a while plays point guard - had 26 assists in the entire season in nearly 600 minutes of play. Does that say anything about his character? Careful this might be a trick questioninni.
It's unlikely that anyone other than you is going to accuse Mussini of having size or athleticism or the potential to be a difference maker.
As are we all. And you could have said just that without gratuitously slandering a fine student athlete who proudly wears the red and white and black and blue and gray with red piping. (Gratuitous slander being my bailiwick.) There's no question that Ahmed plays out of control and needs to dial it back. Dialing it back being part of the maturation process. Attributing nefarious motives to immaturity seems untoward. I slam players abilities all the time but am careful not to impugn their character, except when they really deserve it (see also Obekpa, Chris). I don't see anything in Ahmed's character that deserves the opprobrium that is routinely heaped upon him
we are sju
Active member
At least with Ellison gone there will only be one guy who makes me contemplate throwing my remote control through the TV. One better than two in this regard.
It wasn't the number of shots Ahmed took that was the problem but the number of forced shots. High scoring JUCO players often develop the habit of thinking they can always get to the rim because of the lack of defense in JUCO ball and when they play on teams with multi scorers like Ahmed did they play with an attitude that if they give the ball up they won't get it back.
Hopefully last year will be enough to get that out of his head and he will realize that he is playing with two good passing guards.
Hopefully last year will be enough to get that out of his head and he will realize that he is playing with two good passing guards.
As someone with the attention span of a flea, you loose me as soon as you go to the multi-quote posts. I'll just say this, if his name were Bashir Ahearn or Bashir Amici, I'd still feel exactly the same way about the kid as I do now. Impressed with his skills, athleticism and size. Not at all impressed with his court awareness and decisions. If that qualifies as "gratuitous slander" consider me guilty as charged.
That's not gratuitous slander. This is gratuitous slander:
"he was more concerned with showcasing himself than he was with winning"
"he was annoyed because he wasn't getting enough touches to showcase himself."
Because you're extrapolating motive from poor performance. Where poor performance is defined by 13 and 6 in his first year of D1 basketball. Of course "Put him on even an decent team and he probably averages 6 and 3," goes without saying.
Question: if I say Mussini stinks and that makes me racist against Italians what does what you say about Ahmed say about you? Or is that implication illegitimate because I'm extrapolating motive from performance. Winky.
You inadvertently only quoted the portions of the sentences which benefited your argument. In any event, I never called you racist against my people. You hate everyone with the same fervor. Besides, Italian isn't a race. Except for back in the mid 1800s when the early wave of Sicilians(we'll consider them Italian for the moment) came here and were subject to the Jim Crow laws. You, OTOH, have pretty much labeled me Il Duce Due for showing slight favoritism towards a paisan. Someone who I would have aspired to be if I was just a few inches taller, could actually play basketball and was fortunate enough to have been born and raised in the Motherland.
Most of that is not true. I quoted you once perfectly in context and once out of context and the latter on purpose, the context for which was supplied by the former: you think BA is showcasing himself for other things, whatever they may be. You yourself supplied the context: "I could have been more easily persuaded about the showcasing had he not decided to test the NBA waters now." You attribute to him nefarious motives, without the benefit of the doubt that you attribute to those vaguely connected to you by blood.
I don't remember who exactly accused me of racism towards Italians and CBA to go back and look but I do remember that no one particularly defended me and certainly not you. I do appreciate though your remembering that I had to point out that Italian was not a race.
As for your "slight favoritism" - which enables you to label Mussini as athletic and a possible eighth man game changer - I don't begrudge you your prejudices. We all have them. But since we can attribute motive on the basis of behavior I think it fair to wonder what other prejudices you might have - since you freely admit you have them - since evidently attributing nefarious motives to otherwise explainable behaviors is acceptable. "Make the opponent live up to its own book of rules" someone once said. It could be that you think Ahmed and his prodigious production stink because he's a greedy ball hog. Or it could be that since Ahmed isn't Italian he's prodigious production isn't what it is if he were. I suspect if Mussini had Ahmed's numbers you'd have a go fund me page dedicated to building him a statue in the parking lot of CA. Or maybe you'd be championing the Polish guy who averaged eight points a game because he's not a show [strike]gondola[/strike] boat. But I doubt it.
Yawn
I don't know about Monte but every morning I drink a seaweed shake fortified with pituitary extract. I find it gives me the energy I need to type three or even four paragraphs in a row. Now that I'm getting older I sometimes have to nap afterwards, but I enjoy the rough and tumble of a good debate, so I think it's worth it.
Class of 72
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You are a masterdebater for sure!
Agree that the month of April is the dog days of sports. How about starting college bb some four or five weeks later than usual, avoiding pro and college football in Nov and Dec. and playing college bb in April?