LJ Status

[quote="Knight" post=386734]Pardon my French, but it’s close to “shit or get off the pot time,” for LJ.[/quote]

Why?

The only person LJ owes anything to is LJ. I understand everyone's anxious but remember we are fans. It is not our decision. It is not our future. It is his.
 
[quote="fordham96" post=386739][quote="Knight" post=386734]Pardon my French, but it’s close to “shit or get off the pot time,” for LJ.[/quote]

Why?

The only person LJ owes anything to is LJ. I understand everyone's anxious but remember we are fans. It is not our decision. It is not our future. It is his.[/quote]

I’m thinking TEAM.
 
[quote="fordham96" post=386739][quote="Knight" post=386734]Pardon my French, but it’s close to “shit or get off the pot time,” for LJ.[/quote]

Why?

The only person LJ owes anything to is LJ. I understand everyone's anxious but remember we are fans. It is not our decision. It is not our future. It is his.[/quote]

I loved the Jordan response when admonished that there is no "I" in team. He quickly shot back, "That may be true, but there is one in WIN" May not apply to LJ, but LJ should do what's best for LJ, and this circumstance, everything has become murky.
 
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[quote="Knight" post=386742][quote="fordham96" post=386739][quote="Knight" post=386734]Pardon my French, but it’s close to “shit or get off the pot time,” for LJ.[/quote]

Why?

The only person LJ owes anything to is LJ. I understand everyone's anxious but remember we are fans. It is not our decision. It is not our future. It is his.[/quote]

I’m thinking TEAM.[/quote]

It's his decision not the team's. And please let's be clear on this, we may say things like this. We may even teach our selves to believe it. But we have no stake in this young man's life other than we are a fan of SJU. We won't pay his bills. We won't suffer any losses if he comes back and gets hurt. He will bear the brunt of all of that. Obviously for selfish reasons I would like him to come back but whether he does and on what timetable he does it at is his decision.

I remember John Calipari in an interview after Marcus Camby decided to go pro. He said Camby seriously thought about staying another year and Calipari asked him, "Why?" And Camby said because we can have a good team and maybe go to another Final Four and finsih my degree. John said, "That helps ME and the team but how does that help YOU." This decision has to be about YOU not us. And you can always come back and get your degree,
 
[quote="usguard" post=386762]Think we should proceed as if he is gone[/quote]

What would that look like compared to what we've been doing?
 
[quote="fordham96" post=386763][quote="Knight" post=386742][quote="fordham96" post=386739][quote="Knight" post=386734]Pardon my French, but it’s close to “shit or get off the pot time,” for LJ.[/quote]

Why?

The only person LJ owes anything to is LJ. I understand everyone's anxious but remember we are fans. It is not our decision. It is not our future. It is his.[/quote]

I’m thinking TEAM.[/quote]

It's his decision not the team's. And please let's be clear on this, we may say things like this. We may even teach our selves to believe it. But we have no stake in this young man's life other than we are a fan of SJU. We won't pay his bills. We won't suffer any losses if he comes back and gets hurt. He will bear the brunt of all of that. Obviously for selfish reasons I would like him to come back but whether he does and on what timetable he does it at is his decision.

I remember John Calipari in an interview after Marcus Camby decided to go pro. He said Camby seriously thought about staying another year and Calipari asked him, "Why?" And Camby said because we can have a good team and maybe go to another Final Four and finsih my degree. John said, "That helps ME and the team but how does that help YOU." This decision has to be about YOU not us. And you can always come back and get your degree,[/quote]

That's a great Calipari story. A friend of mine became quite friendly with him back when he was coaching UMASS, and thought well of him. It actually raises my opinion of Calipari, whom I generally have thought of in negative terms.

And I think you are right. We are gracious when a guy isn't very good, and when he thusly leaves because he didn't fit into our plans so much. Largely, not completely, but largely we are concerned about LJ because of what he means to us now. As soon as his eligibility is used up, he is of little value, except as a quasi star who played for us.

IF we really root for him as a person, we should support his decision and root for the best. Some of the people I've gotten to know over the past few years in the AD really think that way, and not only do I admire them for it, but it helps me aspire to do the same.
 
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Seems to me the Staff thinks it's better than 50-50 that LJ returns but the longer the process takes, the more uncertain the roster. Hence, Staff has put feelers out, particularly to Ray Salnave, a local kid, who legend has it seems to want to play for SJ.
Otherwise, I think the Staff might've been more involved with Jose Perez.
Wishing LJ the best--no matter his choice.
 
And let's remember this decision is a two way street. The staff is under no obligation to hold his ride for him if they do't want to. If they thought they were being unnecessarily jerked around they could give a ride to Salnave and tell LJ they ar not renewing his scholarship. Heck, we're not even to the end of the semester yet. Let's give everyone some time. The only folks who have no influence or say in this decision are us.
 
I'm in the same camp as Knight but I don't think anyone is being unrealistic. Yes these are unprecendented times. Normally the process would still be taking place but when the season shut down 2nd week of March 'evaluations' and fact finding were pushed up significantly. The flip side is the draft was always going to be pushed back. So its a double edged sword.

If we had another scholarship great we could go after an impact immediate transfer and wait on LJ to strengthen the team by coming back. But we still aren't optimal in terms of scholarship distribution so we're waiting on our leading scorer who all the warts and floater and off balance 3's from 4 feet behind the arc is STILL our best and most consistent scoring option. I'd love to take Ray and feel better about the worst case scenario. But technically that's not possible right now.
 
He's testing the waters. Good for him. There are no guarantees of team success, individual success, or continued good health. If he can get his #.....go for it.
How many of us wouldn't have jumped at a big pay day to leave SJU early for a hands on opportunity in your chosen field with the option of finishing your degree while gaining valuable experience?
 
[quote="Vinny" post=386800]He's testing the waters. Good for him. There are no guarantees of team success, individual success, or continued good health. If he can get his #.....go for it.
How many of us wouldn't have jumped at a big pay day to leave SJU early for a hands on opportunity in your chosen field with the option of finishing your degree while gaining valuable experience?[/quote]

I dont think anyone is questioning him for chasing his dreams and money. That's a major misconception. We're not talking about a fringe 1st or 2nd round pick here. Its either he can make money playing somewhere in the world or come back to school. Sure he can go make 40K in the G-League if he wants or somewhere outside the US.

Maybe I'm missing those posts but I don't see people saying he needs to come back. They just want closure to complete the team while they still could replace.
 
[quote="SJU61982" post=386803][quote="sjc88" post=386802][quote="capmaker" post=386799][URL]https://www.zagsblog.com/2020/05/07/jose-perez-to-marquette/?fbclid[/URL]=IwAR3CXxqIMYpYZj1izLKKV-QzMy2iY9l4yf8YC0h2_kNOAL6WJxfIHkEKaYI[/quote]

Reading this I hope when Mr. Perez said “I get to play in the Garden vs St. John’s” that he’s not too disappointed if the team bus ends up at the Carnesseca Arena in Queens. :pinch:[/quote] Maybe he meant in the Big East Tournament.[/quote]

Maybe the Finals! :cheer:
 
Agree with general sentiment that LJ owes it to himself to do what’s in his best interest. We will just have to wait.

With that said, i was disappointed in his performance for most of last season. But, by the end of the season, i think he finally got CMA’s message that he needed to play within the flow of the game, and as a result, we played better as a team. If he comes back, I think he can have a very good year.
 
[quote="Moose" post=386797]I'm in the same camp as Knight but I don't think anyone is being unrealistic. Yes these are unprecendented times. Normally the process would still be taking place but when the season shut down 2nd week of March 'evaluations' and fact finding were pushed up significantly. The flip side is the draft was always going to be pushed back. So its a double edged sword.

If we had another scholarship great we could go after an impact immediate transfer and wait on LJ to strengthen the team by coming back. But we still aren't optimal in terms of scholarship distribution so we're waiting on our leading scorer who all the warts and floater and off balance 3's from 4 feet behind the arc is STILL our best and most consistent scoring option. I'd love to take Ray and feel better about the worst case scenario. But technically that's not possible right now.[/quote]
Reasonable
 
Zagoria

Can confirm this is true. The expectation is that LJ Figueroa will remain in school and @StJohnsBBall has no ships left
 
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