tom in salem
Well-known member
Sean Evans to play professionally in Germany. @QSTJHoops reflects on his career athttp://sweetsweetlavin.com/2011/09/12/5-becomes-the-fifth-pro/ #stjbb
Sean Evans makes 5
- Thread starter tom in salem
- Start date
It's kind of hard to take seriously anything written by a college sophomore who starts out with "I thought I had seen it all." I mean, really? You thought you'd seen all of it? That belies either a bloated sense of self-importance or a serious lack of imagination. There are more things in heaven earth Horatio then are dreamt of by Sponge Bob Square Pants.
That said, Norm already had a longer coaching tree than Louie. If he'd stayed a few more years he'd have had a longer pro-tree as well.
Anyone else find this a little creepy? Sweet sweet Lavin? The only other sweet sweet person I can think of - and believe me, I've thought of it all - is Connie Hamzy, whose particular er talents I would not have associated with TGAPL. In either direction.
jumbo_peanuts
Active member
First of all, congrats to Sean Evans. Good for him!!
However, what does this actually say about Norm Roberts? Like him or hate him, and most people hate him, he brought in 5 future professional basketball players. To me, that is something special.
Looking back on it now, I think Roberts gave us exactly what his reputation was: Someone who was a solid, maybe even great recruiter/talent evaluator, but also someone who didn't have the experience or knowledge with the X's and O's.
Seriously guys. Review some of the lists of guys getting paid to play professionally both in lower leagues domestically and overseas and stop overreacting.
http://www.usbasket.com/ncaa1/Ex-NCAA-D1-Basketball-Players.asp
Presently 10 players from Akron are in those ranks. Rolly eyes (don't know how to do that in quick reply)
What we learned last year is that Norm did recruit some qualified Division 1 basketball players that by the time there were 23 were able to compete, if not excel, at the highest level of college basketball. In my mind that's a minimum requirement for a coaching job at a BE school.
http://www.usbasket.com/ncaa1/Ex-NCAA-D1-Basketball-Players.asp
Presently 10 players from Akron are in those ranks. Rolly eyes (don't know how to do that in quick reply)
What we learned last year is that Norm did recruit some qualified Division 1 basketball players that by the time there were 23 were able to compete, if not excel, at the highest level of college basketball. In my mind that's a minimum requirement for a coaching job at a BE school.
Other than the usual suspect I see no one overreacting. Certainly no one's campaigning for Norm's return or even arguing that he was anything other than what his record suggests he was. He did however recruit better than he was generally credited for - which eye for talent only serves to highlight his other deficiencies.
Congratulations Sean and all the best in Germany.
Class of 72
Active member
beast of the east
Active member
With the explosion of foreign "professional" leagues, caling someone a pro who gets paid to play somewhere on this planet is like calling a guy who flips burgers in McDonalds a chef. That's not to applaud the opportunity to see the world and get paid in the process, but Phil Missere has had a long career in Europe as a starter, and that should tell you something.
I loved our guys last year, but remember there wasn't a single guy worthy of being drafted by the NBA. There success was such an astounding surprise because we were such a horrible team in prior years. Imagine if last years edition was compared against the typical Syracuse or UCONN squad - it would have been a disappointing campaign.
I loved our guys last year, but remember there wasn't a single guy worthy of being drafted by the NBA. There success was such an astounding surprise because we were such a horrible team in prior years. Imagine if last years edition was compared against the typical Syracuse or UCONN squad - it would have been a disappointing campaign.
Devils advocate - do all 5 get their pro shot without the success of last years post-norm team? How much does contributing to a blowout win over Duke on natinal TV contribute to getting an overseas pro offer? Or a 17 pt win over the evenutal National Champion? Did Norm pull some strings to influence overseas pro teams - or did coach Lavin? Helps when your head coach has a former assistant coach that's say, VP of Player Personel for an NBA team (Gerald Madkins of the Hornets) with connections to pro teams all over the globe....
No matter what is written, the important thing is that Sean is getting paid for doing what he loves and that's the whole point of this thread. Bringing up the ugly past does nothing to change it. Good luck to you Sean and God bless! You are a fine young man and never forget where you came from.
Leaving aside the shoddiness of your mixed metaphor, its still nothing like that. The average starting salary in European leagues is $100K and the players enjoy all the perks that are available to professional athletes everywhere, with the added bonus of being exotic young men in an exotic land. And the level of competition is second to the NBA. So to recap, Sean Evans will be making 2K a week fresh out of college, dribbling a basketball off his feet in front of cheering crowds whilst beating the frauleins off with a stick. By this time next year he will have already attained more success in his chosen career than will most readers of this in their lifetimes. Whereas the average burger flipper at McDonalds makes a 8$ / hr doing mindless drudge work in a drab colorless workplace, sans groupies.
Other than that you make your usual salient points.
If you're asking whether Evans got a contract to play professionally because SJ beat Duke then the answer is no, unless Cameron Edison gets a contract too, in which case I'll reconsider my answer. Similarly, I suspect no one in Europe cares whether SJ beat Uconn - in fact, I suspect few people in Europe know there's a place called Connecticut or could locate it on a map, much less know, care or remember that they won the national championship. I could barely remember myself. I further suspect that Evans agent had more to do with getting him a contract than did TGAPL, although I would hope that TGAPL would offer the student athletes he mentors any help he can as they make their ways in the world, simply as a matter of course.
If you really think avr. player in Europe makes $100k you have to be nuts. Try about 35-45k they do get a lot of perks and no taxes
As to Sean-feel bad for him if he's looking for women. Germany is know to have some of the ugliest. One good thing is that he's right next to Poland