Bouk up to 6 on Wasserman’s Big Board

[The Shot]

I will take some heat for this but here goes. What worries me is he has had his best games against easy teams, for the most part. For him to play like the Bouk we know, in the NBA, he needs to have a great game against a Michigan or a Gonzaga, maybe that happens in the tournament maybe it doesn’t. His worst games were against teams that really beat him up which bothers me, he needs to improve his shooting in the face of that. One positive he has going for him in the NBA is when he’s on the floor, all of his 4 teammates are strong threats to score, and so I don’t think NBA defensive sets can double or triple team him like they do now. Question is can a single super good defensive guard shut him down in the NBA or can effect his shot making just enough. I’d like to see him stay one more year at UCONN, what he can do then is to correct the issues like hitting three’s under pressure and improve his physical strength etc and improving some of the issues NBA scouts have. Have any former UConn stars who starred in the NBA talked to him, Ray, Rip, Kemba, Bazz? I wonder what their advice would be.

He had 40 against a top 15 team and was 5 of 12 from 3. He may have something to prove but being able to play against top competition is not it.

 

[BuffaloHusky]

In terms of being dynamic, there is no question he should be included in the top 6. I look at his skills which are considerable and almost every one can be improved despite having a solid base to build on. That is not true of most other prospects. Keon Clark, for instance, is a great athlete but lacks shooting touch and ball handling. He may eventually get there but that is the risk every NBA team must weight. With Bouk they know they have a considerable talent and they just have to help him stay on the court.

 

[RayRay19]

Get in the Tourney and showcase your talent Bouk. Projected top 6 pick in upcoming draft it's time to take over.

 

[Kenny11]

His playmaking is suspect honestly we've seen what happened when he would get constantly doubled in the Villanova game and it was not pretty. His shooting seems fine but he's also probably not gonna be a great high volume 3pt shooter like Lavine.

He was doubled from the beginning of that game and dominated the first several minutes and made nova players look slow and foolish.

Then he forced things, got tired, didn’t play well and showed a lot of rust. I don’t think think that game says anything negative about his nba future.

as far as the LaVine comparison, it’s a little off in that LaVine really had no playmaking skills coming out of college and struggled horribly as a rookie and second year player in Minnesota handling the ball and they even played him at point guard sometimes. However, that really helped him develop although it hurt the team. That type of development is unique and who knows if bouk will be allowed to run point for the sake of his own development.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

He had 40 against a top 15 team and was 5 of 12 from 3. He may have something to prove but being able to play against top competition is not it.

Scoring 40 against Creighton is not the same as scoring 40 against Michigan, Gonzaga, Illinois or even scoring 10 points in an NBA game. If Creighton can make him miss 7 of 12 3 pt attempts, NBA scouts might wonder how many can an NBA defensive star can make him miss? Not including the Creighton game, what is his highest scoring game, and against who? I can’t believe an NBA scout is going to base their opinion of Bouk on one game against Creighton. You’re saying I’m wrong and I hope you’re right, but I don’t think so.

 

[husky429]

Scoring 40 against Creighton is not the same as scoring 40 against Michigan, Gonzaga, Illinois or even scoring 10 points in an NBA game. If Creighton can make him miss 7 of 12 3 pt attempts, NBA scouts might wonder how many can an NBA defensive star can make him miss? Not including the Creighton game, what is his highest scoring game, and against who? I can’t believe an NBA scout is going to base their opinion of Bouk on one game against Creighton. You’re saying I’m wrong and I hope you’re right, but I don’t think so.

Gonna ignore every bit of evidence I posted earlier? Everything you're saying is wrong.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I mean that's more true of everyone else on the list. He's the first sophomore in most every draft board.

Some GMs may be worried about his playmaking and shooting % from deep. Which is fair because his sample size is bigger than everyone else's ahead of him.

I would imagine that some GM in the 6-12 range will see the FT% and mid-range pullup ability and figure they can train him to shoot 35%+ from deep with a season or two under his belt.

3% shouldn't be an issue. The NBA teaches bigs to shoot them well. Al Horford for example. Bouk will shoot just fine. The question is whether he can get that deep range from 3-4 beyond the arc. May need to get stronger. His defense trends in the right direction, so that helps.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Gonna ignore every bit of evidence I posted earlier? Everything you're saying is wrong.

Ok

 

[AntG168]

Scoring 40 against Creighton is not the same as scoring 40 against Michigan, Gonzaga, Illinois or even scoring 10 points in an NBA game. If Creighton can make him miss 7 of 12 3 pt attempts, NBA scouts might wonder how many can an NBA defensive star can make him miss? Not including the Creighton game, what is his highest scoring game, and against who? I can’t believe an NBA scout is going to base their opinion of Bouk on one game against Creighton. You’re saying I’m wrong and I hope you’re right, but I don’t think so.

You are on heavy drugs

 

[husky429]

3% shouldn't be an issue. The NBA teaches bigs to shoot them well. Al Horford for example. Bouk will shoot just fine. The question is whether he can get that deep range from 3-4 beyond the arc. May need to get stronger. His defense trends in the right direction, so that helps.

Shooting will come down to how he looks in workouts IMO. If he WAS shooting 37% or better, he'd probably be picked even slightly higher. But I think he's probably close to maxing out his potential as a sophomore--I don't think he's getting taken ahead of Kuminga/Mobley/Cunningham/Green/Suggs no matter how well he plays simply because of his age.

FT% and the tough shots he makes are good pieces; if he can go into a tough NBA draft workout and light it up, I think he goes top 6-10 easily.

 

[The Shot]

Scoring 40 against Creighton is not the same as scoring 40 against Michigan, Gonzaga, Illinois or even scoring 10 points in an NBA game. If Creighton can make him miss 7 of 12 3 pt attempts, NBA scouts might wonder how many can an NBA defensive star can make him miss? Not including the Creighton game, what is his highest scoring game, and against who? I can’t believe an NBA scout is going to base their opinion of Bouk on one game against Creighton. You’re saying I’m wrong and I hope you’re right, but I don’t think so.

I don’t really want to turn this thread into a shouting match but if you are not buying @husky429 ’s argument which is pretty convincing let’s focus on yours. You seem to be under the impression that great teams don’t allow great players to score. The numbers do not bear this out. Look at Gonzaga who we probably agree is the consensus top team. Below are the numbers. This is is just their first 13 games because I’ve got to go zoom with the in-laws.

Kansas - Marcus Garrett 22 points

Auburn - Allen Flanigan 20 points

West Virginia - Derek Culver 18 points

Iowa - Luka Garza 30 points; Joe Weiskamp 20 points

Northwestern State - Carvell Teasett 16 points

Northwestern State - Jairus Roberson 15 points

Virginia - Kihei Clark 19 points

Northern Arizona - Cameron Shelton 20 points

Dixie State - Cameron Gooden 20 points

SF State - Jamaree Bouyea 18 points

BYU - Caleb Lohner 13 points

Portland - Ahmed Ali 20 points

Pepperdine - Kessler Edwards 14 points

Through their first 13 games 7 players scored 20 or more points against them. It’s pretty clear that being able to score against them is isn’t particularly difficult, beating them is. In Bouknight’s worst game he manages to get 20 so I have no doubt that he’d get similar numbers against Gonzaga.

 

[JohnFSilver]

I wonder about Bouks 3pt shooting and playmaking as a ball dominant player. But he's absolutely the 6th best prospect in the class, imo.

Bouk is over 50% shooting on 2s. He also shooting about 80% from the foul line and has a nice shot. When scouts look to the potential for 3-point shooters, they first take a look at foul shooting percentage. That is a big barometer about the ceiling of a shooter. Look at some centers who shoot well from the foul line, they all shoot 3s now. I think bouk needs to improve the 3 point shot, he's at 30% right now. So that will hurt him a little. But, developmentally there is no reason why he can't become a solid 3-point NBA shooter. Everything is there. It's just practice.

 

[Huskybass]

I will take some heat for this but here goes. What worries me is he has had his best games against easy teams, for the most part. For him to play like the Bouk we know, in the NBA, he needs to have a great game against a Michigan or a Gonzaga, maybe that happens in the tournament maybe it doesn’t. His worst games were against teams that really beat him up which bothers me, he needs to improve his shooting in the face of that. One positive he has going for him in the NBA is when he’s on the floor, all of his 4 teammates are strong threats to score, and so I don’t think NBA defensive sets can double or triple team him like they do now. Question is can a single super good defensive guard shut him down in the NBA or can effect his shot making just enough. I’d like to see him stay one more year at UCONN, what he can do then is to correct the issues like hitting three’s under pressure and improve his physical strength etc and improving some of the issues NBA scouts have. Have any former UConn stars who starred in the NBA talked to him, Ray, Rip, Kemba, Bazz? I wonder what their advice would be.

Considering his 40 point game was against the highest rated team UConn played all season, I think your logic is tragically flawed.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Scoring 40 against Creighton is not the same as scoring 40 against Michigan, Gonzaga, Illinois or even scoring 10 points in an NBA game. If Creighton can make him miss 7 of 12 3 pt attempts, NBA scouts might wonder how many can an NBA defensive star can make him miss? Not including the Creighton game, what is his highest scoring game, and against who? I can’t believe an NBA scout is going to base their opinion of Bouk on one game against Creighton. You’re saying I’m wrong and I hope you’re right, but I don’t think so.

this reads like being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian.

 

[CallMeBruce]

If Creighton can make him miss 7 of 12 3 pt attempts, NBA scouts might wonder how many can an NBA defensive star can make him miss?

lmao what are you even saying right here

 

[AntG168]

lmao what are you even saying right here

He's saying Bouk shooting 41% from 3 against creighton is a bad thing. He's deranged lmaoo

 

[Palatine]

Scoring 40 against Creighton is not the same as scoring 40 against Michigan, Gonzaga, Illinois or even scoring 10 points in an NBA game. If Creighton can make him miss 7 of 12 3 pt attempts, NBA scouts might wonder how many can an NBA defensive star can make him miss? Not including the Creighton game, what is his highest scoring game, and against who? I can’t believe an NBA scout is going to base their opinion of Bouk on one game against Creighton. You’re saying I’m wrong and I hope you’re right, but I don’t think so.

Ahh, the transitive property of basketball. 40 points against Creighton equals less than 10 points against an NBA team. It's science!!! Always a classic. Always wrong.

 

[AuRevoirAAC]

Haven’t read any of this thread, but here to say that James Bouknight is a future NBA All-Star who we’ll be watching for 10+ years in the NBA.

I watch a lot of college basketball, and have for many years. I truly believe he’s the most naturally gifted guard we’ve had since Ray Allen. And yes, I’m well aware of the guys who came in between (Kemba, Shabazz, Jeremy, Ben, Rip, Rudy, Caron, etc.)

 

[auggie22]

Scoring 40 against Creighton is not the same as scoring 40 against Michigan, Gonzaga, Illinois or even scoring 10 points in an NBA game. If Creighton can make him miss 7 of 12 3 pt attempts, NBA scouts might wonder how many can an NBA defensive star can make him miss? Not including the Creighton game, what is his highest scoring game, and against who? I can’t believe an NBA scout is going to base their opinion of Bouk on one game against Creighton. You’re saying I’m wrong and I hope you’re right, but I don’t think so.

Good thing he has been dynamic in more than one game.

I would note that the Big East has been more prolific recently in sending players to the NBA compared to B10 (at least on a per team basis). You seem to imply that there is a significant talent discrepancy between the reams we have played and the “top” teams. I don’t think that is generally true.

 

[jibsey]

Love the kid but Bouk’s handle is not great at all and he lacks strength, durability a question. Incredibly gifted but I guess the NBA is willing to downplay that stuff.

 

[Palatine]

Love the kid but Bouk’s handle is not great at all and he lacks strength, durability a question. Incredibly gifted but I guess the NBA is willing to downplay that stuff.

Bouk has a great handle. But he loses focus. When he dribbles carelessly into a double team it's not that he lacks ball skills, it's that he's lackadaisical.

 

[BoukofJames]

Love the kid but Bouk’s handle is not great at all and he lacks strength, durability a question. Incredibly gifted but I guess the NBA is willing to downplay that stuff.

What is that even supposed to mean? Silky Johnson over here....

 

[HuskyFich]

Bouk has a great handle. But he loses focus. When he dribbles carelessly into a double team it's not that he lacks ball skills, it's that he's lackadaisical.

Meh, I'd say he's overly confident and try's to jam square pegs into round holes sometimes. I think more than anything he gets frustrated not getting 25 shots a game, and tries to create every play he can no matter the cost.

Much different than lackadaisical.

 

[RayRay]

Meh, I'd say he's overly confident and try's to jam square pegs into round holes sometimes. I think more than anything he gets frustrated not getting 25 shots a game, and tries to create every play he can no matter the cost.

Much different than lackadaisical.

Wow, where is all this Bouk criticism coming from?? You guys are nuts.

 

[UconnU]

You would think there would be a lot of scouts at this game tonight.