Why is Jabari at BYU?

[craigoscarson]

[byufan4ever]

Good to see a post from ya craigoscarson!! Love the insight and opinion!!

[craigoscarson]

and no offense to the person that compared sabonis to baxter... they're not even close to the same type of player. sabonis is a back to the basket layup/dunk/baby hook guy... baxter is a face to the basket 3, perimeter guy that can defend well and finish ... night and day

Baxter is essentially a white utah version of Vince Carter and by the time he's a senior I think he could be a longer more athletic version of Travis Hansen

[snoscythe]

Looks like Craig has faded in his assessment of Sharp after Sharp's tenure at BYU, which futhers my point--Sharp had promise, but never adjusted. Again, not saying they are equivalent, but that they face the same challenges.

(Josh Sharp) is a legit D1 player(won't be a star, but will be better than Logan Manusson etc.) and was simply overshadowed a bit playing with the best high school team in the history of Utah (Haws, Funk, Hamilton, Sharp, Austin, etc.)

[BroncoBot]

and no offense to the person that compared sabonis to baxter... they're not even close to the same type of player. sabonis is a back to the basket layup/dunk/baby hook guy... baxter is a face to the basket 3, perimeter guy that can defend well and finish ... night and day

Baxter is essentially a white utah version of Vince Carter and by the time he's a senior I think he could be a longer more athletic version of Travis Hansen

No offense taken. I'd be OK with Baxter developing his back to basket game.

[craigoscarson]

Looks like Craig has faded in his assessment of Sharp after Sharp's tenure at BYU, which futhers my point--Sharp had promise, but never adjusted. Again, not saying they are equivalent, but that they fact the same challenges.

(Josh Sharp) is a legit D1 player(won't be a star, but will be better than Logan Manusson etc.) and was simply overshadowed a bit playing with the best high school team in the history of Utah (Haws, Funk, Hamilton, Sharp, Austin, etc.)

and never improved... never lifted a weight... never added a thing to his game.... I also said this before he got to the Y, got married, and decided not to give a flip about hoops... (this happened to Bracken Funk too).. while Hamilton busted his ass in college and played in the NBA... the only one of that group to sniff the league but wasn't by any means the best player on that team.

There was a reason Utah was upset he left... however in retrospect, they should be thanking him...

I also STILL think Josh Sharp deserved a D 1 scholarship when he got to the Y... he simply never got better... never added anything to his game to justify playing him at the 3 where a guy with his length could be an asset. Josh at the U and in summer games leading up to the Y was scrappy and even had a bit of a nasty enforcer attitude... then he got comfortable

This sadly is not uncommon at the Y. Go on mission, come home to scholarship, get married, suck the life out of the scholarship.... never give your heart and soul to the sport that paid your way....

He simply showed up... in spite of that Coach Rose has pulled the plug on a lot of guys he didn't deem worthy of staying at the Y... Sharp wasn't one of them.

I'll bet if you went to the archives, you'd find 2-3 dozen threads involving Sharp where I bemoaned the fac he didn't get better, didn't have that killer instinct, didn't lift weights, didn't even work on a 10 foot J....

and if we're going back to the archives.. let's take a look at what I said about Noah Hartsock when people said he wasn't a D1 player and wouldn't be a contributor... Noah worked his butt off and had a killer instinct.... became an honorable mention all american and 1st team all conf player... Sharp never improved.. polar opposites and much of it came down to work ethic and competitive drive... when Sharp was a Ute, that was what he was known for... and he got soft at the Y.. not the 1st or the last time it'll happen... some guys just decide there are more important things than sports when they get to BYU... good for him I guess... bad for BYU hoops

[snoscythe]

Apparently we agree on Josh Sharp, we just disagree on putting him in the same sentence with Gavin Baxter.

[BlueK]

Baxter was still rated much higher coming out of HS than Sharp was. ESPN was just an example, but it's also true of all the others if you look it up. At least those folks seem to believe is very likely Baxter ends up being better. Or they could all be wrong and both players end up close to the same. I hope the experts are right.

[HoosierCougar]

This is a challenge a lot of prep players face: they are forced into a situation where they aren't maximizing their opportunity, rather, they are playing where the team needs them most. I'm a team guy, but if Travis Hansen plays with the ball in his hands more at BYU, he lasts longer in the NBA, IMHO.

Gavin Baxter looks like a potentially athletic wing if he can really develop that 15-20' shot and still keep his springs at the rim. He won't play 4/5 at BYU (at least I hope not, we want those guys to be 6'9"+).

If he really has the athletic ability and work ethic to make it to the NBA, it will be as a 2/3, not a post player. And that's the risk he faces: if he comes back to BYU and the team needs him to be a 4, he'll be developing skills that won't serve him at the next level.

[Brayden Green]

Back to the thread, It's cool to see Jabari at BYU!

Not back to the thread, (haha) Sharp was one of our best perimeter defenders, and did provide a spark off the bench. I think that he did himself a disservice by not developing a perimeter game because he really could have shined for a team that wanted a Giannis Antentokoumpo or Kawhii Leonard type defensive stopper on the cheap.

I think that Baxter has more of a comparison to an athletic Lee Cummard than Sharp. A very skilled, do-it-all type of player with the added ability of jumping out of the building. It's too bad he is mission bound first, because we need him now. What do you do when you with Seljaas and Baxter?