Originally Posted by
davekay1971
For the record, while I openly deride Beaker and have, possibly, called him a gimp, I don't think he's a remotely average player. He's an extremely productive offensive player, no matter what you (or I) may think of the fairness in the way his play is refereed. My venom toward Beaker derives from a few points: (1) the color blue he wears; (2) the "Hey, I'm a star, I should get that call" attitude he's developed over the last two years; and (3) the vast disparity between his hype and his actual game. For point 3, that's more a media problem than a Beaker problem - he can't help that commentators and analysts have hyped him up to be the 2nd coming, when he's probably not the best player on his own team (I give that to Lawson, who has finally, to my great dismay, raised his play to match his ability). He's a very good player with a very high motor, and that combination accounts for a lot of his production...and his ppg and rpg, as well as his career numbers indicate that he is a very, very productive low post player. But he is also a mediocre post defender, a lousy passer out of the post, and his offensive skill set is limited - his shot from mid range and beyond is highly suspect.
It will be interesting to see what the post-season accolades look like for him this year. A good argument could be made that he's only the third-best player on his team, behind Lawson (who's been superb since UNC started 0-2 and is clearly the key to their success) and Ellington (who has been ridiculously good lately). I assume that he'll still be 1st-team all-ACC, and possibly 1st-team all-American, because he was "supposed" to be, but when all is said and done, he may not actually have put together the kind of campaign that is really deserving of those awards.
None of which is to say he can't go out and average 30-15 for the last few games, but to this date he's been less impressive than he was last year.
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke