Thon Maker is going to make a lot of money playing basketball

[nmduke2001]

At 7'1" he has good handles and touch.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...mming-national

[FerryFor50]

At 7'1" he has good handles and touch.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...mming-national

Hopefully he makes a stop by Durham for a year on his way there.

[duke96]

Wow that is insane. He will be amazing if he doesnt get hurt.

[Native]

Saw this guy over the winter holiday at the HSOT Invitational in Raleigh.

Looked very passive in the game I saw him in, but he went off the next day. His size and skills are evident from the moment he gets on the court.

[nmduke2001]

Just watched it again. How is this guy only 16? Holy cow.

[Edouble]

He's gotta lose those lime shorts though.

Awful.

[nmduke2001]

Saw this guy over the winter holiday at the HSOT Invitational in Raleigh.

Looked very passive in the game I saw him in, but he went off the next day. His size and skills are evident from the moment he gets on the court.

Native, did his jumper look good? These videos can show ALL of his made shots so it's hard to tell if he has a decent jumper. The handle, however, is harder to fake. This kid can handle the rock really well for a 7 footer.

[Richard Berg]

Native, did his jumper look good? These videos can show ALL of his made shots so it's hard to tell if he has a decent jumper. The handle, however, is harder to fake. This kid can handle the rock really well for a 7 footer.

Exhibit A: McBob. Great handle was impossible to hide, but it seemed like the coaches could never convince him that his mediocre 22-footers weren't efficient anymore at the college level.

[NSDukeFan]

Is this what Ralph Sampson's mixtape would have looked like?

[JasonEvans]

Is this what Ralph Sampson's mixtape would have looked like?

Well, Ralph was taller than Thon. But, a very instructive answer in that Sampson was capable of being totally dominant but often was not because he did not seem to have the drive and determination to become a winner. His college teams never lived up to expectations and his pro performance was underwhelming. Had he not gotten Hakeem as a sidekick, it is entirely possible he would never have made it to the playoffs in the NBA (or never made more than the first round of the playoffs).

Bottom line, and Sampson will ever admit this, he never truly loved the game of basketball. He played because he was expected to play, not because he embraced the game... and as the competition got better and better, it showed.

That said Thon may be completely different. Of course any program would want him. But, I have read some reports that say he is passive at times and does not try to dominate the game. We shall see how he develops.

-Jason "by the way, he is not the consensus #1 player in the 2016 class. Rivals has him as the #3 recruit in that class" Evans

[FerryFor50]

Exhibit A: McBob. Great handle was impossible to hide, but it seemed like the coaches could never convince him that his mediocre 22-footers weren't efficient anymore at the college level.

Well he's shooting 37% from NBA three distance this year, so maybe he just needed to back up a bit?

He shot 38% from three his freshman year and regressed to 21% his sophomore year, but I think part of that was him being done with college,

His problem was more attitude than skill.

[Native]

Native, did his jumper look good? These videos can show ALL of his made shots so it's hard to tell if he has a decent jumper. The handle, however, is harder to fake. This kid can handle the rock really well for a 7 footer.

Don't really remember much about his jumper, TBH. Had a few from midrange but most of the work he did inside due to his height advantage.

What I remember most is his shot-blocking ability; had like three or four blocks in a really short time frame.

[WillJ]

Well, Ralph was taller than Thon. But, a very instructive answer in that Sampson was capable of being totally dominant but often was not because he did not seem to have the drive and determination to become a winner. His college teams never lived up to expectations and his pro performance was underwhelming. Had he not gotten Hakeem as a sidekick, it is entirely possible he would never have made it to the playoffs in the NBA (or never made more than the first round of the playoffs).

Bottom line, and Sampson will ever admit this, he never truly loved the game of basketball. He played because he was expected to play, not because he embraced the game... and as the competition got better and better, it showed.

That said Thon may be completely different. Of course any program would want him. But, I have read some reports that say he is passive at times and does not try to dominate the game. We shall see how he develops.

-Jason "by the way, he is not the consensus #1 player in the 2016 class. Rivals has him as the #3 recruit in that class" Evans

If your point is that Ralph Sampson did not have the exceptional drive of players like Durant, Wade, Kobe and especially Jordan, then this is a point well-taken. But I think it's a stretch to deduce from his pre-injury career - which was outstanding by any normal metric - that he didn't love basketball. He wouldn't have gotten as far as he did - even being 7-4 - if he was apathetic or unmotivated.

Also, I wouldn't hold it against him even if he were apathetic about high-level basketball (or high-level anything else for that matter). Not everyone's cup of tea.

[NSDukeFan]

Well, Ralph was taller than Thon. But, a very instructive answer in that Sampson was capable of being totally dominant but often was not because he did not seem to have the drive and determination to become a winner. His college teams never lived up to expectations and his pro performance was underwhelming. Had he not gotten Hakeem as a sidekick, it is entirely possible he would never have made it to the playoffs in the NBA (or never made more than the first round of the playoffs).

Bottom line, and Sampson will ever admit this, he never truly loved the game of basketball. He played because he was expected to play, not because he embraced the game... and as the competition got better and better, it showed.

That said Thon may be completely different. Of course any program would want him. But, I have read some reports that say he is passive at times and does not try to dominate the game. We shall see how he develops.

-Jason "by the way, he is not the consensus #1 player in the 2016 class. Rivals has him as the #3 recruit in that class" Evans

I enjoy any and all discussions about Sampson as I find him fascinating. As far as mix tapes go though, I don't know if you can pick up on determination, drive and love of the game. (; I would think that it wouldn't be that often that you would see someone over 7 feet with that kind of ball-handling and perimeter shooting skills.
I expect most would be happy if Maker had the kind of college success that Sampson did.

[Henderson]

I expect most would be happy if Maker had the kind of college success that Sampson did.

But not at Virginia, which has already offered him.

[nmduke2001]

Pretty good article (mostly about Maker) regarding the unrealistic hype that a "mixtape" can bring. I'm certainly guilty of falling into the hype trap.

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspor...chool-players/

[FerryFor50]

It looks like Duke is in the mix:

http://247sports.com/Recruitment/Tho...cruitInterests

Made an unofficial visit in October.

[zoroaster]

It looks like Duke is in the mix:

http://247sports.com/Recruitment/Tho...cruitInterests

Made an unofficial visit in October.

His interest in Duke is the only one listed as "warm", even though Duke hasn't offered him yet (while 3 others have)? It could possibly be that the website hasn't completely updated yet, but even though it's still early, it's nice to see. Maybe Duke's rep for developing big men for the NBA and recruiting good big men is influencing him.

[Kedsy]

Well, Ralph was taller than Thon. But, a very instructive answer in that Sampson was capable of being totally dominant but often was not because he did not seem to have the drive and determination to become a winner. His college teams never lived up to expectations and his pro performance was underwhelming. Had he not gotten Hakeem as a sidekick, it is entirely possible he would never have made it to the playoffs in the NBA (or never made more than the first round of the playoffs).

Sampson's Virginia teams made the Final Four in 1981 and also lost by 1 point in the Elite Eight in 1983. Both those years, Virginia lost to fellow ACC teams who had plenty of experience playing against Sampson (see Georgetown's 1985 loss to Villanova and Oklahoma's 1988 loss to Kansas if you don't think facing a conference foe in the NCAAT is a big disadvantage). Virginia went 112-23 during his time there, 88-13 during his final three years.

He was a three time national player of the year.

In the NBA, he was rookie of the year, a four-time all star, an All Star Game MVP, and his team made the NBA Finals before Sampson was injured during his fourth season, after which he was never the same. Before that, however, he was pretty dominant, especially in college, but also in the pros. I don't get how people say he underachieved or wasn't a winner.

[Des Esseintes]

Well he's shooting 37% from NBA three distance this year, so maybe he just needed to back up a bit?

He shot 38% from three his freshman year and regressed to 21% his sophomore year, but I think part of that was him being done with college,

His problem was more attitude than skill.

Ugh. Do we really have to run this guy down every time his name comes up? McRoberts committed two sins, near as I can tell:

1) Not being as good as his ranking.
2) Being the best player on the least talent-rich Duke team in a decade and a half.

Duke lost games in 2007, and for some reason he didn't always smile during these losses. Must have had a 'tude.