After watching this season, it's obvious that JJ has potential to be a very dominant player...however, he definitely wasn't as good as everyone thought he'd be. Most of the fault lies on Sid. We have some talented guys, but none are super talented...they all have bright spots but none is consistantly great. Instead of building on where we found success last year, we tried doing something completely different based around someone who clearly was not ready for that. Once JJ was up against decent competition teams were able to shut him down...the problem was none of our other "big names" picking up the slack. At the beginning of the season I remember thinking that our offense looked like some church basketball or sucky highschool offense, feed the ball to your one dominat guy and let him do the rest while everyone else just stands there. You also see more of this in the NBA...maybe that's Sids problem.

We could have built on where we found success last year, letting JJ progress through the season...then if Ben had a great year we could have seen him go to the NBA opening a spot for JJ. The transition should have been a lot smoother. But then again we don't know that because like someone pointed out, no one exactly played to win their spot back. I think what I was most disapointed with, was JJ (and the teams) lack of progress. I would have liked to see him better at things by the end of the season...but instead he still looked like the raw talent that could dominate mid major oppenents but seemed to struggle to understand the game as a whole.

3/17/2008 11:56:02 AM

Quote :

"RALEIGH — N.C. State freshman J.J. Hickson will enter his name in the NBA Draft but he will go through the process without hiring an agent, Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe said Monday. "He'll test the waters," Lowe said. "He'll get all the information he can and decide what's the best thing. It may depend on where he's going in the draft.""

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/index.php?title=hickson_to_test_nba_waters&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

[Edited on March 17, 2008 at 9:19 PM. Reason : ]

3/17/2008 9:19:35 PM

that is relatively surprising that he isn't using an agent.

3/17/2008 9:28:31 PM

1 and done

3/17/2008 9:37:15 PM

l8r

3/17/2008 9:37:45 PM

it's a bad sign when you have a probable first rounder on your team and you don't care if he stays or not.

oh wellz

3/17/2008 9:39:35 PM

It's a shame nobody on the team seemed to like him.

3/17/2008 9:40:21 PM

oh well.

3/17/2008 9:41:43 PM

^^^ All I know is we won more games without him than with him. That's definitely oversimplifying things, and I'm not saying he's to blame for it, but it's still something that's got to be taken into consideration.

[Edited on March 17, 2008 at 9:43 PM. Reason : an extra ^]

3/17/2008 9:42:50 PM

What a fucking waste. And I mean that in regards to a lot of things this season, not just JJ.

3/17/2008 9:43:20 PM

one and done's don't do anything for the NC State's of the world if you ask me. Marvin Williams at UNC was great, and UNC didn't miss a beat afterwards. Syracuse incorporated Carmello pretty well, they certainly aren't any worse after him than they were before. K State is in the dance with Beasley and they also beat KU, it's a great season if K State beats KU and gets to the dance. Somehow we had a worse season with Hickson, and the future ain't bright, mind boggling if you ask me (if it weren't NC State).

3/17/2008 9:47:56 PM

I hope JJ returns. At least he works hard and hardly ever takes plays off, unlike some of the other players.

3/17/2008 9:49:00 PM

bye JJ

3/17/2008 9:50:30 PM

^^ He might as well have taken plays off on the defensive end, as ineffective as he was at stopping other top big men.

And for the record, I still want him to come back.

[Edited on March 17, 2008 at 9:54 PM. Reason : adsf]

3/17/2008 9:53:56 PM

i just heard jj was goin to enter the nba draft but will not sign with an agent, so he can come back if he wants

3/17/2008 9:55:16 PM

did you just hear it at the top of this page?

well good luck man. i really hope you are a star.

3/17/2008 9:56:42 PM

3/17/2008 10:00:37 PM

i bet $500 $texas someone makes a thread on this news article which will probably be in the paper tomorrow

[Edited on March 17, 2008 at 10:23 PM. Reason : ]

3/17/2008 10:08:14 PM

i wish he'd stay. I don't see him as a lottery pick, but give it a year when he's a lot smarter (hopefully) then go. He's a great baller, we just need to figure out how to incorporate him better within this squad.

3/17/2008 10:34:57 PM

You don't see him as a lottery pick? Really? lol, I don't think anyone does.

3/17/2008 10:39:36 PM

Quote :

"I don't see him as a lottery pick"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA thanks Mel Kiper

3/17/2008 10:55:37 PM

FINE. I don't play the lottery anyway. And if i did, i sure as hell wouldn't wanna win a hickson.

/randomness

3/17/2008 11:38:11 PM

life after hickson is bright. we have a super young team everybody coming back plus we are getting the inverse of gavin grant next year which will really help us cutdown on turnovers. 2 new guards plus others back from injury and old players with a lot to prove. so things can turn around quick.

3/18/2008 12:09:17 AM

i have heard 0 talk about Gavin in the NBA. I guess there's a reason for that, but does he have a chance?

3/18/2008 12:27:40 AM

nbadraft.net has Hickson going to the Celtics with the last pick of the first round. It would be awesome to see someone associated with NC State actually win games.

They also have Fells going at the end of the second round in 2009, two spots after Kenny George.





[Edited on March 18, 2008 at 12:42 AM. Reason : ]

3/18/2008 12:38:06 AM

i heard somewhere that grant got invited to some nba combine thing of sorts.

3/18/2008 12:42:01 AM

Grant has plenty of talent and raw ability to make it but I am not sure he can mentally.

His turnovers are still high but he does rebound well and his outside shot has come along a little bit.

3/18/2008 2:08:24 AM

3/18/2008 8:26:15 AM

I'm kind of on the fence on this one...if Hickson stays, that's obviously a solid inside presence for us (chemistry issues be damned, but I feel that won't be as big a problem next year, as our returners know now what the deal is with PT, etc.), and he could very well improve his stock and go much earlier than the last pick of the first round. On the other hand, he could get injured in an exhibition game against Tiny U. and be done for good, and you hate to see that happen to someone with so much promise.

Quote :

"life after hickson is bright. we have a super young team...2 new guards"

not sure that's a good thing for next year though. more like a good thing for two/three years down the road. we saw how well new guards worked out for us this year. maybe javi, degand, (johnson?!) will turn into atsur ii...I can dream, can't I?

[Edited on March 18, 2008 at 8:33 AM. Reason : .]

3/18/2008 8:32:58 AM

He needs to go and get paid, before we ruin his stock completely.

At least it shows you can come to NC State, play on a terrible team, and still get drafted. That is the only bright side I get out of this.

3/18/2008 8:49:40 AM

no we don't need great gurads we just need guys capable of playing acc caliber. most 3* guards are more than formidable. javi and johsnon are just flukes. Look at guys like teague and delaney and then guys who also weren't very high but very good as freshmen rice, ish smith, all about 3 stars.

3/18/2008 8:50:00 AM

it seems that a lot of those "flukes" wind up at ncsu.

3/18/2008 9:09:52 AM

What a waste. GL dude.

3/18/2008 9:16:12 AM

ncsu basketball 2008-2009







lol

3/18/2008 9:55:07 AM

I'm not worried if Hickson goes or not, we need a point guard that can actually get the ball to our big men. Johnson or Gonzalez are not the answer, I don't think they could get past my 94 year old great-grandmother. You've got to have a point guard who can break down zone defense and you've got to have a 3-point threat, or teams are just going to pack the middle like they did this year.

3/18/2008 10:31:28 AM

Sid knows what the deal is...he will convince him to come back for another year...unless of course his draft stock puts him in the lottery in which case he's gone...but if all the projections are saying late 1st round...I think he'll come back for another year

3/18/2008 11:02:33 AM

^Always the optimistic one....just be ready when he leaves.

^^Why do people seem to forget about Degand? Don't even try to tell me that he is no better than Javi/Marques. It's not close. Farnold is 6'3" and still fast as hell and was actually shooting 3s well when he got injured.

3/18/2008 12:44:17 PM

Quote :

"that is relatively surprising that he isn't using an agent."

If he used an agent, he instantly would be ineligible for the NCAA. He's playing it super smart. I don't think he could get drafted.

3/18/2008 12:47:04 PM

in the paper Sid said that JJ is his number one priority behind the team... that is some fucking bullshit, he is not getting paid to make sure the freshmen coming in are making it to the pros, he is here to build a program that can win, if JJ wants to leave to be the last pick of the first round then fuck him, he shouldnt be the number one priority for Sid the team should be number one

3/18/2008 12:47:27 PM

Quote :

"If he used an agent, he instantly would be ineligible for the NCAA. He's playing it super smart. I don't think he could get drafted."

No, he'll definitely be drafted. Probably not very high, though.

3/18/2008 12:49:35 PM

Quote :

"Why do people seem to forget about Degand? Don't even try to tell me that he is no better than Javi/Marques. It's not close. Farnold is 6'3" and still fast as hell and was actually shooting 3s well when he got injured."

While true, it's hard to got too excited about the guy that was at the helm during our two early season disasters (UNO and ECU), not to mention the blow out @MSU.

3/18/2008 12:52:13 PM

^^^ Yeah fuck our coach for caring about his players.

What a shitty thing to do.

What's he supposed to say? "JJ, I know it's best for you to do this, but I don't care about that. Please do this even though it's not as good for you as this other thing would be."



[Edited on March 18, 2008 at 12:53 PM. Reason : ^]

3/18/2008 12:53:05 PM

I don't see anything wrong Sidney with making Hickson's future his no. 2 priority. Sid obviously cares about the kid, and JJ has repeatedly said that Sidney is the predominant "father-figure" in his life. Securing the future for someone you care about seems like a pretty logical move to me.

3/18/2008 12:53:14 PM

Degand did win us the Old Spice Classic Pre season tourney

3/18/2008 12:53:54 PM

Quote :

" he is not getting paid to make sure the freshmen coming in are making it to the pros, he is here to build a program that can win"

How do you think you "BUILD" a program without making sure your players reach their ultimate goal? If you're not helping your players make it to the NBA, do you really think you're going to get any good players?

[Edited on March 18, 2008 at 12:57 PM. Reason : ]

3/18/2008 12:55:21 PM

yeah, care about your players who want to leave and hope the best for them, but they shouldnt come before the team

3/18/2008 12:57:30 PM

I personally think that recruiting players who are projected to leave early is stupid and is no way to build a program

3/18/2008 12:58:53 PM

Quote :

"in the paper Sid said that JJ is his number one priority behind the team... "

I haven't read the article, but wouldn't saying that's he's puttin JJ behind the team imply that he is putting JJ behind the team?

3/18/2008 12:59:24 PM

No, he said I am putting JJ at number one and the team 2nd

3/18/2008 1:00:39 PM

Well if that's the case, you've got a point. Not sure I completely buy it though...

3/18/2008 1:01:35 PM