But what are the beliefs of the Suns or Jazz fans?concordtom said:NVBear78 said:bearister said:
The Suns or Jazz May give him a look because of the beliefs of the citizenry there.
What beliefs?
He's white.
But what are the beliefs of the Suns or Jazz fans?concordtom said:NVBear78 said:bearister said:
The Suns or Jazz May give him a look because of the beliefs of the citizenry there.
What beliefs?
He's white.
Sorry, I couldn't resist having recently seen the Book of Mormon . .. excerpted from the song 'I Believe"....NVBear78 said:But what are the beliefs of the Suns or Jazz fans?concordtom said:NVBear78 said:bearister said:
The Suns or Jazz May give him a look because of the beliefs of the citizenry there.
What beliefs?
He's white.
calumnus said:
Importantly, he went from being a .487 FT shooter as a freshman to a more respectable .755 FT shooter last year.
Big C said:sluggo said:I was going to say he already was much better than the Thurmanator, but their stats are quite similar. RT averaged 4.9 points and 3.6 rebounds in 14 minutes as a senior. LT averaged 4.7 points and 3.4 rebounds in 14 minutes as a junior. RT had the advantage of being on a good team. LT did come on somewhat towards the end of the year.KoreAmBear said:He still has a ways to go to just even be the Thurmanator. I would take it!calumnus said:SFCityBear said:I can see you've learned very little in your years of hiding out from us over on the Off Topic board.concordtom said:SFCityBear said:
Can our Lars make it to the NBA?
Just asking.
Wait.
You're the guy who schooled me several years ago about how incredible Russell and Wilt would still be in today's NBA, and you're asking us THAT?
Your credibilit for the old stars just took a major hit.
But to be fair, I'm the guy who hasn't watched pac12 hoops in just as long (thanks to Larry Scott), so don't know, but I was gonna to ask, "Can our Lars make it to the Pac12?"
Still love you, keep posting!
I only asked a question. Don't read too much into it. I have no opinion on the subject. Based on the replies, it seems to have gone from contempt to guarded acceptance, but not quite much respect, yet. Respect has to be earned. He needs a productive senior year to do that, and the team really needs him to have it.
.
My only opinion of Lars is the one I gave 3 years ago, that he would improve, albeit slowly, because most big men do not mature as fast as smaller players. Usually not until the 3rd year, the 4th year, or later. I wanted to find out what the general opinion of Lars is now, among our small section of the fan base. Fox said something about him maybe playing or wanting to play the 4 a little bit, and I think he also said that Lars shot a three recently and it looked good.
Lars HAS improved considerably since his freshman year. According to the advanced stats he was our 10th most effective player per minute as a freshman, but was our second most effective last year (second only to Kelly). Thus, he is our most effective returning player.
However, his freshman year, despite being our 10th most effective player, Fox actually started Lars the most (18 games) and played him the most minutes of his three year Cal career thus far. Definitely thought he should have played Kelly more.
I was hoping last year we would see more of Lars and Kelly on the floor together, which would allow one of them to play more away from the basket, though that might require playing zone, which Fox doesn't like.
I think LT could average 8 and 5 in twenty minutes this coming season.
I take efficiency ratings with a whole salt shaker worth of salt. It is easy to be high efficiency with low usage, like a big guy who just dunks. Kelly was a very good player because he was high efficiency and high usage. An LT and Kelly pairing would not pass well and be very slow defensively. It could be tried and then plus/minus computed. If Kelly was around.
Was going to say the same thing, but with my gut feeling, not the specific data that made a case the other way.
Anyway, everybody remembers Thurman by that one last (or almost last) game, when he was 5-6 with five oops-forgot-to-guard-him dunks.
Let's revisit the comparison after Lars finishes his Cal career.
NVBear78 said:But what are the beliefs of the Suns or Jazz fans?concordtom said:NVBear78 said:bearister said:
The Suns or Jazz May give him a look because of the beliefs of the citizenry there.
What beliefs?
He's white.
BeachedBear said:Sorry, I couldn't resist having recently seen the Book of Mormon . .. excerpted from the song 'I Believe"....NVBear78 said:But what are the beliefs of the Suns or Jazz fans?concordtom said:NVBear78 said:bearister said:
The Suns or Jazz May give him a look because of the beliefs of the citizenry there.
What beliefs?
He's white.
I believe-
That the Lord God created the universe.
I believe-
That he sent his only son to die for my sins.
And I believe-
That ancient Jews built boats and sailed
to America.
....
I believe-
That God has a plan for all of us.
I believe-
That plan involves
Me getting my own planet.
And I believe
That the current President of the church,
Thomas Monson, speaks, directly to God.
.....
I believe!!!
That Satan has a hold of you.
I believe!
That the Lord God has sent me here!
And I believe that in 1978 God changed his mind about black people!!
....
I believe!
That God lives on a planet called Kolob!
I believe!
That Jesus has his own planet as well.
And I believe
That the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri.
stu said:
Moderators, please move this to the women's board.
Hold on a sec, Bearister. Clearly this fine gentleman is . . .bearister said:
…:and a lot of Arizonans believe this conduct is acceptable at polling places and at ballot drop boxes:
In a prior era, Federal police or troops would give that guy 10 seconds to stand down before executing him in place.
I think Thurman played his freshman year at a small college in New England, and transferred to Cal as a soph, if I remember right.HoopDreams said:
As a freshmen and soph I thought Thurman was never going to be a good college player because he was extremely slow-footed
but by his junior and especially senior year his improved athletism and strength enabled him to play at the high D1 level
But Monty had a specific role for him, and after the season he said he was not allowed to play his game
I also remember a game vs USC where we were beaten, but Thurman took over and shot a bunch of baseline 10 and 14 foot shots to win the game
It was Thurmantor unleased
then he had a successful overseas pro career, so I do wonder if Monty held him back a little too much
Robert has a social media account featuring California Views Pretty good... check it out:
https://www.tiktok.com/@californian.views
Bearprof said:
Last night, Lars missed his first four or more free throws -and dropped a few passes he should have caught. On several possessions I thought he should have challenged for rebounds, but he was out of position. Hopefully things will look up as the season progresses.
We've had some of this conversation before. Kelly was mostly out of shape his first two years, and gradually improved his stamina over the years to where he played 30 minutes last season, up from 20 when he arrived. 30 minutes is still short of where he needs to be , IMO. Kelly was obviously the best basketball player of the Cal centers, the others being Lars and Thorpe. Kuany and Anticevich are both tall players, but neither has body or the skills to post up and play back to the basket. I'm not sure if Thorpe's injury still affected his play while at Cal, and he eventually retired. I was hoping for more from him. Anyanwu plays bigger than he is, but I'm not sure he was a viable option at center. My point is the roster was so thin, it left Fox with few choices as to who plays center, and who the backups will be for center and PF. So Fox decided the centers would be Lars, Kelly and Thorpe. All three of them had issues committing personal fouls, all averaging over 5 fouls per 40 minutes. With Kelly's stamina issues, he could play little more than half a game. Lars had no stamina issues, but he had the least basketball skills of the three players. However he had the most height and size. I think Fox chose to start him at center more often than Kelly, so as to keep Kelly fresher for the end of games, when he might be needed to help get a win. Unfortunately, Kelly was the best option early on to play PF, with only the relatively raw Anticevich and even more raw Kuany to back him up. As years went by Anticevich developed into a scorer and a starter, so that really freed up Kelly to get more minutes at center. I don't think Fox had the luxury of starting players based on efficiency, he had so few talented big men, and the ones he had all had deficiencies. It was even more challenging last season when Thorpe was injured, and could not play at all. I don't think Fox not liking zone had anything to do with his decision of who plays in the game. In a perfect world, Lars and Kelly together would have been interesting. Unfortunately, we did not have enough talent to back up both of them, in case one went down. Once Kelly went down with injury, all was lost for rescuing a few games down the stretch.calumnus said:SFCityBear said:I can see you've learned very little in your years of hiding out from us over on the Off Topic board.concordtom said:SFCityBear said:
Can our Lars make it to the NBA?
Just asking.
Wait.
You're the guy who schooled me several years ago about how incredible Russell and Wilt would still be in today's NBA, and you're asking us THAT?
Your credibilit for the old stars just took a major hit.
But to be fair, I'm the guy who hasn't watched pac12 hoops in just as long (thanks to Larry Scott), so don't know, but I was gonna to ask, "Can our Lars make it to the Pac12?"
Still love you, keep posting!
I only asked a question. Don't read too much into it. I have no opinion on the subject. Based on the replies, it seems to have gone from contempt to guarded acceptance, but not quite much respect, yet. Respect has to be earned. He needs a productive senior year to do that, and the team really needs him to have it.
.
My only opinion of Lars is the one I gave 3 years ago, that he would improve, albeit slowly, because most big men do not mature as fast as smaller players. Usually not until the 3rd year, the 4th year, or later. I wanted to find out what the general opinion of Lars is now, among our small section of the fan base. Fox said something about him maybe playing or wanting to play the 4 a little bit, and I think he also said that Lars shot a three recently and it looked good.
Lars HAS improved considerably since his freshman year. According to the advanced stats he was our 10th most effective player per minute as a freshman, but was our second most effective last year (second only to Kelly). Thus, he is our most effective returning player.
However, his freshman year, despite being our 10th most effective player, Fox actually started Lars the most (18 games) and played him the most minutes of his three year Cal career thus far. Definitely thought he should have played Kelly more.
I was hoping last year we would see more of Lars and Kelly on the floor together, which would allow one of them to play more away from the basket, though that might require playing zone, which Fox doesn't like.
SFCityBear said:We've had some of this conversation before. Kelly was mostly out of shape his first two years, and gradually improved his stamina over the years to where he played 30 minutes last season, up from 20 when he arrived. 30 minutes is still short of where he needs to be , IMO. Kelly was obviously the best basketball player of the Cal centers, the others being Lars and Thorpe. Kuany and Anticevich are both tall players, but neither has body or the skills to post up and play back to the basket. I'm not sure if Thorpe's injury still affected his play while at Cal, and he eventually retired. I was hoping for more from him. Anyanwu plays bigger than he is, but I'm not sure he was a viable option at center. My point is the roster was so thin, it left Fox with few choices as to who plays center, and who the backups will be for center and PF. So Fox decided the centers would be Lars, Kelly and Thorpe. All three of them had issues committing personal fouls, all averaging over 5 fouls per 40 minutes. With Kelly's stamina issues, he could play little more than half a game. Lars had no stamina issues, but he had the least basketball skills of the three players. However he had the most height and size. I think Fox chose to start him at center more often than Kelly, so as to keep Kelly fresher for the end of games, when he might be needed to help get a win. Unfortunately, Kelly was the best option early on to play PF, with only the relatively raw Anticevich and even more raw Kuany to back him up. As years went by Anticevich developed into a scorer and a starter, so that really freed up Kelly to get more minutes at center. I don't think Fox had the luxury of starting players based on efficiency, he had so few talented big men, and the ones he had all had deficiencies. It was even more challenging last season when Thorpe was injured, and could not play at all. I don't think Fox not liking zone had anything to do with his decision of who plays in the game. In a perfect world, Lars and Kelly together would have been interesting. Unfortunately, we did not have enough talent to back up both of them, in case one went down. Once Kelly went down with injury, all was lost for rescuing a few games down the stretch.calumnus said:SFCityBear said:I can see you've learned very little in your years of hiding out from us over on the Off Topic board.concordtom said:SFCityBear said:
Can our Lars make it to the NBA?
Just asking.
Wait.
You're the guy who schooled me several years ago about how incredible Russell and Wilt would still be in today's NBA, and you're asking us THAT?
Your credibilit for the old stars just took a major hit.
But to be fair, I'm the guy who hasn't watched pac12 hoops in just as long (thanks to Larry Scott), so don't know, but I was gonna to ask, "Can our Lars make it to the Pac12?"
Still love you, keep posting!
I only asked a question. Don't read too much into it. I have no opinion on the subject. Based on the replies, it seems to have gone from contempt to guarded acceptance, but not quite much respect, yet. Respect has to be earned. He needs a productive senior year to do that, and the team really needs him to have it.
.
My only opinion of Lars is the one I gave 3 years ago, that he would improve, albeit slowly, because most big men do not mature as fast as smaller players. Usually not until the 3rd year, the 4th year, or later. I wanted to find out what the general opinion of Lars is now, among our small section of the fan base. Fox said something about him maybe playing or wanting to play the 4 a little bit, and I think he also said that Lars shot a three recently and it looked good.
Lars HAS improved considerably since his freshman year. According to the advanced stats he was our 10th most effective player per minute as a freshman, but was our second most effective last year (second only to Kelly). Thus, he is our most effective returning player.
However, his freshman year, despite being our 10th most effective player, Fox actually started Lars the most (18 games) and played him the most minutes of his three year Cal career thus far. Definitely thought he should have played Kelly more.
I was hoping last year we would see more of Lars and Kelly on the floor together, which would allow one of them to play more away from the basket, though that might require playing zone, which Fox doesn't like.
This must be the kind of performance which had the original poster creating this thread.Bearprof said:
Last night, Lars missed his first four or more free throws -and dropped a few passes he should have caught. On several possessions I thought he should have challenged for rebounds, but he was out of position. Hopefully things will look up as the season progresses.
Up all night partying prior to the 100 point effort against the Knicks the next night.bearister said:
Wilt didn't have stamina issues.
I can believe what you say. I thought you were making a joke of some type, in which I was missing the point. I stopped attending or watching NBA games years ago. I used to attend a lot of games when the NBA was young and struggling, and the Warriors had moved to San Francisco to play in the Civic Auditorium or the Cow Palace, both inadequate arenas. When they moved to the Oakland Coliseum, I went to a lot of games there. Over the years, the fan base had changed from being fairly representative of the population to one which became nearly all-white. I understood that the NBA was playing to the most affluent, because they wanted to charge as much as they could for their tickets. What really drove me away was when I'd drive to the Coliseum parking lot, passing lots of black kids, none of whom had the price of a ticket. The teams were becoming more populated by black players, and one day it struck me as looking like the ancient Roman Coliseum must have looked in its heyday, with the affluent citizens of the Roman Empire looking down on the gladiators and slaves, many of whom would have been persons of color. The Romans were shouting for more blood and gore, and many of the players were injured, maimed or died on the Coliseum floor. I saw a parallel with all the white fans paying high prices for admission, and the gladiators below, the extremely well-compensated, mostly black basketball players playing an increasing physical and violent game. The place was about a block from the Oakland ghetto. And the kids living there who might want to see some heroes of theirs perform, could not afford to get in. Some of the whites in the crowd and some of the blacks playing the game are no doubt charitable in helping some kids get into the games, but the whole scene just turned me off, and I never went back. I like college better, before the money got into the game, and now that it will be coming soon, I'll probably start following JC or high school ball instead. No one should feel sorry for me. I've seen some of the best teams and players, and some were Cal teams and some were Warrior teams. What could have been better? I wish everyone could have seen Cal win the NCAA in 1959, and the Warriors win the NBA in 1975.bearister said:SFCityBear said:This one is over my head, like the last one. I just can't keep up with you young whippersnappers.bearister said:
The Suns or Jazz May give him a look because of the beliefs of the citizenry there.
I really only watch NBA playoff and Finals games so my comment is stale. 30 years ago it wasn't a very well kept secret that the White fan bases of franchises like Boston and Utah liked to see a few players on the roster that looked like them. Now that the league is about 17% White, there are not enough White players around to cater to that preference. Pardon me for suggesting that there are areas of this country that are more racist than others. I am an Oakland boy so I have a different perspective than many.
SFCityBear said:
Just asking.
It is not his fault that due to Fox's dismal recruiting he has to be a high usage player when he should be a low usage player. If he touched the ball only every once in a while he would be good.Big C said:
Lars has improved a lot from his first two seasons, but now he seems to be wondering if he might actually be good. Tonight he was getting the ball up top and what then... he's going to facilitate?!? Needs to stay in his lane and just do what he can do.
sluggo said:It is not his fault that due to Fox's dismal recruiting he has to be a high usage player when he should be a low usage player. If he touched the ball only every once in a while he would be good.Big C said:
Lars has improved a lot from his first two seasons, but now he seems to be wondering if he might actually be good. Tonight he was getting the ball up top and what then... he's going to facilitate?!? Needs to stay in his lane and just do what he can do.
Oakland boy too, shut your trap you racist!bearister said:SFCityBear said:This one is over my head, like the last one. I just can't keep up with you young whippersnappers.bearister said:
The Suns or Jazz May give him a look because of the beliefs of the citizenry there.
I really only watch NBA playoff and Finals games so my comment is stale. 30 years ago it wasn't a very well kept secret that the White fan bases of franchises like Boston and Utah liked to see a few players on the roster that looked like them. Now that the league is about 17% White, there are not enough White players around to cater to that preference. Pardon me for suggesting that there are areas of this country that are more racist than others. I am an Oakland boy so I have a different perspective than many.
I think LT is better than last year. That drop step and score was nice. Kelly was high usage and efficient, a very good player, no matter what the guy in charge says. These are his guys and his vision of basketball.calumnus said:sluggo said:It is not his fault that due to Fox's dismal recruiting he has to be a high usage player when he should be a low usage player. If he touched the ball only every once in a while he would be good.Big C said:
Lars has improved a lot from his first two seasons, but now he seems to be wondering if he might actually be good. Tonight he was getting the ball up top and what then... he's going to facilitate?!? Needs to stay in his lane and just do what he can do.
Last year with Kelly as the high usage big man for example.
No, he didn't. Without his 17 points and 8 rebounds, Cal loses by 35 points. Davis has more mature talent, and probably a better coach. And a lot of Cal players contributed to this loss.oskidunker said:
He cost us the game.
Lars is still very young and immature, basketball wise. Big men can take a long time to mature. He's improved his skills a lot, learned new skills, but still makes too many freshman mistakes. Right now I'm more concerned with whether he can play in the PAC12.HKBear97! said:SFCityBear said:
Just asking.
After watching the first game of the season I can say emphatically that there is no way Lars will play in the NBA.
I've seen a lot of guys like him at mid-major programs where they get minutes due to their size and are serviceable, but just not very skilled/coordinated. He can fill that role for us, but if he's featured on our team (like Don Coleman was featured in Wyking's first year) for more than a complementary role we are a 5 win team.SFCityBear said:Lars is still very young and immature, basketball wise. Big men can take a long time to mature. He's improved his skills a lot, learned new skills, but still makes too many freshman mistakes. Right now I'm more concerned with whether he can play in the PAC12.HKBear97! said:SFCityBear said:
Just asking.
After watching the first game of the season I can say emphatically that there is no way Lars will play in the NBA.
SFCityBear said:No, he didn't. Without his 17 points and 8 rebounds, Cal loses by 35 points. Davis has more mature talent, and probably a better coach. And a lot of Cal players contributed to this loss.oskidunker said:
He cost us the game.
SFCityBear said:Lars is still very young and immature, basketball wise. Big men can take a long time to mature. He's improved his skills a lot, learned new skills, but still makes too many freshman mistakes. Right now I'm more concerned with whether he can play in the PAC12.HKBear97! said:SFCityBear said:
Just asking.
After watching the first game of the season I can say emphatically that there is no way Lars will play in the NBA.
I agree with your first sentence. As for the second, "complementary" to whom? On this roster, who else do you think could play center for us? Would any of those shorter players on the roster be any better? Or would you have us go small for say, 35 minutes? If he could give us 17 points and 8 boards every night, shoot 64% and 75% on FTs, I think I could live with 3 or 4 turnovers and 4 fouls.KoreAmBear said:I've seen a lot of guys like him at mid-major programs where they get minutes due to their size and are serviceable, but just not very skilled/coordinated. He can fill that role for us, but if he's featured on our team (like Don Coleman was featured in Wyking's first year) for more than a complementary role we are a 5 win team.SFCityBear said:Lars is still very young and immature, basketball wise. Big men can take a long time to mature. He's improved his skills a lot, learned new skills, but still makes too many freshman mistakes. Right now I'm more concerned with whether he can play in the PAC12.HKBear97! said:SFCityBear said:
Just asking.
After watching the first game of the season I can say emphatically that there is no way Lars will play in the NBA.
One thing he maybe can't do is play 34 minutes every game, like last night, after a career where he never averaged over 14 minutes a game in a season. He had to be tired playing that many minutes this early in the season. He's played I think 2 games in his career where he did play 34 minutes. I was hoping to see more from Okafor, and maybe we will soon, just to see if he is ready to play major minutes at this level. Sluggo has watched a lot of video, and he doesn't think so. Kuany is not a post player. If we go small, maybe Newell, but he is pretty raw too, so I'd like to see Anyanwu in the post. Very scrappy player who plays bigger than he is, but not much offense at all.Big C said:SFCityBear said:No, he didn't. Without his 17 points and 8 rebounds, Cal loses by 35 points. Davis has more mature talent, and probably a better coach. And a lot of Cal players contributed to this loss.oskidunker said:
He cost us the game.
When he was a freshman or sophomore, he never would've gotten 17 and 8. He's gotten significantly better, but is still limited in what he can do. Hopefully he and the staff learned something last night.