Of all the NBA summer league rosters, the one that may surprise UA fans the most is the Phoenix Suns’.
On it is a guy named “Chris Rogers.” That would be Chris Rodgers, the talented and smart but troubled former guard who has bounced around the game since leaving the Wildcats in 2006. Remember this email from three years ago, after Rodgers boldly spoke out about the treatment he received at UA?
The other rosters set so far, as listed on NBADraft.net, include UA players Hassan Adams (Houston), Chase Budinger (Houston), Mustafa Shakur (Lakers), Salim Stoudamire (Milwaukee), Jordan Hill (New York) and Jerryd Bayless (Portland), the league’s MVP last summer.
Some other links:
Nic Wise tells Anthony Gimino he’d like to see Bo Ryan in Maui, after being cut from Ryan’s USA World University Games team.
Tom Hansen speaks to ESPN.com
And, I am working on seeing if there is an easy way to compile the predictions.
Read Chris Rogers email and Nic Wise’s interview. In those words you find the difference in attitudes and manerisms. And the difference is “maturity”.
Chris was articulate, but wrapped up tight in a bunch of cliche’s that caused his troubles.
Nic was just as “competitive” (shall we say), but handles himself more like a 30-year old than a 20-year old.
Hey, all kids (all of us, right?) go through stages and I hope that Rogers has matured some since 2006.
I’m really impressed with Nice right now. Sounds focused, motivated, and totally under control (mentally).
You show ‘em Nic.
— wildcatinflag 07/04/2009 06:49 AM #
Man, I forgot about that infamous email. Classic comedy.
— Dave 07/04/2009 11:11 AM #
Alright, I’m on board with my picks.
1. Cal
2. Washington
3. UCLA
4. Oregon State
5. Arizona
6. Oregon
7. tempe normal
8. Washington State
9. Stanford
10. Southern Cal
Portland,
I just saw on Oregonlive that Turkoglu isn’t signing with the Blazers. Hope Channing lands in a good situation.
Lastly, I have some high school friends that are basketball coaches at Chino Valley. I know it’s only a 3A school in northern Arizona, but the three coaches I grew up with RAVED about Coach Miller at a recent basketball clinic in Las Vegas. They said he was incredibly personable, and extended an invitation for them to check out a practice whenever they wanted. To my knowledge, Chino Valley has never produced a Divison-I prospect, but I can see why he has been so successful recruiting with first-hand accounts like this.
Go Cats, Happy 4th everyone.
— Button Salmon 07/04/2009 03:02 PM #
Button Salmon, You put the Beavers ahead of the Wildcats? Come on! Get a clue. Even ASU with only three return players has a better shot than the Beavers. Arizona is in the TOP three this Season. With the veteran team & recruits coming in Washington has the strong team this Season. It’s a complete rebuilding year at UCLA and quite frankly they haven’t been the Powerhouse lately that they were in previous seasons; more of that this year. Johnny Dawkins will not allow Stanford to be bottom dwellers much longer. Cougars & Trojans in the cellar spots this year. ~Cactus Pete
— Cactus Pete 07/04/2009 04:50 PM #
Cactus,
Well Johnny Dawkins better get going soon then because all I see is one measly unranked recruit for 2009 and none for 2010.
— andre 07/04/2009 05:38 PM #
Finally some new material…the recruiting chat was starting to get a little worn out (kinda like the talk shows are doing with Michael Jackson).
Great comments from wildcatinflag and Button. Agree completely with flag about Wise being ready for a senior role. From the interview, it sounds like he has hit it off with SM. And great insight into Miller’s rapport with high school coaches by Button (heck, he may even win over Zane’s disgruntled coach).
andre, i think you’re right on Pete’s overly optimistic view of Dawkins…I think Stanford will be near the bottom (luckily KO should take care of the real bottom).
Also, the Rodgers update was cool. Would enjoy seeing more updates on our overseas and Dleague players…its tough to interpret some of the stats on shakur, wrights, ivan, etc…teams websites due to language barriers and differences in the way they display the stats. Would also be interested in hearing some interviews with those guys on overseas experience.
— dj 07/04/2009 08:05 PM #
Come on fellas, Johnny Dawkins can not coach and has already been moved three times. Where does he get all this love from?
— John 07/05/2009 01:06 AM #
With what has come to pass with the “stroke” and Coach Olson’s decline, which I first saw in closeups on T.V. of the involuntary head palsey (shaking, ever so slightly)way back when, there may be a shred of truth from Chris’ thoughts and his email to the media some three plus years ago. I’m not saying it’s true, but hind sight is better than…..!
— jody85259 07/05/2009 12:08 PM #
You are so right Button; and ur friends should take SM up on his offer. We all should remember that Lute made a lot of hay with his connections with Calif. High school coaches. Started way back whne he followed Tark into So. Cal. and tried to erase that image.
— Larry 07/05/2009 02:56 PM #
Jody, noone ever doubted chris was a warrior but he did get ample opportunity to prove himself. I used to watch the game with my eyes covered looking between my fingers when Chris came in since I knew he would crank up the team’s intensity but was also likely to throw up a brick or turn it over.
If he really had displayed brilliance on the court, the NBA would have recognized it. His email struck me as typical of a late adolescent doing some soul searching. In some ways, he was a victim of today’s communication where his rant is now posted years later. I am doubtful he reads it with pride. Hopefully, he has grown up a bit and finds some success as a role player in the NBA or overseas.
I think Lute rarely missed on playing those who deserved to play. Proof of success is reflected in the lack of success in the vast majority of players who transferred. The big exception in my mind that jumps out is Will Bynum.
— dj 07/05/2009 03:03 PM #
Rogers played defense with a passion not easily seen on our court. His shot wasn’t that bad. There were bound to be some player problems toward the end. Too bad for all concerned.Yes I too would like to see some Overseas Updates on our Alumni. I think Shakur & Ivan Radenovich are on the same championship team overseas right now? ~C.P.
— Cactus Pete 07/05/2009 04:55 PM #
Bruce, can u bring us up to date on the “Pro” Summer league. Where,when, who, etc. A schedule or not? Whatever you can. Especially interested if our new recruits will be in it.
— Larry 07/05/2009 07:18 PM #
Really liked ur article in the Star yesterday Bruce. Will you be keeping an eye on those possibles?
— Larry 07/06/2009 09:13 AM #
K.O. was a jerk. On that. most would agree… However, I don’t he’s nearly as bad of a coach as people seem to think… USC may actually be worse in 2010 because of a lack of recruiting, but I don’t see them being worse than Stanford next yr…
USC has a few guys back (Dwight Lewis, Marcus Johnson plus Alex Stephenson) that are legitimate players… Stanford and ASU will struggle with an overall lack of talent (though Sendek has some better recruiting classes on the horizon)
And I can’t hand Cal the keys to the kingdom next year quite so easily just yet…
1.Washington
2.Cal
3.UCLA
4.UA
5.OSU
6.Wazzu
7.Oregon
8.USC
9.Scummies
10.Stanford
— ranger4059341 07/06/2009 04:44 PM #
Ranger, gotcha. nice picks. thanks for playing along.
— wildcatinflag 07/06/2009 04:58 PM #
Virtually all of the Head Basketball coaches are on the road for the July evaluation period. Yesterday it was Cincy where the summer league is in full swing.
Rivals has a good write-up on some of those young kids the elite programs are watching. it’s getting harder and harder for a coach to spot raw talent that someone else isn’t also evaluating.
— Adman 07/07/2009 08:49 AM #
yeah adman; no more Steve Kerrs—or even Kyle Foggs? We are in the information age in everything. Remember Josh P. keeping all recruit info on file cards and note pads? That and a pocket full of quarters for phone calls. Now its data base, e-mail, twitter, etc. Josh probably needs two computers with unlimited hard drives. Did any of that sound like I knew what I was talking about? LOL
— Larry 07/07/2009 09:18 AM #
Larry, I’m impressed. Josh has come up in the world, Rivals noted that he was seen following one prospect along with Roy Williams, Pitino etc.
I guess I’ll plan on going to the Red and Blue game this year if I can get a decent seat. I have a hunch with the renewed enthusiasm, at least in the beginning, it will be rafter time again.
I don’t think any of the current recruits are playing in a summer league as they are enrolled in school. Do you mean prospects? If so I would assume everyone Miller is interested in is in some program.
— Adman 07/07/2009 09:33 AM #
No, just a general reference to sliding under the radar. BTW, my season seats are in the rafters (2nd row) and have a great view. At an angle for seeing the whole court without anyone standing in front of me. For the Red-Blue this year I would expect a much larger crown than recent years. Of course all seats are available for that one, so first come,etc. I seem to remember that game being in the season package some time ago. Wonder if JL can stand the heat that was dished out on that deal. Usually the exhibition games is enough.
— Larry 07/07/2009 09:47 AM #
I’m still always amazed by the hyperbole with Pastner. We know he can connect with kids and he seems to be able to recruit. But, he has yet to coach a game. I think many Memphis fans were shocked that they would take this risk. I think it was a mistake.
— dj 07/07/2009 07:05 PM #
Larry, one game last year they put me in a chair behind the last row. Every time I got up I hit my head on the beams.
That’s the last game I ever went to that way. Now I go on Craigs List and get a season ticket holders seat. I then get some great seats, and usually cheaper than I can get them at the box office.
dj. As for Josh I agree with you. He didn’t do that great a job when he was coaching the big men. Hill didn’t learn to move his feet until Dunlap coached him.
— Adman 07/07/2009 09:10 PM #
“Hey, all kids (all of us, right?) go through stages and I hope that Rogers has matured some since 2006.”
While I agree, in principle, I don’t think this has happened with Chris. I work at U of A. He was in my office at the beginning of the fall semester last year (I was surprised he was in town). He was a complete hothead with the person trying to help him. It was completely unprovoked. The student working with him was doing everything he could to help Chris, but he just has an unfriendly, rude edge to him. Maybe he’s defensive, I don’t know. There just comes a point in your life where you have to take responsibility for things and stop trying to blame everyone else for your problems. I hope Chris gets to that point, but I don’t think he has yet.
“I’m still always amazed by the hyperbole with Pastner. We know he can connect with kids and he seems to be able to recruit. But, he has yet to coach a game.”
This has always been my feeling about Josh. He seems likable. He seems to be able to get the high profile recruits to commit to play for successful head coaches. However, I’m not going to annoint him the next big thing until he can prove he can coach. He’s a great recruiter, but that’s not all there is to coaching. The fact is, I think that Pastner’s personal relationships with people who cover the ‘Cats (notably the guys at GoAZCats) has given him a lot of unearned approval from many Arizona fans.
— Kim 07/09/2009 02:39 PM #
Jody85259 is dead on! Unfortunately, several excellent UA basketball players had to contend with a coach that was way beyond his prime, and thus lacked the patience, judgement and overall skill to properly connect with and lead a team of young men from diverse backgrounds (i.e. the health problems were later revealed). No doubt, Chris suffered the worst damage and is paying the price . . . I just pray that Chris, Hassan, Salim, Marcus, and others can recover and get a chance to display their true basketball talent in the NBA!
— K. L. 07/12/2009 07:17 AM #