Gafford?

[HoopS]

Other teams have adjusted.
He gets the ball poked away sometimes.
He's running into some guys who have spent years in a college weight program.

He hasn't regressed. Teams now prep for him. No time to give up on him or start the blame game. He has to find ways to adjust now. One will be done in the offseason in the weight room. Much will come with experience and games against vets.

He has huge upside. Still has work to do. By all accounts he will work hard to reach that upside. I like that he's working on FT. He just needs to keep grinding and when he does get the ball, be secure with it and if the shot isn't there, be a little better passing out of doubleteams.

Typical freshman big man stuff.

[Iwastherein1969]

Saved our bacon with that tip-in off the Anton Beard floater in Arkansas' next to last possession of the game. Gafford brilliantly slithered along the baseline as soon as Beard released the shot because he could see that it was going to be short. Absolutely the play of the game goes to the true freshman from El Dorado, Arkansas.

[PygmalionEffect2]

Pretty good strategy not to feed Gafford the ball as much as that would be a turnover to throw it to him while sitting on the bench in foul trouble.

[DiamondHogFan]

Saved our bacon with that tip-in off the Anton Beard floater in Arkansas' next to last possession of the game. Gafford brilliantly slithered along the baseline as soon as Beard released the shot because he could see that it was going to be short. Absolutely the play of the game goes to the true freshman from El Dorado, Arkansas.

This.  Sure, he doesn't have the big stats but he was still fighting in the last minute of the game and saved the day.

He is a good basketball player and will be fine.  I expect some big games out of him down the stretch.

[Hoggish1]

He's regressing..

Because we aren't using him and the opposition is collapsing around him, pushing him under the basket, then boxing him out when shot goes up.

In short, we don't know how to utilize him.

We are handling the ball a little better, which is a plus.  We are shooting FTs no better, which will insure we don't make the NCAAs

[Hoggish1]

Regressing under the coaching of Mike Anderson and his staff.

Had serious thought yesterday—why don't we have a big man coach?  Skills regress when an 18 year old is not coached...

[Letsroll1200]

I agree. Before the season started I had thought he'd average something like 8ppg/5rpg off the bench with Thompson starting and they would split minutes.

I think he will still have his nights. But he is not a threat when posting up, can't handle the ball facing the basket, and he can't shoot mid rangers. He is not too hard to defend.

At first I thought he needed the ball more. Now when he gets it he gets double teamed and he can't handle it or he takes a wild shot. I think he needs more touches... but first what needs to happen is the guards need to drive and dish to get it to him so he can be cutting to the ball/basket with at most one defender in the way. The guards have to learn how to get the ball to him because he can't score on the block very often at this point.

I think what the Hogs got out of Gafford early in the season was a bonus. I agree, there needs to be a effort to keep him engaged on offense. He's not getting the ball on the right places and he's rushing when he gets the ball. Last game he was trying to shoot a jumper in the corner but the OK State guy blocked it.

I know Beard had 6 assists with no turnovers. However poor shot selection is a turnover in my book.

[Hoggish1]

Regressing under the coaching of Mike Anderson and his staff.

Had serious thought yesterday—why don't we have a big man coach?  Skills regress when an 18 year old is not coached...

He's doing a decent job of posting up and getting position for the ball to be fed into him, but for whatever reason, the guards aren't getting it to him.  I'm not sure why that is, but part of it may be that he hasn't had a lot of success lately when they do dump it down. 

Right now...I think he's better served to play a little away from the basket and be utilized in the pick and roll.  It would help clear the lane out for our dribble penetration, and they could play off him cutting to the basket more.  He's quick and athletic, more than strong and polished, so they need to take advantage of that skill while working on developing the others.

I agree with those who say he is green.  I just hope we have a staff that can develop him into a bigger scoring threat.   

Now here is a post that makes a lot of sense.  It also implies we have a poor coaching staff.  The coaching staff is not maximizing Gafford's current raw talent and they sure won't expand on what he has brought with him from HS.

If I am right it is a sad, sad waist of talent.

[cram224]

Call Big Joe or Big O, they both could help our inside game.

[snoot hoggy hog]

Corliss would struggle with this team. Guards are too selfish. We saw it last year with Moses.

[raz1965]

Gafford will be a hoss one day, the go too guy next year likely, teams are guarding him tough an he will learn to play through it. When he regains confidence an maybe sooner than later he will be a huge lift to this team. He has a nice shot, needs to learn how to pump fake an make a few moves, he will.

[Big Nasty 34]

Where in the world would he go??
Certainly not the NBA / and I see no reason at all for him to transfer.

Better not look at latest mock drafts. Some have him at 17 already.

[draftkings33]

Everybody loves to scream throw it to the post!  Its one of the most annoying things to hear at a basketball game, along with "get your hands up"(the dumbest phrase uttered at games).  The bottom line is Gafford(like most players)  is not efficient at all with his back to the basket.  The numbers don't lie. 

[Beaverfever]

To be honest our big men have improved more under Anderson than our guards.  We've only had a handful of teams that had junior/senior guards who had spent 3-4 years in the program.  Anton Beard, Anthlon Bell, Ky Madden, Michael Qualls, Mardracus Wade, and Manuele Watkins.  Watkins probably made as much progress as anyone in that group and he was a coach's son walk-on at the beginning of his career. 

[texas tush hog]

Better not look at latest mock drafts. Some have him at 17 already.

You might want to check that.


www.nbadraft.net/2018mock_draft

[Big Nasty 34]

You might want to check that.


www.nbadraft.net/2018mock_draft

I know these may not be the most accurate, but he's still on the radar.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2753763-2018-nba-mock-draft-would-deandre-ayton-trae-young-or-luka-doncic-go-no-1

https://www.si.com/nba/2018/01/10/nba-draft-2018-prospect-rankings-big-board-deandre-ayton-trae-young

[SouthTulsaHog]

You might want to check that.


www.nbadraft.net/2018mock_draft

nbadraft.net is one of the worst places to look for mock drafts. I would stick with ESPN. They hired the guy from Draft Xpress (Jonathan Givnoy) which historically was the best site for prospect breakdowns and Mock drafts. No matter what happens this year, if Gafford leaves he could a late first round pick based on potential.

Scouts have already seen his potential early in the season and therefore place less emphasis on his stats and what not in these games.

[Big Nasty 34]

You might want to check that.


www.nbadraft.net/2018mock_draft

Well...
https://twitter.com/ARHoopScoop/status/963249043022413824

https://www.si.com/nba/2018/02/12/nba-mock-draft-2018-trae-young-deandre-ayton-colin-sexton

[hoglady]

Well...
https://twitter.com/ARHoopScoop/status/963249043022413824

https://www.si.com/nba/2018/02/12/nba-mock-draft-2018-trae-young-deandre-ayton-colin-sexton

What's most surprising is the number of SEC players in that mock draft. I counted 8 with only 2 from Kentucky.