Aday Mara (2005) - the spanish freak?

[sisibilio]

[sisibilio]

Not much to say about the game, barely played in stupidly short stints.

[sisibilio]

Read on Twitter

This is more like it. Starting alongside Bona.

[clyde21]

only 5 mins last game, no injuries reported. are we tabling this guy?

[Chuck Everett]

only 5 mins last game, no injuries reported. are we tabling this guy?

Not sure why he decided to play college basketball unless he wants a degree from UCLA. Should have just stayed overseas or went to NBL or G-League Ignite.

[HadAnEffectHere]

only 5 mins last game, no injuries reported. are we tabling this guy?

Yeah, he's Zach Edey if Zach Edey sucked at basketball.

[lambchop]

only 5 mins last game, no injuries reported. are we tabling this guy?

Not sure why he decided to play college basketball unless he wants a degree from UCLA. Should have just stayed overseas or went to NBL or G-League Ignite.

To be fair, ncaa basketball was probably the safest and most chill option he had available. In Spain he still would have played the majority of his minutes in lower tier leagues, like EBA or LEB plata. His better options would have been teams, like Berlin, Ulm, Hamburg and maybe something like MEGA (though I can understand western europeans not wanting to play - I personally would move there without 2nd though haha).
And if you take all the perks of the college experience into account, I think it's a solid decision.

That said, I can definitely see it hurting his draft stock. He looks more like Zizic right now than some kind of poor man's Wemby. And it's also evident that they knew exactly how to put him in situations where he could showcase his strengths in Zaragoza.

[Duke4life831]

Its hard to get much from him with how little he is playing. But I will say from the little short stints I have seen him play, he doesnt move nearly as well as I thought he would.

[sisibilio]

only 5 mins last game, no injuries reported. are we tabling this guy?

Not sure why he decided to play college basketball unless he wants a degree from UCLA. Should have just stayed overseas or went to NBL or G-League Ignite.

To be fair, ncaa basketball was probably the safest and most chill option he had available. In Spain he still would have played the majority of his minutes in lower tier leagues, like EBA or LEB plata. His better options would have been teams, like Berlin, Ulm, Hamburg and maybe something like MEGA (though I can understand western europeans not wanting to play - I personally would move there without 2nd though haha).
And if you take all the perks of the college experience into account, I think it's a solid decision.

That said, I can definitely see it hurting his draft stock. He looks more like Zizic right now than some kind of poor man's Wemby. And it's also evident that they knew exactly how to put him in situations where he could showcase his strengths in Zaragoza.

No way, he was a full fledged member of the ACB team. I guess he went to the US because he'd earn a lot more with the NIL money than he would if he had stayed in Zaragoza.

[Chuck Everett]

Not sure why he decided to play college basketball unless he wants a degree from UCLA. Should have just stayed overseas or went to NBL or G-League Ignite.

To be fair, ncaa basketball was probably the safest and most chill option he had available. In Spain he still would have played the majority of his minutes in lower tier leagues, like EBA or LEB plata. His better options would have been teams, like Berlin, Ulm, Hamburg and maybe something like MEGA (though I can understand western europeans not wanting to play - I personally would move there without 2nd though haha).
And if you take all the perks of the college experience into account, I think it's a solid decision.

That said, I can definitely see it hurting his draft stock. He looks more like Zizic right now than some kind of poor man's Wemby. And it's also evident that they knew exactly how to put him in situations where he could showcase his strengths in Zaragoza.

No way, he was a full fledged member of the ACB team. I guess he went to the US because he'd earn a lot more with the NIL money than he would if he had stayed in Zaragoza.

Foreign basketball players (on visas) are not allowed to earn NIL from American companies. He would have to do it outside of the USA like Tschiebwe did.

[BigGargamel]

only 5 mins last game, no injuries reported. are we tabling this guy?

For this year, yes. I would like for him to stay in school and evolve. I think we can really see what he can do if Bona moves on and he gets more of a central role. He will still be drafted somewhere in the mid to late first round if he declares, but I think he's so far away he would fizzle out. Take one more year.

[HadAnEffectHere]

only 5 mins last game, no injuries reported. are we tabling this guy?

For this year, yes. I would like for him to stay in school and evolve. I think we can really see what he can do if Bona moves on and he gets more of a central role. He will still be drafted somewhere in the mid to late first round if he declares, but I think he's so far away he would fizzle out. Take one more year.

I'm extremely doubtful he would get drafted.

[FarBeyondDriven]

I see him flash enough in his limited minutes, suggesting there's a high ceiling as a Sengun or Jokic style offensive initiator, to take a chance on him in the late first round. He really is an elite passer and low post defender. I couldn't in good conscience take him in the lottery because he's a multi-year project that needs a lot of work physically to even get on the floor. He'd be damn near unplayable right now because he cannot defend the perimeter or the pick and roll effectively.

Lots of projects go in the lottery though, even guys that have completely missed college and suffered major injuries, which Mara hasn't, so it wouldn't shock me. I just don't think he's an NBA athlete and I want to believe in him because of his IQ and skill level. But if you lumber up and down the floor and can't even close out on shooters you can't play in the NBA and he seems years away from that possibility. But again, there have been projects that have taken years to develop that were still drafted in the first and teams were patient with them.

I wonder if it's UCLA's coach's goal to intentionally bring his players along slowly so they'll return and he can have them longer. You'd think prospects would wake up to this and choose to go elsewhere. Maybe they will after this season. You don't go from being mocked #1 to being forced to return due to limited minutes without that reverberating around the recruiting world. Or, to give the coach some leeway, maybe Mara is just not currently in good enough shape and badly needs better conditioning so that's why he's not playing. I'm not sure how you get that without playing though.

[shangrila]

I see him flash enough in his limited minutes, suggesting there's a high ceiling as a Sengun or Jokic style offensive initiator, to take a chance on him in the late first round. He really is an elite passer and low post defender. I couldn't in good conscience take him in the lottery because he's a multi-year project that needs a lot of work physically to even get on the floor. He'd be damn near unplayable right now because he cannot defend the perimeter or the pick and roll effectively.

Lots of projects go in the lottery though, even guys that have completely missed college and suffered major injuries, which Mara hasn't, so it wouldn't shock me. I just don't think he's an NBA athlete and I want to believe in him because of his IQ and skill level. But if you lumber up and down the floor and can't even close out on shooters you can't play in the NBA and he seems years away from that possibility. But again, there have been projects that have taken years to develop that were still drafted in the first and teams were patient with them.

I wonder if it's UCLA's coach's goal to intentionally bring his players along slowly so they'll return and he can have them longer. You'd think prospects would wake up to this and choose to go elsewhere. Maybe they will after this season. You don't go from being mocked #1 to being forced to return due to limited minutes without that reverberating around the recruiting world. Or, to give the coach some leeway, maybe Mara is just not currently in good enough shape and badly needs better conditioning so that's why he's not playing. I'm not sure how you get that without playing though.

Maybe, but I think people tend to forget that a college coach's job is to win games. If Mara isn't helping to win it makes sense not to play him. Or if there's a better option on the roster (Bona).

[FarBeyondDriven]

I see him flash enough in his limited minutes, suggesting there's a high ceiling as a Sengun or Jokic style offensive initiator, to take a chance on him in the late first round. He really is an elite passer and low post defender. I couldn't in good conscience take him in the lottery because he's a multi-year project that needs a lot of work physically to even get on the floor. He'd be damn near unplayable right now because he cannot defend the perimeter or the pick and roll effectively.

Lots of projects go in the lottery though, even guys that have completely missed college and suffered major injuries, which Mara hasn't, so it wouldn't shock me. I just don't think he's an NBA athlete and I want to believe in him because of his IQ and skill level. But if you lumber up and down the floor and can't even close out on shooters you can't play in the NBA and he seems years away from that possibility. But again, there have been projects that have taken years to develop that were still drafted in the first and teams were patient with them.

I wonder if it's UCLA's coach's goal to intentionally bring his players along slowly so they'll return and he can have them longer. You'd think prospects would wake up to this and choose to go elsewhere. Maybe they will after this season. You don't go from being mocked #1 to being forced to return due to limited minutes without that reverberating around the recruiting world. Or, to give the coach some leeway, maybe Mara is just not currently in good enough shape and badly needs better conditioning so that's why he's not playing. I'm not sure how you get that without playing though.

Maybe, but I think people tend to forget that a college coach's job is to win games. If Mara isn't helping to win it makes sense not to play him. Or if there's a better option on the roster (Bona).

yeah, but he doesn't even play him when Bona is on the bench, which is a lot, since his hook for Bona is so quick. I think college coaches have seen how successful Kansas, North Carolina, Michigan State and Gonzaga have been by running programs that recruit 4 star guys and keep them returning with an occasional 5 star guy. And if they can, via NIL money, they keep the 5 star more than a year if at all possible. It works.

But with UCLA specifically, they haven't had guards that are guys that can run an offense, run a pick n roll or successfully feed bigs. It's weird. All their guards are attack first and it's really affected both Bona and Mara's games. Which is why it's surprising that Mara chose UCLA because anyone with eyes could see that Bona going to UCLA and playing under that coach in that system with that supporting cast did him and continues to do him no favors.

But that's where NIL (or some other means) money comes into play. I honestly think these specific guys are making six figures around the NCAA and they no longer feel the pressure to be one and done and are okay taking a couple of years to continue developing. To be fair, this is actually how it used to be until the late 90s/early 00s. All the top guys played multiple years in college and were much more seasoned and ready. If Mara had come out then he'd be a 4 year player like Duncan and come out more physically developed and ready to contribute.

If this is what is going to be the new reality we have to alter the way we scout these guys and temper our expectations. Even if they're 5 star guys it doesn't mean they'll be coming out after one year if they're even interested or would be a guaranteed first rounder. We're seeing guys forcing their way to certain teams by going undrafted rather than accept being second rounders. Things are changing.

[BlazersBroncos]

Just based on how lumbering and non-athletic he looks I wouldnt take him before R2.

Its shocking watching how molasses slow he looks in a era of freak 7' footers like Chet and Wemby.