camakazee
RealCavsFans.com
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2008
- Messages
- 7,377
- Reaction score
- 16,827
- Points
- 123
I disagree. The D-League is the same place where Darnell Jackson was dropping 25 points a game when he went down there. Plus, teaching and exposing this kid to the English language is a key component in my opinion.
We need him here in the U.S., if we let him back to Spain he could potentially get tied into one of those ridiculous buy-out situations, and his exposure to the team and the language and culture will be limited. Now that he's here, he should stay.
But I think they're two completely different situations.
With Jackson, you're talking about a 23 year old who had no problem taking 11 shots in his first summer league game, despite making only 3 of them. Eyenga played four more minutes tonight than Jackson did in that first game, yet only had 5 shot attempts (and only made one less fg than Jackson!).
Jackson came into this league as a four year starter at a major university fresh off of a national championship. He knew how to do the little things, he knew had to bang for rebounds, he knew the game of basketball. What he needed to do was go to the D League, be the guy and score a shit-ton of points by dominating the ball, proving he could provide some scoring should the Cavaliers call upon him in the regular season. Eyenga still is unsure of the offensive game and is very tentative at times. He can't be the guy and take a shit ton of shots because he's still quite unfamiliar with the game. And even if we could put the ball in his hands at all times, forcing him to run the show, he won't learn how to play off the ball. Jackson knew he wouldn't have the ball in his hands nearly as much with the Cavs as he did with the Bayhawks. Eyenga needs to learn how to effectively play off of the ball in order to be valuable to this team. Once again, something Jackson learned in four years at Kansas, something Eyenga has yet to do.
I just feel as though the D League would set this kid back in terms of learning an NBA offense, seeing how those games are run. The D League is great for a kid who already knows a lot about basketball, but needs to get comfortable scoring against "NBA defenses." It was a great stint last year for Jawad Williams who averaged 25.7 points per game on 21 shots per game. But how many shots does that leave everyone else? And as I said before, even if Eyenga's the one taking all those shots, he doesn't have the experience or BBIQ of Jawad Williams and won't learn a damn thing about what we'll need him to do within our system when he gets called up.
The one thing I do see as a positive is the practice he could get with the Cavaliers given the proximity of the two teams. I just don't think that makes up for the lack of learning he'd get in the NBA D League.
You are very right about the buyout overseas, however, which is my greatest concern. Not too many teams will be willing to sign a guy whose rights are already obtained and could be snatched away at any time without a ridiculously high buyout. I only hope Danny could pull off some magic and convince a respectable Euroleague team to take a waiver on him, almost as a favor to Ferry. But all in all, I just don't see the D League as the right fit for a young kid with so much to learn about the game of basketball.