Ron Baker's Role This Year

[Rick BW]

God I love the offseason!! You people are crazy!! Baker is a very solid player but any talk of him going to the NBA at this point is flat out crazy. I sure hope you guys are right and I am wrong because that will more than likely mean even greater things for our program. I see Ron as a 13-15 ppg player during his junior and senior year and that's not going to be good enough to catch the eyes of NBA scouts.

Totally agree... Let's pump the brakes a bit on Ron. The guy has never scored more than 18 points in a game in his career at WSU. I'm not advocating that he won't be better than Jimmer, but remember Jimmer averaged, 22 pts (JR) and 29 pts (SR) per game his last two years in college. The guy could flat out score. Ron fits well into Marshall's system of having 5 guys that can score and play/defend multiple positions. His skills may translate to the NBA at some point (a la Toure) but let's not fool ourselves and think that he's going to be leaving school early or anything.

[110%]

I think Baker will have the same role assigned to him as Cotton and Wessel...refuse to loose. I think these guys set the tone for for our deffense and toughness. Really glad they are on our team.

[Kberre0673]

Fred Vanvleet will be getting the pg spot

[The Mad Hatter]

Fred Vanvleet will be getting the pg spot

I don't think anyone questions that, but Fred isn't going to play 40 minutes a night and in light of DJ's health problems there is a pretty good chance that Ron will be the main person taking the minutes at point when Fred is out of the game (in addition to playing at SG).

[wufan]

I don't think anyone questions that, but Fred isn't going to play 40 minutes a night and in light of DJ's health problems there is a pretty good chance that Ron will be the main person taking the minutes at point when Fred is out of the game (in addition to playing at SG).

Ron to the NBA is silly talk right now.

I actually like this line-up:

PG = FVV
SG = RB
SF = TC
PF = CE
C = KC

Wessel comes in for Baker and Cotton slides over to the SG. Once Baker catches his breathe he subs for FVV and Wiggins for Cotton. FVV and Cotton back in for Wessel and Wiggins and reset the starting line-up. Add a little Derail to keep em honest.

Cle, Kadeem, and Darius rotate with Cle at PF, Kadeem at the center, and Darius back and forth. Stir in a little Shaq for good measure.

That's my 8+2 line-up with Bowels and Holland red-shirting. Lufile gets mop up minutes if he can't beat out Shaq.

[WSUwatcher]

By the way, BW and others, I agree -- I don't anticipate that Baker will be deciding whether to leave early; I think he'll complete his WSU career.

But I'm not going to back off the comparison to Jimmer. Baker is bigger, and I'm confident he's a better athlete and defender. As for his ability to score, we'll see. Marshall's system will never enable him to average 20+ a game even if he could do so playing for a school like BYU. But if his profile remains high, and WSU's does as well, and if he continues to progress now that he's a one-sport guy, the NBA scouts will know all they need to about him regardless of his scoring average, and they'll like what they know.

[Aargh]

We're finally getting around to what I intended before I sidetracked my own thread with NBA talk. Baker is the second option at PG this year.

The NBA talk was a reference to WSU SG's having a better shot at the NBA as big PG's. I think Baker showed more potential at PG than Murry. Murry has demonstrated a more complete game. Baker appears to be the better shooter.

I think it's not outside of discussion that Baker may be more likely to get NBA looks if he has exp at PG. Right now it looks like Baker may get a year or two of solid looks and practices running PG.

[Dan]

Agree with the comparisons to Murry. Good defender, big guard, better shooter, better ball handler.

[The Mad Hatter]

Agree with the comparisons to Murry. Good defender, big guard, better shooter, better ball handler.

So far he hasn't shown as much ability to create his own shot, but we shall see how that develops (since we have a small sample size so far).

[KC Shox]

Easy...night-in and night-out, duplicate his Gonzaga performance. No, I'm not out of touch.

[ShockRef]

This has probably been..

the longest off season for Shocker basketball fans ever. The anticipation for the upcoming season is off the charts

With each passing day until they start playing again, some of most moronic comments in the history of this fine forum sprout up like mushrooms on a manure bed.

I know the guys look at this board but I hope it's for entertainment purposes only.
If not, they would have to believe some of the fan-natics on SN are smoking more crack than the Marlboro Man does cancer sticks.

Ron Baker is a 19 year old who just finished his first 1/2 of a college basketball season and potentially has a nice future.

Nothing more needs to be said.

That is all.

[Ricardo del Rio]

I've tried to avoid getting too hyped about Baker. He did look like one of the better SG's in the NCAA tourney as a Fr. Arch Madness has produced some results that scream out that you should never get too excited over what happens in a brief stretch of games. I've pplied that philosophy to Baker. I expect him to be good, but I'm not looking for superhero stuff.

Now I'm looking at Murry getting NBA looks as a PG. With Bowles problem, Baker is likely to get significant minutes at PG. I'm thinking Baker will do very well in that role.

Baker could turn out to be a 3 shooter who can play PG.

I think Murry makes it to the NBA. I think Early doesn't have to deal with the D-League. I think Baker can be the next Shock to go NBA. About that time, I expect the NBA will be looking hard at Orukpe.

Lots of sunshine in this post. Lots.

[Ricardo del Rio]

the longest off season for Shocker basketball fans ever. The anticipation for the upcoming season is off the charts

With each passing day until they start playing again, some of most moronic comments in the history of this fine forum sprout up like mushrooms on a manure bed.

I know the guys look at this board but I hope it's for entertainment purposes only.
If not, they would have to believe some of the fan-natics on SN are smoking more crack than the Marlboro Man does cancer sticks.

Ron Baker is a 19 year old who just finished his first 1/2 of a college basketball season and potentially has a nice future.

Nothing more needs to be said.

That is all.

Reminds me of a brothers' expression - "Keepin' it real."

[Kung Wu]

I wouldn't be surprised if Cotton is the first PG backup behind FVV.

[shockmonster]

I wouldn't be surprised if Cotton is the first PG backup behind FVV.

You're entitled to your opinion. But you could count me on the surprised side.