At least here in Portland we have the two college basketball games I want to see on FSN (aka FS Seattle, boo.)
The two games are the Arizona/WSU game so that I can see my most desired player, Jerry D. Bayless.
But the second person I want to watch is in the game before the UA/WSU game. Who do I want to see? Someone I owe an apology to. A person that I have criticised on this site as a horrible fit for the team, totally not what we are looking for in a player and an all around bad culture guy.
But I must humbly retract my criticism of this player and give him his proper dues. The player who, after watching where we are this year and what we need (yes, yes NEVER draft for need always go BPA) I feel would be a great fit on our team is none other than the much maligned:
Ovinton J'Anthony Mayo.
First let me address the inconsistencies:
Case 1: OJ Mayo is a punk he hit a ref in a game.
Actuality:
Here is a clip of the actual event
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6175710102463619533&q=oj+mayo+ref&total=8&start =0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0and a quote from a USA Today clip
"In January, tempers flared in a game between Mayo's team and Capital (Charleston, W.Va.). Mayo was ejected, then made slight contact with one of the referees, who crashed to the floor as if he had been hit with a ton of bricks."
Case 2: He dunked on a half court off the backboard alley opp on his last play and then threew the ball into the stands.
Actuality: He was throwing it to his father in the stands
Case 3: He needs to take a lot of shots and is a ball hog.
This may be true but if you were in this same situation what would you do:
“蒂姆·弗洛伊德喜欢牛奶计时器罪gle digits before spacing the floor calling almost strictly Isolation plays, featuring very young guards and almost no shot-creators to be found besides Mayo. His big men are undersized and extremely poor decision makers, and the team has almost no depth or veteran leadership. In short, this team was always going to struggle to win games."
"Late in games or shot-clocks (for example against Memphis) he’s forced into take-over mode, where his entire team clears out of the way for an Isolation play and watches him go 1 on 5 in impossible fashion. This seems to happen far too often, but is almost a necessity considering how poor a team USC is offensively (ranked 308th by Pomeroy in 3-point shooting for example.)"
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/O.J.-Mayo-238/
Case 4: OJ Mayo is a punk and is a thug.
Read this and tell me that OJ is still a punk:
Or this:
http://freedarko.blogspot.com/2007/10/fd-guest-lecture-and-redeemed-innocent.html
Or this:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/pac10/2007-11-07-usc-mayo-focus_N.htm
Now lets look at the positives:
Case 1: Potential lockdown defender. Anybody who saw the whole Rose v. Mayo matchup a whiule ago saw Rose get shut down by Mayo.
"The silver lining from this season has to do with Mayo’s defense, which has been nothing short of outstanding so far, when he’s put his mind to it. He’s doing a terrific job putting pressure on the ball, denying space and overwhelming his matchups with his combination of size, strength, length and lateral quickness. The work he did on Derrick Rose in Madison Square Garden was particularly notable, rendering him fairly ineffective when were matched up against each other. Mayo still needs to show that same commitment on each and every possession, but the early signs have been fairly promising."
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/O.J.-Mayo-238/
Case 2: He can bring the ball down and set up in halfcourt very well:
"With that said, Mayo is still very much an impressive prospect. He has very good size at 6-5, with a terrific body that looks ready to compete right away in the NBA. He’s a powerful athlete with outstanding body control and great ball-handling skills going either left or right, and excellent instincts finding and creating shots for himself, as well as for others. Mayo’s court vision is much better than his 2.9 assists per game would indicate. He brings the ball up the court regularly and for the most part looks quite unselfish executing his team’s half-court sets, making the extra pass and finding the open man when he’s trapped/double-teamed off a pick and roll play time after time, but too often only to see his teammates miss a wide open shot."
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/O.J.-Mayo-238/
Case 3: He can hit the 3pt ball, going 5-7 agains the Ducks and is at.376 for the year, but with all of the last second shots against the clock can take down that percentage.
The case I make is that OJ and Roy would be a good backcourt pairing. Roy is 6'6 and OJ is 6'4-6'5 creating a formidable backcourt to go with our formidable frontcourt.
Granted I would still prefer Bayless but with Mayo being projected as low as 10 and Bayless being projected as high as 3 we would be foolish to pass on Mayo for any reason.
