He’ll Be Back

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• Ezra Posted: Jul.22 at 11:51 am
  Interesting that you congratulate Lin here yet on Twitter, you and Foote are hesitant to give props because you both feel Witt and Lou are better than Lin.

• Jon Jaques Posted: Jul.22 at 12:28 pm
  Never said in the article that I think Lin’s better than Foote, Witt, or Lou. Doesn’t mean congratulations aren’t in order. Dude did just sign a guaranteed NBA contract. I really believe that those 3 guys could have put up numbers like Lin’s on a less balanced team like Harvard, they were just (in some ways) victims of Cornell’s unbelievable success. So to answer your question, he deserves to be congratulated and as an Ivy Leaguer I’m extremely proud (and interested to see what his signing does for recruiting in the league), but that doesn’t necessarily mean the best Ivy League player made the NBA.

• BDubs Posted: Jul.22 at 12:45 pm
  Hey man — Not sure it’s fair to call out Roshown McLeod (no second “C”) as a bust. He was quite a good player by his third, before suffering career-ending nerve damage to his leg.

• Vanish Grover Posted: Jul.22 at 1:01 pm
  Nice post, I personally agree that I would rather have a slightly below average athlete with his head on straight and some championship experience than some quick young’n who can’t shoot the ball. Give him a year so you can say I told you so

• Jamie Posted: Jul.22 at 1:15 pm
  Jon is right saying a Cornell player could have been a better pick than Lin. For all the hype Lin’s getting about facing John Wall in the Summer League, Louis Dale actually had better stats against Wall in the Cornell-Kentucky Sweet 16 game: Lin’s 13 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 4 TO vs. Dale’s 17 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 2 TO

• Ezra Posted: Jul.22 at 1:26 pm
  Ok. Well I was at Cornell for the last two years so I saw you guys up close. I realize that Ryan Wittman is probably the best shooter in the country. It’s a sham that Rautins got picked instead of Witt. Lou was also very good. But I don’t think Lou showed that he was leaps and bounds better than Jeremy Lin.
  Foote says “there’s not a chance” that Lin is better than Lou or Witt. I can understand why he says that. First, he’s looking out for his boys. There’s obviously going to be a bias there. But also, you guys shut Jeremy Lin down in the two games you played this year. Your TEAM defense made Lin look very average so based on your first hand experiences with him, you are probably not that impressed. But instead of looking down on Lin, I think you should just give credit to the great defense you played under coach D. You guys even made John Wall look not that great. But that doesn’t mean John Wall isn’t a great player.
  If you look at the rest of Lin’s body of work, I’m not sure how you can say with certainty that he’s not the best Ivy League player. You could say that Lou and Wittman have Ivy POY awards and Lin doesn’t, but Cornell won the Ivy League each of those years and you almost always give POY to the best player on the best team. But if you put Lin on that Cornell team (with a lights out shooter and a 7 ft center), I guarantee he’s going to win 1 or 2 POYs.
  Without the kind of support and balance that you guys had, Lin led Harvard to their best record of all time. He didn’t have great guards or shooters or big guys to help him get there. He put the whole team on his back. To me, that makes him more impressive than Lou or Witt.
  At the end of the day, I look at these 3 guys and I say, who has the ability to create the most impact at the next level? There is almost no question that it is Lin. With the ball in his hands, he simply has more versatility than Witt and Lou. He’s also a better defender than those two. I do believe Ryan Wittman is good enough to come off the bench and shoot it as well as Korver or Redick, but he’s not going to impact the game the way Lin will at the next level. Witt doesn’t have the ball handling or athleticism to get by any NBA SF. He’s a pure shooter and I’m sure one NBA team will realize that he can help their team.
  So I do think both Lin and Wittman belong in the NBA. I do think that Lin was the best Ivy League Player. Without Witt or Lou, you still had Chris or Groebe and I believe Cornell would have still won the Ivy League. Without Lin, Harvard would probably have been in the bottom 2.
  Anyway, you guys made us all really proud this year. Watching us lead Kentucky 10-6 at the Dome is something I’ll never forget. Good luck in Israel.

• Ezra Posted: Jul.22 at 1:29 pm
  @jamie so you’re going to say that Lou is better than Lin because Lou had 4 more points and 2 less turnovers? That’s just insulting to everyone’s intelligence. You do realize that Lin was a bench player for the Mavs? That team was designed to showcase Roddy and Dominique Jones so Lin had to do all that under limited playing time.

• Ryne Nelson Posted: Jul.22 at 1:51 pm
  Stats make the player? Never… well, sometimes.

• Ezra Posted: Jul.22 at 1:56 pm
  @Ryne so John Wall goes 4-19 and Jeremy Lin goes 6-12. One guy shoots 21% and the other shoots 50%. So that makes Jeremy Lin a better player?

• Jake Posted: Jul.22 at 2:33 pm
  Thanks for the shoutout to a great guy like Scheyer. You’re spot on with the reference to Steve Blake. Scheyer may be less of a pure PG (Blake was recruiting as such at Maryland, while Jon was a combo guard until mid-junior year), but he’s an above average shooter with his head on straight. He should’ve gotten drafted, and I agree that he’ll get into the league one way or another. Great analysis of why he could make a team as well (even as a 12th man) Also, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng, Corey Maggette, JJ Redick, Grant Hill, etc. say hi from among the ‘more than serviceable’ Duke alumni department. But we’ll let that one slide for now haha.

• Jay Posted: Jul.22 at 3:19 pm
  I think everyone is blowing this Jeremy Lin contract out of proportion. First, congrats to J Lin. That’s fantastic for him. But the first contract for all these guys (Lin, Foote, Dale, Wittman) does not have a strong indication (at least in my mind) of who will have the best pro career. I would like to take a look at all these guys 5 years from now and see. If I had to take a guess, I would say Foote has the best chance at a pro career. Teams always need big guys. You simply cannot teach 7′0”, 265 pounds. Also, Foote is in the earliest of his basketball development of the group and can fill out even more and develop more NBA type skills. Remember the kid only plays 2 and a half years of college ball and went from a lanky kid who could only play a few minutes at a time into a force.

• Jon Jaques Posted: Jul.22 at 3:27 pm
  I thought about mentioning all of those Duke guys you just did. Grant Hill, Carlos Boozer, Corey Maggette, Luol Deng, Elton Brand…agreed all definitely more than serviceable. Reddick’s career is still young so the it’s TBD. But for each one of those guys there’s another who didn’t pan out, whether due to underachievment (Mike Dunleavy) or tragedy/bad luck (Bobby Hurley, Jay Williams). Point is, Duke players get a bad rep when they shouldn’t.

• Poor Man's Commish Posted: Jul.22 at 3:45 pm
  I’ve blogged that if a billionaire in Europe had enoug bball savvy he should sign the entire crop of senior Cornell players and they’d probably finish in 1st place in the Spanish ACB. That being said… If Jeremy Lin played pg for Cornell instead of Lou Dale — And I like Lou Dale, don’t get me wrong — Cornell would’ve played Duke in the championship, not Butler.

• Jimpo Posted: Jul.22 at 3:54 pm
  @Poor Man’s Commish That comment hurt man. But with all due respect, I think you’re wrong. I think Dale was a much better college player than Lin, but Lin has more of an NBA body at 6′3” vs Dale at 5′11”. Great college player doesn’t always translate into NBA potential. Look at Scheyer, just like Jaques pointed out in this article. Also Sherron Collins.

• Tzvi Twersky Posted: Jul.22 at 3:56 pm
  I’m just glad to see Cornell and Harvard making noise. It was getting too easy to predict Penn or Princeton to win Ivy.

• Tarzan Cooper Posted: Jul.22 at 4:08 pm
  You lost me when u said ‘at the very least he can be trusted to make the right decisions on a championship team’. Either u meant most instead of least, or ur smoking rocks.

• Tarzan Cooper Posted: Jul.22 at 4:19 pm
  Arguing about nba careers for ivy league players? Hahaahhhhhahahahaha, adam morrison has already had a better career than all of those guys ever will, joking, but u get the point

• Paul Wall Posted: Jul.22 at 4:32 pm
  I think y’all trill playaz need to ease up on all ‘dis arguments and nonsense that can never be resolved and come down to my spot in H-Town and get yaself hooked up with a grill.. Nice article again Jonny boy.. We luvin’ this down here

• LilKDub503 Posted: Jul.22 at 6:10 pm
  Haha, Scheyer played well in the Tourney, led his squad to the chip, and he will not be in the NBA. Too white. LOL, the Monstars. Watch their fate be just like Space Jam. They’ll all implode. Or they’ll kick the crap out of everyone. Or both.

• Observer157 Posted: Jul.22 at 6:44 pm
  Why are Ivy Leaguers here hating on each other? No need for the envy, give props to Jeremy Lin for making it and hopefully giving more cred to the quality play of the Ivy League. Cornell was one of the country’s best teams, no question, and proved it with their Sweet 16 run, which I don’t consider a Cinderella story because it was truly talented. They had 4 legit prospects this year, and their team was vastly superior to Jeremy Lin’s Harvard team, especially when their starting center and power forward got hurt for the rest of the season, in mid-season. I looked this up, and even though Cornell’s defense was amazing and carried them deep in the March Madness tournament, here is how Lin fared against them: January 30th: 19 points on 6 for 9 shooting.
  February 19th: 24 points on 7 for 12 shooting. Jeremy Lin was hardly “shut down” by Cornell. As the 1 good player on that team, double and tripled teamed, he still performed well.

• Observer157 Posted: Jul.22 at 6:46 pm
  Why are Ivy Leaguers here hating on each other? No need for the envy, give props to Jeremy Lin for making it and hopefully giving more cred to the quality play of the Ivy League. Cornell was one of the country’s best teams, no question, and proved it with their Sweet 16 run, which I don’t consider a Cinderella story because it was truly talented. They had 4 legit prospects this year, and their team was vastly superior to Jeremy Lin’s Harvard team, especially when their starting center and power forward got hurt for the rest of the season, in mid-season. I looked this up, and even though Cornell’s defense was amazing and carried them deep in the March Madness tournament, here is how Lin fared against them: January 30th: 19 points on 6 for 9 shooting. February 19th: 24 points on 7 for 12 shooting. Jeremy Lin was hardly “shut down” by Cornell. As the 1 good player on that team, double and tripled teamed, he still performed well.

• Observer157 Posted: Jul.22 at 6:47 pm
  .Why are Ivy Leaguers here hating on each other? No need for the envy, give props to Jeremy Lin for making it and hopefully giving more cred to the quality play of the Ivy League. Cornell was one of the country’s best teams, no question, and proved it with their Sweet 16 run, which I don’t consider a Cinderella story because it was truly talented. They had 4 legit prospects this year, and their team was vastly superior to Jeremy Lin’s Harvard team, especially when their starting center and power forward got hurt for the rest of the season, in mid-season. I looked this up, and even though Cornell’s defense was amazing and carried them deep in the March Madness tournament, here is how Lin fared against them: January 30th: 19 points on 6 for 9 shooting.
  February 19th: 24 points on 7 for 12 shooting. Jeremy Lin was hardly “shut down” by Cornell. As the 1 good player on that team, double and tripled teamed, he still performed well.

• Victor Posted: Jul.22 at 9:48 pm
  I have been a Jon Scheyer fan his entire Duke career. So I admit my bias. But Miami would have fit Jon perfectly. While being a rookie, he would still provide great leadership and a calming demeanor. He gets criticized for being unathletic. But no matter the situation in the game (up a lot or behind too much), you can’t rattle him. He doesn’t make flashy plays but is reliable with the ball. And with the Monsters, he would excell at knocking down the three. When the bench players are put in, Scheyer would either maintain the lead or actually help the team get back in the game. And you cannot discount the Championship mindset or experience he would bring. I know college and NBA are different and are on different levels, but he brings “it”. He brings soo much that doesn’t translate to stats. I will even argue he would greatly help my hometown team, the Milwaukee Bucks. I really want to see him in the NBA this next year and given decent playing time.

• Seven Duece Posted: Jul.22 at 10:58 pm
  I don’t think people look at Scheyer’s skin as an indictment against his basketball acumen, but his lack of explosiveness and short arm span may hurt against certain lead guards. I’m sure some practice against DWade would help shore up some of his shortcomings, as he’d know what to expect. Besides if Trajan Langdon can be drafted #11 overall one year, surely there’s a spot somewhere for JSchey.

• Bob Plotkin Posted: Jul.22 at 11:34 pm
  Let’s just give Jeremy Lin props for getting there. It’s good for the Ivy League. While it may be debatable if he was the best player in the Ivy League (really depends on how you define that), he was truly the best pro prospect in terms of size, skill and athleticism. And yes, Cornell simply had an outstanding and experienced starting 5 that no one else in the Ivy League could compete with. Plus, I’ve read stuff that he got signed because he was Asian. I’m sure that had a lot to do with it, but keep in mind that it was his ethnicity that denied him a D-I scholarship in the first place. I’ll be the first to say it, I would doubt an Asian could play at a D-I level, but he’s sure proven me wrong. Guy must have gone through a lot having racist slurs rained upon him for 4 years (something that never happens to blacks or whites, I’m guessing). I’m rooting for him big time. As for Rautins versus Wittman, Rautins is deceptively quick and a pretty good defender. I would rather take Rautins though it is pretty close. I’m sure Rautins dad helped him out a lot too. Cornell in ACB? Poorman’s commish, that’s some absurd talk. Real Madrid would consistenly beat the bottom 1/3 of NBA teams, let alone Cornell. Come on dude.

• ciroqobama Posted: Jul.23 at 12:03 am
  As far as undrafted rookie white unathletic fringe nba point guards go…..
  Matt Bouldin > Jon Scheyer

• Kaylal Posted: Jul.23 at 12:09 am
  @Ezra The team Dale faced was stacked with five first-round picks and he performed spectacularly. The Summer League isn’t exactly full of Lebron Jameses, I think it’s more comparable than you are acting like it is. It is so insulting that after Dale averaged over 20ppg in those 3 tournament games, people are suggesting the team would’ve been better with another PG.

• Dacre Posted: Jul.23 at 8:54 am
  Jon Scheyer is my favourite player out of this years NCAA tournament/graduation class. I hope he still makes the cut for an NBA team at some time. Either way I’ll be keeping slamonline up to date with his activities/career.

• Saku 39 Posted: Jul.23 at 10:43 am
  Can Scheyer hit the NBA 3pt with consistency? I wasn’t a fan of the pick but I thought Rautins was the better prospect of the two because he had longer range.

• Lz - Cphfinest3 Posted: Jul.23 at 6:59 pm
  Poor Man’s Commish; boy do you underrate the Spanish ABC. Barcelona for one, basically has a Euro All-Star team and some good Americans playing for them as well as a guy called Rubio. That team could probably play some of the weakest NBA teams to a stand still. The Cornell seniors would get pounded in the ABC. Way way to much experience and you do realise that the Cornell players are not exactly ‘Grade A’ talent right?
  Nice article btw.

• KML Posted: Jul.24 at 2:18 am
  @Observer157 Don’t be too impressed — Jeremy Lin’s 19 points in that first game against Cornell came mostly during junk time when Harvard had no chance of catching up. He only scored 4 points in the entire first half, and almost a dozen after Harvard was alread 25 points down. Several sites — Daily Pennsylvanian, the georgetown blog — have noted Amaker’s strange habit of keeping his starters on the court long after they’ve lost any chance of catching up, instead of clearing his bench. Judging from how many people who point to how “well” he did in that terrible 36-point beatdown, I’m now seeing the purpose of letting a player artificially pad his stats.

• Actually Posted: Jul.26 at 9:48 am
  To KML: I am a Cornell alum and was actually at the game in Boston, and what you’re saying isn’t exactly true. Harvard was blown out in Ithaca yes, but their game in Boston (where Lin scored 24) was tight all the way until a few minutes left. The Ithaca game would have been a lot closer if Harvard’s starting center and power forward didn’t get season-ending injuries right before the game. I’m not sure if you’ve actually ever seen Jeremy Lin play. If you actually had, you’d never accuse Lin of ever padding stats. He plays an extremely unselfish game, and to me seems like the opposite of a stat-padder. Cornell’s Sweet 16 team was legit, solid at every position. For Jeremy Lin against Cornell to score 19 points on 6 of 9 shooting in Ithaca, then 24 points on 7 for 12 shooting in Boston, is impressive since he was regularly double or triple teamed, and his two best supporting role players were hurt for the year. I don’t think you’re giving Cornell as much credit as it deserved, for the ability to play suffocating defense against the best March Madness teams in the country.

• Jewel Wintle Posted: Jul.26 at 1:08 pm
  Hey there, I am having problems loading your site. Only about 50% in the post seems to load, and the rest is just blank. I’m not really certain why…. but you might like to give it a look. I will check back again later on, that may very well be on my end.

• kaylal Posted: Jul.26 at 10:39 pm
  I was talking about the game in Ithaca not the game at Harvard,and I am not making it up: he scored only 4 points in the first half; why would I lie about that? You can’t see it on a stat sheet but anyone who can access the Cornell game on RedCast knows it’s true. The game at Boston wasn’t bad, but Lin was definitely overshadowed by Witt & Dale who also scored 20+ points; Lin was definitely NOT the high scorer in that game, Wittman & Dale were just bombing Harvard with threes, and most of the Cornell starters were in double digits, so I don’t know how he could be seen as being the standout of that game. At Georgetown, if I remember correctly, Harvard was 20+ points down with 2 minutes to go but Amaker left in his starters which drew amusement at the Georgetown blog… why not clear your bench? You can’t get this information from stat sheets so I guess we can just both accuse each other of anything. Lin has his contract so it doesn’t matter; I just found it disingenuous how people like you and the Harvard Crimson still feel the need to use the obviously poor examples of Lin’s performance in the Cornell games to prove that he’s “better” than the Cornell fans when they simply don’t. I remember reading a Crimson story where they actually tried to pass Lin off as the star of the game in that 36-point beatdown in Ithaca because “he still scored 19 points” … there is no doubt it was completely disingenuous, a marketing trick, or ignorance from people who weren’t there. All the Cornell starters were in double-digits, and like I said, most of Lin’s points came in the 2nd half when Harvard could not longer catch up; believe me if u want but it’s true. He has his contract anyway, no need to keep defending him with disingenuous claims.

• Joe Hamilton Posted: Aug.9 at 6:21 pm
  Scheyer in the one game he played did relatively well in the summer league. He was suffering from infectious mononucleosis. He lost 10 lbs.Scheyer probably could play to even 50% of his capability in the pre draft workouts and in the brief time he played in the summer league. If Jeremy Lin could get an NBA contract Scheyer can be a starter in the NBA.

• Joe Hamilton Posted: Aug.9 at 6:26 pm
  I want to add if the NBA GMs are too stupid to see Scheyer is an NBA player once he recovered from Mono, Scheyer could play in Europe. I know he’ll miss out on playing in such world class cities as Cleveland, Charlotte, Memphis, Oklahoma City etc. He’ll just have to tolerate traveling to or living in Rome, Paris , Barcelona,or Athens.