2020 4* Stretch 4 JT Thor Commits To AU!

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

37 minutes ago, jared52 said:

I love UA clothing. Shorts, pants, polos, “performance” shorts, etc. I would have considered it until I saw how durable and lasting their stuff was on my son as well as the UA AU backpacks I got my kids for school (which have lasted 1.5 years and look brand new still). Once I saw that, I started getting stuff (on sale, I can’t pay full retail price for anything). It comfy and looks good. I then bought a pair of basketball shoes to play in (granted they are $65 retail) and they are very meh. I got a pair of running shoes just to wear around and they are meh too. I wish they could figure out the shoe side of things because to me the clothing side is great. 

I've worked at a UA, I think the quality of workout gear is okay, but I think that's their lane. I respect them for trying their hardest over the last half-decade, but they just have a very defined glass ceiling. And Steph, for how good he is, isn't a "cool" athlete to athletes, from what I see. His game is one of the premier ones you see emulated, but I don't think he's in that Bron, KD, Harden lane, where the individual leaves an imprint on your mind. 

Other than how ugly their shoes are designed, they're gonna need someone with some bite off the court if they want to shift paradigms

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

"PI: Do you model your game after anybody in particular?

 

JT: I watch a lot of Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo. I watch them a lot. I feel like they’re my body type. Kevin Durant the most...I loved him ever since he was in OKC, when he left I was kind of mad, but I still love KD though. I model my game after him a lot, or at least I try to."

To me, I think this kid's offensive game is already way ahead of Giannis's at the same point. But I love that he has that drive in him.

[Zeek 16,649]

2 hours ago, Rednilla said:

Go figure. They wanted Thor to pair with Cunningham, and now not only do we get him to pair with Coop, we might be getting Green to go with him. I do wonder if we might not pull Brown, though, and instead get Caldwell. I wouldn't be too upset with that, honestly, because Caldwell gives us insurance for the future, whereas Brown would almost certainly be one and done. Not that I would be the least bit upset if we get Green and Brown, just that I would rather get Green and Caldwell than Brown and a JUCO/grad trasnfer PG to take the load off of Coop.

Man, can you guys believe the possibilities we're talking about now? I mean, before the last few years, Thor would be the headliner of pretty much any class we've ever had, whereas now he's already playing second fiddle (rankings wise) to what we already have, and there is legitimate hope that we could pull two other players (three if you include Kuminga) higher than our highest rated recruit ever. If this isn't the beginning of the golden era of Auburn basketball, I don't know what it will be!

If we’re talking long term... one and done is a tremendous thing for us in regards to recruiting. You can never put the genie back in the bottle but I do wish they had a similar setup to college football.

The quality of college basketball would skyrocket if players had to stay three years.

[JFDTiger80 790]

Not sure if Pearl is using this thinking or not but I would be saying. I want to coach u. I think I am the best coach in the country; ie resume. U r an elite Athlete and probably will go to the NBA after 1 year. I promise I will Coach u up and make u better. It’s one year! We would love to have you in our AU family!

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

This is just my opinion, but if you thought about it in terms of who gets you closer to a ring (regular season, SEC and NCAA), 1-10...

1. adding JG and Brown - 8/10, 9/10, 3/10? 

2. adding JG and Cardwell - 6/10, 4/10, 0.5/10

As others alluded to, I think there's going to be meshing problems and "trying to feed everyone" issues early on, but having Brown gives you the chance to have an offensive mismatch at the 4 and/or 5 on the court for 40 minutes. JT, Brown and Jaylin are supreme lob threats. IDK if Brown is as much of a playmaker as JT, but he can at least handle it from the perimeter and maybe run plays from the mid/post like Okeke and Okoro did. 

And as I think Ellitor said (I think it was him), Cardwell is probably going to slow the game down when he's in and I think this roster could be as fast as peak Jared/Bryce era, 24/7 (unless it behooves them not to). The spacing and athleticism is definitely there

[GTNupe11 2,033]

He gives me Lamar Odom and Chris Bosh vibes. More so Lamar... but neither were slouches when it came to getting to the rim. 

[ellitor 33,085]

2 hours ago, GTNupe11 said:

He gives me Lamar Odom and Chris Bosh vibes. More so Lamar... but neither were slouches when it came to getting to the rim. 

Thor or Brown?

[Rednilla 5,389]

10 hours ago, ellitor said:

As in pull Brown's offer??? Get that weak stuff outta here!

If we get Green we're likely not taking another PG. Green would be expected to help Coop at the point. That where AU info is leaning right now anyway.

 

Splicing a long comment tends to take the context away. No, not pull Brown's offer. I meant if Coop had some kind of inside info that we weren't going to be getting Brown.

And the comment about getting a transfer PG was specifically in relation to if we were not to get Green, what the backup plan would be there. In fact, I believe I was comparing the situations if we were to get one or the other of Green and Brown, as in I would rather get Green and Caldwell than to get Brown and a transfer PG. Both situations have us getting someone to handle the ball when Coop isn't on the floor, and both situations have us getting another big man.

[Rednilla 5,389]

10 hours ago, Zeek said:

If we’re talking long term... one and done is a tremendous thing for us in regards to recruiting. You can never put the genie back in the bottle but I do wish they had a similar setup to college football.

The quality of college basketball would skyrocket if players had to stay three years.

If memory serves me correctly, they did have that setup for a long time. High school players could go pro or go to college, but if they went to college, they had to stay at least 3 years. 

Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know if my memory is faulty and that never was a thing, but it seems like that's the way it was.

[ellitor 33,085]

1 hour ago, Rednilla said:

Splicing a long comment tends to take the context away. No, not pull Brown's offer. I meant if Coop had some kind of inside info that we weren't going to be getting Brown.

Ahh!

1 hour ago, Rednilla said:

And the comment about getting a transfer PG was specifically in relation to if we were not to get Green

Didn't read that way to me, my mistake.

[boomstick 1,315]

So, I'm trying to get some clarification on Thor's age and when he's eligible for the draft. This article says he left Alaska when he was 14. Guessing he moved to West Virginia and enrolled at Huntington Prep the next year, which would make him 15-16. But Huntington played him and schooled him as a JR. And when he moved to Norcross to play this season, he played as a SR although he was 16-17. He's waffled back and forth between being in the 2020 class and the 2021 class. There's even been talk about him taking a prep year for 2020-2021 and entering the draft. But from what I can find, if he's 17 right now, he's not going to be eligible for the 2021 draft. 

Now, there's a timeframe we don't really know about, the time from leaving Alaska at 14 to entering Huntington Prep last year. And you can't really find any info on his age right now. But he was originally a 2021 kid for a reason (I'd assume age). So, him reclassifying to 2020 can't really speed up his age clock because he has to turn 19 int he year of his draft. It's possible he has a really late-to-the-calendar birthday where he'd turn 19 in December of 2021 (which would make him 2021 draft eligible), but that's about the only way I could see this working.

[crococile22 52]

4 minutes ago, boomstick said:

So, I'm trying to get some clarification on Thor's age and when he's eligible for the draft. This article says he left Alaska when he was 14. Guessing he moved to West Virginia and enrolled at Huntington Prep the next year, which would make him 15-16. But Huntington played him and schooled him as a JR. And when he moved to Norcross to play this season, he played as a SR although he was 16-17. He's waffled back and forth between being in the 2020 class and the 2021 class. There's even been talk about him taking a prep year for 2020-2021 and entering the draft. But from what I can find, if he's 17 right now, he's not going to be eligible for the 2021 draft. 

Now, there's a timeframe we don't really know about, the time from leaving Alaska at 14 to entering Huntington Prep last year. And you can't really find any info on his age right now. But he was originally a 2021 kid for a reason (I'd assume age). So, him reclassifying to 2020 can't really speed up his age clock because he has to turn 19 int he year of his draft. It's possible he has a really late-to-the-calendar birthday where he'd turn 19 in December of 2021 (which would make him 2021 draft eligible), but that's about the only way I could see this working.

He's really good friends with Kuminga as well, so it will be interesting to see how this one plays out (if Kuminga stays in the 2021 class)

[Rednilla 5,389]

5 minutes ago, boomstick said:

So, I'm trying to get some clarification on Thor's age and when he's eligible for the draft. This article says he left Alaska when he was 14. Guessing he moved to West Virginia and enrolled at Huntington Prep the next year, which would make him 15-16. But Huntington played him and schooled him as a JR. And when he moved to Norcross to play this season, he played as a SR although he was 16-17. He's waffled back and forth between being in the 2020 class and the 2021 class. There's even been talk about him taking a prep year for 2020-2021 and entering the draft. But from what I can find, if he's 17 right now, he's not going to be eligible for the 2021 draft. 

Now, there's a timeframe we don't really know about, the time from leaving Alaska at 14 to entering Huntington Prep last year. And you can't really find any info on his age right now. But he was originally a 2021 kid for a reason (I'd assume age). So, him reclassifying to 2020 can't really speed up his age clock because he has to turn 19 int he year of his draft. It's possible he has a really late-to-the-calendar birthday where he'd turn 19 in December of 2021 (which would make him 2021 draft eligible), but that's about the only way I could see this working.

Is the going thought that he will be one and done? I was hoping to have him for two years...

[War to the Eagle 362]

32 minutes ago, Rednilla said:

Is the going thought that he will be one and done? I was hoping to have him for two years...

Since Thor's not a top-ten recruit, it will likely depend on how quickly he develops at AU.

[boomstick 1,315]

41 minutes ago, Rednilla said:

Is the going thought that he will be one and done? I was hoping to have him for two years...

From his side, yes. His camp has talked about several different avenues for him to get to the NBA quickly. OAD or prep school for a year and enter. They're under the idea that he's a OAD. And he may be. If he is and we can land 1-2 of the remaining two, we're going to be LEGIT next year.

I'm not sold on him as a OAD. I think he needs to fill out more and could use a year in college before leaving as a Sophomore. And if my timeline is accurate, he would be two years from being able to enter the draft. Some mock drafts have him in the 2021 Draft. So there may be something out there that I don't know about that would make his situation more clear. I do know that several insiders hinted at his ability to qualify and enroll as part of the 2020 class was still very much up in the air, and that was 2-3 weeks ago. So, I still think there's a lot to work through with Thor before everything is clear.

[GTNupe11 2,033]

11 hours ago, ellitor said:

Thor or Brown?

Thor.

[gravejd 3,270]

Haven't seen a lot of highlights of this kid but i was able to find a short video where he was showing a really nice pull up jumper. Highlights are typically just a dunk mix tape so seeing the jumper emphasized was encouraging for me. At 6'8" i'm not too worried about him being able to get the rim when needed

 

Welcome to AU Thor! Love seeing some size added to the class

[steeleagle 2,945]

1 hour ago, boomstick said:

From his side, yes. His camp has talked about several different avenues for him to get to the NBA quickly. OAD or prep school for a year and enter. They're under the idea that he's a OAD. And he may be. If he is and we can land 1-2 of the remaining two, we're going to be LEGIT next year.

I'm not sold on him as a OAD. I think he needs to fill out more and could use a year in college before leaving as a Sophomore. And if my timeline is accurate, he would be two years from being able to enter the draft. Some mock drafts have him in the 2021 Draft. So there may be something out there that I don't know about that would make his situation more clear. I do know that several insiders hinted at his ability to qualify and enroll as part of the 2020 class was still very much up in the air, and that was 2-3 weeks ago. So, I still think there's a lot to work through with Thor before everything is clear.

Me either. If he is a starter for Pearl then he will have time to show whether he is a OAD, but his build and strength tells me he will need a year to fill out and then show what he could do during his Soph year for NBA draft potential. 

[Rednilla 5,389]

52 minutes ago, gravejd said:

Haven't seen a lot of highlights of this kid but i was able to find a short video where he was showing a really nice pull up jumper. Highlights are typically just a dunk mix tape so seeing the jumper emphasized was encouraging for me. At 6'8" i'm not too worried about him being able to get the rim when needed

 

Welcome to AU Thor! Love seeing some size added to the class

Actually, he's listed as 6'10 on rivals, so he might be even taller. One article I read on him said he's "almost 6'10," so it's kind of a crap shoot as to what his actual height is, but anywhere between 6'8 and 6'10 works well for me.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

Hes got enough height and arm to play the 5 over Greg Brown, if we were just talking builds and not player preferences 

[ellitor 33,085]

2 hours ago, GTNupe11 said:

Thor.

I can see the monster Bosh

[ellitor 33,085]

2 hours ago, gravejd said:

At 6'8" i'm not too worried about him being able to get the rim when needed

He’s closer to 6’9 or 6’10 for what it’s worth

[JFDTiger80 790]

16 minutes ago, ellitor said:

He’s closer to 6’9 or 6’10 for what it’s worth

I'd read that too. Tall kid and may still be growing. Hope we can put 20 pounds on him between now and next season. Kid can run the floor. If things end up like we hope; we will have a super fast, "get down the floor" team. We will score a ton of points and it will be a lot of fun to watch.

[ellitor 33,085]

1 hour ago, JFDTiger80 said:

I'd read that too. Tall kid and may still be growing. Hope we can put 20 pounds on him between now and next season. Kid can run the floor. If things end up like we hope; we will have a super fast, "get down the floor" team. We will score a ton of points and it will be a lot of fun to watch.

I saw it/him. I was the security guard by the men's locker room at the last home game which he attended.

[JFDTiger80 790]

15 minutes ago, ellitor said:

I saw it/him. I was the security guard by the men's locker room at the last home game which he attended.

Thoughts. Was he a skinny kid? Was he about Wiley's height?