Terry_Tate;1525515 wrote:I think Amir is an important player for Ohio State, but let's be honest, I'll bet he doesn't play more than 24 minutes a game and even if he takes a jump in his game he still won't be on the level of other top big men. I think Scott and Thompson becoming scorers and all-around players are more integral to this teams success than if Amir can make the step up to being an above average big man. They only have one guy that as of last year is a scorer and that is Ross, so if they don't have at least one other person step up in scoring it will be a long year regardless of Amir's progress. It is important for him to be at least competent, but I think Thompson or Scott becoming a scorer is more important as that will open up more for the team and they'll be guys that could play 35 minutes a game as opposed to Amir's 24-26.
It's all subjective though as to what is more important, but I hope I'm wrong about Amir's ceiling this year and hopefully he tells me to GFM. If him, Scott, AND Thompson all make big jumps then this team can play with anyone.
I think its proven that Ross can and will score. My only concern with him, is that his doesn't have NBA on his mind and he becomes selfish. Lets be honest, that was the knock on him coming into OSU. The kid was once the #1 recruit in the country. It took him some time to figure things out. If he plays team ball, he will be fine. As for other scoring, I think people forget that Smith was a double digit scorer and Thompson avg 8pts. BUT, he only averaged about 25 minutues per game. Smith avg a little over that. Both will be at 30+ min per game, thus their scoring will adjust. And Craft was at 10 per game as well. So I don't think its out of the realm that OSU will have 4 double digit scorers, all with different abilities. That isnt' easy to defend. I love Scott as much as anyone. And IMO, he will continue to be that spark off the bench and get major minutes. Only issue with him, his outside shooting is horrendous. His shooting form is terrible. Not sure we will see THAT much improvement in that area. Hard to change something so drastically when he has done it for so long. But his quickness and play making make up for that most of the time.
As with Williams...I am not asking for 15/10. I'd like to see him around 8-10pts per game, and around 10rb per game. And even more so, like him on the floor defensively with those long arms in the paint. That is huge with what OSU has on the perimeter defensively. They can put more pressure on teams knowing Williams is in the paint to help out. Not too much to ask from a McDonalds All American in his junior year. As I said, he, IMO, is the key to take OSU to that next level and able to compete with some of the big boys. Just my two cents.
