Wolters an NBA Prospect?

[SDSUAlum08]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

I've never seen anyone with court vision like Kendall Marshall. I don't think Kendall Marshall gets drafted either though, and will be at North Carolina all 4 years.

Kendall Marshall is chosen in the mock draft at #14 per NBAdraft.net. He's going to get drafted. He's a stud. This was updated 4 days ago.

http://www.nbadraft.net/2012mock_draft

[Hoopsdude18]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

Here's an interesting anecdote. Last year I wrote a long post on Wolters for my then-Oakland blog, and that post has generated a lot of hits through Google searches over the last year when people search "Nate Wolters" or "Nate Wolters NBA." So that blog has been dormant since March, and over the last two days it has had over 50 unique hits for people searching Nate in Google. Also my Summit blog has got another 30 unique hits from the same search since the Washington game yesterday. To put that in perspective, the blogs have got just 8 other unique hits for other Google searches combined since yesterday afternoon. Granted, this is just one small example, but my guess is that a lot of folks have been trying to learn who this Nate Wolters fella is after yesterday's performance. Definitely the breakthrough game he needed to become more of a national name.

Keith Benson was doing great things but flying under the radar on the national level until he had a similar breakout game against Kansas. It did wonders for his "name" recognition which paid off with more people paying attention to him as an NBA-caliber player.

[joeboo22]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

Kendall Marshall is chosen in the mock draft at #14 per NBAdraft.net. He's going to get drafted. He's a stud. This was updated 4 days ago.

http://www.nbadraft.net/2012mock_draft

I'm the biggest Kendall Marshall fan out there, I think that is ridiculously high though..... Hope he doesn't go....

[witness]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

I compared Marshall and Wolters because they have similar skillsets and seem to have the same cons in their game with Marshall being a better passer and Wolters being a better shooter. Marshall at #14 is funny because his "d" is atrocious and his d or lack thereof is one of the main reasons they lost to UNLV. Doesn't have that great of a jumpshot either.

[filbert]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

I have no idea about NBA, but if Wolters continues to put up Wolters numbers and SDSU continues to win, I think you might very well see a game at Frost Arena broadcast on one of the ESPN family of networks come Bracketbuster weekend . . .

[filbert]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

The NBA players are on strike. I don't think they will play until the fall of 2012.

Wow. Just . . . wow.

[NebraskaJack]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

....He isn't a great talent, I've talked to coaches who watch him and say he is a D-II talent in terms of athleticism. He has worked really hard and has high basketball IQ which allows for him to get his floater to drop....

Joeboo, can you explain this part of your post ...... I'm not sure where the high IQ equates to getting a running floater to drop.

In my book it takes a tremendous amount of touch. The amount of touch he displays is just another form of athleticism. I think too many people measure athleticism only by how high you can jump or how fast you can run. Nate's athleticism comes from body control ......not very often does he throw up a wild shot when he drives the lane. He typically is aware of his surroundings and has somee form of control to square up and get off a shot even though he isn't playing above the rim. I do agree with his high IQ though ......he is able to see situations and opportunities which allow him to create separation and take advantage of the fact that he isn't tremendously quick.

[joeboo22]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

Joeboo, can you explain this part of your post ...... I'm not sure where the high IQ equates to getting a running floater to drop.

In my book it takes a tremendous amount of touch. The amount of touch he displays is just another form of athleticism. I think too many people measure athleticism only by how high you can jump or how fast you can run. Nate's athleticism comes from body control ......not very often does he throw up a wild shot when he drives the lane. He typically is aware of his surroundings and has somee form of control to square up and get off a shot even though he isn't playing above the rim. I do agree with his high IQ though ......he is able to see situations and opportunities which allow him to create separation and take advantage of the fact that he isn't tremendously quick.

What I mean by IQ is getting the angles, and stopping for the floater and hitting it, too many try to go to the rim and put up an off balance shot that is contested. He does have good touch, and I should have mentioned that, but I just meant getting it up at a good place with the defender off of him as the high IQ part.

[NebraskaJack]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

Makes sense.

[SDSUAlum08]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

Joeboo, can you explain this part of your post ...... I'm not sure where the high IQ equates to getting a running floater to drop.

When my brother and I were at the U of Minnesota game, we talked about this a little bit in respect to the entire team. SDSU's squad consists of a bunch of BASKETBALL players with high basketball IQs. They all play as one cohesive unit. Are they unathletic? No. But they aren't athletic as a big time 'BCS' program. 'BCS' programs take great ATHLETES and turn them into basketball players.

Nate Wolters is more of a great BASKETBALL player than an ATHLETE.

[joeboo22]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

When my brother and I were at the U of Minnesota game, we talked about this a little bit in respect to the entire team. SDSU's squad consists of a bunch of BASKETBALL players with high basketball IQs. They all play as one cohesive unit. Are they unathletic? No. But they aren't athletic as a big time 'BCS' program. 'BCS' programs take great ATHLETES and turn them into basketball players.

Nate Wolters is more of a great BASKETBALL player than an ATHLETE.

Yes, and that is where it hurts in terms of NBA draft. A team will draft a guy on his athleticism alone. That is not always the case for a basketball player. Ben Hansbrough who is a similar type of player was not drafted last year.

[RabbitNation]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

Checking out the Huskies message board and saw this:

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/...5-21-25--3818/

Some info from article:

From NBA Draftexpress:

<<Brookings, South Dakota has historically been non-existent on the maps of most NBA scouts, but Nate Wolters may be giving them some reason to change that. The Jackrabbits point guard put together one of the more well-rounded stat-lines in the country last season, posting averages of 19.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 6.1 assists while shooting nearly 41% from beyond the arc. As a standout at a non-traditional basketball school playing in a small conference like the Summit, however, Wolters has an uphill battle to prove he can play at an elite level of competition.

Physically, Wolters is a mixed bag when projecting him as a pro. At 6-foot-4 he has good size for the point and is solid enough to withstand some contact off the dribble. His length is also a positive, playing a big role in his above average rebounding numbers for his position. From there, however, things tend to tail off to a degree. Wolters isn't always quick enough to consistently beat Summit League defenders off the dribble, let alone NBA caliber players, nor is he a particularly explosive leaper. He is able to create offense thanks to his shiftiness with the ball and ability to change speeds, but how this would translate playing against more physically gifted players is still a question mark.

Based on his physical profile, terrific ball-handling skills and ability to play at different speeds, it should come as no surprise that SDSU utilizes Wolters most frequently in pick-and-roll sets, accounting for 28.1% of his total possessions last season according to Synergy Sports.

He does a tremendous job here of mixing up his scoring with his passing ability, finding players creatively in every way possible, be it bounce passes, post-entries, kick-outs, lobs or drop-offs at the rim. Wolters is indeed one of the best passers in college basketball, ranking 5th amongst all prospects in assists per-40 pace adjusted, and 3rd in Pure Point Ratio. Wolters' unselfishness and excellent basketball IQ are clearly significant reasons his team ranked as the 25th most efficient offense in all of college basketball season.>>

[jackmd]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XYRK61RfHo

[mitchell]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

Legitamate NBA talk has begun.

From Chad Ford's ESPN NBA Draft column (only available to users with an Insider account)

Sleeper
We've been inundated with small-school point guards like Iona's Scott Machado (Top 100 Rank: 34), Weber State's Damian Lillard (Top 100 Rank: 46) and Long Beach State's Casper Ware (Top 100 Rank: 100) this season. It looks like we need to add a fourth one, South Dakota State's Nate Wolters (Top 100 Rank: 89) to the mix. Wolters just got done lighting up Washington for 34 points, seven assists and zero turnovers in an upset win. He's been doing stuff like that all season. While Wolters lacks the requisite hyper-athleticism of other elite point guards, he's got toughness, craftiness and fearlessness going for him. And at his size, he's able to score over smaller point guards. No one is talking about Wolters as a sure-fire first-rounder, but a number of scouts I've spoken with think he's got a real shot at the NBA.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/blog/...-100-prospects

[jacksfan29]

Re: Wolters an NBA Prospect?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XYRK61RfHo

Looks like a non-athletic D2 talent to me

Snark aside, this is the type of talent that I hope comes around more often. If we intend to be a mid-major team who others respect the Wolters of the world need to feel comfortable coming to SDSU knowing that their skills will be recognized nationally. The buzz around Nate can only help this program in the future.