2 guys that are going to make at least $100,000,000 playing basketball as a profession. It is almost a given. They have to wait 1 year to start really monetizing their abilities and are forced to play in college. If you are going to say their 1st ever game at the RAC is just "practice" then playing on a Tuesday night in late January at Penn State at 6PM in front of 3,000 fans will be no different
This idea that the freshmen are just gonna not give a crap, not try and win games is just so absurd and goes against any logic and is just a boomer take. Maybe cause of experience they’ll fail at some situational moments, be slow on rotations etc but these kids want to win and are incentivized to! You really think NBA scouts just want to watch these players do nothing to win and just chuck shots? Even if Dylan and Ace came with selfish intentions, those intentions line up with us winning
One other consideration here is the competitive fire Ace and Dylan both have. From all I've seen and read, they have that "Eye of the Tiger" type of competitiveness that drives highly talented players to be special. So even if they're only here 9 months and Rutgers is a stepping-stone to the NBA, these are kids that (1) WANT to get better; (2) WANT to WIN; and (3) seem to trust Pike to get to nos. 1 and 2.
Of course I do. Do you realize how much money both of these guys are going to make in 8 months? We are both fans so i don't want to be a jerk....but you may be Alex Verdugo here. Have fun playing golf today and sorry you made the last out.
I do think it’s unfounded to suggest Ace and Dylan’s intent will be anything other than to give 100% for their team. Especially at the start of the season and especially if the season is going well.
But, there is a very high likelihood that should a kyrie type situation occur, that these guys will take the kyrie path. That’s just the reality of the landscape of basketball in our country when it comes to lottery picks. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is more important than not jeopardizing getting to their second NBA contract. I am much more worried about Ace slightly tweaking a knee or Dylan rolling an ankle and shutting it down in the beginning of December. These short CBB seasons come and go quick. They have no incentive to rush back. It happens less likely than it doesn’t, don’t get me wrong.
The other scenario, should we fail to be on track to be a tournament team in late January, would be making assumptions we just don’t know how they would react yet.
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