More to Woodbury than just height

He is a lot more aggressive than I thought he would be. He's just not strong enough yet, but I have to admit that he has outplayed my expectations. I think he will struggle in Big Ten play, but I am more excited about his future now than I was. I think he has a chance to really take off next year, where during the summer I thought he'd be two years in the making. It has also been interesting to see how much attention he has attracted when the ball has gone into him. Wonder if Big Ten teams will double down on him or play him straight up at first.
 
He is so much further along as a freshman than any other center in Iowa history and its not even close. I'm curious to see how much his lack of athletic ability hampers him down the road. The downside to him being so skilled is he might actually be closer to his ceiling now than anyone realizes.
 
DuffMan said:
He is so much further along as a freshman than any other center in Iowa history and its not even close. I'm curious to see how much his lack of athletic ability hampers him down the road. The downside to him being so skilled is he might actually be closer to his ceiling now than anyone realizes.
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I agree with the first sentence. Somebody last week compared him to Les Jepsen, which is not a good comparison because Jeppy was such a late bloomer.

With regard to the rest of your post, I actually have been pleasantly surprised with Woody's athleticism. He runs the floor pretty well for a giraffe and seems to have good eye-hand coordination. He does lack in leaping ability. I'm not saying he is Jared Sullinger, but he ain't chopped liver in the athleticism department.

One thing that is interesting to me, however, is that he has extremely narrow shoulders for a guy his size. That could affect his ability to score regularly against other tall centers with his jump-hook because the defender will be 4 or 5 inches closer to the ball when it is released than they "should" be.
 
LG210 said:
I agree with the first sentence. Somebody last week compared him to Les Jepsen, which is not a good comparison because Jeppy was such a late bloomer.

With regard to the rest of your post, I actually have been pleasantly surprised with Woody's athleticism. He runs the floor pretty well for a giraffe and seems to have good eye-hand coordination. He does lack in leaping ability. I'm not saying he is Jared Sullinger, but he ain't chopped liver in the athleticism department.

One thing that is interesting to me, however, is that he has extremely narrow shoulders for a guy his size. That could affect his ability to score regularly against other tall centers with his jump-hook because the defender will be 4 or 5 inches closer to the ball when it is released than they "should" be.[/QUOTE]

Combine this with his 6 inch vertical (at best) and you are correct. I still don't understand all the extreme hype over him besides the fact 7 ft kids don't grow on trees. I get that. A big, long, tall body clogging up the middle of the lane? Yes. A dominate center on either the offensive or defensive side of things? I don't see it happening. Then again, that's why I'm sitting here responding to an online post and Fran is collecting a 7 figure salary for coaching our Hawkeyes.
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BasketballMan said:
LG210 said:
I agree with the first sentence. Somebody last week compared him to Les Jepsen, which is not a good comparison because Jeppy was such a late bloomer.

With regard to the rest of your post, I actually have been pleasantly surprised with Woody's athleticism. He runs the floor pretty well for a giraffe and seems to have good eye-hand coordination. He does lack in leaping ability. I'm not saying he is Jared Sullinger, but he ain't chopped liver in the athleticism department.

One thing that is interesting to me, however, is that he has extremely narrow shoulders for a guy his size. That could affect his ability to score regularly against other tall centers with his jump-hook because the defender will be 4 or 5 inches closer to the ball when it is released than they "should" be.[/QUOTE]

Combine this with his 6 inch vertical (at best) and you are correct. I still don't understand all the extreme hype over him besides the fact 7 ft kids don't grow on trees. I get that. A big, long, tall body clogging up the middle of the lane? Yes. A dominate center on either the offensive or defensive side of things? I don't see it happening. Then again, that's why I'm sitting here responding to an online post and Fran is collecting a 7 figure salary for coaching our Hawkeyes.
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Reminder: Offered by UNC, Ohio State, Stanford, etc.
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He has many things you cant teach. He's 7'1 and can use either hand with his jump hook, hes an excellent passer and moves extremely well. He looks comfortable on the floor. I thought he would be a total project, Im not sure why, but I was wrong, the kid has skills. He will be excellent, but be patient with the kid, this isnt Patrick Ewing.
 
BasketballMan said:
LG210 said:
I agree with the first sentence. Somebody last week compared him to Les Jepsen, which is not a good comparison because Jeppy was such a late bloomer.

With regard to the rest of your post, I actually have been pleasantly surprised with Woody's athleticism. He runs the floor pretty well for a giraffe and seems to have good eye-hand coordination. He does lack in leaping ability. I'm not saying he is Jared Sullinger, but he ain't chopped liver in the athleticism department.

One thing that is interesting to me, however, is that he has extremely narrow shoulders for a guy his size. That could affect his ability to score regularly against other tall centers with his jump-hook because the defender will be 4 or 5 inches closer to the ball when it is released than they "should" be.[/QUOTE]

Combine this with his 6 inch vertical (at best) and you are correct. I still don't understand all the extreme hype over him besides the fact 7 ft kids don't grow on trees. I get that. A big, long, tall body clogging up the middle of the lane? Yes. A dominate center on either the offensive or defensive side of things? I don't see it happening. Then again, that's why I'm sitting here responding to an online post and Fran is collecting a 7 figure salary for coaching our Hawkeyes.
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Remember- He was named MVP of of the NBA Top 100 camp the summer before his senior year of high school.
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DuffMan said:
He is so much further along as a freshman than any other center in Iowa history and its not even close. I'm curious to see how much his lack of athletic ability hampers him down the road. The downside to him being so skilled is he might actually be closer to his ceiling now than anyone realizes.
Click to expand...

He's pretty athletic for a 7' human being. Much like other posters have said, it's his explosiveness/leaping ability that we notice he lacks. He will definitely gain some in the coming years but he will never be someone leaping out of the gym to make highlight real blocks. I'm sure there will be a big emphasis on this in the coming off-season.

That being said, he looks like he will have a solid career at Iowa and with an additional 15-20 pounds, could turn out to be a pretty good center for the Hawks.
 
I am very pleased with Woody to this point.

Physically, he is stronger than I imagined a 7'1.25'' frosh would be. His frame is not huge,but it is not small....average. Huge rack like Meyers Leonard? No. Still, within the acceptable range. Zeller does not have huge shoulders either,but he has packed on impressive muscle in the offseason,and I could see Woody doing the same before next season.
He runs very well. His standing vertical is not good...but can be worked on.
His skills are very good...shoots a solid jump hook with either hand,and can put it on the floor well.
Good touch out to 15 ft. Very good hands. Stays on his feet when defending in the paint.

This all adds up to a good start for a college center.
If he can improve his strength and jumping, he will be an NBA prospect.
 
Never thought of him as a project, nor do I think he's not strong. He is deliberate and that was apparent from video. He is coordinated, but not as quick as many 7 footers and likely never will be, which may be his limitation. He is not as fluid as Steve Waite was even as a freshman, nor as strong as special K as a soph.

Adam is unique. His presence makes a difference. Not sure he's ever going to be a dominating B1G center, but he will make a difference. Especially when Iowa gets athletic and quick 6-6 swingmen, which is sorely missing.
 
I don't know what basketball man thinks as dominant, but it's pretty easy to see him averaging double figures for his career and morphing into a 15 ppg scorer. That would be a pretty dominant offensive force in my book.
 
Briggs32 said:
He's pretty athletic for a 7' human being. Much like other posters have said, it's his explosiveness/leaping ability that we notice he lacks. He will definitely gain some in the coming years but he will never be someone leaping out of the gym to make highlight real blocks. I'm sure there will be a big emphasis on this in the coming off-season.

That being said, he looks like he will have a solid career at Iowa and with an additional 15-20 pounds, could turn out to be a pretty good center for the Hawks.
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Well sure he is. Hell I'm pretty athletic for a 240 pound 37 year old white guy. That doesn't make either of us very athletic in basketball terms. In terms of explosiveness and leaping ability he's the least athletic player on the floor almost every night.
 
Basketballman: change the name. If you can't see what he brings to the table, you don't know the game.
It isn't just about height.
Woody knows how to play: a quality rarer in players his height than being able to jump.
He would be better than Brommer/Archie if he was 6'9, 6'5 or 5'11 for 1 reason: he plays the game with intelligence, aggression, and skill.
 
JonDMiller said:
He is a lot more aggressive than I thought he would be. He's just not strong enough yet, but I have to admit that he has outplayed my expectations. I think he will struggle in Big Ten play, but I am more excited about his future now than I was. I think he has a chance to really take off next year, where during the summer I thought he'd be two years in the making. It has also been interesting to see how much attention he has attracted when the ball has gone into him. Wonder if Big Ten teams will double down on him or play him straight up at first.
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I don't think BIG teams will double him right away, that said, I believe they will as Adam really can beat players straight up, the only thing is, will he be able to get shots off against Payne, Zeller and Morgan when he plays them.

Adam has far exceeded my expectations, I predicted bigger numbers than what he has produced, but he also is playing far less due to foul trouble. When he starts to stay out of foul trouble and his minutes increase so will his numbers, that may not be until next year.

There really is nothing I don't like about Woodbury's game, except for one thing...when he gets an offensive rebound, he does get them blocked a lot, seems like he is in such a rush to get rid of it...I would attribute that to the hacking he got in HS, get the ball up and out of his hands before he got mugged.

I can't say that I agree with Tim McCormick on many things, but he said Adam would be the best Center in Iowa history, from all the players I have seen in my time, I would agree. I like the energy and hustle and work ethic he brings...he not only has those things, but he also has a lot of talent to go with it...unlike some other current players.
 
Guys, Woodbury stinks even though he was a top 50 recruit. Only recruits that are actually worth their ranking in any sport are ones that play football for Paul Rhoads.
 
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