Will Tyler Cook get drafted?

[Adam]

He has slow reaction time compared to his peers. Of course I guy with his height and jumping ability can dunk rebounds. I didn't say he has the reaction time of a turtle.(do turtles even have slow reaction times?) You can see a clear difference between Cook and Baer in regards to how quickly they react to something on the court. If you could put Baer's reaction time into Cook's athleticism, he would have the potential to be an elite rebounder. But since you can't do that, he doesn't have the ability to be elite. That's not to say he couldn't be better if he applied himself more.

The all time great rebounders have an undefined raw instinct that places them nanoseconds ahead of others. Tyler Cook will never be one of these guys. He has no nanosecond advantage. His rebounding efforts will be predicated on doing the little things. In my opinion though you do not take Tyler to simply play him as a post forward. I believe if he gets an NBA shot it will be for a team that envisions spreading him out. In this particular role his rebounding opportunities are likely to be more of the long misses. Theoretically this would allow him to use his size and athleticism in a truly reactionary sense. Instead of the kind of post rebounding that requires alot more predictive work. Body position, shot awareness, etc.

 

[Ian Pike Hammer]

The all time great rebounders have an undefined raw instinct that places them nanoseconds ahead of others. Tyler Cook will never be one of these guys. He has no nanosecond advantage. His rebounding efforts will be predicated on doing the little things. In my opinion though you do not take Tyler to simply play him as a post forward. I believe if he gets an NBA shot it will be for a team that envisions spreading him out. In this particular role his rebounding opportunities are likely to be more of the long misses. Theoretically this would allow him to use his size and athleticism in a truly reactionary sense. Instead of the kind of post rebounding that requires alot more predictive work. Body position, shot awareness, etc.

The focused human reaction can be very quick. Albert Pujols had a reaction time 1/3 of a second faster than the fastest person ever tested b4! It was almost inhuman= freaky fast!!
Of course, he's slowed down since then, but that is how he was able to hit so many HR's in such a [relatively] short time.

 

[Northside Hawk]

10-12 years ago I think TC could sneak into the late first round, but the game has changed so much that it doesn’t match what he excels at.

80-85% of the players in the league have to find a niche, a role. Obviously, TC will never be part of that 15-20% so he has to figure out how he becomes part of the 80-85%. Imo, he needs to be that guy we saw in the second half of the Tennessee game. Buckets in transition, putbacks, the occasional back to the basket shot. He shouldn’t forget about working on his jumper, but I think it would help him more if he learned how to become a better defender.

I would say the same thing about Roy Marble Sr. He came along about ten years too late. The NBA in the late seventies early eighties was heavily populated by Julius Erving, Adrian Dantley, Walter Davis, Jamaal Wilkes, Bobby Gross types who could attack on the drive and from the baseline and on the offensive glass. Guys who would aggressively fill lanes toward the basket on the break instead of fanning out to the three point line and waiting for the kickout pass. All in that 6'5, 6'6 range. Now that type of player seldom exsts, and if he does he has to be a strong outside shooter. In fact the entire small forward position, once a glamour spot in both the NBA and college, doesn't exist anymore. Almost every team employs three guards. At first, one used to politely be called a "swingman". Now he's just called a guard.

Dean Smith used to produce players of the small forward type like they rolled off an assembly line. Even Michael Jordan played small forward during most of his North Carolina career.

If all Roy Marble was asked to do was drive, penetrate, attack the rim, rebound, and fill a lane on the break, he would have been an NBA star. Instead, he was asked to shoot from the outside and he never developed that shot at Iowa or in the NBA like so many others do, or are forced to do. Roy's off the court issues, which actually started at Iowa, didn't help his cause either. But he would definitely have fit into the NBA circa 1980 when it came to recreational substance issues.

By 1990 the game had changed drastically and it hurt players like Roy. It's changed even more drastically since then. Hell, it's changed just in the last three to five years.