Josh Huestis transfering to a prep school?

[whitetrashgriz]

man you are missing the point. or reading just bits and peices. If you would have been following this convo you would have known that they are talking about being more prepared not being recruited( aau and working out took care of that). The being recruited by bigger schools was the result of the tourneys and camps during the summer not playing highschool basketball in montana and playing for whatever aau team is in montana now. im glad he actually played for a well known aau team else he would be stuck with the option of montana and montana state. no one said he did anything wrong its obvious that this summer he did the RIGHT thing by getting out of the state

i don't think i'm missing your point at all. my point, is the kid is good, and he has been in montana his whole life. he must be doing something to hone his skills during the season to perform as well as he does in the tournies. i don't think anyone is denying that montana isn't a hot bed for basketball talent. but that is another fact that makes your opinion make very little sense to me. montana guys don't play in the nba. it just never happens. larry k is the last i remember doing so, and he went to school at montana. you say that if he goes to a private school that will give him a better chance of playing big time college ball. might be true, but he's already being recruited by those schools so moving to cali may not be the answer. you say going to a big time college allows montana kids a better opportunity of moving to the next level. i'm asking you, what do you base this opinion on? what montana kid passed up on um or msu to play at a big college and went on the the nba? the fact of the matter is that guys in the nba are there because they are the best in the world. blake griffin would have been the number 1 pick this year whether he played at ok. st., duke, montana state, or out of highschool. rodney stuckey was a top 15 pick in the draft and now an nba starter out of eastern washington. devean george was a 1st rounder out of a d-3 school. my point is, if you have the game you have the game. much of this gets lost on me because you seem to think josh is nba bound, and i don't see it. i hope i'm wrong because i would love to see the first montanan in my lifetime make the nba. but if he has the talent to get there, and you and others are so sure of this, then he'll be just fine no matter where he goes to school. i see him playing in the pac-10, being a 2-3 year starter, maybe getting some nba tryouts like many college stars get to do, and eventually landing on a team as a reserve, or playing overseas. we won't know for years obviously, but i'm liking my odds.

[basketballp]

nba players can come from montana. If a player is talented and then goes to a prep school thats has coaches that works on there game at the position that they will play pro basketball. I watched josh out play players who are said by scouts and coaches to be future nba players so why cant he make it? Just because hes from montana?. players make the nba because of the lil things not just because they have talent. He has the talent he just needs to put it all together and thats where a good coach comes in that will take the time to work with him individually on his handles and toning up his jump shot. As far as big time college giving a kid a better chance at making it to the next level thats pretty self explainatory. yeah a player can make it from a small college but chances are alot better when they go to a big time college. thats not even a fair arguement, just look at where the majority of the nba players come from college wise. Im just telling you what other scouts,pros and college coaches say and im pretty sure those are the peopel who know what they are talking about

[quincey hodges]

Maybe im a lil biased because hes family but i think he has the talent to get there and im not the only one. The guy who trained him as well as other pros(euro and nba players) and scouts all say he has the talent to play in the nba and that his game is similar to grant hills because of the fact that he is a very very good rebound good defender very athletic nice jump shot and pretty good handles and the fact that he hasnt really been coached yet ( individual drills in practice things like thinks like that). im a lil on whitetrash side with he doesnt have to transfer in order to succeed, would it have helped , definatly. But like i said before as long as he works on his sf game in practice during the game and on his own time as well as work on it against good competion during next summer he will be fine. As far as the blake grifin thing . yeah he would have still made it to the nba but prob not number one pick because alot of nba scouts would have wondered if he could dominate against good competition like he did against low level competition ( if he went to a low level college) which is why players like kevin martin and eric maynor go so low in the draft . It also hurt that players like adonal foyle and micheal olwakandi played in small conferences and against low level competition, got drafted high then couldnt cut it like they did on there college team. playing against good comeptition always helps which was why stephan curry got drafted high. Before he dominated against duke and other toop college teams he just dominated against his conference teams and nba teams werent clamoring for him because they needed to see if he could score against better competition, which is why you dont see alot of players who dominate division 2,3 get drafted beause of the competition they played against. euro basketball is full of players who have the talent to play in the nba but didnt get the opportunity because of politics( colleges they went to) dahanty jones wasnt even thought of as far as given a chance before he transferred to duke. Coach k has sooooo many connections that all he has to say is give this kid a look and the team gives the kid a look. the same with lute olson, coach williams, calipari etc. its the same situation in football. usc had a qb drafted who played in about 4 games his whole career yet another small college had a 3 year starter who made all conference and didnt get drafted. Alot of times with the non college super stars its not what you know but who you know. I do understand that the odds are not in josh's favor because of the history of montana players actually making it, and i dont know the history of montana like ya'll but how many montana players have been recruited by top colleges by josh as well as being a 4.0 student and winning gatorade player of the year as a junior and leading his team to a state title?

[c.falls cat]

Another thing I think needs some consideration for the 'stay in montana for high school' side is that fact that he WILL be the man in every single game he plays in this year. I think there is a lot to be said for the experience that would give him. Every single team he plays against will start there game plan with "how do we stop Huestis"? Having the large target on his back means he will see dozens of different schemes and coverages designed to stop just him and for his team to win he will have to overcome that and still dominate. It will be good having to be the one to get it done. At a prep school where he is playing with 2 or 3 other D1 guys then he just becomes another player. He wouldn't see double and triple teams, he would not have to take and make the last shot in big games. I remember after Osweiler committed to Gonzaga he became a marked man, other teams and their kids relished the chance to take him on and see what they had and the crowds for the opposing team was always big and pumped up for those games. I think it was something that made Osweiler better. By the by, I think the crowd thing is another positive we have going for us here, I can't speak for finley prep, but I can say I have been to multiple games in the Seattle area and I was shocked at how few people they had, maybe half as much as a normal c.falls game and not near as loud. not much else going on in this state on a cold, winter, saturday night, i guess.

[quincey hodges]

That was a very good point c.falls. the option of prep school will always be there after his sr year or redshirt if he and the coaches feel he needs a year to get accustomed to the competition. Like i said before he will be alright as long as hes able to work on his sf skills during the game which im sure the coach will let him.

[markymark]

Quincy,

any update on where he was training or his trainers name? Was he running on Dinos's Belmont Shore AAU Team?

[quincey hodges]

my bad i completely forgot..i8ll get the trainers name and gm tonight. yeah it was belmont shore dino

[tetoncat]

I still think that most of the comments from people in the "know" talk about how he did not get good coaching or tough competition here, yet turn around a acknowledge that he got better from the individual training he got this summer. I guarantee you that any kid that has the connections or money to pay for individual training from top guys that also coach college and pro players in the summer, would get a lot better in a year. What it does tell me also is that to get better, he can play here and also do the individual stuff and he will be fine. I am sorry to say that whether it is a prep school or a high school in Montana, the coaches want to win. Prep school they will get more individual stuff but during the season it is about the team, learning plays, condition and games. Skill workouts are usually on your own during that time and then in the summer. There have been some very good AAU teams from here. It depends on the years, and on the players you can get to commit that much time. One thing I see here is more of the athletes that play 3 or 4 sports, so unless they really believe that they are D1 caliber they are probably playing baseball or with their high school teams rather than traveling around the US. I think it is great Josh got this opportunity.

[quincey hodges]

HOME DEPOT CENTER in Carson CA...Avi Meyerson. And yes its true you get better during the offseason and training and you get better by playing better competition since the better competition allows you to work on what you work on during the offseason. if you play against a player who cant stop you going right all the time then you will continue going right and not have to worry about having to go left or if youre a big man who is always going against guards you dont have to rely on a backup move or back up of that because you can just do one move. Ill let some of ya'll argue about it and not get involved since im sure the coaches and scouts know what they are talking about because they have been doing this most of there lives and get paid to know theses things. Anyway markymark theres the info you requested

[basketballp]

Im sorry but i have to disagree with there have been some good aau teams from here. If you mean good as far as winning the region of montana/wyoming/idaho then yeah but as far as nationally absolutly not. There was a montana aau teaam in vegas(or just montana players) and they were delegated to the second division of the tournament which the low division 1 coaches and d2 coaches go check out. The whole concept about transferring is to get better and its a fact that the chances of getting better is alot higher when you play against better competition. yes you can still make it to a big college if you are good and dominate against inferior competition but you will be more prepared if you play against better competition. its no different in football, baseball, and any other sport. Im sure we will all cheer for Josh if he stays or goes but my point as well as others is to want to see josh do whatever possibel to be the best player he can be and if that means going somewhere else to play against better competition then so be it. Prep school has far and away better advantages from many stand points. One you not only can work on youre game by youre self but you can work with a coach or trainer that has trained or coaches actually nba players or have gone and coached at actual pro clinics or talk to pros and top notch college coaches who will come to the practice and tell the player what exactly they need to work on. Its like the article on josh in the scouts.com site where he says academics will be a big part of his decision which means he will pick a school that will better prepare him academically for what ever career hes looking to go into. Thats no different then looking at the best basketball institution that has better competition that will better prepare a person to make it to the NBA. Out of all the colleges they listed it looks to me like the best choice as far as academics,competition,and visability by NBA scouts would be Stanford. Someone said earlier that its a slap in the face to not include montana,montana state because of this or that but if you have the option to go to the best schools for academics,sports,competition then its a no brainer to pick that school if they want you unless you know youre not good enough to play or survive in the class room, which Josh has showed he can do very well in both departments. Sorry im all over the place with this but things are just popping in my head while im typing

[Hawks86]

Someone said earlier that its a slap in the face to not include montana,montana state because of this or that but if you have the option to go to the best schools for academics,sports,competition then its a no brainer to pick that school if they want you unless you know youre not good enough to play or survive in the class room, which Josh has showed he can do very well in both departments. Sorry im all over the place with this but things are just popping in my head while im typing

I'm not into the he said she said back and forth disputes but your taking what I said out of context. You said that if Josh hadn't played where he did this summer he would be stuck playing for MSU or UM. Everybody wants whats best for Josh but it sure seems that the discussion can do without constantly bashing high school and college basketball in MT.

[quincey hodges]

lol..yeah you dont have to bash you're own state to get youre point across

[tetoncat]

I think the main problem I have is this discussion is focused on two different points. Onc is high school basketball and the other is summer camps/aau tourneys. Of course going to the best summer camps, having a personal trainer, and playing against the top aau teams will make you better and get you looked at. Osweiler got an offer from Gonzago going to their camps and playing in Washington. High school is a different story. A prep school will have advantages over any high school because they travel all around the country. Other wise, I don't care where you are at you are stuck playing teams in your own league. If you live in an area with a smaller school you will play against less overall talent.

Having had a kid go throught the recruiting practice, I know that talent is only part of it. Pimping them by going to camps, sending video, doing the traveling tourneys, and basically getting their name out has a lot to do with getting noticed. If you play well during any of these the coaches will take notice. The large AAU tourneys are just a way for the coaches to get to see a lot of kids in a small amount of time with limited travel.

[grizzh8r]

man you are missing the point. or reading just bits and peices. If you would have been following this convo you would have known that they are talking about being more prepared not being recruited( aau and working out took care of that). The being recruited by bigger schools was the result of the tourneys and camps during the summer not playing highschool basketball in montana and playing for whatever aau team is in montana now. im glad he actually played for a well known aau team else he would be stuck with the option of montana and montana state. no one said he did anything wrong its obvious that this summer he did the RIGHT thing by getting out of the state

i don't think i'm missing your point at all. my point, is the kid is good, and he has been in montana his whole life. he must be doing something to hone his skills during the season to perform as well as he does in the tournies. i don't think anyone is denying that montana isn't a hot bed for basketball talent. but that is another fact that makes your opinion make very little sense to me. montana guys don't play in the nba. it just never happens. larry k is the last i remember doing so, and he went to school at montana. you say that if he goes to a private school that will give him a better chance of playing big time college ball. might be true, but he's already being recruited by those schools so moving to cali may not be the answer. you say going to a big time college allows montana kids a better opportunity of moving to the next level. i'm asking you, what do you base this opinion on? what montana kid passed up on um or msu to play at a big college and went on the the nba? the fact of the matter is that guys in the nba are there because they are the best in the world. blake griffin would have been the number 1 pick this year whether he played at ok. st., duke, montana state, or out of highschool. rodney stuckey was a top 15 pick in the draft and now an nba starter out of eastern washington. devean george was a 1st rounder out of a d-3 school. my point is, if you have the game you have the game. much of this gets lost on me because you seem to think josh is nba bound, and i don't see it. i hope i'm wrong because i would love to see the first montanan in my lifetime make the nba. but if he has the talent to get there, and you and others are so sure of this, then he'll be just fine no matter where he goes to school. i see him playing in the pac-10, being a 2-3 year starter, maybe getting some nba tryouts like many college stars get to do, and eventually landing on a team as a reserve, or playing overseas. we won't know for years obviously, but i'm liking my odds.

/endthread

WTG once again proves he is a level-headed, insightful poster, and you two newbies know he's right. If the talent is there, he will play in the NBA. If not, he won't. Pretty cut-and-dried.


NEXT!

[quincey hodges]

im just giving my input since he is my family and i have seen what has gone on with the camps/workouts/aau tourneys this summer. not sure what everyone else is arguing about

[CPACAT]

I hear he is getting interest from Marquette and Georgetown.

[tetoncat]

Just one question, why hasn't Josh gone to those camps and such until this year? This isn't a slam, I am just really curious if his family had those connections why you wouldn't have taken advantage of it earlier and gotten his name out on the bigger stage sooner than right before his senior year.

[basketballp]

josh played in vegas last year and i heard he went to the washington state camp...but yeah he should have played with the belmont shore team last year because i saw him playing pf/center for that less talented team he was playing with last year. maybe they had too many players at his position or something.. i actualyl wouldnt be suprised if it was because he wanted to lay with his friends since thats what everyone on here says to the reason why hes staying for his senior year

[whitetrashgriz]

i actually wouldnt be suprised if it was because he wanted to lay with his friends since thats what everyone on here says to the reason why hes staying for his senior year

i can't speak for anyone else but i never said that WAS the reason he's going to stay in great falls. i don't know the kid. what i do know is that he's a pretty good talent. as i said before i'll be completely shocked if he ends up in the nba, but i'd love to be wrong. what i do know, is that he's still a kid. and as great as basketball is, family and friends should always come first. unless this kid was lebron james where he was a lock to be in the league and make millions, i think kids should be kids. enjoy school, sports, dances, girls, friends, etc. he has the rest of his life to work and try to impress people. no sense in starting now.

[basketballp]

in what way is he not being a kid/..im not really understanding what you are trying to say but im guessing you mean he should just stay in montana with his friends and enjoy life at his highschool then if his friends also goes to montana state he should also go there and be with his friends and enjoy life etc?..is that what youre saying?..just asking. but if that is what you are saying then a kid can have just as much fun going somewhere else and making friends at where ever they go because youre friends and family will still be there.