Thoughts on Rakeem Christmas

by FeloniousPhunk on Jan 8, 2012 5:55 PM EST

It's no secret that the former McDonald's All-American known as Rakeem Christmas isn't exactly setting the world on fire during his freshman campaign. Jared Sullenger, he isn't. In fact, the only reason words like "bust" and "disappointment" aren't being applied because he came in lacking the requisite hype, a la Fab Melo. Like freshman Fab, Rakeem continues to start games only to see very limited action in most games. They say that bigs take longer to develop and history has proven that axiom out, as do Rak's numbers: 12.4 MPG, 3.4 PPG 2.3 RPG, 0.7 BPG. I can only imagine how frustrated he is.

What I find encouraging is that, despite his struggles, Rak continues to come to play. I think that after the DeShonte Riley debacle, Jim B is making a concerted effort to get his young bigs more minutes. It doesn't do for the anchor of your D to have the "deer in the headlights" look when forced into action by foul trouble, injuries, whatever. And, even though his production is lacking, I think Rakeem has responded well. Unlike Riley a couple seasons ago, I've yet to see Rakeem intimidated by anyone. He's still getting used to no longer being the biggest guy on the court and getting used to the speed of the college game, but I've yet to see him back down from anyone. Several times this season I've seen, on both ends, him battling for post position and the opposing player ends up on the floor. This is a good thing. The worst thing that can happen for a young big is be scared to mix it up in the paint. That was Riley's problem. Rak's game will come around to where his work for position ends up in dunks and monster blocks. Once that happens, Syracuse's front line will be that much more formidable and likely unrivaled in the college game.

Tweet Comment 11 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

It's always good to get your young bigs roatation

Some bigs take time to adjust to the college game, and aren’t designed to be effective out of the gate; Greg Oden was more the exception rather than the rule. Rick Jackson and AO took time to develop. Both of them had solid sophomore years. Fab is having a solid sophomore year. I’m going to expect Rak to make a huge jump over the summer, especially since he’s nowhere near as bad as Fab was last year. Fab even struggled against the easy opponents. Rak isn’t struggling as bad.

by adselver15 on Jan 8, 2012 7:13 PM EST reply actions

He starts the game and only plays a couple minutes...

.. because he obviously can’t get up and down the court to make a play. If only his conditioning was better so that he could be out there past the 17:55 mark.

/sarc

by Anon5QADEtU4 on Jan 8, 2012 7:21 PM EST reply actions

Rak is the latest in a long line of Syracuse big men

that looked rough as a freshman and, eventually, turned out to be a great player (Seikely, Etan, Onuaku, RickJack, Fab, etc…). He’ll be fine.

Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician - The Syracuse blog that cares.

If you've got time, buy my book "How To Grow An Orange", visit SeanKeeley.com and follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

by Sean Keeley on Jan 8, 2012 7:56 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

True

But let’s hope he doesn’t follow the line of Roberts, Watkins, Gorman, Celuck, Forth, etc. I don’t think he will, but it’s worth keeping in mind.

"If I ain't gonna be part of the greatest, I gotta be the greatest myself." Busta Rhymes

by FeloniousPhunk on Jan 9, 2012 10:16 AM EST up reply actions

Forth

I wouldn’t call Forth a bust. He played the zone well, altered lots of shots, and his best game ever was the ‘03 championship. He was never an offensive force, but he was a stabilizing factor in the zone and was an Academic All-American as well. I’m with you on the others you mentioned, though.

by SUalum2002 on Jan 9, 2012 12:17 PM EST up reply actions

Forth was a solid role player

But he also didn’t get any better over 4 years either.

"If I ain't gonna be part of the greatest, I gotta be the greatest myself." Busta Rhymes

by FeloniousPhunk on Jan 9, 2012 1:16 PM EST up reply actions

Rak is gonna break out big time next year

He showed the dreaded “flashes” during the non-conference sched.

by DukePettyjohn on Jan 8, 2012 9:11 PM EST reply actions

Rak, Melo, and the one and done hype

Heres the thing Ive noticed. scrappy guards and sometimes well developed forwards (already have great 3 point shot and can drive) can be one and done.

How many big men can do it? Its very rare, after I looked it up, the NCAA has had only 5 one and done Big Men since 2006. We have had Daniel Orten, Greg Oden, Tiny Gallon, BJ Mullen and Hassan Whiteside, so 5 in the last 5 years, and most of them end up warming the bench, although Oden is good when healthy and Whiteside has put up good numbers.

Thats an average of 1 big man from 365 schools every year is a “one and done”

You notice most of these guys have spent so much of their high school career dominating basketball games they never actually had to learn to play against commensurate talent, unlike their smaller counterparts of the backcourt and wing.

Rak definitely needed some NCAA seasoning, back to the original point, but its just so rare for the bigger guys to be a standout their first year, so Im not worried about him at all. I would say he is already far more developed as a freshman than Fab was

by Pinker on Jan 8, 2012 10:17 PM EST reply actions

Great post

and great research. Mullen, Gallon, Whiteside, and Orton are all trash (for now).

So the big man one-and-dones who are successful are even more rare than a Syracuse OOC road game /jokes

Check out the NetsDaily official forum!

by pegs on Jan 8, 2012 11:39 PM EST up reply actions

Indeed

Although Anthony Davis is going to be a one and done and so was Enes Kanter (despite never playing in the NCAA). Davis was a guard that grew into a PF/C and Kanter was already a pro.

But yeah. Big guys that come in and dominate are rare. The high school kids that skipped college and went straight the NBA (e.g., Garnett, Howard, Brown etc.) already had exceptional footwork, mobility, and could shoot (Garnett anyway).

Much like the lament that Syracuse can’t shoot free throws (though this season, FT% is much improved with Joseph, Fair, and Keita shooting better than 70% and Rak not far behind). With the exception of Scoop.

And just because I’m looking at Scoop’s numbers right now:
Free Throw % by year (FR—→SR):
82.9% 75% 66% 51.7%

3PT% by year (FR——>SR)
27.8% 38.9% 35.7% 28.9%

Assist to Turnover (FR——>SR):
1.39 2.25 2.05 1.89

I've been involved in a number of cults, both as a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower. But you make more money as a leader.

by Fly Rodder on Jan 9, 2012 8:52 AM EST up reply actions

Also can't forget that

We have DaJuan Coleman coming down the pipe next year. The development of our big men like Fab, Christmas and Keita will allow Coleman to not have high expectations production-wise even though he is a highly heralded recruit.

by OJthecuseman on Jan 9, 2012 2:43 AM EST via mobile reply actions