PG Aaron Craft (B1G 6th MOY '11, Def POY '12, Acad AA, Dolomiti En. TR - Italy)

[brodybuck21]

I love Craft but I don't see him making it in the NBA

thats the thing, no one thought he'd succeed on the AAU level. Then no one thought he'd be more than a role player at the Collegiate Level. Id never bet against this kid. Plus hes a much better athlete and offensive bball player than most people want to give him credit for. Plus if guys like eric snow could last as long as he did in the NBA why not craft?

 

[MGMT]

Being a doctor for life > below average nba player for a few years

 

[LitlBuck]

thats the thing, no one thought he'd succeed on the AAU level. Then no one thought he'd be more than a role player at the Collegiate Level. Id never bet against this kid. Plus hes a much better athlete and offensive bball player than most people want to give him credit for. Plus if guys like erick snow could last as long as he did in the NBA why not craft?

Agree. During the season I thought about this a little and did not think that Craft would be a good fit in the NBA but he still has another year to work on his shooting and it seems like when guys go to the NBA their shooting always seems to improve plus Aaron would bring so many intangibles to a team. Your comparison with Eric Snow is spot on. Snow was not a very good shooter in college and, at this point in his career, Craft is a much better all-around ballplayer than Snow. Thank goodness we have another year to enjoy Aaron Craft:)

 

[brodybuck21]

Agree. During the season I thought about this a little and did not think that Craft would be a good fit in the NBA but he still has another year to work on his shooting and it seems like when guys go to the NBA their shooting always seems to improve plus Aaron would bring so many intangibles to a team. Your comparison with Eric Snow is spot on. Snow was not a very good shooter in college and, at this point in his career, Craft is a much better all-around ballplayer than Snow. Thank goodness we have another year to enjoy Aaron Craft:)

according to wiki Eric is 6' 3 190

craft is listed at 6'2 189

Eric's career highlights are listed as NBA All Defesneive 2nd team 2003, 2000 NBA Sportsmanship and 2005 Good citizens Awards as well. Career averages of 6.8 pts, 5 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

 

[MONTbigBuck]

Being a doctor for life > below average nba player for a few years

A few points. In the big picture maybe, but why not do both. I would imagine that Craft would take pride in a NBA career later in life, even if brief. It is a very small fraternity. As far as his potential, I for one would not underestimate what kind of player he could ultimately be. AC only needs to improve his jumper to drastically improve his offensive game. I am many times amazed at how often he gets to the hole when he doesn't have either a break-down handle or the shot that a defender has to honor. John Stockton had a hof career making the correct decision with the pick and roll for about 15 years. He was able to hit the shot when it was given him, and make a lot of times a simple pass to Malone for an assist. A believe AC is a lot better athlete than Stockton and twice the defender. I am not at all trying to say AC is a potential HOFer, but only demonstrating that an NBA point guard needn't be an above the rim player to be successful. I am a NBA fan and know that it will only take the one correct team for Craft to be drafted. Another point to consider with Craft is that he lost much of his offseason last year to the bone chip-spur surgery. Hopefully he goes into this offseason healthy and can shoot the couple of thousand shots a day in the offseason to cement in his proper mechanics through repetition. AC has a nice touch. He just needs to be able to replicate his own successful form game after game. Good news for us Buckeye fans is that he will have another year in Columbus to improve. If he can get to a point where defenders have to honor his shot, I think we will have a whole different conversation about his pro potential.

 

[UpNorthBuckeye]

precedent:
John Frank: Great Ohio State tight end.
Played 5 or 6 years (?) for the 49ers.
Quit football to become a doc.

Now, I'm not sure if he's an optician, or a brain surgeon..... but he is some kind of doc.

Craft could do it.

Used to think Krenzel could do it, but then he got his bell rung too many times.

Bill Bradley did it --- not a doc but a politician.

But I do agree - thank god we have him another year.

 

[DZ83CK]

I think Craft has made some significant strides on offense. He is starting to be more and more of a consistent scorer, he's getting more confident and using a wider array of scoring moves especially when he gets close to the basket. If he keeps building on what he already shows flashes of being able to do, the last big piece to the puzzle is being more of a 3-point shooter.

 

[RB07OSU]

I think Craft has made some significant strides on offense. He is starting to be more and more of a consistent scorer, he's getting more confident and using a wider array of scoring moves especially when he gets close to the basket. If he keeps building on what he already shows flashes of being able to do, the last big piece to the puzzle is being more of a 3-point shooter.

This. I will be honest in saying I have no idea how to evaluate an NBA talent other than the obvious stars, but Craft's midrange pull-back jumper is nice now. Looks a little awkward with the way he leans into it but he is confident, doesn't hesitate, and they are mostly going in. Plus he is getting to the basket and finding a way to get the layup in...he has been doing this against great defenders, namely Oledipo from IU. Of course we all know he locks down the best of the best on defense, so I agree that his 3 point shooting could get him drafted.

Side note: I am going to go watch his game winning 3 about another hundred times now

 

[keeganbrick]

JJ Barea comparison? similar driving to lane skills but with better D and obv a worse shot?? Maybe

 

[Bestbuck36]

I think Craft could thrive on an NBA team full of scorers. He'd be the glue on a team like that. Someone like the Heat who already have their guys in place or even the Lakers. A guy to run the floor and play hellacious defense should always have a place on a team.

 

[MaxBuck]

precedent:
John Frank: Great Ohio State tight end.
Played 5 or 6 years (?) for the 49ers.
Quit football to become a doc.

Now, I'm not sure if he's an optician, or a brain surgeon..... but he is some kind of doc.

John Frank is an MD - an orthopaedic surgeon. Craft conceivably could do the same.

Orthopaedic surgeons typically make ~$0.5 million per annum.

 

[billmac91]

JJ Barea comparison? similar driving to lane skills but with better D and obv a worse shot?? Maybe

My comparison for Aaron has always been Eric Snow. Eric was a very good defender but offensievly chellenged. Snow developed a nice free throw extended jump shot and was always a decent finisher at the rim but that was about it. Snow was alsoo considered a great leader from the time he was at MSU to the days Philadelphia kept him around to keep Allen Iverson in check.

I think Aaron can be a better offensive player and has shown more flashes than Eric did in his time at MSU. They were both in that 6'1 range with a stocky build and great effort on the defensive end.

Bottom line is Eric carved out a very nice NBA career. I don't think Aaron will ever be an elite NBA point guard, but there is a place for him in the league for 10+ years, easy. There is always room for a great defensive PG. When you look around the league, there are some really awful back-up PG's....Aaron will be fine. We just need to enjoy him at OSU while we have him (and there is zero threat of him leaving for the NBA this year) because guys cut from his cloth are few and never.

 

[IronBuckI]

A few points. In the big picture maybe, but why not do both. I would imagine that Craft would take pride in a NBA career later in life, even if brief. It is a very small fraternity. As far as his potential, I for one would not underestimate what kind of player he could ultimately be. AC only needs to improve his jumper to drastically improve his offensive game. I am many times amazed at how often he gets to the hole when he doesn't have either a break-down handle or the shot that a defender has to honor. John Stockton had a hof career making the correct decision with the pick and roll for about 15 years. He was able to hit the shot when it was given him, and make a lot of times a simple pass to Malone for an assist. A believe AC is a lot better athlete than Stockton and twice the defender. I am not at all trying to say AC is a potential HOFer, but only demonstrating that an NBA point guard needn't be an above the rim player to be successful. I am a NBA fan and know that it will only take the one correct team for Craft to be drafted. Another point to consider with Craft is that he lost much of his offseason last year to the bone chip-spur surgery. Hopefully he goes into this offseason healthy and can shoot the couple of thousand shots a day in the offseason to cement in his proper mechanics through repetition. AC has a nice touch. He just needs to be able to replicate his own successful form game after game. Good news for us Buckeye fans is that he will have another year in Columbus to improve. If he can get to a point where defenders have to honor his shot, I think we will have a whole different conversation about his pro potential.

I think that Craft could have a Stockton-like career. Stockton wasn't much of a shooter early on in his career, but developed into more of a threat after a few years in the league. However, I think that claiming that Craft is "twice the defender" of the NBA's all-time steals leader is either ignorant or incredibly arrogant.

 

[tundra1]

John Frank is an MD - an orthopaedic surgeon. Craft conceivably could do the same.

Orthopaedic surgeons typically make ~$0.5 million per annum.

Actually, he went into hair restoration surgery.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130131/john-frank/

 

[brodybuck21]

My comparison for Aaron has always been Eric Snow. Eric was a very good defender but offensievly chellenged. Snow developed a nice free throw extended jump shot and was always a decent finisher at the rim but that was about it. Snow was alsoo considered a great leader from the time he was at MSU to the days Philadelphia kept him around to keep Allen Iverson in check.

I think Aaron can be a better offensive player and has shown more flashes than Eric did in his time at MSU. They were both in that 6'1 range with a stocky build and great effort on the defensive end.

Bottom line is Eric carved out a very nice NBA career. I don't think Aaron will ever be an elite NBA point guard, but there is a place for him in the league for 10+ years, easy. There is always room for a great defensive PG. When you look around the league, there are some really awful back-up PG's....Aaron will be fine. We just need to enjoy him at OSU while we have him (and there is zero threat of him leaving for the NBA this year) because guys cut from his cloth are few and never.

thats the thing, no one thought he'd succeed on the AAU level. Then no one thought he'd be more than a role player at the Collegiate Level. Id never bet against this kid. Plus hes a much better athlete and offensive bball player than most people want to give him credit for. Plus if guys like eric snow could last as long as he did in the NBA why not craft?

so im not too crazy