Well, I have seen Ray play one time... 2 weekends ago against my son's team. I was very, very impressed. He looked great and played fierce on both ends of the floor. His team, The Ville, won by 9.

 

This weekend I got to see ESPN's #14 ranked player, 6'9 Carlton Bragg... I was not impressed at all. This kid was NOT aggressive on either end of the floor. He finished the game with about 4 points/ My son's team beat his OBC team by 13.

 

Carlton Bragg - Basketball Recruiting - Player Profiles - ESPN

 

A lot of similarities between Bragg and Spalding. Bragg has more natural physical ability, but both are guys that can go for 30 and follow it up the next game with 3. If you catch either on one of those big days, you walk away really impressed, and if not you are left wondering how they did so little with that much raw ability.

 

The reality with low motor guys is that 9 times out of 10 they don't change their stripes, and that is even more true for big guys that like to play 15 feet and out. Best case is usually a career filled with 10 point, 5 rebound games with the occasional 20 and 10 night to get your hopes up. Obviously there is no shame in being a 10 and 5 at the high major level, but the high end motor is how that is consistently 16 and 8...

A lot of similarities between Bragg and Spalding. Bragg has more natural physical ability, but both are guys that can go for 30 and follow it up the next game with 3. If you catch either on one of those big days, you walk away really impressed, and if not you are left wondering how they did so little with that much raw ability.

 

The reality with low motor guys is that 9 times out of 10 they don't change their stripes, and that is even more true for big guys that like to play 15 feet and out. Best case is usually a career filled with 10 point, 5 rebound games with the occasional 20 and 10 night to get your hopes up. Obviously there is no shame in being a 10 and 5 at the high major level, but the high end motor is how that is consistently 16 and 8...

 

The thing about ray is he impacts the game with more than just points. He is always aggressive defensively and causes such a problem for driving guards and other bigs. I've never seen ray shut out on the boards so I wouldn't expect a 10 and 5 game from him, maybe a 8 and 10 if he isn't aggressive offensively. I shouldve prefaced the end with I know you're were speaking in regards to college career.

Anytime someone says "once he gets a mean streak" I'm concerned. You either have it or you don't. It is rarely something that is developed.

 

In the immortal words of Sean Miller, "I can always take dog out of a kid, I can never put dog in him."

In the immortal words of Sean Miller, "I can always take dog out of a kid, I can never put dog in him."

 

Bobby Huggins could never take the dog out of his kids....not so sure he wanted to though. :banana:

Spalding headed to 5-star status?

Spalding ranked #21 and a 5 star by 24/7 sports. Waiting for rivals and scout to update.2015 Basketball Top Recruits