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Wake Hoops 2019-2020

Massoud is thin but is listed at 200. Fifth year senior, Cam Johnson is listed at 210. A lot of the guys in 18 and 19 are 6'8/6'9, 200 or less. They are HS kids and will get bigger.

One thing Massoud has over many of them is his natural position is SG. He doesn't need to be 230. I can see him starting the season at 210 or more.

He's up to 205 now, so 210 should be easily doable.
 
There's so much assumption here. Reads like an RJ post about a Philly kid.

Massoud spent 1 year at Catholic School in NYC and 3 at boarding school in a rural Massachusettes town of 6K people. He could be a Carlton from the Country Club just as much as he could be Jenny from the Block. There's zero out there I can find in a quick google about how he grew up. Are there mix tapes of him hooping it up in the Bronx or a story about how his family came to the States with nothing that I'm missing?

Ah. Lighten up, Francis. I'm not saying I know this to be fact. I spelled it out - it's hardly even assumption - it's big fat hope. He's definitely an NYC kid. All you have to do is hear him talk:



He is also not a 145 lb wimp as someone mentioned above.

.

He doesn't even need his SIGHT to play:



In addition, his initial highlight video had the best music EVER for a highlight video. (cannot find).
 
I never said he was a wimp. I made a crack about his weight because he is very skinny. It is a legit concern. Mucius has a similar build and definitely struggled at times because of it.

I have no doubt that he'll continue to mature, but I think it will limit his effectiveness as a frosh... Largely because to earn minutes, he's probably going to have to play some time at the 4.

ETA: I've posted numerous times that I have a mancrush on Massoud... I just think we need to temper expectations a bit.
 
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I think it will more likely that Danny puts Mucius and Brown on the physically bigger guys than Massoud. Also, Massoud is a three point shooter on offense. It would be logical to have him play a position on D appropriate to get him the best looks on offense.
 
I eagerly await this year's hashtag.

#newbeginnings is so 2018-19.

Anyone have any guesses?

The football team is using #SenseOfUrgency after three straight bowl wins.

What would the hoops equivalent be? #DesperationHeave?
 
Ah. Lighten up, Francis. I'm not saying I know this to be fact. I spelled it out - it's hardly even assumption - it's big fat hope. He's definitely an NYC kid. All you have to do is hear him talk:

In addition, his initial highlight video had the best music EVER for a highlight video. (cannot find).

Got ya. So a kid speaks with an accent, has brown skin and chooses good music for his mix tape, so he must have really come from a tough place to get to where he is today. Thanks for spelling that out.
 
Got ya. So a kid speaks with an accent, has brown skin and chooses good music for his mix tape, so he must have really come from a tough place to get to where he is today. Thanks for spelling that out.

The Bronx isn't all that tough. I'll tell you what's tough - Reynolda Village on a hot summer day. And if the pollen's bad? THAT builds character.

So do many of the hardtop pickup games in the Bronx, pockets of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. You have to man up on a lot of those courts. Could he have skipped those and played exclusively on the elementary school outdoor courts? I suppose.

You're working too hard to make this a battle. Don't have to counter everything.

It is my observation Ismael has a high motor and works hard. That was my observation with John Collins as well. That REALLY helps when you come to play for Danny Manning because he knows jackshit about fomenting an environment of intensity. In fact, he does quite the opposite. The only modicum of success we've had under Manning is when we had players that brought their own intensity. Lunch pail players with skills. Collins, Thomas, Crawford first two years, probably Chill. We STILL don't have enough of those players, but it is nice to add a player who does seem to have it. I think Mucius has a pretty good motor. So does Johnson. But Johnson is barely a Div1 player and Mucius is both raw and playing without a position IMO. Doesn't bode well, but hopefully the Bronx Locks will be around for Matta or we'll bring in Billy Donovan on May 2nd. Both could work a player like Ismael into the nba draft with a few years of work.
 
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It is my observation Ismael has a high motor and works hard.

You'll notice I didn't take issue with your observations regarding his actual play. Just your weird, tinged with racist undertones, assumptions about how Massoud grew up. Assumptions that you've now admitted are based on absolutely nothing but his accent and the music he chose for his highlight vid. There's a reason you get tagged with the nostradumbass tag. You make wild assumptions all the time.

Kid has had to work through a lot to get where he is. NYC doesn't just welcome Egyptian kids to their pickup games; you have to earn it.

Feel free to expand? Did he grow up without a dad? Had to sell drugs to support his mom's addictions? Fought through it all out on the courts where he could leave all of the hardship behind for just a few minutes? Did his mom send him to Massachusettes just like Will Smith's sent him to Bel-Air?
 
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ha, you fellas sure know how to keep a Wake Hoops thread going in 2019. Gotta hand it to you
 
Regret all the time wasted watching Melo’s workout videos. At least this kid can shoot.
 
Racer,

Again, you work too hard at being a dick. I don't think it comes natural to you, so - I've said this before - you should rechannel your approach to posting.

I believe his parents are Egyptian, but he comes from a two family home. His Dad works in the film business. He grew up in the City. His "accent" is just a typical Bronx accent. It is not race-specific. I just assume an Egyptian kid has to earn his stripes playing pickup in NYC. I did 25 years ago when I walked on the court looking like a douchebag that had just graduated from Wake Forest (not entirely true - it took me about 4 or 5 years to make my way to the city after graduating).

There is a certain cultural reality to pickup hoops in the city. I didn't shy from it, but I certainly wasn't embraced either. There's not too many places in American society where African-American (and in the Bronx, Latin culture as well) dominate, "own" the space, and write the rules. A basketball court in urban NYC is one of those places. Rightfully so in my book. You don't share the little turf you're allowed with "other" cultures or people from other cultures unless they earn it. That's just reality. It makes perfect sense to me why that is so. I didn't really earn that respect, to be honest. Not enough game, but I lingered and tried for three or four years, playing 2X a week - mostly in the East Village Thompkins Square Park run where there were 3 or 4 games going simultaneously, but also up in Harlem where my gf lived, over on the West 4th street court, a court down on Houston street, over on the West Side Highway when they put that one in - 2X a week, sometimes 3. My minimal attributes that worked at Wake didn't really serve me there. But I didn't embarrass myself either [that I remember].

Anyway, having married into "other" and raising a son who is identified by the American public as a black kid, I've managed a few thoughts on race and identity. If you want to have that conversation somewhere, happy to have it, but just know when you try and bait me with "racist undertones" I do have some experiences to share you may or may not be aware of. Again, happy to go there.
 
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I am looking forward to massoud at wake. He is a high motor kid and since manning can't teach motor or intensity, he should be okay. He might he the best player on the roster. Next year.

This is how we end up being disappointed with the production of players once the suit up for the Deacs, like we are with Hoard. Massoud will probably be a fine player but he's ranked somewhere around 130 nationally so expecting him to come in and be the best player on our team next year in really unfair...it is highly highly unlikely to happen and folks who buy into this will be disappointed. He is going to be a Freshman and while he brings some new and useful skills to the table, he is still a freshamn, expect flashes of good play and lots of inconsistency.
 
If Massoud steps in and is a higher-motor version of Hoard we could be on the bubble this season.
 
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