What if Moore’s long term goal was to become a PE teacher but he just happened to earn a scholarship to play ball at Wake?
He's in line to accomplish his goal by age 28.
What if Moore’s long term goal was to become a PE teacher but he just happened to earn a scholarship to play ball at Wake?
I am going to eat shit on this thread for a bit, but Wellman is no dummy. Now, that doesn't prevent him for making the wrong hire (bzd), the wrong decision in a moment of crisis/tragedy (Dino), but we do not know who turned us down prior to Manning (except for RJ).
The thing a lot of posters on here can afford to ignore is timing and perception of the program. We all want instant gratification. I love bread. I want to eat it whenever I see it. I want to drink it in liquid form from lunch to late. I, like I assume a lot of you, have learned to control that want in order to stay relatively fit and healthy.
You want a good next coach? You give Manning another year. You want another 5-year stretch of middling results, fire him 6 weeks ago. The thing Bzd did to our program was take the magnetism out of the program. It is a hard sell these days to get a kid to consider Wake, despite CP3. Bzd did that. Wellman did that via Bzd. Manning has had to make it a place to desire. He had to do that with style pf play. And his narrative. Unfortunately, it is a job that seems to reward the charismatic guy at the end of the bar who tells just fucking awesome stories. The Billy Donovans, the Rick Pitinos. Some of those guys are also great coaches. Some are not. Manning is most definitely NOT in the charismatic part of the family tree. Which makes him have to work extra hard. He needs an assistant with some flaws, though morally okay to good, who can fill that role. Not sure if we have that guy on staff right now, but I would assume Jones comes the closest.
Anywho - we are adding a consensus 5-star player next year who really really wants to be one-and-done. If he and Craw and 4 or 5 others lead us to 18-20 wins and an NCAA birth, well that will be fun and Manning will have earned himself another year and some momentum - the type of momentum we SEEM to have squandered after John Collins sophomore year happened (but did it? Collins begat Hoard IMO). I do think that needs to parlay into a 2019 signing that hasn't yet happened. Which will tough. But if we win 14 games or 16 games, Hoard leaves and we make no post season, I think Wellman will fire Manning with a better chance at hiring the next great coach. Even then, to be perfectly blunt, it won't be an ideal situation. Not unless Coach K decides to hang up the grecian formula and/or Roy Williams takes his god dern act into retirement opening an opportunity at Wake for a young coach to think he might be able to turn Wake into the next Duke ...
So to summarize. Cutting the Manning cord after Year 4 a year removed from the John Collins year would have resulted in our 3rd or 4th choice hire. While there are no guarantees that next year would be any better, I think most coaches considering Wake would be on board with a firing after two shitty years in a row. Despite starting this post with a pro-Wellman nod, the man in the way of the NEXT great Wake coaching hire is Wellman himself. Not because he is an idiot, but because if I am a hot young coach, I see an old man at AD that is going to be gone in 5 years or less. Where does that leave me? If Wellman DOES fire Manning at the end of next year, I hope he has the good sense to step down himself. I doubt he will, but that would be the best result as far as a new coach is concerned.
I have learned from being a Spurs fan, to enjoy the ride. Most great seasons will not result in a Final 4. That doesn't make the year NOT fun. This past year was not fun. Manning cannot afford a 2nd unfun year in a row or he is gone.
But another part of me knows that the only and best argument for keeping Manning is that Wellman is still in charge and until he is not it doesn't really matter whether we replace Manning now or after next season.
Wellman is likely to be in charge at the end of next season too.
I think it's unlikely that Wellman would be anything but a figurehead in a new basketball coaching search at this point. The folks who will have to fund the buyout of his recent Manning extension aren't dumb people.
Getting a degree can be done later and over time. You don't get back your youth, and his ability to earn money as a basketball player depends on it.
I've still never seen a plausible counter-argument to this statement.
I've still never seen a plausible counter-argument to this statement.
I really do wish Doral the best of luck in his future endeavors ... However, I do not understand even a little bit why someone would commit to signing with an agent before he had been through at least some portion of the process. Professional basketball overseas will be there for him whenever he chooses to go that route. If the NBA is truly the dream, why not be as close to sure as possible that they want you as much as you want them. That part continues to confuse me.
Getting a degree can be done later and over time. You don't get back your youth, and his ability to earn money as a basketball player depends on it.
Doral apparently wants to be in the NBA. Part of the discussion has been about multiple unbiased observers saying he is not likely to be drafted in 2018. That will put a major bump on his road to the NBA. The most likely scenario is playing overseas.
What evidence is there that another year will change his chances? How much insight do you have into what he has learned and been told during this process of declaring? How do you know that he desperately wants to be in the NBA and isn't eyeing a career overseas? So much speculation from the "Doral should stay" crowd. Strangely enough, many of them are the same folks invested in the idea that Manning needs more time and who have declared that they think success is coming this year...
What evidence is there that another year will change his chances? How much insight do you have into what he has learned and been told during this process of declaring? How do you know that he desperately wants to be in the NBA and isn't eyeing a career overseas? So much speculation from the "Doral should stay" crowd. Strangely enough, many of them are the same folks invested in the idea that Manning needs more time and who have declared that they think success is coming this year...
Literally everything anyone is saying whether it's arguing he should stay or go is speculation considering none of us know anything. You're just not asking these questions to the other side of argument.
When Collins declared for the NBA draft, the commentary was mostly about how high he would be drafted this year vs staying at Wake another year, and whether the wait would be worth it. Most who were evaluating the prospective NBA players had Collins somewhere in the first round of their draft projections.
The commentary about Doral Moore has not been that. He is nowhere to be found on draft projections. Sometimes one has to infer by what is not happening. In this case, the "what is not happening" is talk, speculation etc. about where Doral might go in the NBA draft. Other players who have declared are in such discussions. So his absence from draft projections is providing some information about his NBA draft prospects.
Elsewhere it has been noted that next year's prospective draft class is a lot weaker than this year's class, particularly with respect to big men. That would improve his potential draft position. Also, for a guy who only has played significant minutes of basketball in one of the last five years, it might improve his standing if he played big minutes in another year. That would help alleviate concerns about his stamina and conditioning.
I don't need to. Doral has the answers. I'm not pretending to have the answers for him.
In this thread:
"DORAL WILL NEVER MAKE THE NBA?!!! WHAT IS HE THINKING???!!!"
Also in this thread:
"He should stick around another year because even though he has zero chance this year, he has a very slightly more than zero chance next year because of a weaker class. Plus, Manning needs some wins."