Jaylen Hoard signs two way contract

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I actually like this more than drafting someone in the second. He doesn’t count against the cap or roster. We can develop him for a year and then he can be a cheap replacement as an end of the bench guy in 2020 when we *potentially* lose three more rotational players, two of them wings.
 
Hoard is like Aminu and Harkless. He fits as a guy who can play the 4 in the current game.

I'm skeptical if he ever amounts to much, but he's worth a flyer. Wake was so bad last year, it's hard to know what Hoard really is.
 
I like that they are taking the time to develop 2-3 players each year in the hope that they can move up to rotational players. SA does this and it looks like Toronto does too.
 
Good fucking move
 
Hoard put up a double double at the Nike Hoop Summit last year with 11 points and 15 rebounds in 26 minutes.



Here’s the full game if interested

 
I think Olshey was trying to trade in the 2nd round and it might been Hoard who he was after and that why he was sign 2 way so fast. Now he got his guy that won't count against our cap plus getting development in the G league.
 
Just watched the hoop summit game. This is only one game so these takeaways might not mean much but here’s what I got

- Super active on the boards. He crashed on pretty much every shot. Showed plus instincts, just kind of knew where the ball was going. His length helps him as well.

- Was isolated defensively against numerous guys that were drafted in the first (Bazley, Reddish, and Garland) He shut them all down. He allowed one bucket against all three (Bazley) and specifically made Reddish look bad.

- Unselfish game. Made plays for others, wasn’t hunting his own shot, which is impressive considering the setting.

- Went 4-10 from the field but had his shot blocked at the rim numerous times by Bol Bol (who had 7 total and looked real good tbh)

All in all definitely someone worth developing. This one game wasn’t enough for me to make a conclusion on his shooting ability and I’m not sure his numbers at Wake were either. If I had to compare him to one player though it’d probably be Harkless with better floor vision.
 
After watching this game, I'm not sure who to compare him to. Hoard is a very fluid athlete, with good all-around skills. He can defend, handle and shoot. Seems to play in the team system nicely. It will be interesting to follow him and see how he fits in. Another long, multi-position athlete who looks to be able to switch and guard several positions.
 
Scalma said:
Just watched the hoop summit game. This is only one game so these takeaways might not mean much but here’s what I got

- Super active on the boards. He crashed on pretty much every shot. Showed plus instincts, just kind of knew where the ball was going. His length helps him as well.

- Was isolated defensively against numerous guys that were drafted in the first (Bazley, Reddish, and Garland) He shut them all down. He allowed one bucket against all three (Bazley) and specifically made Reddish look bad.

- Unselfish game. Made plays for others, wasn’t hunting his own shot, which is impressive considering the setting.

- Went 4-10 from the field but had his shot blocked at the rim numerous times by Bol Bol (who had 7 total and looked real good tbh)

All in all definitely someone worth developing. This one game wasn’t enough for me to make a conclusion on his shooting ability and I’m not sure his numbers at Wake were either. If I had to compare him to one player though it’d probably be Harkless with better floor vision.
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I was at that game. I didn't realize who Hoard was, but now that you mention it I definitely remember him. I commented at the time that 'this French guy is pretty good'.
 
Btw I was surprised when I heard an interview with him because he spoke fluent American English. Should’ve known he wasn’t 100% French just by his name, but then I read up on him and found out his dad is American and his mom is French.

I don’t know why I’m posting this. Whatever.
 
Scalma said:
Btw I was surprised when I heard an interview with him because he spoke fluent American English. Should’ve known he wasn’t 100% French just by his name, but then I read up on him and found out his dad is American and his mom is French.

I don’t know why I’m posting this. Whatever.
Click to expand...
French women can’t resist our big American cocks
 
The draftexpress dudes at ESPN think not having talent around him at wake forest hurt his stock because he projects as more of a role player. I agree with it. That’s what he looked like at the hoop summit. Danny Manning doesn’t have a good reputation as a coach either.
 
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The French connection: Pushed out of his comfort zone, Wake Forest forward Jaylen Hoard is showing he's got game https://theathletic.com/461188/2018...forward-jaylen-hoard-is-showing-hes-got-game/

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Unimpressed. That was Herman (Tree) Harried’s first take as he watched Jaylen Hoard ease through practice drills as a 16-year-old preparing for the 2015 Jordan Brand Classic International game. Sure, the kid from France showed some skill getting to the basket. He was a natural that way. But other times he seemed almost detached from the game, going stretches where it was easy to forget he was on the floor.

Unacceptable. That was Harried’s response as he watched Hoard, now a 6-foot-8 forward who is about to begin his freshman season at Wake Forest, skate by even though it was just an all-star game. Harried played on the legendary 1982-83 Baltimore Dunbar High School team, arguably considered the best prep squad ever, and he doesn’t believe in exhibitions. He believes every game counts, and Harried coached with the same hands-on approach he took with his players at Baltimore Lake Clifton High School. With his 6-foot-7 frame, he still occupies considerable space, which appeared even larger to Hoard whenever he was being told, just a few inches from his face, in blunt terms exactly why his performance wasn’t good enough.

Undeniable. That was Harried’s realization of Hoard’s talent once he appeared in live game action. Harried, who played collegiately at Syracuse in the late ’80s, saw that his tough-love approach worked wonders on Hoard.

“During practice, I didn’t think he was that good, to be totally honest with you,” Harried says. “He was just so conservative and laid-back. But I tell you, when the lights came on, I said, ‘Damn, this guy can go.’”

Hoard came off the bench in that 2015 game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to score a game-high 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and he had a team-high seven rebounds. He outperformed Simi Shittu, another top-20 recruit in the Class of 2018, who will be a freshman at Vanderbilt. Hoard is ranked 22nd in the ESPN 100, which makes him Wake Forest’s highest-rated recruit since Al-Farouq Aminu was 17th in 2008. And Hoard points to his experience at the Jordan Classic as the reason why. Harried’s persistence confirmed to Hoard that he needed to play in the United States. He wanted to subject his game to coaches who tended to be a bit more aggressive than their French peers. Hoard also was inspired by seeing players such as Jaylen Brown, who is now with the Boston Celtics, knowing they’d soon be pros.

“I had the chance to be coached by American coaches, and I really liked the way they taught the game and how they pushed you,” Hoard says. “It’s kind of different than where I came from.”

Wake Forest center Olivier Sarr also hails from France. The 7-foot sophomore first met Hoard when the two played against each other as teens. Sarr says Hoard has such a feel for the game he makes it look as if he’s playing passively. But it’s just the way the game is taught in France, where there’s a much greater emphasis on fitting in, not standing out.

“We put the team first,” Sarr says. “That’s what the coaches teach you all the time. Share the ball. First run through the plays, then think about you. They want the best shot, not just a good shot. It’s the culture of the game we have.”

Basketball ranks second behind soccer in popularity in France, but Hoard knew he was destined to shoot hoops. His father, Antwon, is a Chicago native who played at Murray State from 1992 to ’94. A 6-foot-6 forward, he spent 13 of 18 seasons playing professionally for teams in France. Katia Foucade Hoard, Jaylen’s mother, played point guard at Washington and was on the French national team at the 1994 FIBA World Championships. She returned home to France and played professionally. Even Jaylen’s godparents are an extension of his basketball family. James Wade and Edwige Lawson-Wade would take an annual vacation to Atlanta with the Hoards; the families would share a home. The families became close as Katia Hoard was somewhat of a big sister to Lawson-Wade, a silver medalist with the French women’s national team at the 2012 London Games.

Jaylen Hoard grew from about 5-foot-9 at age 12 to about 6-foot-5 three years later. But he suffered through foot injuries that kept him from playing organized basketball for nearly two years between the ages of 13 and 15. James Wade helped him work his way back, putting him through training. Wade, now an assistant coach with the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA, had a similar pedigree as Antwon Hoard. He’s a native of Memphis who played collegiately at Kennesaw State before embarking on a long professional career overseas.

Wade says Jaylen already had a grasp of all the fundamentals when the two began working. But the difference between what Hoard received from his club team coaches and what Wade brought was in the focus on game-specific drills. Wade drilled Hoard in coming off of pick-and-rolls — scoring, changing direction and finishing at the basket while getting bumped with padding.

“I’m an American coach so I do American things, and that’s something they don’t really do in Europe,” Wade says. “We did a lot of game-specific stuff, like how to catch it and attack a closeout and have counter moves. Or stuff that put you in game-type situations where you have to finish in traffic or make pick-and-roll passes in pockets — all that stuff. (European coaches) don’t really go into that much detail; it’s just strictly coaching fundamentals.”

Wade says he treated Hoard as if he were a guard, even though he’d grown to the size of a small forward. They worked on drills to equip Hoard with how to beat an opponent one-on-one. The preparation all paid off in the Jordan Classic. But Jaylen almost didn’t realize his dream to play in the States. The Hoards had no intentions of moving back to the U.S. just so he could play basketball. Antwon’s longtime friendship with former Maryland standout guard Keith Gatlin salvaged the opportunity. Gatlin, who is now an assistant coach under Tubby Smith at High Point (N.C.) University, was the coach of Wesleyan Christian Academy, also located in High Point. Gatlin knew Antwon from the two seasons he played professionally in France.

“I wouldn’t be here otherwise,” Jaylen says. “The only reason I was allowed to come here was because my parents trusted him and his family. They knew I would be taken care of. If I wasn’t staying with him and his family, my mom wasn’t going to let me come here. She needed to trust the people I was going to stay with.”

Gatlin goaded Jaylen in a similar manner as Harried. Hoard was far too unselfish and unassertive for someone with his talents. Until he arrived in the States, Hoard had never heard a coach utter the phrase, “Play your game.” Then again, he never had opposing players try to single him out until he got here.

“I really wasn’t used to players going at me in France,” Hoard says. “The (high school players) here knew I had a name.”

They did him a favor. It was a constant reminder that he couldn’t play the same way he did in France. Hoard says the transition to becoming more assertive was much more difficult than getting acclimated to playing in the States. He didn’t have any problems culturally because he’d spent time here. What he had never been was the guy asked to carry a team.

“It was kind of hard at first because overseas you move the ball a lot, pass a lot,” Hoard says. “Here it’s more like a being-aggressive, a taking-over mindset. It was a little hard for me to get adjusted to it, but I feel like I’m getting better at it.”

Hoard has the chance to be the centerpiece of Wake Forest’s lineup this season. His ability to be a scorer and a playmaker will be a welcomed addition to a team that must replace its top three scorers. Bryant Crawford, Keyshawn Woods and Doral Moore accounted for 52 percent of Wake’s scoring and were the only players to average in double figures. All three left the program with eligibility remaining. Crawford and Moore turned pro, and Woods left as a graduate transfer to Ohio State. For Wake Forest to be competitive, coach Danny Manning says Hoard has to announce his presence from the start.

“Not stepping on people’s toes is probably a big thing for a lot of incoming kids to worry about, especially with the makeup and demeanor of Jaylen mentally and how he’s grown up playing the game,” Manning says. “And understanding: What’s being aggressive? It doesn’t mean you’ve got to shoot every time. You can go make a play. You can go to the glass. You can go run the floor. You can set screens. You can do those types of things.”

Manning says he had the same challenge as a player at Kansas. He went from averaging 16.7 points as a sophomore to around 24.0 points as a junior and a senior once he understood the Jayhawks needed him to contribute more. He believes Hoard will learn quickly that he can’t be passive.

“I was in the same boat as a player,” Manning says. “I know a lot of different things the coaches said to me to try to be more assertive. The bottom line is if you don’t play to this level, you hurt your team. As a player, that’s the last thing you want to hear.”

Most players don’t want to hear their coaches yelling either, but Hoard is not most players. That’s why he crossed the Atlantic, for the prodding and the coaching that will help him reach his potential.
 
Just realized who he reminds me of--a bigger version of countryman Nic Batum. Same fluid athleticism, just more interior presence.
 
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