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How do you pronounce his last name?
Gist awaits future in NBA
Workouts, travel fill hectic month for forward
Mark Selig
Issue date: 6/26/08 Section: Sports
James Gist remembers being a kid, sitting down with his father and watching Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal play in the NBA. He used to think, "That's gonna be me some day," long before he knew of his actual potential.
Tonight, Gist will be watching an NBA event again. But he'll be watching to see if his childhood dreams come true, as 60 players from colleges and overseas will be selected by NBA teams during the league's annual rookie draft.
The former Terps forward who averaged 16 points and eight rebounds per game his senior season is projected to be picked sometime in the draft's second round.
"Now that I'm here, it's like ... man! My whole life can change," Gist said from an airport in Detroit on Tuesday afternoon as he awaited his flight to Boston to work out for the 2008 NBA champion Celtics.
This drill has become habitual for Gist, who has recently trained in enough NBA teams' clothes to fill a walk-in closet and amassed enough frequent flyer miles to buy up an airline.
Boston was the 13th and final team Gist worked out for as part of the pre-draft preparation, where players showcase their skills to organizations which may, in turn, draft them.
So life for Gist has been a repe ive, yet exciting routine - fly to an NBA city, stay for the night in a hotel, check out by 8 a.m. and be ready to impress scouts and team management by 9.
If Gist has caught the eye of the right people, he'll hear his name called tonight and see his hard work come to fruition. Draft experts see that all happening.
"I know there's definitely some interest in the second round for him," NBADraft.net founder Aran Smith told The Diamondback. "He's probably going somewhere in the 40s."
Smith thinks there's about an 80-percent chance Gist will be selected by a team during the draft.
If Gist does get picked or latches onto a team after the draft via free agency, he will likely have a much different role than the one he had with the Terps. In college, the 6-foot-9 Gist was a power forward whom his team relied on for scoring. In the NBA, he will probably shift to the small forward position and be used primarily as a defensive replacement.
"With his standout athleticism he can overcome the fact that he's a bit raw on the offensive end," Smith said. "I could see him as a specialist guy, a defensive stopper who comes in with great energy."
Smith compared Gist's style of play to Renaldo Balkman, a New York Knicks forward who uses hustle and energy to carve out his spot in the team's rotation.
Gist welcomes any role he can claim and realizes that he won't be a double-double threat like he was over the past couple of years.
"Coming into the NBA, I don't plan on playing a lot," Gist said. "They have their guys who can do a lot of scoring, and I don't look at my role as that. I'm a defender; I look to defend the [small forward position]. Come in and guard the Tracy McGradys of the league, the Kobe Bryants."
Gist's length and leaping ability lend to the notion that he could be a good defensive player in the pros. At the Orlando pre-draft camp - an event where top prospects assemble for measurements, interviews and exhibition games against one another - Gist displayed a 7-foot-4-inch wingspan and a 35-inch vertical leap. Both are impressive numbers for a potential NBA player.
Gist's shot was erratic during the exhibition games in Orlando, but according to DraftExpress.com, "he looked very active defensively in the passing lanes and did a great job getting out in transition, using his athleticism well around the rim ... The energy he brought to the floor was exactly what the doctor ordered for his draft stock."
Tonight, the value of his stock will be discovered. And Gist will be watching intently from Pennsylvania with family members.
With any luck, he'll become a bit more geographically grounded, as well as a proud member of an NBA team. Just like he dreamt it at age six.
How do you pronounce his last name?
I think the Spurs will try and mold him into a 3...
But he also isnt undersized in terms of height for 4 IMO.... hes nearly 6'9" in shoes and andn has a ridiculous standing reach for his height... its a shade under 9'0"... or about an inch bigger than Kevin Love and probably right on par with most NBA Power Forwards.
Consider Joakim Noah had a standing reach of 8'10.5"
But i dont think he has the bulk to play the 4... he looks like a 3 to me.
We need this guy to be a diamond in the rough.
Hopefully he dominates Summer League.
You gotta make him into a small forward. He lacks both the body and the temperament of an NBA bigman. Making him into a small forward who can play power forward is the way to go. He won't last in the NBA as strictly a PF.
I hope he makes the team and gets a season in Austin at small forward. But with 57, making the team will be a long shot in itself ... even as 15th man.
The Western Conference already had tons of athletic offensive players - even before this draft. With some learned techniques, some hard work, and some seasoning, Gist may eventually turn into the type of athletic defender who could guard the likes of a David West, Shawn Marion, LaMarcus Aldridge and the like.
With the Spurs missing out on Batum, they need to begin developing another long, athletic SF. Remember, Bowen isn't going to be around but maybe another couple of years and still he can't be expected to simulateneously guard the opposition's top 2 offensive players.
So if this guy has a bad ass summer league, he will most likely join the Toros....if this guy has a mediocre summer league, do you see us just getting rid of him?
I don't see how they can afford to not develop this guy. Again, his skill set is one that this team is lacking. If they had gotten Batum, then they wouldn't have needed a guy with the skills of Gist.
Basically. James White looked firmly entrenched in the Spurs pipeline and then he sucked in summer league and his time was over. Same with Marcus Williams. He went from 33rd pick to horrible summer league to waived.
Gist will need to have a solid summer league and then he'll also have to hope that there isn't a shortage of roster spots because he'd be the one on the chopping block.
I don't understand the method. White actually made it to the spurs team. He even started a freaking game and scored 17 points.
Did we cut him after the summer league after the championship?
Yes. The Spurs didn't have him for the previous summer league.
With a hard 'G', like Gary. Not like "jist."
Too bad Manu and Tony will both be overseas this summer, this guy could use an Admiral-esque boost to his confidence to get his work ethic in top gear.
You prounce the G the way you would in 'good'
I know that neither was really any ing good, but you don't think that bumping up against the tax at that time contributed to the short tenure?
I agree. Gist has more potential than Hairston and fills a skill set the spurs are lacking. They need some players who can finish on a break and run in transistion for easy baskets to stop the scoring droughts the team always seems to go through when the perimeter shots aren't falling. It also fires up the home crowd when there is a player or two who can soar for the hammer dunk on a break. Its an emotional lift that gives just a little more power to a home court advantage.
If he can improve some other areas of his game he will be a great pick.
The Spurs have virtually nothing in the pipeline and this new crop of guys does possess a unique skill set that the Spurs truly lack. At some point, they have to give up-and-coming rooks, like this, a legitiimate chance for a roster spot.
Which is why I'm so vehemently opposed to keeping long-time veterans (Finley, Horry), whose skills have declined to the point where they're contributing nothing in the way of bench production or energy.
If allowed to develop, Gist and the others, could potentially fill a specific void during the long stretches of the season. Which would lessen the burden on the older players.
well this guy might be james white 2.0
I wonder if he is of the mind where he could take the approach of "look at Bruce Bowen, the guy really does nothing on offense other than pop a 3 once in awhile, I can do that! I will work on being a perimeter stopper and that can be my ticket to making it in this league." Or will he think, I can score, I gotta do that to impress.
He really can't score all that much. He can run and jump. If he's smart, he will do whatever the coaches tell him. There are usually only one or two players featured on a Spurs SL team and they will run the same play over and over to the same guy for evaluation purposes. Gist will probably impress the most by running the floor constantly and being in the right place in the defensive and offensive sets. If a guy like Benson is on the squad he will have direct compe ion for his roster spot (though Rod has no potential as a three), so he needs to be sharp.
they discuss Gist during the 2nd half of the video
Nice little vid. Good find.
I wonder, did that series ever feature Hill or Hairston?
[quote=cbooze;2629637] with a year or 2 of NBA workouts and coaching I can easily see him being a threat with the jump shot. Probably not from NBA 3 range, but he was getting to the point where he was a decent shooter from behind the arc in college, so the jumper from a step or 2 inside the arc is definitely a shot he should eventually be effective with.
/quote]
Because of the difference in value between the 2 and the 3 point shot, nobody values a player with a shot from two feet inside the arc. If you're gonna shoot a 2, you're better off to have a pull up jumper from 15 feet in that is deadly.
I still think the guy is a steal/good pick at 57.
I watched Gist plenty. MD fan blah blah
I don't like many of the evaluations.
On the court he is not short at all. At MD he never played w/ a real center. So he was pretty much always the most skilled big man on the floor. In the ACC that is a tough road to hoe - and at times, often when Osby, Ebekwe or whomever struggled he became inneffective. When MD's other big men produced however he really shined. He regularly makes spectacular plays on both sides of the ball.
He has huge feet and hands and has good balance and power but doesn't appear super quick on the first step. He can cover a lot of ground quickly though and is good at getting the ball in his hands while on the run and converting the layup/dunk without dribbling. On defense same story - blocking off his man and batting down passes and a very quick jump to block the ball. Think Pippen/Rodman - but more athletic - that's his body type.
He is fluid and has soft hands and plays very well in a moving game.
His shot looks good -just needs work to quicken the release and improve accuracy and consistency. Looks to be more confidence and repe ion than anything. Overall he just needs a more diverse offense - going both ways and that sort of thing.
He played very well in his senior season at MD. He and Vasquez -an overachieving PG had to carry the team in the tough ACC. They faded down the stretch but in several games when James had more inside support he was quite dominant making NBA type plays and MD was very tough to beat.
He's coachable - and like many DC area players that weren't quite the top dog he's undertrained. He will likely still be in the NBA in 4-5 years for someone - and could certainly end up a pretty good player ala Marion etc.
Last edited by brakeguru; 06-29-2008 at 11:12 PM.
Welcome to the Forum, brakeguru.
btw, nice mixed metaphor (road to hoe).
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