But in the end, he's going to need to be reserved and solid, deferring to others, should he make the team. During training camp and preseason, Shakur needs to stand out - and he's going to do that by scoring, making plays, and getting tenacious on defense. No one's asking him to score even 10 points a night no one expects more than solid minutes when required should he make the team.īut it's a lot like the struggles presidential candidates have with appealing to the base during primary season and lurching back to the middle come general election time. Many thanks to Bruce for taking the time out to talk with us.įor a roleplayer like Shakur, fitting in will be key. That has been one of Arizona's biggest problems, I think. Some guys in the locker room didn't seem to be that bothered.
When UA lost some shockers over the last two seasons, he was one of the guys who seemed most affected. One thing I will say about him, too: He really cares and tries extremely hard. His defense is good, but not great, with potential to be better because of his size and speed. Without that kind of pressure, he may actually be better off. And I think that's partly been because there's been so much pressure on him to produce: He felt he had to drive in far and make things happen because his team was stagnating. I think he could still do that in the NBA, though he has had trouble with overpenetrating. His top skill is derived from his size and speed, his ability to get into a defense and either find the open man or take it in. I think he could actually fit into an NBA role player situation because leadership and late-game decision-making probably won't be as much of a factor. Now that Shakur is gone and Olson has hired a new right-hand man, former Raptors coach Kevin O'Neill, it will be interesting to see if things change. Both Shakur and Lute Olson have taken most of the heat since the 2005 Illinois game. As I've mentioned, lead guards are expected to deliver Final Fours here - Bibby, Gardner, Damon Stoudamire and Steve Kerr all did it. No question that the program's slide factors into this, too. And here, it seems, you have to be great to meet expectations. Mustafa didn't have that personality, maybe, but the fact is that he was a very good college point guard. There is a sense here that UA needs a strong backcourt personality, a la Miles Simon, who led them to the 1997 title. He had some pretty strong personalities to pull together at Arizona during his junior and senior seasons and, for whatever reason, their chemistry was fractured. Not because he can't lead but because he may be TOO nice of a guy to deal with strong egos. That loss wasn't entirely his fault, of course, but he was the PG.Īlso, his leadership has been questioned.
I think the criticism really started heating up during his sophomore year when UA blew a big lead to Illinois in the 2005 Elite Eight (and the heat also came down quite a bit on Lute Olson after that one). When he didn't deliver that, many fans began crashing down on him. 1 HS PG and everyone's expecting a Final Four or two, maybe an early NBA departure. After that, along comes Mustafa as the No. Then Jason Gardner, a terrific, touch clutch college player who nevertheless didn't have the size or speed to make it in the NBA. Then Jason Terry, a combo guard who adapted to PG as a senior and went on to be a solid NBA player. There was Bibby, who won the title as a freshman. He was not a great clutch player, either, and fans here routinely dissect every possession of his late in games.īut this is all judged in the context of how good Arizona PGs have been over the past decade. I think he's divisive because he has so many physical skills and entered UA as the top PG in the country, but wasn't able to lead them to any Final Fours.