WRAL: Pack’s Hickson “Trying to Get to” the NBA

07-08 Basketball NCS Basketball147

Would N.C. State freshman J.J. Hickson turn professional after one season?

Perhaps. On Tuesday, in one-on-one interview with WRAL, he addressed whether he’d consider the NBA after this season.

“Being a competitor, the next level is the NBA. That’s what I’m trying to get to,” Hickson said. “If the opportunity is there, I’ll look at it then and sit down with my parents and my coaching staff.

“If it’s not there, I wouldn’t mind coming back to school and doing another year or however many it takes.”

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07-08 Basketball NCS Basketball

147 Responses to WRAL: Pack’s Hickson “Trying to Get to” the NBA

  1. Stoner 02/27/2008 at 7:51 AM #

    On a side note, what will be interesting for the program is if we get talent that can go pro early, will we set up and encourage them to come back and finish their degrees, so we can boast about our perfect graduation rates.

  2. Old_Wolf 02/27/2008 at 8:16 AM #

    I think that Hansbro is a tremendous college player and would love to have him on our team, but the ACC has not had any real dominent center folf in his time at unc-ch. Who has he had to battle day in and day out in the ACC? There have not been any Boozers, Brands, Songalias, Duncans, Wilcoxs, Baxters, Jones, Battiers, Williams – just to name a few of the recent center types in the years just prior to Hansbro.

    He has had to deal with leass than stellar, although competitive center types such as Booker, King, Oates, Mays, etc – all good players but not dominating center types.

  3. RAWFS 02/27/2008 at 8:22 AM #

    Astral Rain: exactly what I am thinking.

    The only thing is, Sidney really does seem to have his ear. Unlike a lot of our players, Sid can sit JJ down and JJ comes back with fire and plays better.

    That said, it may well come down to what Lowe tells him his real chances are. Lowe still has a lot of Association contacts too that can give JJ a real feel for what his true draft position might be. The draft sites are usually right when it comes to the no-brainer stars, but Hickson is a tweener and it’s a lot more subtle than something nbadraft.net might know.

  4. choppack1 02/27/2008 at 8:28 AM #

    Delong has an article in today’s Winston Salem Journal on the Pack “playing out the season”.

  5. roandaddy 02/27/2008 at 8:36 AM #

    Translation on JJ: If I will only come back if I am not a first rounder. NCSU is just a stepping stone to me.

    Hansborough is the next SEAN MAY!!!!! A hack player who will be pushed around at the next level.

  6. eas 02/27/2008 at 8:37 AM #

    We all know his NBA status would greatly improve if he stays another year. However, with the season we have had and his sketchy playing time…..I think he is gone. I am not saying his time on the bench wasn’t deserved, I am just saying he may be a little frustrated and he knows his chances are still good in the NBA right now. I honestly don’t know if it would be a good or bad thing if he stays another year becuase of the chemistry issues. Let’s say he stays another year….Team magically developes great chemistry….Then he is gone at the end of season 2 and we are back where we were.

    Bottom line is he is a beast and a great player who really needs another year to be at his best. At this point though I believe he won’t take a risk and wait. He is a better prospect than many because of his strong play and talent. We all know the NBA doesn’t count on fundamentals and team play when picking a good match.

    Either way, next year will still be rough.

  7. lush 02/27/2008 at 8:49 AM #

    Duncan
    Shaq
    Olajawon
    Ewing
    Mourning
    Mutumbo
    Camby
    Garnett
    Yao
    Malone
    Barkley
    McHale
    Parrish
    Lambier
    Sampson
    Kareem
    Stoudamire
    Oden
    Love

    God the list goes on and on and thats all off the top of my head. Hell hansborough isnt even the best big unc has had. Bleach spot, Jamison and Perkins were all better players.

  8. Sweet jumper 02/27/2008 at 8:50 AM #

    Lush, Bleach spot is a hilarious nickname for Rasheed. I think he would even laugh at that.

  9. Mr O 02/27/2008 at 8:53 AM #

    Noah: It will be interesting to see how Hansbrough does at the NBA level. He plays a couple of inches bigger because he is so physical. It is really hard to say. Nobody thought Carlos Boozer would do anything in the NBA either and now he is one of the best power forwards in the game.

  10. Mr O 02/27/2008 at 8:55 AM #

    On a positive note, from listening to Dave Glenn yesterday it does sounds like we will be playing in the post-season.

    NCAA takes 64 teams.
    NIT takes 32 teams.

    And now some new tournament(CBI?), takes an additional 16 teams.

  11. packbackr04 02/27/2008 at 9:15 AM #

    I CANT BELIVE THERE ARE PEOPLE ON HERE HAPPY THAT jj MIGHT, NAY, PROBABLY WILL LEAVE… HE IS OUR BEST PLAYER.. BY FAR. ITS NOT HIS FAULT THE REST OF THE TEAM AND COACHES SUCK

  12. Noah 02/27/2008 at 9:16 AM #

    I see Hansborough as a power forward version of Eric Montross. Good college player, he’ll play in the NBA, but he’ll never be a star.

  13. Stoner 02/27/2008 at 9:28 AM #

    Translation on JJ: If I will only come back if I am not a first rounder. NCSU is just a stepping stone to me.

    Thank goodness we finally get the kind of talent that can think legitemately think about going pro early. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

  14. tvp1 02/27/2008 at 9:30 AM #

    Hansborough has been a hell of a lot better than Montross in college.

    I have no idea whether he’ll be a good pro or not, but I dont recall that he was considered some sort of lottery lock coming out of high school.

    He’s basically the perfect college player – dominant in college, not quite good enough to be an NBA star, knows it, and is ok with sticking around 3-4 years. Dammit.

    As for JJ – he is far from a lottery lock himself at this point. He’s probably a low first round guy. I can think of quite a few freshman alone that would get picked over him – Beasley, Gordon, Rose, Mayo, Love, etc.

  15. partialqualifier 02/27/2008 at 9:35 AM #

    First let me say that I detest any prima donna sports figure…player or coach. No exceptions. It does bother me that ESPN now broadcasts signing day for 17&18 year old athletes. In fact…it more than bothers me…it sickens me!

    With that being said…the rule to force kids to go to college is actually making more of a mockery of the college game than ever before. Guys like Hickson have no more thought of a college degree than ur average crack-head walking the streets of downtown Durham.

    So…why does the world pretend? It is stupid. I mean no one says anything when American Idol makes teenagers rich beyond their wildest dreams! When Boy bands filled with 16-18 year kids are out making millions I dont hear anyone claiming they should all have to go to a performing arts school for a year or 2 b4 being allowed to perfrom. It is a total double-standard. I can tell u all right now…when I was 18 if some idiot wanted to pay me $3million a year guaranteed for 3-5 years to do any kind of legal job I would have jumped all over it….and truth be told…so would every last one of you! You can go to college anytime…but the window for making that kinda money is very, very small!

    So wake up and understand when u get these kinda guys they are only here for one reason…cause the NBA makes them be here. Do u remember why Hickson came here in the first place? Not our winning tradition. Not our school or location. It was because our coach had coached Kevin Garnett. So…yea.

  16. packbackr04 02/27/2008 at 9:39 AM #

    HEY-

  17. RAWFS 02/27/2008 at 9:40 AM #

    Both O and Noah are correct.

    Hickson would be better served in the long term to spend another year in college learning some basic fundamentals — and getting to compete while doing so. He’s a talent, and at times a force, but at other times he needs to solidify some basics or he will be picking pine needles out of his butt from languishing on the bench.

    Hickson has an okay mid-range jumper, but he needs to make it a deadly short shot so that defenders will sell out to his pump fakes and give him easy lay ins.

    He also needs to learn to stay on the floor and not be so easily faked out on defense.

    He could also stand to get in better shape, because the NBA is far more an up and down game than is the college game.

    Etc.

  18. choppack1 02/27/2008 at 9:40 AM #

    “Nobody thought Carlos Boozer would do anything in the NBA either and now he is one of the best power forwards in the game.”

    I disagree. Boozer had an NBA body. Huge shoulders, big, strong legs. In college, he’d get to spot and set up shop using his strong trunk. He didn’t have to jockey too much. Trajan Langdon – that’s another story. But Boozer was a beast down low in college.

    Regarding Traveling Tyler – I do think it will be interesting to see how he does. He won’t be able to pull his way around in the post like he does in college. Even now, Tyler does have to jockey for position. He isn’t as strong from a “body type” standpoint as Boozer was. (He’s probably stronger in the weight room, but that’s another story.) His mid range game has improved significantly. He’s still not a great passer or ball handler – and I don’t think he can defend the 3.

    The big question is can he play the 4 effectively in the NBA? I really don’t watch the league enough to know right now. I just know that he probably has the mid-range game now to play the 4, but may not have the speed and raw physical attributes.

    As for Hickson – he has an NBA body and athleticism to play the 4. He needs to work on his handle, passing and handling the double teams.

  19. packbackr04 02/27/2008 at 9:41 AM #

    HEY- maybe the bobcats and Jordan can draft Hanswalker, its pretty much a semi-professional team full of old Tarheels anyway.

  20. Texpack 02/27/2008 at 9:45 AM #

    If you were majoring in Aerospace Engineering and Boeing offered you a job after your freshman year making $200k and they had the power to award you a degree would you take it? Well of course you would. JJ Hickson is majoring in basketball at NC State.

    I would agree that you have to think about the one and done guys differently when you are recruiting. Some of them you may want to pass on, but Sidney needs to re-establish NC State as a place that produces NBA players if he is going to be able to recruit the kind of talent we need to get back to being a consistent top 3-4 finisher in the league. With as few legitimate Division 1 players as we had last year, I don’t think the staff felt like they could turn down the opportunity to sign somebody as good as Hickson.

  21. boonami 02/27/2008 at 9:56 AM #

    Mr.O so if we don’t go to the NCAA or NIT, we may go to the CBI? WTF is that? I’m sorry if we don’t make the NIT, which is bad enough, I hope we don’t accept a 3rd tier tourney. That’s embarrassing.

  22. nycfan 02/27/2008 at 10:24 AM #

    I thought Hickson was widely believed to be one and done if he could be certain of going in the first round?

    He certainly needs some skill development, but he wouldn’t be the first or last to prefer to be paid to develop, however short-sighted that may be for some of these kids.

    After seeing him in person in January, though, my own opinion is that his long term prospects (i.e., NBA longevity) would improve greatly from another year of development, though. He does not play as long as I expected and desperately needs a weight training and endurance program. He got gassed fairly quickly for that point of the season and did not seem to have the kind of upper body strength he has to have, though he has natural lower body strength.

    The question is, after watching Costner and McCauley this year, would he get any of that from another season at State? Right now, I’d have to say NO on the weight training and endurance program, with ??? for the skill development.

  23. roandaddy 02/27/2008 at 10:25 AM #

    Agree w/Tex… an NBA player’s salary for a couple of years is essentially the present value of the 30 years of salary we all earn sitting in 9×9 cells (offices) 5 days a week.
    So why not leave early, work hard for a few years, reap all the returns. As fans, we just need to be ready for that reality and how we reload next year.

  24. packbackr04 02/27/2008 at 10:45 AM #

    hey, heres and idea. Why doesnt Lowe use that Scholly to get a PG thats worth a shit

  25. choppack1 02/27/2008 at 10:48 AM #

    “He could also stand to get in better shape, because the NBA is far more an up and down game than is the college game.”

    NYC beat me to it. I was going to add that after seeing our guys this year, you can’t really say he needs another year under the current staff.

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