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. redfred2 02/27/2008 at 12:55 PM #

    Test post.

    Just checking to see if all of my post are “awaiting moderation”.

  2. BillyVest 02/27/2008 at 1:22 PM #

    Degand was beginning to “get it”, when he went down; his play was improving. We lost a guy, who was improving and gaining confidence as the season progressed and replaced him with a pair of inexperienced players and were basically starting over, in regards to PG development, as if it was November, mid way through the season.

    I don’t think we’d have a couple of more wins if Degand was healthy.

    On the flip side, the added playing time has really improved Javi’s game, so next year we should have two decent PG’s and don’t have to worry as much about a major drop in play, at the position, when we sub the starter out.

  3. RAWFS 02/27/2008 at 1:29 PM #

    redfred and everyone else who has had comments “moderated”:

    Getting “moderated” is something that happens due to key words and phrases being used in your posts. It’s a rabbit hole that catches us from time to time as well, and at times the net catches the dolphins by mistake when it’s after tuna. I know that words that suggest sexual innuendo even slightly can get caught up, even when you don’t mean for that to happen. That’s because we get literally hundreds of spam attempts every day and the software used to stop it is paranoid and righteous. You’ll rarely if ever see unintended advertisements for pills, potions, money schemes, anatomical lessons or the greatest sport you can play in the dark here. The guys that do it are wily and persistent, so the defense system is severe. SFN is not a place for that stuff, and you didn’t come here for it anyway.

    I’ve released your comments except for the one user who posted the same comment three or four times in row.

    Sorry if this causes anyone any inconvenience.

  4. choppack1 02/27/2008 at 2:01 PM #

    BillyVest – I was a huge Degand booster early. However, I think – especially as the HC – you are setting a poor precedent if you allow injuries as an excuse. Especially if you allow it as an excuse for poor rebounding and effort.

    From a TO perspective, Javi has done pretty well.Lately, he’s hitting a wall, but that’s somewhat to be expected. (This could have happened to Degand as well.)

    Like I said, excuses are nothing new here…before Sid got injured, we had the “tired legs” excuse vs. Michigan State, we had the “too long a layoff” excuse, and we had the “chemistry” excuse.

  5. 66pack 02/27/2008 at 2:04 PM #

    tyler h will be a great nba player.some of you don’t think he will but that’s probably because he is a heel.hope some day ncs can recruit someone of is quality.if only our players had 1/10 his heart,desire and bb IQ.

  6. Wait_Til_This_Year 02/27/2008 at 2:15 PM #

    JJ could be the problem, or the problem could be that we rely on him too much. If other people would step up and make some plays, then it would take some pressure off him, but he would still probably get some good numbers. Alternately, he may just FEEL that there is pressure, which would explain his trying to force up shots over double teams or from bad positions. Notice in the second half against Virginia, if Ben got the ball down low and didn’t like his position, he just passed back out to an open man. Granted, one or two of those passes got picked off after it got too predictable…

  7. LRM 02/27/2008 at 2:15 PM #

    The good news for Costner is that the NBA is full of guys that honed their games in Europe. The bad news is that they’re all white and don’t have vowels in their names.

  8. Wait_Til_This_Year 02/27/2008 at 2:41 PM #

    So Costner’s gonna graduate in three years, huh? That explains the drop off in his game. He’s been wasting all his time studying. Damn.

    Someone may have touched on this earlier, but why couldn’t a school offer a legit major in basketball? There are already plenty of majors wherein graduates will find that there are relatively few jobs in that field after they graduate. You can major in theater or drama in some places, but it would be tough to find work in those areas, because only the best get the jobs. How is basketball/the NBA different? It’s the entertainment industry.

    I know it’s a bit OT, but someone posted something earlier that made me think of this. Maybe if basketball were a major that made players more appealing to the NBA, then they might stay in college to finish it:)

  9. beowolf 02/27/2008 at 2:54 PM #

    redfred and everyone else who has had comments “moderated”:

    Getting “moderated” is something that happens due to key words and phrases being used in your posts. … I know that words that suggest sexual innuendo even slightly can get caught up, even when you don’t mean for that to happen.

    LMAO, and fred was just talking about a view of a YOUNG TEENAGE KID …

  10. Rochester 02/27/2008 at 3:10 PM #

    ^^WTTY – How bad would it look when a player majoring in basketball flunked out?

  11. Ed89 02/27/2008 at 3:14 PM #

    ^^Maybe if basketball were a major that made players more appealing to the NBA, then they might stay in college to finish it:)

    I think Sports Management is a major, as well as Physical Education. There is also a major for those wanting to get into Coaching — maybe a minor off of Phys. Ed??? Not sure, but I’m not sure if that would be the difference maker. It could be. I know alot of great coaches have very different majors in college.

  12. lush 02/27/2008 at 3:16 PM #

    “tyler h will be a great nba player.some of you don’t think he will but that’s probably because he is a heel.”

    i would like to know what makes you think he will be. it has already been explained that he is too slow, too short, wont be able to defend anyone, wont be able to bull doze his way to the basket, and wont shoot 15 free throws per game. that is why he will not even sniff the court, much less be great.

    the fact that he is a heel makes it more fun to point out how far off from NBA talent he is.

    i thought about an earlier statement made by Rick, basically wondering how handjobsborough would do on a team not getting the baby blue benefit with the refs. he would probably be about as effective as that putz on virginia, foul out of most games and turn the ball over constantly.

  13. packbackr04 02/27/2008 at 3:30 PM #

    let me prefice this by saying i am no way a racist but doesnt UNC_CH have an “African-American Studies Major” that most of their athletes choose as their degree of choice… Last time i checked, there arent alot of jobs for someone with a vast amount of knowledge in that subject. its just an easy way to have their athletes excel in the classroom as i am sure the subject cant be THAT difficult.

    again, i am in no way racist. just thought i would mention that UNC figured out a long time ago that if your athletes can take cupcake classes and coast to a degree, they will be much more apt to stay.

  14. smfrank 02/27/2008 at 3:42 PM #

    The only reason Hansborough stayed in school is because he’s waiting for someone in San Francisco to buy out the Grizzlies.

  15. Wait_Til_This_Year 02/27/2008 at 3:54 PM #

    I’m not talking about cupcake majors, though, I mean things that actually deal with professional sports, including the business side of things, like dealing with agents, managers, owners, etc. Hell, some of that stuff might even apply to non-sports jobs, too. Either way, it seems like a better idea than a cupcake major that the players don’t take seriously.

  16. Wait_Til_This_Year 02/27/2008 at 4:00 PM #

    Anyway, it’s just a thought. There may not be enough material there to constitute making pro sports a major.

  17. PackGirl 02/27/2008 at 4:25 PM #

    There’s already a Sport’s Management major and also Turf Management (Ben Mac’s major – he wants to manage golf courses I believe)

  18. Ed89 02/27/2008 at 4:26 PM #

    USC (South Carolina) has a pretty good Sports Management degree, I think. I know alot of their athletes major in it.

  19. packbackr04 02/27/2008 at 4:55 PM #

    So theres a major encouraging people to turn into assholes like Drew “he has 12 million reasons to be happy” Rosenhaus?!?!?!?!

    no thanks.

    now if there was a degree to make people into Ari Gold! im all for that.

  20. redfred2 02/27/2008 at 5:31 PM #

    Beowulf, I guess my descriptive adjectives did sound a little shady, when taken out of context. That’s funny.

    I couldn’t figure why that came up because I know I have posted things that were much more obnoxious and offensive than anything I’ve said on this particular thread anyway.

    THANK YOU for the clarification SFN!

  21. Wait_Til_This_Year 02/27/2008 at 5:35 PM #

    Actually, I was thinking that it would be beneficial to players who may go pro (in any country) to take classes so that they wouldn’t need agents.

  22. GoldenChain 02/27/2008 at 10:01 PM #

    Personally I want to have NBA caliber players in our program. And think about it, … it would take a well paid person making $100,000 per year 20 (or more) years to make what any 1st rounder could make in ONE!
    How many of you would stay in school if someone offered you that kind of money after your freshman year?
    (Unfortunately in textiles that wasn’t an option!LOL)

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