KNOXVILLE — Like any young kid playing basketball, Jarnell Stokes had his favorite NBA player growing up.
For Tennessee's sophomore forward, it was then-Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony.
Naturally, Stokes wanted to play like Anthony, the five-time All-Star with the New York Knicks who's a pure inside-out scorer.
He admitted to playing like that in high school, but the half-season stint with the Volunteers last season after finishing high school early proved to him that he should embrace a different identity.
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Comments » 8
johnlg00 writes:
Gotta say I was a bit alarmed when I read that Melo was Stokes' favorite player. No question Melo is one of the outstanding individual scorers in the game today, but he is a little, uh, trigger-happy for my taste. The ball tends to disappear when he gets it. I was much relieved when Stokes said he was fully embracing his role as a go-to low-post scorer, though I do NOT object to him improving his mid-range jumper and free-throw shooting. Now if the rest of the guys will do a better job of finding him when he is in position, he can truly fulfill all of his vast potential.
mocsandvolsfan writes:
I watched the Victory game today for the first time and when he was in they seemed to find him easy enough. Granted their defense was not SEC caliber. I hadn't heard that he had 3 fouls though. I think all the bigs got some fouls in. I also noticed that Miller didn't play. Can he redshirt? That'd be great if he needs to heal. We could use him next year especially if we lose some folks. But I'm still hoping for some 4-5* to be found in the 4or 5 positions. But meanwhile let's play ball.
underthehill writes:
One of the best NFL tight ends..or maybe the best..I think was a basketball player..it would be interesting to see how high Stokes would go in the NFL draft if he declared...let's see..how may positions could he play..back to basketball..Stokes if one great rebounder...
johnlg00 writes:
Actually, two of best current NFL tight ends were college basketball players, Antonio Gates of the Chargers and Jimmy Goodman--Goodson? Goodwin?--not sure of his name--of the Saints. Gates played at some mid-major team in the Midwest, I think, but Goodman played and started on a pretty good Miami(FL) team. Jarnell could fit right in that mold if he so chose, though, IMHO, he would be nuts to do so!
johnlg00 writes:
I was thinking mainly of last year when I talked about doing a better job feeding Jarnell. He did indeed get some decent feeds against Victory. Even then, though, I recall several instances where he had his man sealed down low and instead various guys fired up outside jumpers that didn't go in. The FIRST look for just about all of them, just about all the time, MUST be inside to Jarnell. Maybe on the second and third look, too. In almost any game the Vols play, Jarnell is going to be one of the best guys on the floor. They must ride that horse if they want to win the Derby, and anybody who doesn't get that needs to sit and think about it a little bit.
No question the Vols could use a productive Miller especially with Maymon out indefinitely, but he is also nursing a bum knee right now. He has been around a lot so he probably doesn't have a regular redshirt year left. He MAY qualify for a medical redshirt if he can't play this year, but though we shouldn't count on it, we surely could use him next year.
mocsandvolsfan writes:
T E R R E L L OWENS!!!! UTC Basketball. However he didn't do much for the bballers.
johnlg00 writes:
Thinking a little more about role models for Jarnell, he would benefit from watching tape of Bernard King and Dale Ellis. I'm not sure how much he could learn from King, except to be DECISIVE when he takes it up. King was so unbelievably quick off his feet and with his release as to be virtually inimitable. Ellis, however, used incredibly precise footwork as well as great elevation to score virtually at will in the low post while usually undersized against most opponents. Good footwork in the post is, IMHO, very nearly a lost art compared to how it was in my day, which admittedly was a LONG time ago now. Still, I think any post player in any era would benefit from seeing how Kevin McHale did it back in the day, as well as the Vols I mentioned.
johnlg00 writes:
The other day, just out of the blue, it came to me that the name of the former Miami basketball player who plays tight end for the New Orleans Saints is Jimmy GRAHAM. The sad fact is that I knew his name when I started that post but had forgotten it by the time I got to that point.
Not that you don't already, but anyone is free to take my posts with a grain of salt--or a bushel!--if they seem not to make sense! Little brain farts like that seem increasingly and depressingly common these days. All I can say is, don't any of you younger ones especially gloat too much over this evidence of my increasing senility; it could happen to you some day, too(;-P)!
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