Zeke and the NBA Draft

[Dr Z]

Ever sat close to an NBA game? It is an enormously physical game. Zeke just needs to get himself to that point.

Good point. There is a guy on the team right now that plays that physical game well.

[Roo]

I also believe he can get there. What has really limited him was that for the longest time he never cared about basketball. That's a huge issue for an NBA team. Are you going to take a fringe guy that feels that if he doesn't make it in the NBA, then he has nothing so therefor he will try to kill himself to make it or take Zeke, a guy that doesn't seem to care to get there and knows he will be just fine if he doesn't make it and go to his desired career path?

Over the last year, we've seen more emotion out of Zeke than we have in the previous three. But I can almost guarantee you that his lack of love for the game is on his scouting report for every NBA team wanting to take a chance on him.

[MDZip]

Over the last year, we've seen more emotion out of Zeke than we have in the previous three. But I can almost guarantee you that his lack of love for the game is on his scouting report for every NBA team wanting to take a chance on him.

What? That may have been true earlier in his career, but I think if you really watched him closely his senior you would see the joy he gets out of playing the game now. I think his self awareness is a huge plus and I think he will put in the work and some team will see enough to take him i the draft. Even if his ceiling was a career backup center (and I'm not sure anybody, including him knows what that ceiling is since he really hasn't played the game that long), that's not a bad life. He represents the University well. Go Zeke!

[Zipmeister]

What? That may have been true earlier in his career, but I think if you really watched him closely his senior you would see the joy he gets out of playing the game now. I think his self awareness is a huge plus and I think he will put in the work and some team will see enough to take him i the draft. Even if his ceiling was a career backup center (and I'm not sure anybody, including him knows what that ceiling is since he really hasn't played the game that long), that's not a bad life. He represents the University well. Go Zeke!

Norman Bates once told me, "Behind every successful man there is a women making him crazy."

[GP1]

What has really limited him was that for the longest time he never cared about basketball.

I find it hard to believe that a kid who was a high school All American didn't care about basketball....

How soon would someone have to care? It makes no sense to me. If a player can play, he can play. Making or not making an NBA team has nothing to do with caring. It has everything to do with ability and performance. Lots of guys care and never make it.

[Dave in Green]

I find it hard to believe that a kid who was a high school All American didn't care about basketball....

Zeke's previous lack of love for basketball has been discussed at length both on this forum and in various stories. Here's what Zeke's mom had to say in a recent

Marla Ridenour story:

That’s the same lackadaisical attitude Marshall had when he arrived at UA, Bozeman said. As a freshman, Bozeman said Marshall “couldn’t lift the [bench press] bar, was physically not fit, was fundamentally not as sound as he should have been and didn’t really love the game.”

And in this recent Zac Jackson story:

"I don't think he truly loved basketball until last year," Bozeman said. "For the longest time, it was something he did so he could get a free education. I think his mindset was, 'Fake it 'til you make it.'"

[LZIp]

Making or not making an NBA team has nothing to do with caring. It has everything to do with ability and performance.

Right. Work ethic has nothing to do with making it in the NBA.

[scottditzen]

Amen. Only a team as stupid as the Browns would have flushed a draft pick down the toilet on him.

Listen, I've got like four total good memories of Akron sports. Seeing CF play QB for four years is one of them. I'm not going to let you trash him on THIS forum.

Go to a Steelers or Flashes forum to do that.

We've been through enough crap so if you're gonna trash AKRON ZIPS PLAYERS go someplace else. This is not the place for it.

[GP1]

Right. Work ethic has nothing to do with making it in the NBA.

I didn't say that.

[Dave in Green]

..... This is not the place for it.

Absolutely correct. The basketball forum is not the place for a football discussion.

[GP1]

Listen, I've got like four total good memories of Akron sports.

I have a lot of good memories of Zips sporting events. Watching him play probably isn't in the Top 20. Most of my great memories center around teams and players who won things.

Since this forum is about Zeke, I would say that watching him participate on a team that won multiple MAC Championships is near the top of my memories.

[GP1]

Zeke's previous lack of love for basketball has been discussed at length both on this forum and in various stories. Here's what Zeke's mom had to say in a recent

Marla Ridenour story:

And in this recent Zac Jackson story:

I feel like Zeke's unpaid lawyer....Where are the quotes of Zeke saying he really didn't love the game? Of all people Dave, you should know that when non-professional, non-media savvy people give answers to a reporter, it may not always come out exactly the way they would have like. A reported quote becomes fact for a future article. It is a good way to misunderstand a person.

So let me get this straight. In 2008, there was a tall, skinny kid in Pennsylvania who played basketball AND like to play video games. Shocking. This doesn't mean he didn't love the game, it makes him a normal kid.

Further, there was a kid who went to college as an introvert and once exposed to a different life in college came out of his shell and developed into a nice young man. Is this really the first time this happened? Didn't this happen to many of us?

[Dave in Green]

@GP1, I've had many conversations with Zeke's mom over the years. I sat at a table with her and spoke with her about Zeke at the banquet last night. The newspaper quotes are accurate in the sense that Zeke did not develop the passion for basketball required to motivate him to become NBA-ready until the last year or two. That's why his performance improved dramatically this season, and that's why he now has a real shot at being drafted.

[Dave in Green]

City League Hoops visited UA and made Zeke their first player interview prior to the 2013 NBA Draft. They posted the interview with the following lead-in:

Starting off our coverage for the 2013 NBA Draft, we shot to the University of Akron to check out 7-footer Zeke Marshall. The senior is projected as a second round pick in this June’s NBA Draft, blending ideal size with a 7’5 wingspan and one of the higher bench presses in the Draft (can bench 335 pounds). Zeke is one of the few true centers in the second round mix and as you can see in this workout, he’s putting in some major work with trainer Chet Feldman while finishing his degree at Akron.

@GP1 will be interested to learn that the interview produced the definitive quote directly from Zeke on how he didn't really start loving basketball until last year, just as GameChngr44 has been telling the media and Zips fans who've spoken with her:

CLH: You have all of the physical tools that NBA teams dream of out of a center, but as you know, the biggest question that everyone has always had about you is your mentality. Tell me, do you love basketball?

ZM: I do love basketball. I’m not going to lie though, it took a while for that to happen. It’s common nature that when you force a kid to do something, they develop a resentment of it. That’s what happened with me. I was literally forced to play and honestly, I didn’t like it at one point. My father had a great career at Robert Morris and Penn State, so it was drilled into me to play basketball. That’s what made me not like it. It really took me up until last year to develop my own love for the game. I found my own passion for it, my own way, my own road.

Link here.

[Dave in Green]

Sounds as if Zeke has made a good impression in Pre-Draft Camp judging by this tweet from Coach John Lucas:

Coach John Lucas

‏@CoachJohnLucas1

In the lab. These college kids had a very good week and big guy from Akron got a real chance. #predraft

I went back over a few months of Coach Lucas tweets, and he only rarely pays a compliment like that to one of the many HS, college and pro players who take part in the various camps he runs in Texas and around the country.

Twitter Link.

[johnnyzip84]

Sounds as if Zeke has made a good impression in Pre-Draft Camp judging by this tweet from Coach John Lucas:

I went back over a few months of Coach Lucas tweets, and he only rarely pays a compliment like that to one of the many HS, college and pro players who take part in the various camps he runs in Texas and around the country.

Twitter Link.

That's encouraging fo Zeke. It sure seems to me that a minimum 2nd round selection is looking more and more likely.

An interesting side note to me is that Munroe Falls native and former OU Bobcat letter winner (football AND basketball) Chet Feldman is Zeke's trainer as he prepares for his professional hoops career.

[Dave in Green]

NBA Draft Tiers is a new one to me, and they've just done an interesting analysis of Zeke. I like the bar chart for different aspects of a player's game. I'm not sure that I agree with everything they say. For example, they downplay Zeke's offensive abilities despite the huge jump he made in offensive efficiency in his senior season. But the good news is that, despite what they see as his weaknesses, they still rate him as a late second-round pick. That's really all the opening Zeke needs. If he gets drafted, he gets a chance to prove that he's not stuck as "an end of the bench rotation big man."

Draft Analysis

Zeke Marshall has all of the prerequisite physical qualifications to be an NBA center. He has size, length, and agility. He is a decent shot-blocker and finisher, considering the competition he played against this year. At best, he figures to be an end of the bench rotation big man due to his physical tools, and will be taken in the late second round.

Link

[gozips19]

list of invitees for the combine. no Zeke

click for list

[skip-zip]

list of invitees for the combine. no Zeke

click for list

I couldn't help but to notice that there was about 70 guys on that list too.

And they don't even put him on the list of "top players not invited" either.

Just keep hoping for the best.

[Zipmeister]

I couldn't help but to notice that there was about 70 guys on that list too.

And they don't even put him on the list of "top players not invited" either.

Just keep hoping for the best.

I couldn't help but to notice the dearth of players invited from mid-major schools.

[Z.I.P.]

That's encouraging fo Zeke. It sure seems to me that a minimum 2nd round selection is looking more and more likely.

An interesting side note to me is that Munroe Falls native and former OU Bobcat letter winner (football AND basketball) Chet Feldman is Zeke's trainer as he prepares for his professional hoops career.

And coach Lucas (former tennis pro for the unknowing), should see Zeke's overhead slam!

[akronzips71]

He will land with a team.

Someplace tonight there is a GM laughing softly to himself - might not even have to use a draft choice to get the big guy.

[UAZip0510]

This shouldn't come as a shock...there's just not much draft buzz around Zeke outside of Akron.

I'm predicting Zeke starting next year for the Canton Charge. He needs a year or two to develop before hitting the NBA.

[LZIp]

This shouldn't come as a shock...there's just not much draft buzz around Zeke outside of Akron.

I'm predicting Zeke starting next year for the Canton Charge. He needs a year or two to develop before hitting the NBA.

what has changed recently that there would be buzz?

[Hilltopper]

You guys do realize that some players agents pay for their clients to be "Invited" to the combine.