Elijah Clarance-Swedish National Team

[Hamdonger]

Incidentally, there are a couple nice right-handed finishes in the highlights. Yes, he needs to work on it, but it’s not like he can’t go right.

3:50 one was nice...but if I'm The Valley(or his competition in practice), I'm overplaying his left hand substantially until he shows me something...repeatedly...with the right. It's akin to a guy having a 20 inch bicep then a 14 inch bicep on his weak side.

He's explosive, I get it. He'll fire the crowd up with those left-handed lights on fire lane jams. No doubt about it. He's got BRAVADO.

But man is he left-hand dominant. His whole body screams "LEFT!"

 

[DBird]

Incidentally, there are a couple nice right-handed finishes in the highlights. Yes, he needs to work on it, but it’s not like he can’t go right.

3:50 one was nice...but if I'm The Valley(or his competition in practice), I'm overplaying his left hand substantially until he shows me something...repeatedly...with the right. It's akin to a guy having a 20 inch bicep then a 14 inch bicep on his weak side.

He's explosive, I get it. He'll fire the crowd up with those left-handed lights on fire lane jams. No doubt about it. He's got BRAVADO.

But man is he left-hand dominant. His whole body screams "LEFT!"
[/quote

Keep forcing him right he will get it done in time!!
He was behind the 8 ball all last season!

 

[DBird]

Incidentally, there are a couple nice right-handed finishes in the highlights. Yes, he needs to work on it, but it’s not like he can’t go right.

3:50 one was nice...but if I'm The Valley(or his competition in practice), I'm overplaying his left hand substantially until he shows me something...repeatedly...with the right. It's akin to a guy having a 20 inch bicep then a 14 inch bicep on his weak side.

He's explosive, I get it. He'll fire the crowd up with those left-handed lights on fire lane jams. No doubt about it. He's got BRAVADO.

But man is he left-hand dominant. His whole body screams "LEFT!"

Keep forcing him right he will get in done in time!! He was behind the 8 ball all last season with his issues in November and December!

 

[Bird Friend]

Incidentally, there are a couple nice right-handed finishes in the highlights. Yes, he needs to work on it, but it’s not like he can’t go right.

3:50 one was nice...but if I'm The Valley(or his competition in practice), I'm overplaying his left hand substantially until he shows me something...repeatedly...with the right. It's akin to a guy having a 20 inch bicep then a 14 inch bicep on his weak side.

He's explosive, I get it. He'll fire the crowd up with those left-handed lights on fire lane jams. No doubt about it. He's got BRAVADO.

But man is he left-hand dominant. His whole body screams "LEFT!"

He's left-handed, so going left is natural. Phil does it. PLee did it. Like I said, EC needs to work on going right. But looks to me like he can do so when pressed to do so. Plus he'll learn. We should probably make some of our right-handed players learn to go left while we're at it.

 

[RedbirdSoxFan]

Incidentally, there are a couple nice right-handed finishes in the highlights. Yes, he needs to work on it, but it’s not like he can’t go right.

3:50 one was nice...but if I'm The Valley(or his competition in practice), I'm overplaying his left hand substantially until he shows me something...repeatedly...with the right. It's akin to a guy having a 20 inch bicep then a 14 inch bicep on his weak side.

He's explosive, I get it. He'll fire the crowd up with those left-handed lights on fire lane jams. No doubt about it. He's got BRAVADO.

But man is he left-hand dominant. His whole body screams "LEFT!"

He's left-handed, so going left is natural. Phil does it. PLee did it. Like I said, EC needs to work on going right. But looks to me like he can do so when pressed to do so. Plus he'll learn. We should probably make some of our right-handed players learn to go left while we're at it.

:text-+1:

 

[Hamdonger]

He's left-handed, so going left is natural.

Thunder. Crash! Lightning!! The San Andreas fault has just opened. Mountains are tumbling. Hail stones the size of bowling balls. The Grand Canyon just doubled in size. My two testicles just divided into four. ISUFan1 was just awarded The Mr. Rogers Humanitarian Award. Logos magically appeared on those white ISU towels. (Hulka's gonna need 'em cause he just sht himself) My dog just told me a joke. And I laughed. The atom just split. E=mc2. Quinn just solved pi. And I just saw a pig fly.

He's left handed, so going left is natural?? What, you say?? Amazing.

BirdFriend, I like you. Ya gotta let me bust your chops for that earthquake statement. Thank you for sharing with us.

Would you prefer Captain Obvious or Mr. Wizard??

 

[Adunk33]

He's left-handed, so going left is natural. Phil does it. PLee did it. Like I said, EC needs to work on going right. But looks to me like he can do so when pressed to do so. Plus he'll learn. We should probably make some of our right-handed players learn to go left while we're at it.

For sure. Every player should be able to go score with both hands near the bucket. I did get the chance to watch almost every game he played in this tournament and there were probably 20 times or so where he created for himself, got to a wide open bucket with his right and just wasn't able to finish. I suppose it is being nit picky but Elijah has the chance to be one of the better guards in the league. MVC guards will have a tough time staying in front of him and he will likely get fouled a lot. So if he is making those shots he is getting fouled on and adding the FT, that is better than taking two shots from the line at around a 65% clip. Check my math but I believe we as fans, and the team would rather get 3 points on a play than 2.

He doesn't have the jumper yet to be a concern from deep, so his game is going to be driving, getting fouled, and shooting a lot of FT. He can shoot the 3- just haven't seen it translate into the game. One other positive from this tournament is I feel his shot selection IQ has gotten better. He started taking less 3's and was taking what was given to him (the drive).

 

[Redbird28]

Jefferson will also CREATE a lot of turnovers. I have seen him play a lot of basketball in person and he has a great knack for anticipating and getting into passing lanes. So long as he isn't careless about it I think people will be very surprised at this particular aspect of his game.

So what's your overall take of JJeff??

I don't want to hijack this thread, but since you asked - the kid can really score. He has tremendous depth on his shooting as well. Not afraid to take a shot, and he hits a high percentage of 3s so it's never a situation of no,no,no, YES! I don't see him as a PG. Not sure if Muller does or not. He definitely tilts more to the scoring side so that's why I'd slot him in as a SG. He's a little undersized, but to be fair, I'm 6'5 so I talk to these guys and they seem undersized from my vantage point. He's probably at least 6'1-6'2. He's an aggressive defender, especially with anticipation in the passing game. He'll gamble. What I am curious to see is how that translates in the MVC. Will he get burnt a few times and back down a notch or will his quickness be enough to continue gambling in that manner?

Honestly, and I know this is saying a lot, there are shades of Daishon Knight in this kid. Will he turn in to that level of player for us? If he does then well, we've really got something, and no one else in the league will see it coming. As long as he plays his game he will make us an even deeper team, and there won't be such a dramatic dropoff if any of MY, KE, PF, ZC, WT get into some foul trouble and have to sit for a prolonged period.

Overall, I am very optimistic about what he is going to provide, but like WT I expect there could be a little bit of an adjustment period while he tries to acclimate into a role on this team.

 

[JHBird]

Seems like Elijah could be a perfect paring with Copeland. EC can get inside at will, and then pass it out to Copeland for hopefully an open three. Our guards didn't seem to penetrate as much last year. We need some guards to play like Milik, getting inside, getting fouled and causing problems. Also, I'm thinking EC will be one of the better rebounding guards. He's built solid and isn't shy about the physical side of things. Can't wait to see how much he improved over the summer.

 

[Retire 12]

What I saw from EC is that our high ball screen offense is really going to suit him well. He didn't have a lot of help overseas after he got past the first defender... no rolling big man etc... but he's got a couple of good one's on the Redbirds for him to dish it to should a defense properly rotate.

I think when he's in the game you'll see quite a bit of pick and roll from us, with a shooter spotting up from outside on the strong side.

 

[Bird Friend]

He's left-handed, so going left is natural.

Thunder. Crash! Lightning!! The San Andreas fault has just opened. Mountains are tumbling. Hail stones the size of bowling balls. The Grand Canyon just doubled in size. My two testicles just divided into four. ISUFan1 was just awarded The Mr. Rogers Humanitarian Award. Logos magically appeared on those white ISU towels. (Hulka's gonna need 'em cause he just sht himself) My dog just told me a joke. And I laughed. The atom just split. E=mc2. Quinn just solved pi. And I just saw a pig fly.

He's left handed, so going left is natural?? What, you say?? Amazing.

BirdFriend, I like you. Ya gotta let me bust your chops for that earthquake statement. Thank you for sharing with us.

Would you prefer Captain Obvious or Mr. Wizard??

Honestly, it wasn’t that great of an observation. And of all things you mentioned just happened, the one truly surprising thing was that you laughed.

 

[Redbirdwarrior]

I can't understand why anyone in Redbird Nation would have anything negative to say about ANYTHING EC has shown us this off season. This kid is showing Europe that he is one of the best players of ALL OF THOSE international players. What are there, a few hundred college level kids in this tournament, many of them D1 players?

He is hitting shots, creating lanes, getting rebounds, dunking, blocking, stealing, hitting the free throws.

I am impressed and excited.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

Is this board hinting that full scholarship players at the highest collegiate level in the land cannot go to their non-dominant side?
That is taught, and usually perfected, at the lowest of AAU levels and I find it hard to believe that EC, or anyone at this level, actually has that issue.
Sounds like searching for something to complain about.

 

[Adunk33]

Is this board hinting that full scholarship players at the highest collegiate level in the land cannot go to their non-dominant side?
That is taught, and usually perfected, at the lowest of AAU levels and I find it hard to believe that EC, or anyone at this level, actually has that issue.
Sounds like searching for something to complain about.

I was not suggestion he CANNOT go right. He needs to get stronger going right. Go watch any of his games from this summer, not just the highlights, and you'll see.

 

[Retire 12]

This fan base is hilarious.

 

[Hamdonger]

Is this board hinting that full scholarship players at the highest collegiate level in the land cannot go to their non-dominant side?
That is taught, and usually perfected, at the lowest of AAU levels and I find it hard to believe that EC, or anyone at this level, actually has that issue.
Sounds like searching for something to complain about.

I was not suggestion he CANNOT go right. He needs to get stronger going right. Go watch any of his games from this summer, not just the highlights, and you'll see.

He was implying me. Yes, I am implying that he has a problem going right and hek YES I am hinting that some full scholarship players at the highest collegiate level have a hard time with their non-dominant hand and direction...and in a sense yes I am being nitpicky with Elijah. Listen, he's exciting and I want him to succeed. It would thrill me to see him play so well that he starts for us and wins postseason awards.

My playing experience means nill, but I LOVED it when i matched up against a ball dominant, one hand dominant guard. If you played them smart, they were the easiest guys to defend and DEFINITELY the easiest to frustrate mentally.

I want Elijah to SHINE! He just created an impressive and lifetime memory in The Games.
But man, kid, work that right hand.

 

[Hamdonger]

Jefferson will also CREATE a lot of turnovers. I have seen him play a lot of basketball in person and he has a great knack for anticipating and getting into passing lanes. So long as he isn't careless about it I think people will be very surprised at this particular aspect of his game.

So what's your overall take of JJeff??

I don't want to hijack this thread, but since you asked - the kid can really score. He has tremendous depth on his shooting as well. Not afraid to take a shot, and he hits a high percentage of 3s so it's never a situation of no,no,no, YES! I don't see him as a PG. Not sure if Muller does or not. He definitely tilts more to the scoring side so that's why I'd slot him in as a SG. He's a little undersized, but to be fair, I'm 6'5 so I talk to these guys and they seem undersized from my vantage point. He's probably at least 6'1-6'2. He's an aggressive defender, especially with anticipation in the passing game. He'll gamble. What I am curious to see is how that translates in the MVC. Will he get burnt a few times and back down a notch or will his quickness be enough to continue gambling in that manner?

Honestly, and I know this is saying a lot, there are shades of Daishon Knight in this kid. Will he turn in to that level of player for us? If he does then well, we've really got something, and no one else in the league will see it coming. As long as he plays his game he will make us an even deeper team, and there won't be such a dramatic dropoff if any of MY, KE, PF, ZC, WT get into some foul trouble and have to sit for a prolonged period.

Overall, I am very optimistic about what he is going to provide, but like WT I expect there could be a little bit of an adjustment period while he tries to acclimate into a role on this team.

Really appreciate that well-thought out review, and I'm eagerly anticipating watching him play. Watching all of em play!