Tyreke Evans to Memphis

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone given Tyreke Evans close ties to William “Worldwide” Wesley and Wes’s close relationship with Memphis Coach John Calipari. People have been speculating about this decision for months and now it’s official. Evans a three-time Pennsylvania AP player of the year and MVP of the McDonald All-American game has selected the Memphis Tigers, to play his collegiate ball.

Evans averaged 29 pts, 8 rebs and 6 assists this past season as a Sr. guard at American Christian in Pennsylvania. Tyreke was also mulling offers from Villanova and Texas before selecting the Tigers. "It wasn't an easy decision," Evans said. "It's time for me to be a man. I need a little time away from my family and I wanted to get away. I like Memphis' system. I like what Coach Call does and I think he will help me get to the next level."

Make no mistake about it… Tyreke is not going to Memphis to further his education. His goal is to be one and done. But for anyone that is expecting the next coming of Derrick Rose, understand now that Tyreke is not even close to the athlete or point guard of the electric D. Rose. In fact, if it wasn’t for this year’s Senior class being a down year, Tyreke wouldn’t have garnered all the accolades that came his way. He is a tremendous scorer and a superb talent, but Tyreke has a long way to go before he can even contemplate a jump to the pro-level.

His brother Reggie, has somewhat of a different view as to the type of player Memphis is getting, "CDR and Derrick put together a hell of a tandem, but I think 'Reke is both of them in one," Reggie Evans said. "He's Derrick handling the ball, and he's CDR with his scoring ability. All he needs is a little help around him. They could make another run at it."

Not quite, but we’ll see…

For more on Tyreke Evans

In the Spotlight: Derrick Rose

Position: Point Guard
Ht: 6-4, Wt: 200
Hometown: Chicago, IL

Class: Freshman

College: Memphis

Age: October 4th, 1988

Strengths

• Great size, strength and build for the pg position
• Outstanding in the open court – Rose is about as fast as you can get end-to-end with the ball in your hands.
• Explosive leaper who can throw down highlight dunks.
• Combine his leaping ability with his uncanny hang time and Rose is exceptional finishing around the rim and in traffic.
• Superb quickness
• Great foot speed, solid on the ball defender… He has all the tools to be a phenomenal defensive player.
• Excellent rebounder for a pg, which enables Rose to turn and start the fast break – He’s always looking to run.
• Very strong handle – comfortable going left and right – with a particularly strong in and out move with the left hand.
• Unselfish – always looks to give up the ball
• Team player – despite receiving all the hype coming into college, Rose really showed that he just wanted to be another member of the team.
  

Weaknesses

• Doesn’t have the “I want to be the man” mentality – thus shying away down the stretch
• Needs to work on being more effective playing in a half-court game
• Shot needs refinement – slight mechanical adjustments might be needed, but definitely has the ability to develop into a consistent outside threat.
• Despite having all of the tools to be a phenomenal defensive player, Rose needs to exert more energy on the defensive side of the ball – not have lapses where he lets his man penetrate past him.
• Needs polishing off the court

Rose is the complete package. He has an NBA body, speed, quickness, athletic ability and he plays point guard the right way. Like Jason Kidd, the moment Rose gets the ball in his hands, he is looking to create a fast break opportunity even if it doesn’t seem like one is available. He is very unselfish and teammates love playing with him because of his style of play and unselfishness.

Rose prefers to blend in with the guys like another member of the team, rather than being ‘the man,’ which is both a good thing and a bad thing. He needs to develop that killer instinct at the end of games, where he realizes ‘I am the guy and it’s time to take over on certain occasions,’ but it may just not be in him.

To this point in his career, Rose has been able to dominate on his athleticism alone, but as he transitions to the pro-level; Rose will need to further advance his half-court game. He needs to be able to knock down the jumper on a more consistent basis, both spot shooting and pull up jumpers off the bounce. He also has to get more effective at running the pick and roll in a half court set and avoid picking up his dribble and getting trapped away from the basket.

With that being said, Rose has star potential at the next level.