Former NBA Draft Pick James Nnaji Enters Transfer Portal After Underwhelming Baylor Stint

Shocker...

Well, bye.

He must have been cut. I didn't see anything that makes him desirable at a top 75 school.

Bye Felicia

Crawfoso1973 said:

---

We really had nothing to lose under the circumstances.

Beginning the year with Rataj coming in as our Omier replacement, however, was a disastrous personnel decision.

---

This. We were just trying to add a frontcourt body at that point, and it wasn't like our options were abundant at the midterm.

Still trying to understand how a 7 foot NBA draft pick was at most a project player at the college level with ton of development needed to even be a player in college.

Anyway, opens a spot to find a player that can actually contribute something.

Just shows you we were grasping at straws....There was likely a few kids on the campus who could have contributed a few minutes in the paint....

Johnny Bear said:

---

Still trying to understand how a 7 foot NBA draft pick was at most a project player at the college level with ton of development needed to even be a player in college.

Anyway, opens a spot to find a player that can actually contribute something.

---

The reality is many NBA teams look at the 2nd round picks 31-40 as chips to be used later. I don't think Detroit knew a hell of a lot about Naji other than he was 7ft.. They never signed him, but still retained the rights to him, which allowed them to add him to a trade they made a few months later. He was traded again to the Knicks in 2024, I think. At least the Knicks invited him to the Summer league, still without a contract. This past Fall Baylor was two centers down to injury, and no way to add to the roster except with Naji.

A few years back there was a regional Opera Company that was putting together a new multimillion$ Opera production with several big operatic stars. A week before the opening, the tenor became ill and the Company did not have an understudy. They made a few frantic calls, and someone gave them the name of an Italian tenor who knew the role, was available and only 3-4,000 miles away. Management, greatly relieved, welcomed the Italian (who spoke no English) to the town, and introduced him to the cast at dress rehearsal. During the rehearsal the tenor sang the role in a soft, whispering voice that you could just hear in the first row of the music hall. They thought "he just got here, long flight, he's just resting the voice, " what they call "marking". Opening night, they found at that was all the voice he had. True story.

BluesBear said:

---

Just shows you we were grasping at straws....There was likely a few kids on the campus who could have contributed a few minutes in the paint....

---

No, there weren't.

Yes there are. Our Offensive and Defensive scheme isn't so hard to learn and implement. You just need to be physically fit enough to run up and down the court - its a different type of fit compared to Football...

BluesBear said:

---

Yes there are. Our Offensive and Defensive scheme isn't so hard to learn and implement. You just need to be physically fit enough to run up and down the court - its a different type of fit compared to Football...

---

We already did that once, and the best we could come up with was 6-5 Robbie McKenzie and football defensive end Joe Simmons.

If you think there are viable Big 12 rotation bigs wandering the SUB and Waco Hall, you're crazy.

No. The crazy was promoting Nnaji like he was going to transform the front court - I think we had players on Football who are athletic enough they could have easily outpaced a former NBA draft pick this past season...

Bye

Good luck