Latest news with #RyanOdom
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
What sort of a player are the Boston Celtics getting in rookie guard Max Shulga?
What sort of a player are the Boston Celtics getting in rookie guard Max Shulga? His former head coach at Virginia Commonwealth University, Ryan Odom, may know the answer to that particular question as well as anyone does. Having coached the Ukrainian combo guard for a total of four seasons before he made the leap to the NBA when the Celtics picked him up with the No. 57 overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, Odom knows Shulga's game like the back of his hand. And the VCU coach recently took some time to sit down with Celtics team reporter Marc D'Amico to talk over the sort of player Boston fans can expect in Shulga as his rookie campaign with the team draws closer. They cover his strengths and weaknesses as a player, but also touch on who he is as a person. Advertisement Take a look at the clip embedded below to hear what they had to say about new Celtics guard Max Shulga. This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: What sort of a player are the Celtics getting in Max Shulga?
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Virginia Cavaliers begin Summer training under new coach Ryan Odom
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WFXR) – The Virginia Cavaliers are in Summer preparation under newly appointed head coach Ryan Odom, following his March arrival to take over the program. Odom, who brings a fresh approach from his time at VCU and a rich history with Virginia, addressed the media today, outlining the team's key offseason priorities. Advertisement 'What I've tried to do over the years, and it has changed some, is to try to give them a lot,' said Odom. 'See what they can digest, and then when you get back in August, you really hone in on the details. We are not going to become a well-oiled machine on offense of the summer. What you give them an opportunity to do is make mistakes without fear.' The team is focused on building chemistry and establishing a new identity with several new faces on the roster, and returning talent all try to blend in. Odom says the coaching staff is still working to finalize the roster and find the right combinations on the court. 'It's been a lot of fun,' said graduate student guard Dallin Hall. 'It's been a lot of getting to know each other on and off the court. Learning how each other play and different styles, and then just taking the time off the court to have fun together. I think that is super important. We got guys coming from all over from different styles and different backgrounds, so we understand that the faster we can build team chemistry, the better it is going to be for our team.' Advertisement As the summer continues, all eyes are on how quickly Odom's Cavaliers can gel and what identity will emerge under his leadership. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFXRtv.
Boston Globe
27-06-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Five things to know about Celtics' second-round draft pick Max Shulga
Here are five things to know about the Celtics final draft selection: He followed his coach from Utah State to VCU, where he ascended Shulga was a role player over his first two seasons at Utah State before breaking out in his third year: he increased his points per game average from 4.4 as a sophomore to 11.9 as a junior, and his 3-point attempts climbed from 1.3 per game to 4.3. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Coach Ryan Odom departed Utah State for the same job at VCU following the season, and Shulga followed his coach as a transfer. Advertisement Shulga continued his upward trajectory his first year at VCU, averaging 14 points per game and shooting 41.5 percent from beyond the arc to earn first-team All-Atlantic 10 honors. Then, after returning as a fifth-year senior, he won the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year award and led VCU to the NCAA Tournament. Shooting is his biggest strength Shulga is a high-volume, high-efficiency shooter, and lauded by most analysts as one of the top catch-and-shoot players in the draft class. Advertisement Across his two seasons at VCU, Shulga knocked down 40.2 percent of his 3-pointers on nearly 400 attempts, and averaged more than five attempts per game. His shooting was particularly effective off the catch, drilling 43.4 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes last season. He also showcased his NBA range in nailing 40 percent of his 3-pointers from beyond 25 feet. He is well-rounded but without other clear strengths Shulga is more than just a shooter on the offensive end, converting 56.3 percent of his attempts at the rim and drawing 5.4 free throw attempts per game this past season. He also averaged 4.0 assists to 1.7 turnovers. Yahoo's Kevin O'Connor writes that 'he is more of a secondary ball-handler, but has a solid handle with some wiggle,' while also noting that 'he lacks burst off the dribble, which limits his ceiling as a shot creator.' On the defensive end, he guards well at the point of attack and has shown toughness, but analysts worry about his lack of size and lateral quickness holding up against NBA competition. He moved to Spain at age 13 to further his basketball development Shulga grew up in Kviv, and learned the game from his older family members — his father refereed FIBA basketball games and his uncle played professionally in Europe. He moved to Spain at age 13 to attend the Basketball School of Excellence in Torrelodones, a Madrid suburb, and became a top youth player in the Spanish junior leagues. Shulga emerged on the radar of US college coaches following his performances with the Ukrainian junior national team, which he continued to compete for after moving to Spain. In the B Division of the Under-18 European Championships, he averaged 13 points and seven rebounds while shooting 53 percent from three. Advertisement VCU fans waived Ukrainian flags in support on senior night With his immediate family members still residing in Kyiv during a prolonged time of unrest in Ukraine following Russia's 2022 invasion, the VCU basketball program and wider community worked to show solidarity for Shulga. On senior night in March, hundreds of VCU fans waved Ukrainian flags when Shulga was introduced, with the fanbase dubbing it 'Moment for Max.' Shulga has been open in numerous media interviews about the challenges of balancing his basketball career with the ongoing conflict back home. 'When I'm on the court, playing in the game, everything kind of just goes away,' Matty Wasserman can be reached at
New York Times
27-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
College hoops coaches draft sleepers: Max Shulga
The 2025 NBA Draft is complete from Brooklyn's Barclays Center led by Duke's Cooper Flagg going to the Dallas Mavericks Getty Images Getty Images VCU guard Max Shulga He was so ball-dominant at VCU, and I think there's teams that probably look at that and will be very intrigued. You can tell he's a high-IQ player. He makes good decisions in the pick-and-roll, whether it's for himself or the proper reads first level, second level and beyond. He's the guy I hated to guard or play against because he knew the game and had those European tricks — the push-offs and a lot of different things that help you win games. I hated it, but I respect it. I just don't know if that s— helps in the NBA. The questions are: How does he play in a system where in the NBA his usage rate will be much lower? Then, how does he hold up defensively against quicker, more athletic guards? He is a good, not great 3-point shooter. He's an awesome college player because of the way (former VCU coach Ryan Odom) used him, but if you can crawl into him and be physical and do certain things to him that you can't really do in the A-10, I just don't know if he's an NBA player. He'll be a high-level guy in Europe. College fans love to push their conference narrative and conference love, and that usually continues into the pro drafts. On Wednesday, the Big Ten led the conference race with eight picks in the first round, followed by the SEC with five, the ACC with four, the Big 12 with three, the Big East with two and the Pac-2 and Mountain West with one each. There were six international players selected. Imagn Images In Georgia, there has been plenty of pain through the years about the Atlanta Falcons not selecting Georgia Bulldogs products in the first round of the NFL draft. The Falcons stopped that talk in April by drafting Georgia defender Jalon Walker. On Wednesday, the Hawks followed the Falcons' lead, sort of. The Hawks didn't draft Georgia's Asa Newell, per se, but they did get him in a draft-day deal with New Orleans. So that counts, right? Duke guard Tyrese Proctor He might be a Duke player that's undervalued. When's the last time you heard that, right? Can really shoot, can manage a game. Impressed me with his IQ, knowing which shots were good ones. He's a strong right-hand driver and we tried to push him to his left, but he is capable of going both directions. When he gets into the paint, he's a very capable passer as well. Likes to pull up in the midrange. Makes big shots. You can't go under screens with him at all. Active defender and someone that's capable of getting deflections. Good positional size. I think there's certainly an NBA role for him as a backup guard at a minimum. The shooting translates. He's competitive enough to be able to want to guard. Could he get into an Andrew Nembhard role and be a guy like that? I don't know. That's probably a little bit aggressive. As a bigger guard that can shoot, I think he's got that competitiveness and toughness about him that could allow him to exceed his draft rating. Wisconsin wing John Tonje Super impressive on film and equally as impressive in person. How Wisconsin played, there were times where you could kind of take him out of the game, but when it wasn't structured and the game got kind of ratted up, he was best. He excels in transition and on broken plays, which could be a good thing for the NBA with the pace and the timing. Now, is he a good enough athlete for the NBA? We'll see. Georgetown wing Micah Peavy I love Peavy. From a defensive standpoint, his versatility is real. He has a competitive spirit. He could impact the game just by being an elite defender. He was probably the best defender in our league on the perimeter. He could impact the games without scoring His offense really improved this year. He's really worked at it through all the stops (Texas Tech, then TCU, then Georgetown). He seems to have an understanding of who he is as a player, which allows him to play to his strengths really well. Shooting is still going to be a question. Decision making is always gonna be a question, but his size and tenacity on defense can impact the game. He's old, so his ceiling is a little bit limited, but physically he's so ready. Arkansas wing Adou Thiero Not a great offensive player. Straight-line driver, athletic, tough. When he led them in shot attempts and scoring, they were worse off as a team. So I don't know what his upside is in the league. Maybe a Lu Dort-type guy. Somebody you can just have be on the other team's best player and try to shut them down. He's one of those guys that's a really impactful college player, does a lot of things that impact winning. And for him to make it I think you would have to be on a very specific roster because offensively in the NBA, he's not going to be able to do a lot of the things that he did in college because physically he was able to overwhelm you and he was an elite athlete, but in the NBA you're going to see that every single night. He would have benefited from another year. But even if he had stayed another year, he was probably going to be the same guy. I don't know how much he's going to improve shooting the ball. So maybe it was the right move to capitalize on the season he had. Just don't think he's an NBA player. He's more of a G-League guy. Imagn Images In the end, Ace Bailey's tumble down the NBA Draft didn't go that far. The Rutgers wing went No. 5 overall to the Utah Jazz after a pre-draft process that left league observers scratching their heads and wondering where it was headed. Bailey had been the presumptive third pick in the draft for the last few months of the college basketball season and after the draft combine, but his pre-draft approach raised eyebrows around the league. He did not work out for the Philadelphia 76ers and it is not known if he held any pre-draft workouts. It was unclear if he might fall into the middle of the lottery or if he had a destination in mind. He seemed to avoid team workouts and visits. Instead, the Jazz jumped on Bailey and added one of the most talented players in the draft. . GO FURTHER Jazz draft Rutgers star Ace Bailey with No. 5 pick, ending draft speculation Imagn Images The Charlotte Hornets selected Kon Knueppel with the fourth pick in Wednesday night's NBA Draft. Knueppel averaged 14.4 points, four rebounds and 2.7 assists in his freshman season at Duke. While Knueppel typically played a wingman role alongside teammate Cooper Flagg, he never shied away from elite ACC competition. Knueppel thrived in his only season at Duke, thanks to his high basketball IQ. Known for his ability to stretch the floor with his 3-point shooting, Knueppel, 19, averaged 21 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in the ACC Tournament, earning him MVP honors. He is only the eighth freshman to achieve that award. GO FURTHER Hornets draft Kon Knueppel with No. 4 pick Imagn Images The predraft process is often littered with rumor, innuendo and plain misinformation. That was particularly true in Philadelphia this summer. And that was only natural. After all, the Sixers held the No. 3 selection in the 2025 NBA Draft, the first high lottery pick of Daryl Morey's career as team president. And because we knew who the first two picks would be, the draft essentially started with Philly. What would the 76ers do? Internally, for multiple reasons, VJ Edgecombe nudged ahead of the rest of the pack, long before Morey and his staff phoned in their selection of the combination guard on Wednesday night. GO FURTHER Why the 76ers zeroed in on VJ Edgecombe and his All-Star upside with No. 3 pick Getty Images The 'kid from Duke' is officially a Dallas Maverick. The Mavericks chose Cooper Flagg, an 18-year-old forward from Newport, Maine, with the No. 1 overall pick Wednesday night. Flagg — who in April became the fifth freshman to win the Naismith College Player of the Year award (and the first male to win it since Zion Williamson in 2019) — averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks last season. He started 37 of 39 games for Duke, missing two games with a sprained ankle in the ACC Tournament. In May, the Mavericks experienced a draft-lottery miracle when they hit on a 1.8 percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick. It was the first time the Mavericks had moved up in the lottery since its inception in 1985. That good fortune allowed Dallas to add Flagg — a versatile, 6-foot-8 forward with the potential to be a two-way force — to its starry but aging roster. GO FURTHER Dallas Mavericks make Duke's Cooper Flagg the 2025 NBA Draft's top pick Getty Images The Portland Trail Blazers provided the first shocker in the 2025 NBA Draft, nabbing China center Yang Hansen with the No. 16 pick. The Memphis Grizzlies made the pick for Portland as part of a trade that commissioner Adam Silver announced would be finalized later. Yang, who turns 20 on Thursday, was projected to be a mid-to-late second-round pick, but the Blazers are getting him despite already having a full stable of centers. Yang, who wasn't invited to the Green Room by the NBA, was seated in the stands when his name was called. That's why his hat didn't fit properly — he didn't get measured for his cap like other top prospects did on Tuesday. Yang is the first Chinese-born player to be drafted in the first round since Yi Jianlian in 2007, and the third-highest draft pick ever from China. Yao Ming was selected No. 1 in 2002. GO FURTHER NBA Draft surprise: China center Yang Hansen picked at No. 16, dealt to Blazers Duke guard Sion James Oh man, tough dude. Physical. You go out to warmups and you see him out there, he's just such a specimen. Looks like a Lu Dort. He's got that type of body. Can he have an impact, not to the same level, but can he be like a Dort? Somebody that's just really not going to be screened, fights over everything and is really good on that end. He's not great in pick-and-roll, but he's a good cutter, and he shot it at a really good clip. He's gonna really have to be a specialist type to have a role in the NBA. Auburn big Johni Broome His athleticism is probably the thing that's gonna hurt him more than anything, and his age, but you can't tell me that he's not going to produce, even at the NBA level. Is he a starting center? Probably not. But is he a guy that can be in the second-unit rotation and wear people down with his size and his smarts and his ability? I think so. I don't think he's got a huge upside in the league. But I do think there is a place for veteran guys that can have an imprint on a franchise. Florida guard Alijah Martin He's going to be a G-League guy. He's a 6-2 small forward, and I just don't think that really translates in the NBA. The one thing that could be said about him is that he's a winner. He's been to two Final Fours, won a national championship, and so he impacts winning on both ends of the floor. Marquette wing Kam Jones He's transitioning into being a true point guard. His passing really improved this past year. His shotmaking really did not. I think he's an elite-level finisher. He has a great touch, and obviously a lot of it is left-hand-dominant, but I believe in his finishing. His two-point scoring improved a lot as his career went on. Obviously he won't be able to get as deep as he was able to in college in the NBA because of the size, but he also can pass. I'm concerned about his overall shooting. I think he'll be an off-the-bench guy, and his ceiling, if his shooting can come around, could be better than that. He's not very big. He has to get stronger just to compete against the size that exists in that league. So he's going to have to guard points and he's gonna have to continue to develop his playmaking and his shooting has to improve. GO FURTHER College hoops coaches' 2025 NBA Draft sleepers? Rivals weigh in on second-round prospects That pick at No. 47 is in the back half of the second round, but it is still an opportunity for the Bucks to, potentially, add a talented player on a cheap contract. This year's NBA Finals featured a lot of lottery picks and first-round selections at the top of each roster, but nine second-round picks or undrafted players — Thomas Bryant, Alex Caruso, Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe, Isaiah Hartenstein, T.J. McConnell, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Wiggins, Kenrich Williams — are among the 20 players who have played at least 25 minutes in the first five games of the series. It may take years for a player drafted in the second round to realize his full potential or find his way to a contributing role in the NBA, but this pick isn't just a throwaway, so let's take a closer look at the Bucks and the No. 47 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. GO FURTHER Milwaukee Bucks NBA Draft preview: What kind of player can they find with the No. 47 pick?
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
NCAA Grants Waiver for WCC Leading Scorer Malik Thomas, Expected to Transfer to Top Program
The NCAA granted a waiver to San Francisco guard Malik Thomas for an additional season of eligibility, making him among the most talented players available in the transfer portal. Thomas played just nine games as a freshman at USC in the 2021-22 season, and while he was not injured the NCAA will reward him a fourth full year after he played 27 games as a sophomore before transferring to San Francisco and playing 67 games the past two years. Advertisement Gonzaga will be happy to not have to face Thomas in the WCC anymore, and would no doubt love to bring him to Spokane to suit up alongside Braeden Smith, Jalen Warley, and fellow newcomer Adam Miller in a new look Zag backcourt. However, reporting from Jeff Goodman of the Field of 68 indicates Thomas is heavily expected to land at Virginia under new head coach Ryan Odom. Thomas was among the best players in the conference last year, leading the WCC with 19.9 points per game while shooting 39.4% from deep and 85.1% from the free throw line, tacking on 3.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.6 steals per contest. Advertisement The 6'4 guard began his career at USC but struggled to find playing time in two seasons, but really broke out during his two seasons with the Dons. His ability to get downhill and convert at the line and strong outside shooting makes him a blend of Nolan Hickman and Khalif Battle - a near perfect addition to this Zag roster. Virginia is now led by Odum, who went 52-21 at VCU after going 44-25 at Utah State before that, and the Cavs have done well for themselves in the transfer portal, bringing in guards Dallin Hall (BYU), Jacari White (North Dakota State), and Sam Lewis (Toledo), forward Devin Tillis (UC Irvine), and center Ugonna Onyenso (Kansas State). Thomas would be the lead man in a dynamic offensive system, and the ACC against Duke and North Carolina holds some allure, but he'd no doubt fit smoothly in Spokane where the interior scoring of Braden Huff and Graham Ike will pull attention away from him as a shooter, giving him plenty of open looks and chances to attack closeouts and get to the rim - not to mention extensive fastbreak opportunities. Whether Gonzaga can snag him away from the Cavs remains to be seen, but both teams are also competing with the professional ranks, where Thomas is working out with NBA teams and hoping to get attention internationally as well. Advertisement Gonzaga has five open scholarships after the addition of Adam Miller and commitment from Parker Jefferson, and they are known to be in the market for more backcourt help - recently contacting Desmond Claude and Duke Miles, who coincidentally decommitted from Virginia last month. Related: Top Ranked Recruit in 2026 Class Has Plans to Visit Gonzaga
