Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

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Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by OrangeCountyAggie » June 23rd, 2020, 12:27 am

Great interview:

https://kutv.com/sports/talkin-sports/f ... kin-sports

I'm curious, having grown up in California; who is the greatest basketball player that the state of Utah has ever produced? I mean a native Utahan? Could it be Sam if he goes on to have (a least) a decent NBA career?



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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by Yossarian » June 23rd, 2020, 12:38 am

Tom Chambers?


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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by Yossarian » June 23rd, 2020, 12:40 am

Fred Roberts was also a good player but not as good as Chanbers.


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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by I am an Aggie Man » June 23rd, 2020, 12:45 am

Here's a link to every NBA player who was born in Utah.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/fr ... S&state=UT

Tom Chambers seems to be the comfortable favorite as the best Utah native. It's either him or Byron Scott. Don't know enough about either to comment. The only current NBA guys from Utah are John Collins and Eric Mika.



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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by Yossarian » June 23rd, 2020, 1:03 am

I am an Aggie Man wrote:
June 23rd, 2020, 12:45 am
Here's a link to every NBA player who was born in Utah.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/fr ... S&state=UT

Tom Chambers seems to be the comfortable favorite as the best Utah native. It's either him or Byron Scott. Don't know enough about either to comment. The only current NBA guys from Utah are John Collins and Eric Mika.
Just for fun, see if you can find the video of Chambers dunking on Mark Jackson on the fast break. His head is rim level.


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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by aggies22 » June 23rd, 2020, 8:12 am

I am an Aggie Man wrote:
June 23rd, 2020, 12:45 am
Here's a link to every NBA player who was born in Utah.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/fr ... S&state=UT

Tom Chambers seems to be the comfortable favorite as the best Utah native. It's either him or Byron Scott. Don't know enough about either to comment. The only current NBA guys from Utah are John Collins and Eric Mika.
I'm curious as to why Byron Scott was brought up? Looking at Wikipedia he was born in Ogden but spent much of his time growing up in Inglewood.

If we are talking NBA guys from Utah, I think the discussion should only include guys that were born here or moved here early in life and stayed here through their high school career. Obviously kids can choose to go to college where ever they like.

I would consider Frank Jackson more from the State of Utah than John Collins or Byron Scott.



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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by Roy McAvoy » June 23rd, 2020, 8:26 am

aggies22 wrote:
June 23rd, 2020, 8:12 am
I am an Aggie Man wrote:
June 23rd, 2020, 12:45 am
Here's a link to every NBA player who was born in Utah.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/fr ... S&state=UT

Tom Chambers seems to be the comfortable favorite as the best Utah native. It's either him or Byron Scott. Don't know enough about either to comment. The only current NBA guys from Utah are John Collins and Eric Mika.
I'm curious as to why Byron Scott was brought up? Looking at Wikipedia he was born in Ogden but spent much of his time growing up in Inglewood.

If we are talking NBA guys from Utah, I think the discussion should only include guys that were born here or moved here early in life and stayed here through their high school career. Obviously kids can choose to go to college where ever they like.

I would consider Frank Jackson more from the State of Utah than John Collins or Byron Scott.
It's because their name was on the list of being born in Utah and people don't know enough about them to know they should actually be excluded.
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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by OrangeCountyAggie » June 23rd, 2020, 10:38 am

Didn't know John Collins was from Utah, but it looks like he was born here while his mom was in the Air Force but didn't spend much time in Utah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Collins_(basketball).

Tom Chambers was born in Utah but played high school ball in Colorado. Should he be counted?



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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by I am an Aggie Man » June 23rd, 2020, 11:27 am

aggies22 wrote:
June 23rd, 2020, 8:12 am
I am an Aggie Man wrote:
June 23rd, 2020, 12:45 am
Here's a link to every NBA player who was born in Utah.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/fr ... S&state=UT

Tom Chambers seems to be the comfortable favorite as the best Utah native. It's either him or Byron Scott. Don't know enough about either to comment. The only current NBA guys from Utah are John Collins and Eric Mika.
I'm curious as to why Byron Scott was brought up? Looking at Wikipedia he was born in Ogden but spent much of his time growing up in Inglewood.

If we are talking NBA guys from Utah, I think the discussion should only include guys that were born here or moved here early in life and stayed here through their high school career. Obviously kids can choose to go to college where ever they like.

I would consider Frank Jackson more from the State of Utah than John Collins or Byron Scott.
I brought up Byron Scott because I just dropped the link in after doing the search on b-ball reference and scanning the list briefly. I figured there'd be guys who moved away after being born here and being "not from Utah" in that sense. I was actually more worried there would be guys not on the list because they were born elsewhere but grew up in Utah. Seems Frank Jackson is one of them.

Take the list for what it's worth, a quite resource but not an exhaustive treatise.
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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by Aggie formerly in Hawaii » June 23rd, 2020, 1:50 pm

Let's stick to guys who played high school basketball in Utah. How many Utah high school basketball players went on to have good NBA careers? When I first saw this thread I was like "c'mon," but the more I think about it if Merrill even stayed in the nba for say 6 years, how would that stack up?

How many Utah high school players have even lasted 6 years or more in the NBA? Maybe I'm way off, but I don't think it is very many. Feel free to list names and correct me if I'm wrong.



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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by Brraggie » June 23rd, 2020, 2:02 pm

Danny Vranes played at Skyline High. How long did he last in the NBA.



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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by Brraggie » June 23rd, 2020, 2:03 pm

Shawn Bradley



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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by Aggie19 » June 23rd, 2020, 2:06 pm

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote:
June 23rd, 2020, 1:50 pm
Let's stick to guys who played high school basketball in Utah. How many Utah high school basketball players went on to have good NBA careers? When I first saw this thread I was like "c'mon," but the more I think about it if Merrill even stayed in the nba for say 6 years, how would that stack up?

How many Utah high school players have even lasted 6 years or more in the NBA? Maybe I'm way off, but I don't think it is very many. Feel free to list names and correct me if I'm wrong.
Based on that list, 6 plus years would put him near the top.

The only ones longer would be:
Shawn Bradley
Fred Roberts
Travis Knight
Danny Vranes

Here an updated site:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/fr ... i?state=UT


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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by Aggie formerly in Hawaii » June 23rd, 2020, 4:22 pm

Aggie19 wrote:
June 23rd, 2020, 2:06 pm
Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote:
June 23rd, 2020, 1:50 pm
Let's stick to guys who played high school basketball in Utah. How many Utah high school basketball players went on to have good NBA careers? When I first saw this thread I was like "c'mon," but the more I think about it if Merrill even stayed in the nba for say 6 years, how would that stack up?

How many Utah high school players have even lasted 6 years or more in the NBA? Maybe I'm way off, but I don't think it is very many. Feel free to list names and correct me if I'm wrong.
Based on that list, 6 plus years would put him near the top.

The only ones longer would be:
Shawn Bradley
Fred Roberts
Travis Knight
Danny Vranes

Here an updated site:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/fr ... i?state=UT
Yeah so if Merrill has a 6 year NBA career he will be in a very exclusive group. Frank Jackson is currently in his second NBA season, but isn't exactly lighting the league on fire yet.



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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by frankiesaysrelax » June 23rd, 2020, 4:57 pm

OrangeCountyAggie wrote:
June 23rd, 2020, 10:38 am
Didn't know John Collins was from Utah, but it looks like he was born here while his mom was in the Air Force but didn't spend much time in Utah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Collins_(basketball).

Tom Chambers was born in Utah but played high school ball in Colorado. Should he be counted?
Tom played at Weber High. He is a fellow alum. There are more Chambers than ants in my driveway right now in the North Ogden area and he comes from that clan. I know because we found a bunch of his old school Nike warm-up gear in my friends basement who happened to be his nephew or something. Not sure why his stuff got left at their house but it sure did make for a comfortable and stylish afternoon wearing it everywhere we went.

Also, I seem to remember a story of him being cut his sophomore year or something similar to Jordan's story. When after they each grew a foot the next year they were put on the team, but it makes the coach who cut them seem stupid even though they probably made the correct decisions. I'm not completely positive about that story but it seems like I heard it from a few different people growing up.



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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by FeartheFro » June 23rd, 2020, 5:08 pm

Tom didn’t finish at Weber High.


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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by GUS » June 23rd, 2020, 8:16 pm

Tom was a regular in the District Court in Ogden. It seemed his exwife had constant issues with child support from him.
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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by Aggie in Boise » June 24th, 2020, 6:22 pm

frankiesaysrelax wrote:
June 23rd, 2020, 4:57 pm
OrangeCountyAggie wrote:
June 23rd, 2020, 10:38 am
Didn't know John Collins was from Utah, but it looks like he was born here while his mom was in the Air Force but didn't spend much time in Utah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Collins_(basketball).

Tom Chambers was born in Utah but played high school ball in Colorado. Should he be counted?
Tom played at Weber High. He is a fellow alum. There are more Chambers than ants in my driveway right now in the North Ogden area and he comes from that clan. I know because we found a bunch of his old school Nike warm-up gear in my friends basement who happened to be his nephew or something. Not sure why his stuff got left at their house but it sure did make for a comfortable and stylish afternoon wearing it everywhere we went.

Also, I seem to remember a story of him being cut his sophomore year or something similar to Jordan's story. When after they each grew a foot the next year they were put on the team, but it makes the coach who cut them seem stupid even though they probably made the correct decisions. I'm not completely positive about that story but it seems like I heard it from a few different people growing up.
I grew up in North Ogden and as a kid went to a couple of the basketball camps that Tom Chambers held during the summer at Weber High School. He purchased a summer home in my neighborhood. He did not make Weber High School's varsity team as a sophomore.

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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by WAAggie » June 24th, 2020, 10:22 pm

He moved to the Denver area. I have one tiny claim to fame. I played basketball on our terrible Valley jr high basketball team, but when we played N. Ogden, the box score in the std examiner showed I out scored Chambers. I think I had 8 points and most likely was my all time best game


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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by troutputz » June 26th, 2020, 6:59 pm

Tom Chambers lived in Clarkston, Utah in Cache Valley until he was 12. Then the family moved to Ogden. I played Bantam league basketball against him. Tom was tall even then. Best basketball player born in Utah? I would go with Sam Merrill.



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Re: Sam Merrill on Talkin' Sports

Post by signalwar » June 27th, 2020, 3:49 pm

Does anyone have a highlight video of Sam from the last year or two? I read some analysis that he couldn't do this or that with the ball or isn't quick enough for the NBA. But I think he has a very good shot at the league.



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