'Exclusive Season Ticket Holder Practice' - Saturday 7/29 at Univ of St Joseph | Page 6 | The Boneyard

'Exclusive Season Ticket Holder Practice' - Saturday 7/29 at Univ of St Joseph

Huskyforlife

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Sure, he might be disappointing, there's plenty of evidence of guys who are. I have no idea why you'd be rooting for that, which you absolutely are with how often you post it. And even if he does have a disappointing college career, which again is more than possible, he is still going to start every game and almost assuredly leave after his freshman year. Because that's what happens with top 10 recruits
Now I’m rooting against the kid because I wanna manage his expectations, and think his skill set doesn’t mesh well with our veteran, ball dominate, backcourt. Even though I literally posted awhile ago he has sleeper 1st pick potential if he lives up to your expectations. It’s no wonder so many people have you on ignore.
 
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Now I’m rooting against the kid because I wanna manage his expectations, and think his skill set doesn’t mesh well with our veteran, ball dominate, backcourt. Even though I literally posted awhile ago he has sleeper 1st pick potential if he lives up to your expectations. It’s no wonder so many people have you on ignore.
There's like 3 people that do, happy to make it 4 if it saves me from seeing your awful takes
 
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Newton and Spencer are gonna dominate the ball, Alex is going to have more playmaking responsibility, Don is the biggest priority to get the ball in his spots. This means the 5th starter has to contribute something away from the ball to be valuable to that lineup. Castle doesn’t strike me as that kind of player.
I originally thought it was going to be Castle’s show. But if it's Newton’s show then we won't see as much of Castle’s ability to lead an offense. More of an emphasis would be placed on him as an off ball scorer is assume. Which may be inconsistent.

Maybe more of a Jalen Adams kind of year which is still good. But it may be hard to show scouts he's an NBA PG if he isn't going to be the lead guard.
Feel like both of you are forgetting what our offense actually looked like last year.

It wasn't anybody's show. Jackson and Newton both had 25+% assist rates without dominating the ball. Spencer is going to be too busy moving without the ball to dominate the ball. Castle is going to assume a lot of those Jackson duties.
 

HuskyWarrior611

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Feel like both of you are forgetting what our offense actually looked like last year.

It wasn't anybody's show. Jackson and Newton both had 25+% assist rates without dominating the ball. Spencer is going to be too busy moving without the ball to dominate the ball. Castle is going to assume a lot of those Jackson duties.
It's less about assists and who's the lead guard.

When Andre first came back he was the lead guard. Newton started to float some and not be as involved while teams tried to force Andre to shoot.

Middle of the year the roles reversed and Newton was the lead guard and Andre played more off ball and made plays when available. No matter what offense you run there's going to be a lead guard and initiator most times.

It's like that every time whether it was Price/Kemba, Kemba/Bazz, Bazz/Boatright. One is always the lead guard and initiator of the offense. Even though the other can definitely create too.
 
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It's less about assists and who's the lead guard.

When Andre first came back he was the lead guard. Newton started to float some and not be as involved while teams tried to force Andre to shoot.

Middle of the year the roles reversed and Newton was the lead guard and Andre played more off ball and made plays when available. No matter what offense you run there's going to be a lead guard and initiator most times.

It's like that every time whether it was Price/Kemba, Kemba/Bazz, Bazz/Boatright. One is always the lead guard and initiator of the offense. Even though the other can definitely create too.
It's not really clear what you mean by lead guard, because we don't run a ball screen heavy offense. Are you talking about who takes the shots at the end of the clock? To me the guy with the ball in his hands making plays for himself and others is the lead guard. Assists would surely be a big indicator of that.

Here is the chart of Jackson's assists by game. Do you think it jives with your theory of the season about Newton becoming the lead guard for the 2nd half of the year?
jacksonassists.png

Jackson's usage rate was also higher in the 2nd half of the year post losing streak. It was 15.9 through the losing streak and 17.2 after.
 
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Huskyforlife

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There's like 3 people that do, happy to make it 4 if it saves me from seeing your awful takes
I would’ve done it already if I didn’t agree with you that it makes the board unreadable.
 

HuskyWarrior611

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There was a lot of talk before the season about Andre playing a big PG role as I'm sure @navery12 would say. I can't find the article but he was a big advocate of that based on Hurleys comments.

He adjusted midseason to have him play more of a Draymond Green role as he says here.

Meanwhile, Hurley was looking for ways to unlock Jackson, his most dynamic player, and combat the defensive adjustments teams had made that forced Jackson into more perimeter jump shots. Teams would often use Jackson’s defender to help double-team UConn’s centers on post touches without the threat that Jackson would hurt them from three. Hurley countered by involving Jackson more as a cutter and screener in the offense in a role Jackson compared to Draymond Green’s with the Golden State Warriors.

“To be honest with you, coaching mistakes during the season or just took me too long to get Andre to the places where he could still be one of the biggest impact players in terms of winning and losing,” Hurley said following the Elite Eight win over Gonzaga. “There’s not many players in the country that impact the game like this guy does. Once I got better as a coach, and Andre—I wasn’t putting him in a position to be successful. And since we’ve unlocked that code, he’s been unbelievable.”


 
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“[I’m] working on my shooting, playing off the ball – I think next year I’ll play on the ball and off the ball,” Newton said. “Having a great point guard come in next season, it’ll be like an NBA system, honestly… I feel like we can both play on and off the ball, we’re not both ball dominant but we can both go score and play off the ball.”



Relax. We're gonna be great.
 
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There was a lot of talk before the season about Andre playing a big PG role as I'm sure @navery12 would say. I can't find the article but he was a big advocate of that based on Hurleys comments.

He adjusted midseason to have him play more of a Draymond Green role as he says here.

Meanwhile, Hurley was looking for ways to unlock Jackson, his most dynamic player, and combat the defensive adjustments teams had made that forced Jackson into more perimeter jump shots. Teams would often use Jackson’s defender to help double-team UConn’s centers on post touches without the threat that Jackson would hurt them from three. Hurley countered by involving Jackson more as a cutter and screener in the offense in a role Jackson compared to Draymond Green’s with the Golden State Warriors.

“To be honest with you, coaching mistakes during the season or just took me too long to get Andre to the places where he could still be one of the biggest impact players in terms of winning and losing,” Hurley said following the Elite Eight win over Gonzaga. “There’s not many players in the country that impact the game like this guy does. Once I got better as a coach, and Andre—I wasn’t putting him in a position to be successful. And since we’ve unlocked that code, he’s been unbelievable.”


What the data says is the Newton 2nd half of the season "lead guard" narrative is overstated. He had a big start of February usage-wise (and the Xavier loss in Jan), but then settled back down to his normal level for the rest of Feb, March, and April (with a few big games sprinkled throughout including the title game). BOTH he and Jackson had more usage in the 2nd of the year post-losing streak.

The point is that we had a really balanced offense last year with multiple initiators that were used in different ways and multiple finishers that were used in different ways. The same should be true this season. The lead guard talk is forcing a square peg into a round hole.

What we're going to have is more guys that can go and get you a bucket off a drive (or draw a foul), and less post ups (probably).
 

HuskyWarrior611

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It's not really clear what you mean by lead guard, because we don't run a ball screen heavy offense. Are you talking about who takes the shots at the end of the clock? To me the guy with the ball in his hands making plays for himself and others is the lead guard. Assists would surely be a big indicator of that.

Here is the chart of Jackson's assists by game. Do you think it jives with your theory of the season about Newton becoming the lead guard for the 2nd half of the year?
jacksonassists.png

Jackson's usage rate was also higher in the 2nd half of the year post losing streak. It was 15.9 through the losing streak and 17.2 after.
I consider the lead guard as the guy who initiates the offense. He brings the ball up and gets us into our sets to get things started. At the beginning of the year Andre did that a lot but we adjusted to the point it was almost strictly Newton doing that because of how teams played Andre.

His assists went up because teams couldn't leave him open in that off ball role that then allowed him to find his teammates more than he did actually playing on ball. Look at his tourney highlights:

 

ctchamps

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“[I’m] working on my shooting, playing off the ball – I think next year I’ll play on the ball and off the ball,” Newton said. “Having a great point guard come in next season, it’ll be like an NBA system, honestly… I feel like we can both play on and off the ball, we’re not both ball dominant but we can both go score and play off the ball.”



Relax. We're gonna be great.
You underestimate us. We don’t even need a game now to determine the future of a player from eternity and beyond.

Nope. A team practice and we’re off and running arguing our position based on that and that alone.
 

HuskyWarrior611

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You underestimate us. We don’t even need a game now to determine the future of a player from eternity and beyond.

Nope. A team practice and we’re off and running arguing our position based on that and that alone.
Lol all I was saying is that I could see I possibility if that was how things played out. I don't know what's wrong with making projections. That's part of the fun in talking basketball is projecting what may happen.

That's pretty much all there is to do in the offseason.
 

Huskyforlife

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Feel like both of you are forgetting what our offense actually looked like last year.

It wasn't anybody's show. Jackson and Newton both had 25+% assist rates without dominating the ball. Spencer is going to be too busy moving without the ball to dominate the ball. Castle is going to assume a lot of those Jackson duties.
I think our offense is gonna look way different this year. Spencer is a completely different player than Hawkins, and I don’t believe Don will be used the same way Sanogo was. Spencer’s ball handling will allow him to eat into the “Andre role” significantly. I think Castle is gonna thrive when he runs PnR sets with Clingan and spacers around them, but as the third ball handling option in that lineup, I’m not sure how many of those per game he receives?
 
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I consider the lead guard as the guy who initiates the offense. He brings the ball up and gets us into our sets to get things started. At the beginning of the year Andre did that a lot but we adjusted to the point it was almost strictly Newton doing that because of how teams played Andre.

His assists went up because teams couldn't leave him open in that off ball role that then allowed him to find his teammates more than he did actually playing on ball. Look at his tourney highlights:


What you said before that started it was:
But if it's Newton’s show then we won't see as much of Castle’s ability to lead an offense. More of an emphasis would be placed on him as an off ball scorer is assume. Which may be inconsistent.
But as shown by Jackson's stats, Castle can do a TON of playmaking alongside your definition of Newton as the lead guard. He will not be pigeon-holed into an off-ball scorer role if he's not the "lead guard". Castle should do a lot of work in transition, just like Jackson. NBA teams don't care who brings the ball up or make the first dinky pass in a set. They want to see how you can read a defense, see and make the passes necessary to be a PG, use a screen, etc.
I think our offense is gonna look way different this year. Spencer is a completely different player than Hawkins, and I don’t believe Don will be used the same way Sanogo was. Spencer’s ball handling will allow him to eat into the “Andre role” significantly. I think Castle is gonna thrive when he runs PnR sets with Clingan and spacers around them, but as the third ball handling option in that lineup, I’m not sure how many of those per game he receives?
I think it'll look a little different, but not way different. We'll run all the sets we had already with Clingan rolling, we'll probably run the pick and pop sets that Sanogo had (as evidenced by that clip of Clingan hitting the pop 3 the other day). All the dribble hand-off/zoom sets (as evidenced by that clip of Clingan hitting Cam backdoor). We'll run a ton of the off ball movement sets for Cam. What will probably happen is that Cam will take a lot more of those curls and zooms and attack the paint for kick outs, lobs, or his own midrange Js vs. shooting off the catch as much as Hawkins did. He won't be able to generate the same space or have the same ability to rise under pressure that Hawkins had (not that Cam is bad at those things, Hawkins was just generational). Same sets, different results. So I don't think Cam will eat into the "Andre role" in that he will be playing a different role in the sets, but will playmake for others all the same. And that's probably one reason he'll average like 14 instead of Hawkins 18, but with a few more assists per game.

Further, I don't see Castle actually being the 3rd ballhandler. We're unlikely to run really any Cam PnRs, but will run plenty for Castle. We'll run Castle PnRs because they're going to be really successful, because Castle is really good at them and they're an effective play, especially with our personnel having 3-4 shooters on the court at the same time as Castle (along with vertical threats at center). We basically have an NBA lineup.
 
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ctchamps

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Lol all I was saying is that I could see I possibility if that was how things played out. I don't know what's wrong with making projections. That's part of the fun in talking basketball is projecting what may happen.

That's pretty much all there is to do in the offseason.
Don’t take it personally. I don’t keep track of who makes hot takes anymore. There are so many posters and posts that fit that category I just shake my head and get shocked when a day goes by without any.

I just reframed my mind to accept them as entertainment. Also makes a strong case that I’m not the craziest individual on this planet.
 

HuskyWarrior611

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What you said before that started it was:

But as shown by Jackson's stats, Castle can do a TON of playmaking alongside your definition of Newton as the lead guard. He will not be pigeon-holed into an off-ball scorer role if he's not the "lead guard". Castle should do a lot of work in transition, just like Jackson. NBA teams don't care who brings the ball up or make the first dinky pass in a set. They want to see how you can read a defense, see and make the passes necessary to be a PG, use a screen, etc.

I think it'll look a little different, but not way different. We'll run all the sets we had already with Clingan rolling, we'll probably run the pick and pop sets that Sanogo had (as evidenced by that clip of Clingan hitting the pop 3 the other day). All the dribble hand-off/zoom sets (as evidenced by that clip of Clingan hitting Cam backdoor). We'll run a ton of the off ball movement sets for Cam. What will probably happen is that Cam will take a lot more of those curls and zooms and attack the paint for kick outs, lobs, or his own midrange Js vs. shooting off the catch as much as Hawkins did. He won't be able to generate the same space or have the same ability to rise under pressure that Hawkins had (not that Cam is bad at those things, Hawkins was just generational). Same sets, different results. So I don't think Cam will eat into the "Andre role" in that he will be playing a different role in the sets, but will playmake for others all the same. And that's probably one reason he'll average like 14 instead of Hawkins 18, but with a few more assists per game.

Further, I don't see Castle actually being the 3rd ballhandler. We're unlikely to run really any Cam PnRs, but will run plenty for Castle. We'll run Castle PnRs because they're going to be really successful, because Castle is really good at them and they're an effective play, especially with our personnel having 3-4 shooters on the court at the same time as Castle (along with vertical threats at center). We basically have an NBA lineup.
It's kind of about more than just making the first pass in the set. There's a reason all the previous guards I listed had growing pains once it was their show and they became the lead guards to be able to properly run a team. That's what that guys responsibility is. It's about more than just assists.

NBA team's will for sure want to see how a guy can handle running a team too. Can't use Andre as an example because NBA guys weren't really looking at him as a PG.

As far as what we’ll actually do during the season I'm not sure. Regardless we’re loaded and can win in a lot of different ways with a lot of different guys stepping up it seems.
 
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We have a lot of talent. The overseas trip will be great for the team and the players as individuals seeing different cultures. Watching the video about Andre posted by HuskyWarrior611 our talented team from last year had such great chemistry with each other that it took us to title #5. The passing from Adama, AJax, Newton, AK, DC, Hawk, Allyene, and Joe C was outstanding. The new group will need to find that level of teamwork. I believe they will as there is carry over with the veterans. Another huge season on the way!
 

HuskyWarrior611

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It's not really clear what you mean by lead guard, because we don't run a ball screen heavy offense. Are you talking about who takes the shots at the end of the clock? To me the guy with the ball in his hands making plays for himself and others is the lead guard. Assists would surely be a big indicator of that.

Here is the chart of Jackson's assists by game. Do you think it jives with your theory of the season about Newton becoming the lead guard for the 2nd half of the year?
jacksonassists.png

Jackson's usage rate was also higher in the 2nd half of the year post losing streak. It was 15.9 through the losing streak and 17.2 after.
FWIW, Tristen Newton received A LOT of ball screens during the tournament.

You can see his role in the offense was much more on the ball as a playmaker when he made plays in comparison to Jackson.

One guy got assists in the way you described as having the ball in his hands and making plays for himself and others. Jackson usually got his assists off fast breaks or his cuts to the rim that would get other guys open. Not really from taking guys off the dribble.

 

Huskyforlife

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Apologies for the long rambling post, but I’m bored and feel like expanding on my Spencer/Castle thoughts after watching practice.

I think people need to go back and watch the things Spencer did in the half court offense for Rutgers. He really likes dribbling into his pull up or turn around mid range shot, and uses screens to set up playmaking possibilities, and he was a solid playmaker last season. This is what he was doing in the open practice as well, I doubt the staff wants to reinvent his game. Sticking Spencer in the corner will work when the sets for Castle and Newton to handle the ball are in action, but I don’t think he’ll be third in that trio for usage percentage.

He’s really more of a point/combo guard than Hawkins, who was almost entirely reliant on getting his shots off ball. That’s why I don’t think he’ll be running Hawkins sets. Which is also why I expect our offense to be reinvented with so many new pieces and their differing skill sets.

This is why I kinda eye roll at the people saying we need to replace the “Andre Jackson role,” when the role only existed to begin with because Andre had a unique skill set, and was too good to keep off the floor. His ball handling and playmaking role will be distributed among Newton/Castle/Spencer/and even Karaban taking his next steps as an on ball player. We had these same silly conversations about replacing RJ the year before, when we should’ve known the offense would be re crafted around the players stepping up.

Even with all this being said, I still think Castle will start the season as the 5th starter, if I had to put money on it. But I won’t be surprised either if we eventually start having conversations about better fits in our main lineup.

These conversations do not mean the player in question is bad, or that you wish to see them fail, even though I don’t think anyone actually believes that. Just as our most recent example of this taking place, everyone agreed that Isaiah Whaley was an impactful and important piece of a very good team from a couple years ago, but we also had to acknowledge his fit in the lineup with an all time UConn great in Sanogo was awkward and often cratered our offense. Both players were talented and deserving of starting, but maybe we should’ve benched one for the greater good of the team, especially after seeing what a greater fit with Alex looked like the year after.
 
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Apologies for the long rambling post, but I’m bored and feel like expanding on my Spencer/Castle thoughts after watching practice.

I think people need to go back and watch the things Spencer did in the half court offense for Rutgers. He really likes dribbling into his pull up or turn around mid range shot, and uses screens to set up playmaking possibilities, and he was a solid playmaker last season. This is what he was doing in the open practice as well, I doubt the staff wants to reinvent his game. Sticking Spencer in the corner will work when the sets for Castle and Newton to handle the ball are in action, but I don’t think he’ll be third in that trio for usage percentage.

He’s really more of a point/combo guard than Hawkins, who was almost entirely reliant on getting his shots off ball. That’s why I don’t think he’ll be running Hawkins sets. Which is also why I expect our offense to be reinvented with so many new pieces and their differing skill sets.

This is why I kinda eye roll at the people saying we need to replace the “Andre Jackson role,” when the role only existed to begin with because Andre had a unique skill set, and was too good to keep off the floor. His ball handling and playmaking role will be distributed among Newton/Castle/Spencer/and even Karaban taking his next steps as an on ball player. We had these same silly conversations about replacing RJ the year before, when we should’ve known the offense would be re crafted around the players stepping up.

Even with all this being said, I still think Castle will start the season as the 5th starter, if I had to put money on it. But I won’t be surprised either if we eventually start having conversations about better fits in our main lineup.

These conversations do not mean the player in question is bad, or that you wish to see them fail, even though I don’t think anyone actually believes that. Just as our most recent example of this taking place, everyone agreed that Isaiah Whaley was an impactful and important piece of a very good team from a couple years ago, but we also had to acknowledge his fit in the lineup with an all time UConn great in Sanogo was awkward and often cratered our offense. Both players were talented and deserving of starting, but maybe we should’ve benched one for the greater good of the team, especially after seeing what a greater fit with Alex looked like the year after.

I don’t think our offense will be reinvented. There is so much more for Cam to get integrated into than just “sitting in the corner” waiting for passes for 3s.

There were tons of breakdown videos during last year‘s tournaments highlighting and praising the complexity and flexibility of our offenses sets… I don’t expect that to change much at all this year… it’s just that there will be different options available then the ones that Hawkins got…
 

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