AJ at the 4 | The Boneyard

AJ at the 4

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ucp990411

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One of the most important things a coach does at our level is prepare his best players for the next level. Contrary to popular belief on the Boneyard I will be very surprised if we see much of AJ at the 4. That is not a position AJ will play after his college experience. Playing AJ at the 4 would be a disservice to him I believe.
 
ucp990411 said:
One of the most important things a coach does at our level is prepare his best players for the next level. Contrary to popular belief on the Boneyard I will be very surprised if we see much of AJ at the 4. That is not a position AJ will play after his college experience. Playing AJ at the 4 would be a disservice to him I believe.
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It's the position he is best suited for on this team. He is a handful of a 4 man.
 
A lot depends on the growth of Samson as a player. If Johnson doesn't start AJ will probably guard the opposing 4
 
People fundamentally do not understand this concept. AJ at the 4 does not mean he's going to be backing dudes down and parked in the post. If he's at the four, he's still playing on the perimeter and will still be handling a decent chunk of point duties. Whether at the 3 or 4, it doesn't do much to change his offensive role, it's more just taking advantage of his defensive versatility to get another guard in the lineup.
 
Versatility is very appreciated at the next level though. Bruce Brown played 25 minutes a game for the Nets this year, many of which came as a 6'4" 4man. He was listed as a PG last year. Being able to guard traditional 4s at his size and athleticism will undoubtedly help Jackson's pro career
 
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On the same theme, Sampson is supposed to have a decent outside shot so will be able to play an out 4 on O and in the paint on D.
 
Unless he learns to shoot consistently Jackson will have trouble carving out any sort of role in the NBA despite his outrageous athleticism. Dan Hurley's job is to put the best UConn team on the floor every night. If Jackson at the "4" with three shooters and Sanogo is our best lineup, Dan Hurley should play him there, vague notions of his best "NBA position" be damned.
 
I think him at the 4 really just means that on offense he will play on the perimeter and either be guarded by a guard who he could then back down or guarded by a big that he can hopefully drive by and on defense he has the versatility to guard most guards and forwards
 
If he defends 4’s, rebounds well, plays outside on O & handles the ball frequently & initiates the offense, I doubt anyone is going to bump him down a draft board because he’s defending stretch 4’s.

Go look at the draft from the last 2 years, you’ll see plenty of examples of kids who played a different position in college than they do in the pros. Idk why we’re constantly debating and associating this archaic pigeonholing of players positions from the 90’s to todays game. Warriors have a “death lineup” consisting of 1 PG, 2 Guards, 1 wing & a 6’7 Forward
 
WhereistheDove? said:
People fundamentally do not understand this concept. AJ at the 4 does not mean he's going to be backing dudes down and parked in the post. If he's at the four, he's still playing on the perimeter and will still be handling a decent chunk of point duties. Whether at the 3 or 4, it doesn't do much to change his offensive role, it's more just taking advantage of his defensive versatility to get another guard in the lineup.
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Yup and also the bruiser 4 type doesn't even exist anymore. The Jeff Adrien's are basically extinct nowadays. Jackson can play any position 1-4 because they're all interchangeable in a 4 out offense
 
Positionless flexibility is what Dan Hurley is attempting to put together with 1 thru 4 .. AJ is a positionless kind of player. With the exception of AS/DC.. Most of our roster is made up of positionless dudes.
 
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WhereistheDove? said:
People fundamentally do not understand this concept. AJ at the 4 does not mean he's going to be backing dudes down and parked in the post. If he's at the four, he's still playing on the perimeter and will still be handling a decent chunk of point duties. Whether at the 3 or 4, it doesn't do much to change his offensive role, it's more just taking advantage of his defensive versatility to get another guard in the lineup.
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Yes. And he can defend 1-4, and he rebounds better than most 4's , and he also would be the best passing 4 in the country. It doesnt mean he will see 30 minutes a game at 4, because of his flexibility he can shift through virtually 4 positions. But if we put him at 4 with Adama at 5, and surround that with a couple shooters and ball handlers it will be our best offense in years.
 
The "4" doesn't mean anything. As long as he can defend the second biggest guy on the other team the offense should be interchangeable and I'm sure he will handle the ball a lot.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
People fundamentally do not understand this concept. AJ at the 4 does not mean he's going to be backing dudes down and parked in the post. If he's at the four, he's still playing on the perimeter and will still be handling a decent chunk of point duties. Whether at the 3 or 4, it doesn't do much to change his offensive role, it's more just taking advantage of his defensive versatility to get another guard in the lineup.
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This deserves a million likes. I don’t understand how people aren’t getting this by now.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
People fundamentally do not understand this concept. AJ at the 4 does not mean he's going to be backing dudes down and parked in the post. If he's at the four, he's still playing on the perimeter and will still be handling a decent chunk of point duties. Whether at the 3 or 4, it doesn't do much to change his offensive role, it's more just taking advantage of his defensive versatility to get another guard in the lineup.
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Yeah nowadays, positions are moreso meant for guys you can defend more than anything else.
 
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The label doesn't really matter.

Jackson should be the 4th best shooter in a lineup that includes a Center and 3 other guards/forward (some combination of Newton/Hawkins/Alleyne/Karaban). He could easily be the 2nd best rebounder in such a lineup and a versatile defender.

But the most important thing is that there have to be 3 shooters on the floor. The problem last year is that our starting lineup had him as the 3rd best shooter alongside Sanogo and Whaley.
 
UConnStats said:
Almost every player on this team can play multiple positions so there will be a ton of different 5 man lineups we’ll play with. How often Jackson has to defend 4s will depend on Karaban and Johnson.
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Honestly, with his physicality and athleticism, I wonder if Jackson defending opposing 4's isn't actually our best defensive alignment anyway.

The issue he had on defense was keeping quick guards in front of him and denying driving lanes. Much easier to do against a 6'8 guy than a 6'4 guy.
 
ucp990411 said:
One of the most important things a coach does at our level is prepare his best players for the next level. Contrary to popular belief on the Boneyard I will be very surprised if we see much of AJ at the 4. That is not a position AJ will play after his college experience. Playing AJ at the 4 would be a disservice to him I believe.
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The most important thing a coach does is putting his players in a position to succeed on the court. AJ being on the court with three shooters will allow him to thrive -- his excellent passing skills will be utilized far better and lanes will open up so he can finally use his athleticsm to drive to the basket. On top of that, he's able to rebound and defend the 4 sufficiently. I think it's a win-win for everyone.
 
Some people on this board watch no basketball outside of UConn games or they do and just don't know what they're watching. So many college teams and top NBA teams play 4 out or 5 out basketball. These are the best teams in the world and they're often playing with a big man who is 6'7 or so with 4 other perimeter players. Watch the Warriors, Mavericks, Heat...
 
WhereistheDove? said:
People fundamentally do not understand this concept. AJ at the 4 does not mean he's going to be backing dudes down and parked in the post. If he's at the four, he's still playing on the perimeter and will still be handling a decent chunk of point duties. Whether at the 3 or 4, it doesn't do much to change his offensive role, it's more just taking advantage of his defensive versatility to get another guard in the lineup.
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Finally, sanity has come back to the boneyard.
 
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WhereistheDove? said:
People fundamentally do not understand this concept. AJ at the 4 does not mean he's going to be backing dudes down and parked in the post. If he's at the four, he's still playing on the perimeter and will still be handling a decent chunk of point duties. Whether at the 3 or 4, it doesn't do much to change his offensive role, it's more just taking advantage of his defensive versatility to get another guard in the lineup.
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2-4 is basically the same position in our system on offense.
 
August_West said:
Yes. And he can defend 1-4, and he rebounds better than most 4's , and he also would be the best passing 4 in the country. It doesnt mean he will see 30 minutes a game at 4, because of his flexibility he can shift through virtually 4 positions. But if we put him at 4 with Adama at 5, and surround that with a couple shooters and ball handlers it will be our best offense in years.
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I expect to see a lot of minutes with him and 3 other guards and I expect to see a lot of minutes with him, AK/Samson and two other guards. It's hard to overstate how important his positional versatility is for this team's depth because of the options it gives Hurley to mix and match.
 
ucp990411 said:
One of the most important things a coach does at our level is prepare his best players for the next level. Contrary to popular belief on the Boneyard I will be very surprised if we see much of AJ at the 4. That is not a position AJ will play after his college experience. Playing AJ at the 4 would be a disservice to him I believe.
Expand ...
JC handled similar situations like you suggest. He developed players like he was prepping them for their pro career. Caron and Rudy Gay were the best examples. Kinda big and athletic players that could probably handle themselves down low. But Calhoun ran plays for them on the perimeter. Essentially played them as guards. Which I always thought was cool. I thought it would of been easy and maybe good for the team to play those guys as a four. Gay in particular. He was a good shot blocker. But JC didn't do that. He let them handle the ball a bit more. Ran them through screens for shots. Etc...

That all said, there's a rather large group on this board who think AJ is a point guard. Maybe some have a slightly different definition for pg. To me that means primary ball handler and also can guard the opposing primary ball handler. I don't think AJ is either of those things. He's a decent ball handler for a bigger guy. Also a decent passer. But still not a pg.
 
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My point is that I would love to see AJ have the ball in his hands often. Also, if he plays the 4 with let's say Newton, Hawkins and Alleyne we would sacrifice rebounding, particularly offensive which is a big part of Dan Hurley's philosophy. For those that are implying I don't watch the NBA, offensive rebounding is at a minimum in the league.
 
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