Amore: KO on Jalen Adams, Mamadou Diarra & Team Chemistry

[HuskyHawk]

Adams is a scoring guard. That's what the NBA is and that's what he is. He can do everything as his assists showed. Ollie is right he needs to get to the line a lot more every game and up his 3 point percentage a lot as well if we wants to be great like we know he can. I don't see the ball coming out of his hands that often, probably be more like kemba and bazz instead of bazz and boat

He really needs to learn to take contact, rather than doing something acrobatic to avoid it. He contorts himself and avoids contact, but misses the layup. Needs to learn to take the foul, keep composed and then make that acrobatic shot post-foul.

 

[ctchamps]

He really needs to learn to take contact, rather than doing something acrobatic to avoid it. He contorts himself and avoids contact, but misses the layup. Needs to learn to take the foul, keep composed and then make that acrobatic shot post-foul.

There was a period before his concussion that he was successful at finishing. Towards end of season that ability was reduced. Fatigue, injured ankle and avoiding a second concussion most likely factored into this.

 

[PAHusky]

I've used Vibrams (correctly). They're fine in some respects, but not in others. The balls of my feet couldn't handle the pressure (too much of the pad underneath is worn off from years of soccer). Feels like stepping on a marble on the ball of my foot. I wear flat runners mostly when I do run...Nike Frees.

Vibrams - partially effective as a running shoe, completely effective as a form of birth control

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Vibrams - partially effective as a running shoe, completely effective as a form of birth control

Those are the gloves for your feet? No thanks, I'd rather have shin splints.

 

[HooperScooper]

What on earth are you talking about?? I get ALL my medical advice from the Boneyard...

It's a miracle you're still alive.

 

[HuskyHawk]

There was a period before his concussion that he was successful at finishing. Towards end of season that ability was reduced. Fatigue, injured ankle and avoiding a second concussion most likely factored into this.

Sure. I think that simply made him miss more crazy shots that he once made. But he still used that great body control to avoid contact, rather than taking the foul and scoring. I think KO wants him to be a little stronger with the ball, learn how to take some body contact and still score. I'd have somebody fouling him on every layup he takes in practice. He should be a traditional 3 point play machine and he isn't.

 

[RJScootin]

33 years of experience in meaningless to me. 33 years wrong isn't good experience.

I don't care if he shares his opinions, but read the posts--he's acting like some kind of fitness encyclopedia, that's insane.

And I'm happy to be less qualified. That's why I consult experts.

Obviously this person has some passion around running, didn't think there was need to dump on him. I mean KO makes 3 million a year to coach.... does that make him an expert?

 

[CL82]

A little birdy told me Ollie makes a point to recruit players with injury issues because he thinks that makes them better players.

Why do I feel I like this post is missing a "Quite frankly,"

 

[intlzncster]

What's his ceiling at this point? We're close to September - if he can't run a straight line up a hill how is he supposed to cut and jump in a couple months?

Nah he's probably fine if he's playing ball (which he is). It's simply something you have to manage. He played through the pain in high school (hence why he sat last year). Now they are trying to reduce pain and keep him going.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

KO is digging his own grave
If he can't get his best recruit to the NBA then you could put a fork in him. That's the standard he will be judged on by future recruits.
I'm not quite on the fire the coach bandwagon but I'm close.
That the team is best with Adams at the 1 seems so obvious to this old BB guy ,but maybe I'm missing something.

 

[intlzncster]

So we should let the professional writers who get paid to give their thoughts on the team only? If someone has 33 years experience with something i think they should be able to give an opinion in the BY. Like a strength and conditioning coach has never been wrong. Thanks for making yourself less qualified in life with this reply.

Does he have 33 years of experience with rehabilitating high end athletes? Cause that's the only experience that matters.

Personal anecdotal evidence, sans same condition no less, is pretty much useless.

Note, fine if he offers an opinion, but I'll counter it if I think it's off.

 

[WhiteDressWes]

I am Amby Burfoot!

In October of '68, my HS X-Country team was running against Fitch and you exited a house next to a Fishers Island Sound Inlet and started to cheer on the Fitch runners. It was a shock that my hero was rooting for my opponent!

 

[WrenchFan69]

KO is digging his own grave
If he can't get his best recruit to the NBA then you could put a fork in him. That's the standard he will be judged on by future recruits.

Daniel Hamilton is a 2-way player for the Thunder this upcoming season

 

[husky429]

Obviously this person has some passion around running, didn't think there was need to dump on him. I mean KO makes 3 million a year to coach.... does that make him an expert?

Wouldn't dump on him if he wasn't pretending to be an expert. I'm happy to do the same thing with basketball, but I don't pretend that I'm popovich. It's one thing to offer opinions, but ridiculous to criticize when you really have no clue.

I'm going to go with a pretty strong "YES" on Kevin Ollie being an expert.

He's not flawless, but he's a heck of a lot more intelligent than 99.99% of the population when it comes to basketball. Your average high school coach would pay any currency they could to sniff his jock coaching-wise.

And guess what. Crazy thought here... I bet when it comes to things he's not an expert at (strength and conditioning, rehabilitation), he relies on experts that he pays have on staff.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Daniel Hamilton is a 2-way player for the Thunder this upcoming season

Because recruits are just lining up to play for a guy who got a top 20 recruit a 2-way contract.

 

[Chief00]

Yeah that quote is a bit concerning, but at least KO & the rest of the staff have realized their shortcomings (if there are any) chemistry wise, and are making an attempt to fix them.

Some truth to it - about the building layout. Of course, whatever the reasons, he realizes he needs to improve in that area regardless of any obstacles. I accept that.

 

[Huskymagic]

KO is digging his own grave
If he can't get his best recruit to the NBA then you could put a fork in him. That's the standard he will be judged on by future recruits.
I'm not quite on the fire the coach bandwagon but I'm close.
That the team is best with Adams at the 1 seems so obvious to this old BB guy ,but maybe I'm missing something.

You're not missing anything. Ollie and the geniuses on the yard think that taking the ball out of Adams hand and giving it to Alterique is going to make Adams into Jeremy Lamb. We saw the evidence last year with a much better cast of players and the outcome was losses to Wagner and Northeastern and would have been a loss to Loyola Marymount if not for late heroics by Christian Vital. Instead of elevating and affirming Adams status as the man of the team, he is doing the opposite. How Ollie and the entire staff don't see the obvious that Jalen Adams needs to be our point guard and lead guard with Vital as his 2 man is hilarious.

Ollie is putting his players in position to not succeed. Just like last year, you have a huge defensive asset in Brimah and what does he do: play zone to effectively neutralize Brimah's effectiveness because you know players need to rest when playing Houston, ECU, and Tulsa.

Alterique needs to come off the bench to start the year. He needs to defend way better and learn to play off the ball like Boat for next year to be useful for our team.

 

[tjc1888]

You're not missing anything. Ollie and the geniuses on the yard think that taking the ball out of Adams hand and giving it to Alterique is going to make Adams into Jeremy Lamb. We saw the evidence last year with a much better cast of players and the outcome was losses to Wagner and Northeastern and would have been a loss to Loyola Marymount if not for late heroics by Christian Vital. Instead of elevating and affirming Adams status as the man of the team, he is doing the opposite. How Ollie and the entire staff don't see the obvious that Jalen Adams needs to be our point guard and lead guard with Vital as his 2 man is hilarious.

Ollie is putting his players in position to not succeed. Just like last year, you have a huge defensive asset in Brimah and what does he do: play zone to effectively neutralize Brimah's effectiveness because you know players need to rest when playing Houston, ECU, and Tulsa.

Alterique needs to come off the bench to start the year. He needs to defend way better and learn to play off the ball like Boat for next year to be useful for our team.

There's not many things I agree with you on, but this happens to be one.

I don't necessarily think that AG needs to come off the bench to start the year, but I do 100% think that Jalen needs to start the year as the primarily ball handler. That's not to say that AG will not take this over by the end of the season.

AG hasn't played competitive basketball in over a year, his decision making is going to be a little bit slower while he gets back up to speed.

We don't have the luxury of allowing him to get up to speed the first few games of the year. It's all about W's right from the get go and Jalen has proven to be an effective ball handler and lead guard.

 

[tykurez]

Ya don't say?!

 

[krinklecut]

This is what a come here for; Arguments about shoes in a thread about team chemistry. You guys continue to be so great.

 

[LIUCHusky]

You're not missing anything. Ollie and the geniuses on the yard think that taking the ball out of Adams hand and giving it to Alterique is going to make Adams into Jeremy Lamb. We saw the evidence last year with a much better cast of players and the outcome was losses to Wagner and Northeastern and would have been a loss to Loyola Marymount if not for late heroics by Christian Vital. Instead of elevating and affirming Adams status as the man of the team, he is doing the opposite. How Ollie and the entire staff don't see the obvious that Jalen Adams needs to be our point guard and lead guard with Vital as his 2 man is hilarious.

Ollie is putting his players in position to not succeed. Just like last year, you have a huge defensive asset in Brimah and what does he do: play zone to effectively neutralize Brimah's effectiveness because you know players need to rest when playing Houston, ECU, and Tulsa.

Alterique needs to come off the bench to start the year. He needs to defend way better and learn to play off the ball like Boat for next year to be useful for our team.[

Hey Huskymagic, just out of curiosity what is your career coaching record?

 

[HuskyHawk]

You're not missing anything. Ollie and the geniuses on the yard think that taking the ball out of Adams hand and giving it to Alterique is going to make Adams into Jeremy Lamb. We saw the evidence last year with a much better cast of players and the outcome was losses to Wagner and Northeastern and would have been a loss to Loyola Marymount if not for late heroics by Christian Vital. Instead of elevating and affirming Adams status as the man of the team, he is doing the opposite. How Ollie and the entire staff don't see the obvious that Jalen Adams needs to be our point guard and lead guard with Vital as his 2 man is hilarious.

Ollie is putting his players in position to not succeed. Just like last year, you have a huge defensive asset in Brimah and what does he do: play zone to effectively neutralize Brimah's effectiveness because you know players need to rest when playing Houston, ECU, and Tulsa.

Alterique needs to come off the bench to start the year. He needs to defend way better and learn to play off the ball like Boat for next year to be useful for our team.

Alterique needs to start, even if it is at the SG position. Vital is a classic 6th man. I argued last year that it was a mistake to make Adams the shooting guard, and screwed him up early in the year before he went back.

Here's the reality. Those are our two best guards. So they play the most. I don't care if they are both point guards. They both need to learn how to play in a two PG offense, where they can read the situation and distribute or score as dictated by the defense. This is the biggest test this staff has to start the year, and I will judge them on it. If KO is just expecting it to happen, it won't. But we've run dual PG offenses for quite some time, and we can do it again. Both guys need to understand what that means. Neither can monopolize the ball as Gilbert did early last season.

 

[CL82]

Hey Huskymagic, just out of curiosity what is your career coaching record?

"Undefeated"

 

[mauconnfan]

You're not missing anything. Ollie and the geniuses on the yard think that taking the ball out of Adams hand and giving it to Alterique is going to make Adams into Jeremy Lamb. We saw the evidence last year with a much better cast of players and the outcome was losses to Wagner and Northeastern and would have been a loss to Loyola Marymount if not for late heroics by Christian Vital. Instead of elevating and affirming Adams status as the man of the team, he is doing the opposite. How Ollie and the entire staff don't see the obvious that Jalen Adams needs to be our point guard and lead guard with Vital as his 2 man is hilarious.

Ollie is putting his players in position to not succeed. Just like last year, you have a huge defensive asset in Brimah and what does he do: play zone to effectively neutralize Brimah's effectiveness because you know players need to rest when playing Houston, ECU, and Tulsa.

Alterique needs to come off the bench to start the year. He needs to defend way better and learn to play off the ball like Boat for next year to be useful for our team.

Would you stop with the zone stuff, they had 8-9 guys who could play (2 weren't good) and 2 guards, it wasn't for brimah. And all he could do is block shots should have been better for him, he couldn't guard anyone in a man.

And like it or not Alterique needs to be real good for them to be good. He and Jalen need to be able to share the duties like KO/Sheffer, Ricky/KEA, Kemba/Bazz and Bazz/Boat. He needs to start and be real good like his AA honors showed, he's a highly talented kid. As much as we fell in love with CV he is a perfect 6th man type or when beginning with a 3 guard lineup the 3rd guard. But no matter, they need these 2 to lead this team.

 

[gtcam]

Ya don't say?!

Best post in ages
Thanks for the laugh!!!!!

 

[Tenspro2002]

Ya don't say?!

Do you disagree with AZ's assessment?

Recruits care first and foremost about a coach being able to get them to the NBA. So far, KO has gotten one guy there (Shabazz), who is on his third team and may not see a second contract.

If Adams or Larrier don't get there, it's going to be hard to overcome the perception that playing for KO is useless or even harmful for a recruit with NBA ambitions.

 

[businesslawyer]

Do you disagree with AZ's assessment?

Recruits care first and foremost about a coach being able to get them to the NBA. So far, KO has gotten one guy there (Shabazz), who is on his third team and may not see a second contract.

If Adams or Larrier don't get there, it's going to be hard to overcome the perception that playing for KO is useless or even harmful for a recruit with NBA ambitions.

His first job is to win friggin games. Not to manage a team for his star's NBA contract. Calhoun did that to some extent with Drummond. How did that turn out for us?

If we're going to be good this year, it's because Gilbert and Larrier are going to contribute at a very high level. Period. If Gilbert is healthy, he is going to start. Additionally, I know Adams was our best player last year by light years but am I the only one who noticed that the worst part of his game was stretches where he was a turnover machine. He's not a pure 1. He is a scorer with many of the tools of a 1. We need him to be Kemba to AG's Shabazz, or Shabazz to AG's Boat, if we're going to accomplish anything.

 

[Tenspro2002]

His first job is to win friggin games. Not to manage a team for his star's NBA contract. Calhoun did that to some extent with Drummond. How did that turn out for us?

If we're going to be good this year, it's because Gilbert and Larrier are going to contribute at a very high level. Period. If Gilbert is healthy, he is going to start. Additionally, I know Adams was our best player last year by light years but am I the only one who noticed that the worst part of his game was stretches where he was a turnover machine. He's not a pure 1. He is a scorer with many of the tools of a 1. We need him to be Kemba to AG's Shabazz, or Shabazz to AG's Boat, if we're going to accomplish anything.

I don't disagree with any of that. They should have a Kemba/AJP or Bazz/Kemba or Boat/Bazz dynamic.

To be honest, I'm less concerned about who's called the "1" vs. the "2". Both Gilbert and Adams will have the ball in their hands a lot. If the team plays well and generates buzz, Adams as our best player will reap the benefits in terms of NBA attention regardless of what position he's listed as.

The point that I most strongly agreed with was that if KO doesn't get start getting guys to the NBA (including Adams and Larrier), recruiting will be even more difficult and may dry up completely as far as top talent is concerned.

 

[UConnStats]

That's a good point about today's game that a lot of people seem to be getting hung up on.

NBA teams want all guards to be able to pass and keep the ball moving. Ball stopping 2 guards are a thing of the past.

Whichever player has the ball in their hands the most will probably end up with the most assists, but you can look at both Adams and Gilbert as PGs even if they're both on the court together.

 

[jibsey]

I have a question. Realistically how are we going to rebound this year?