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Message: [QUOTE="auror, post: 4466679, member: 1329"] What do the on/off splits say about Butler? 1. The offense craters when Eric Hunter, Chuck Harris, or Manny Bates is out. This is partially because backup Myles Tate played horrendously, but he's been out with an illness now anyways, so they just don't have much depth at guard. With Ali out, they have 4 decent guards that had to play the 1-3 (with Lukosius at the 4) and not much else. They don't have a true point, so when either of these creators is out, the team is just lacking creation. And Bates is their only interior scorer. 2. The defense suffers when Jayden Taylor is out. There's some shooting aberrations in here, but even luck adjusted they're 20 points per 100 pos worse on D with him out. Hunter and Bates have the big defensive reputations (and Bates does help the interior D), but Taylor has been indispensable on D so far. 3. Related to #2, Lukosius is a weak link on D. He has more defensive responsibility when Taylor is out and Pierce is in and it has not gone well. The other team just shoots a lot higher % at the rim and is way less disrupted without Taylor. If we get them into foul trouble, which we have gotten most opponents, it's pretty much over, even if Ali Ali plays. Especially their guards. Newton needs to be in herky jerky attack mode. And Sanogo/Clingan need to just keep doing what they do. Butler is very good about not fouling (5th fewest foul rate), but with Clingan your only options are foul or he gets every rebound and dunks every possession, so there's not much choice. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach