early season analysis

[willie99]

Boat & Hamilton & Facey all proving they belong, with Boat and Hamilton looking like studs

Brimah can have off games on offense, but he's Thabeet like on defense and the paints opens up for our opponent when he's not on the floor. He gives us four solid contributors.

I expected more stability from Samuel after his run in the tourny. Maybe he needs to learn how to handle higher expectations, maybe he's pressing. Whatever it is he has to play better.

Not sure what to say about Nolan, he's almost reminding me of TO. Whenever he goes in, the other team is owning the paint and shooting uncontested layups. He wants to take a charge before defending the shot. I don't get what he's doing thus far. He too has to play better.

We need Sam or Rodney or Omar to evolve into a solid reliable scorer to succeed at the highest levels. At least one of them better be a consistent scorer, or we'll have a real problem succeeding against the best of the best.

Effort, excellent
Defense, very good
Offense, C- or worse

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Brimah is not "Thabeet like" on defense. Defense includes rebounding, which Brimah does not excel at. He's a very good shot blocker, but he's not on Thabeet's level. Case in point - the layup that Felix made over him with 22 seconds left to cut the lead from 4 to 2. If an unathletic, 5'11'' guard tried that shot against Emeka, Hasheem, or Hilton, it ends up in the 10th row.

 

[willie99]

Brimah blocks and alters many shots, if you don't see a significant difference when he leaves the game we're just going to have to agree to disagree

as for rebounding, are you suggesting Thabeet was a good rebounder? because he never was such

I would also suggest Brimah's hands are 1,000% better, although I'm not sure that's saying much

 

[imno1]

I wouldn't say our team's effort has been excellent. Not when you give up that many layups

 

[mauconnfan]

Brimah is not "Thabeet like" on defense. Defense includes rebounding, which Brimah does not excel at. He's a very good shot blocker, but he's not on Thabeet's level. Case in point - the layup that Felix made over him with 22 seconds left to cut the lead from 4 to 2. If an unathletic, 5'11'' guard tried that shot against Emeka, Hasheem, or Hilton, it ends up in the 10th row.

Agree and disagree. He's not Thabeet in any form as of right now. Hashes soph year may be closer but he was still rebounding and intimidating more at that point. Ab has a ways to go on both ends of the court. But on the Felix lay up it was on TSam who reacted too quickly to a fake on the perimeter and then the kid threw in a rainbow while AB closed in, that wasn't on him it was more kudo's for the kid making the shot I think and count anyone else blocks it either.

 

[mauconnfan]

Brimah blocks and alters many shots, if you don't see a significant difference when he leaves the game we're just going to have to agree to disagree

as for rebounding, are you suggesting Thabeet was a good rebounder? because he never was such

I would also suggest Brimah's hands are 1,000% better, although I'm not sure that's saying much

Brimah's hands are better for sure catching the ball but they're still not better/stronger when trying to take rebounds away in a crowd. He really needs to be more assertive and with strength that will come. That didn't rebound great but he did get a lot more simply because he was 7 ft than Ab does. then again he was 3-4 inches taller than AB.

The kids coming along as we say, he's a keeper just need to drop down the lofty expectations.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Brimah blocks and alters many shots, if you don't see a significant difference when he leaves the game we're just going to have to agree to disagree

as for rebounding, are you suggesting Thabeet was a good rebounder? because he never was such

Of course there is a difference when Brimah leaves the game, but that has nothing to do with the Thabeet comparison.

As far as rebounds are concerned, Thabeet averaged 6 as a freshman, 8 as a sophomore, and 11 as a senior. Brimah gets 3 per game.

 

[MrP]

I expected more stability from Samuel after his run in the tourny. Maybe he needs to learn how to handle higher expectations, maybe he's pressing. Whatever it is he has to play better.

I'm not one to say "I told you so", but I will say that Samuel's performance thus far is exactly what I was afraid of. I felt that his performance in the tourney last year was a combination of adrenaline, luck, and the opponent not being familiar with him. Even then, if you really look at the numbers, he didn't do as much as people imply. I think he will be a Taliek like presence on the team eventually, but he's not there yet in terms of ball-handling or leadership.

 

[fleudslipcon]

I'm not one to say "I told you so", but I will say that Samuel's performance thus far is exactly what I was afraid of. I felt that his performance in the tourney last year was a combination of adrenaline, luck, and the opponent not being familiar with him. Even then, if you really look at the numbers, he didn't do as much as people imply. I think he will be a Taliek like presence on the team eventually, but he's not there yet in terms of ball-handling or leadership.

Disclaimer aside sounds like an I told you so.

I think TSam's ball handling and leadership aspects to his game are fine. His problem is scoring. He needs to develop a reliable mid range or deep threat to his game otherwise teams lay off him on the perimeter which was the case in the Texas game.

 

[Gurleyman]

I'm not one to say "I told you so", but I will say that Samuel's performance thus far is exactly what I was afraid of. I felt that his performance in the tourney last year was a combination of adrenaline, luck, and the opponent not being familiar with him. Even then, if you really look at the numbers, he didn't do as much as people imply. I think he will be a Taliek like presence on the team eventually, but he's not there yet in terms of ball-handling or leadership.

He didn't put up big stats, but he hit some big buckets for us at key times - momentum stoppers. Also the first half run against Villanova with Napier on the bench with two fouls was enormous. If we fall apart there, we are probably done.

The bigger problem as others have pointed out is that our shooters stretched the floor last year, giving him better driving lanes.

 

[tzznandrew]

He didn't put up big stats, but he hit some big buckets for us at key times - momentum stoppers. Also the first half run against Villanova with Napier on the bench with two fouls was enormous. If we fall apart there, we are probably done.

The bigger problem as others have pointed out is that our shooters stretched the floor last year, giving him better driving lanes.

Right. Taliek couldn't shoot a lick, and it didn't matter because he was flanked by Butler-Robertson-Gordon, and then Gordon-Anderson-Brown.

Samuel's defense has been great at times. We just need to make open buckets and the game changes. If we can't, this is going to be a long year.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Brimah blocks and alters many shots, if you don't see a significant difference when he leaves the game we're just going to have to agree to disagree

as for rebounding, are you suggesting Thabeet was a good rebounder? because he never was such

I would also suggest Brimah's hands are 1,000% better, although I'm not sure that's saying much

First, he never once said that he didn't see a significant difference when Birmah leaves the game. That is 100% straw man.

As for rebounding, Thabeet averaged almost 11 per game his Junior year, while even if you take Brimah's rebounds per 40 minutes, he has half of that. There is a huge difference in their rebounding.

 

[willie99]

First, he never once said that he didn't see a significant difference when Birmah leaves the game. That is 100% straw man.

As for rebounding, Thabeet averaged almost 11 per game his Junior year, while even if you take Brimah's rebounds per 40 minutes, he has half of that. There is a huge difference in their rebounding.

OMG, don't have the time to argue fallacy arguments that are they themselves are a fallacy

sorry to have offended you

welcome to the WWW

 

[willie99]

I'm not one to say "I told you so", but I will say that Samuel's performance thus far is exactly what I was afraid of. I felt that his performance in the tourney last year was a combination of adrenaline, luck, and the opponent not being familiar with him. Even then, if you really look at the numbers, he didn't do as much as people imply. I think he will be a Taliek like presence on the team eventually, but he's not there yet in terms of ball-handling or leadership.

I'm not sure how to take this one. Can he really be overhyped and still have a Taliek like presence? IDK, you're confusing me now

 

[WhereistheDove?]

OMG, don't have the time to argue fallacy arguments that are they themselves a fallacy

sorry to have offended you

welcome to the WWW

Calm down, I'm not offended, just pointing out that you're putting words into his mouth pretty blatantly.

 

[willie99]

Calm down, I'm not offended, just pointing out that you're putting words into his mouth pretty blatantly.

so while he was pointing out how wrong I was, I should have been focusing on how much he was actually agreeing with me

maybe you're right, and the typed word is often misinterpreted

 

[WhereistheDove?]

so while he was pointing out how wrong I was, I should have been focusing on how much he was actually agreeing with me

maybe you're right, and the typed word is often misinterpreted

I really don't see how "He's a very good shot blocker, but he's not on Thabeet's level." is causing this much confusion. It doesn't mean he thinks there's no difference when Brimah leaves the game and it doesn't mean he agrees with you. It's fine to disagree but disagree with what someone else is actually saying, don't just pull the message board move of disagreeing with what you've decided they're saying.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

I'm not one to say "I told you so", but I will say that Samuel's performance thus far is exactly what I was afraid of. I felt that his performance in the tourney last year was a combination of adrenaline, luck, and the opponent not being familiar with him. Even then, if you really look at the numbers, he didn't do as much as people imply. I think he will be a Taliek like presence on the team eventually, but he's not there yet in terms of ball-handling or leadership.

I started a thread after the second game, hypothesizing that perhaps, just maybe, once Omar comes back that Samuel may see limited mintues. This was more due to the fact that Omar can hopefully shoot it and while T-Sam has quite possibly the worst shot I've ever seen.

And people absolutely killed me for it, because god forbid someone is realistic and isn't overly positive about the team or someone on it.

So, I'm with you. I just don't see it. I like T-Sam's attitude. Seems like a nice kid and he plays hard. He has great size and is plenty of athletic. But right now he doesn't do much. People overrate his defense on here. He isn't close to a lockdown defender (in fact he gets blown by quite a bit, and his transition d is sloppy). He cant shoot, and he hasn't been setting anyone else up all season either (5 assists total in over 100 minutes of PT). And while his turnovers may not be high, he doesn't exactly play under control and doesn't act as a calming/ slow it down type influence .

That's not cutting it for a supposed floor leader. Scoring isn't his strength. Neither is shooting. So if he's not facilitating, he isn't bringing much at this point.

DISCLAIMER: I don't dislike T-Sam. I don't think he stinks. I think he will be a good player for us someday (potentially during this season).