I would not sleep on a potential Solo 3.0. I think after last season he was working on ball handling and defense and if he can improve in those areas at all he would be a great combo guard with still more potential.
If he has, I’d love if the staff/players were more vocal about what they’re working on and improving. I’ve never heard Hurley talk about Solo’s need to develop more guard skills until this summer, I think. Previously, he just raved about his jumpshot and how he wanted him to show he’s a 3 point shooter. Didn’t necessarily hear Solo talk about that either until this summer.
I fully expect him to improve his ball handling and passing skills. He's clearly a very hard worker and it will tremendously improve his game at the 2. Again my point remains, he is not a PG, he will almost certainly not play a minute as the primary point on the floor this year, and that should not be viewed as a failure on his or the staff’s part as some posters here believe.
My question is, if he shows the ability to improve his ball handling and passing skills, what would stop him from being able to play PG if those skills continue to improve?
What’s to stop Hawkins from becoming an NBA PG if all of his PG skills improve tremendously? That’s tongue in cheek but my point is you could ask that about pretty much any player across the board. That doesn’t mean it’s realistic or probable. Guys just have different skill sets.
Technically, anybody can learn to play PG. The reason they don’t is because it’s the hardest position to learn and if you have value at other positions doing other things it’s not necessary. So if you’re a Hawkins or Stewart you have a lot of value and the necessary physical tools to be a wing scorer.
Is that Koroma?
I wondered that too.
Never said PG is the easiest to learn. I said ball handling is easy to pick up.
Ball handling is not easy to pick up. If it was, Solo and Hawk would have handled ball-handling responsibilities more often, like every other guard we have had the last couple years. The weak hand is very necessary and hard to train and incredibly hard to master, and Solo and Hawk’s weak hands have been quite weak.
What is your basis for saying that ball handling is hard to pick up? Just because you see our players struggle with it?
Because like everything in the sport, doing something at a high level is difficult to master. It’s obvious with those two that they were not asked to do too much ball handling in their HS/College careers. It is one of those innate skills that usually you either have or you don’t.
I don't remember Adama Sanogo, one of the hardest workers of all time, crossing dudes up.
While we’re at it, we should put our bigs through Globetrotter Camp. We were really missing on some sets where Tarris not being able to spin the ball on his fingertip into a no look pass hurt us.
Anyone can technically play point guard, they're just good at other things so they get stuck doing those things instead of playing point. Stephen Hawking had the mind for the position and he could spin and throw dimes but he got stuck being a theoretical physicist.
You’re talking about two different things.
You think people naturally have handles? You’re born with that skill like natural athleticism?
Apparently Julia Childs, when not basting a bird, had a deadly crossover. Thing was on a string. She spent a lot of time between marinating working on her handles. It’s too bad cheffing took her away from us.
Genuinely curious, do you have one example of a past UConn player that was a 2 in HS and 2 in college before turning into a PG at college or the pros? I’m not talking combo guards, I’m talking clear SG like Solo has been.
