Hamilton was taking very low % shots last night..

[aceboon]

A play in the first half that kind of summed up alot of what's wrong with DHam's offensive game when it comes to his approach to scoring. They ran a pin down for him that led to DHam catching the ball wide open about 15-17ft from the basket with about 10 seconds or so on the shot clock. All he had to was catch and immediately rise up, instead he catches, holds the ball and surveys, the defender closes out on him and instead he dribbles and takes a contested jumper and bricks it. He has to simplify his game and make quicker reads with the ball.

 

[SaeHusky]

This. Hamilton has individual skills that need improvement (although in the last few games he at least stopped the automatic head fake when he caught a ball even if he wasn't being tightly covered yet), but he needs to be given the ball more earlier in the shot clock and where there is time for his penetration to lead to a few passes and a shot, and not when the whole D knows that he is either going to have to shoot or kick it out for a catch and shoot.

This is a great point - There was one play in the 2nd half where he had the ball early in shot clock - drove the lane and kicked it out to Gibbs for a wide open 3

 

[superjohn]

A play in the first half that kind of summed up alot of what's wrong with DHam's offensive game when it comes to his approach to scoring. They ran a pin down for him that led to DHam catching the ball wide open about 15-17ft from the basket with about 10 seconds or so on the shot clock. All he had to was catch and immediately rise up, instead he catches, holds the ball and surveys, the defender closes out on him and instead he dribbles and takes a contested jumper and bricks it. He has to simplify his game and make quicker reads with the ball.

He often makes things a lot harder on himself than they need to be. Not playing with a true point guard certainly is part of the problem, if he works on the things he needs to this summer and Gilbert is the pure point I think he is along with Jalen's improvements, Hamilton could be a beast next year.

 

[tzznandrew]

A play in the first half that kind of summed up alot of what's wrong with DHam's offensive game when it comes to his approach to scoring. They ran a pin down for him that led to DHam catching the ball wide open about 15-17ft from the basket with about 10 seconds or so on the shot clock. All he had to was catch and immediately rise up, instead he catches, holds the ball and surveys, the defender closes out on him and instead he dribbles and takes a contested jumper and bricks it. He has to simplify his game and make quicker reads with the ball.

He's definitely not decisive enough...which is probably where that absurd headfake was coming from.

He feels like he's still thinking about playing rather than playing sometimes.

 

[Gurleyman]

He doesn't. My point was as a "layman" if you want to call him it is interesting that he keyed on Hamilton's shooting which was atrocious.

yes - we really needed a "was he on drugs" comment shared on the Boneyard. Next time, leave that stuff in your email.

He had a bad day shooting (4-14), but had six assists and his only turnover should have been Brimah's, so if you want to go by usage/creation, he created 10 baskets and caused 10 empty possessions on a day Kansas made it tough for us to get good shots. Could be better - but not awful. He forced the issue a bit, yes, but you and your brother may want to check the rebounding and assist columns and wonder who else was going to provide those things if Hamilton sat.

 

[80shusky]

@Gurleyman don't get me wrong I like him a lot as a player and it isn't lost on me that he fills the stat sheet. I can't wait to see him hopefully progress next year and be more efficient, make better decisions and play even better. I don't actually believe he should have been put on the bench. We would have been beaten even more badly without him for sure.

 

[ctchamps]

Great players make those difficult shots at critical times. Kemba did it. Bazz did it. And DHam did it the first part of the season before going into a shooting slump. He seemed to come out of it against Cinci and Temple in the AAC tournament (check out KO's presser) but he went into that funk starting against Colorado.

Those shots are totally within his skill level. To me it's a mental thing. A confident DHam will make most of those shots. A non confident DHam will find ways to miss them. It wasn't the running of sets, time he gets the ball, defenses, or lack of a true point guard that were the primary reasons he struggled imo.

 

[Gurleyman]

@Gurleyman don't get me wrong I like him a lot as a player and it isn't lost on me that he fills the stat sheet. I can't wait to see him hopefully progress next year and be more efficient, make better decisions and play even better. I don't actually believe he should have been put on the bench. We would have been beaten even more badly without him for sure.

Fair point. He's a consistent jumper away from being an All-American. He's the best player we've ever had at rebounding/passing from the wing. Maybe another year out of Henefeld would have been comparable. He had potential as a passing forward to run the offense through a lot in addition to his sniping on D.

Hamilton's assist to turnover ratio improved a lot this season - as did his ability to read the whole floor and find shooters. His shooting simply failed him at times - just didn't get that rhythm mid-range game to the next level consistently after showing flashes of being really good at it. He needs a long offseason of shooting reps.

 

[Edward Sargent]

The other problem is when Hamilton misses it is almost a turnover because our best rebounder has taken the shot. When he misses, Hamilton also tends to put his head down and doesn't quickly get back on defense, which is what makes it almost a TO.

 

[Matrim55]

His shooting simply failed him at times - just didn't get that rhythm mid-range game to the next level consistently after showing flashes of being really good at it.

His shooting failed because, for the longest time, the only player at UConn who could generate good looks for others was Daniel Hamilton. Once defenses figured that out they were geared up to stop him, which meant he ended up having to take a ton of tough shots -- especially at the end of the clock.

In the AAC tourney and against Colorado we saw how that can change a little bit when the ball's in Adams's hands. As he generates more gravity -- pulls more defenders toward him -- and understands his role as a PG better, DHam will get increasingly better looks, and will be thrown into fewer and fewer isos or late-clock hero-ball situations.

 

[Hoophound]

He always fades away or floats laterally. Once you starts using some authority in his offensive game he'll be much better.

 

[topogigio]

If Calhoun was still coaching, DH would be picking splinters out of his back side for a very long time.

 

[Stainmaster]

If Calhoun was still coaching, DH would be picking splinters out of his back side for a very long time.

Calhoun is not the coach anymore. And I don't believe he's coming back.

 

[tzznandrew]

Calhoun is not the coach anymore. And I don't believe he's coming back.

Also, when you sit Hamilton, you have to play someone else. Who are we playing when Hamilton sits? Seriously...

 

[Stainmaster]

Also, when you sit Hamilton, you have to play someone else. Who are we playing when Hamilton sits? Seriously...

Well in a world where JC comes back, maybe Caron Butler is still eligible.

 

[Gurleyman]

If Calhoun was still coaching, DH would be picking splinters out of his back side for a very long time.

Yes - JC routinely sat sat our best players when they struggled shooting. Remember when he sat Ray down the stretch when he missed 12 in a row in the BE title game.

 

[jdb50]

DHam needs to spend time this summer with a different voice like an active NBA player and eliminate a lot of the French pastry from his game. Too often open looks were passed up to wind up in end of shot clock contortions which as others have stated were fall aways and sideways looks. The same quickness that allows him to get to rebounds on the defensive end needs to be employed more in his offensive game. JA needs to add the ability to pull up in the paint or at the free throw line and hit a J to go along with his drive game so less of his shots get blocked when he does drive. With some improvement these two can more than make up for the loss of Gibbs points wise.

 

[CTBasketball]

If Adams and Gilbert can run the show effectively next year, it would be best to run Hamilton off baseline screens and make him take those quick jumpers. When he did that this year, he was extremely effective because from 10 feet and in he can head-fake or cross over and get to the rim relatively easily. When he starts taking guys on outside 15 feet he runs into problems because he's not quick enough or doesn't have the handle to drive past guards effectively.

Make him a swingman who plays 15 feet and in. Give him 3's on the break in transition or in broken plays.

 

[aceboon]

DHam needs to spend time this summer with a different voice like an active NBA player and eliminate a lot of the French pastry from his game. Too often open looks were passed up to wind up in end of shot clock contortions which as others have stated were fall aways and sideways looks. The same quickness that allows him to get to rebounds on the defensive end needs to be employed more in his offensive game. JA needs to add the ability to pull up in the paint or at the free throw line and hit a J to go along with his drive game so less of his shots get blocked when he does drive. With some improvement these two can more than make up for the loss of Gibbs points wise.

DHam worked out with NBA players this past summer, pretty sure I saw mentions of Reggie Jackson and James Harden. If anything he tries to play too much like those guys, Jackson and Harden can hold the ball and dribble out the clock and then go iso because they can make shots and get to the line. When DHam is turning down open shots to pump fake, jab step, and hesi-dribble in place while putting up a brick you're getting a mucked up offense.

 

[Excalibur]

As a team, we haven't responded well all year when defended effectively. We allow the defense to take us out of our comfort zone way too easily. Kansas did it simply by denying the first pass.

 

[polycom]

This team played excellent defense, I think that is why Dham took such bad shots. Like he said during the press conference you could see them just playing 1 on 1 basketball because they couldn't run any offensive sets.

 

[Lefty2one]

We weren't exactly getting good looks vs Kansas, he was forced to take some tough shots. Besides that, he tends to be out of control on his drives and doesn't square up enough before shooting. The whole process looks rushed too often. He has a nice height advantage on most defenders, he just needs to take his time a little bit and shoot a slight fadeaway once he gets into the lane and he'll be fine.