Hot seat

[Huskyforlife]

I'm just not the biggest martin guy. His defense and rebounding doesn't make up for abysmal finishing and shooting ability for a SF. Hawkins, Gaffney, Polley, and Jackson should make it hard for him to find minutes on the wing. Akok and Whaley are basically locked in at 4 too.

 

[lavuuk153]

Chief still holds out hope that Gaffney can consistently duplicate in the games what he does in practice. For all his detractors the last two years, UConn has played its best ball when Gaffney is getting minutes and is on his game,
Usually, when someone is athletic but sometimes has quiet games, at least you see the athletic potential. But, with Gaffney not until late last season was his athleticism visible in games that he has presented at practice.
I don’t get the low BBQ perception, since Gaffney has had a pretty good assist to turnover ratio for this team. It was at 1.30 behind Cole’s 2.48 but ahead of a guy some are advocating as a Top 10 pick (Bouknight 0.64). Granted still needs to get in the 2.0 range this season. Martin (0.77) and Sanogo (0.44) have work to do in that area too. I think the biggest thing holding him back has been deferring to others and projecting confidence in games. I am going to wager he has conquer those drawbacks and is due for a good season.

I’m still a fan of Gaffney but sooner or later the light switch needs to flip. I do think your stats are cherry picked though and don’t like the swipe at Bouk. I checked two guys...Beverly had a career 1.6:1 A:T and in his sophomore year Gay was .84:1.

I’m not sure what the issue for Gaff has been but I’m guessing it’s either a confidence thing or him struggling with the speed of the game. I tend to think it’s more of the former because there are games where he’s aggressive and that usually leads to pretty good outcomes.

 

[Chief00]

I’m still a fan of Gaffney but sooner or later the light switch needs to flip. I do think your stats are cherry picked though and don’t like the swipe at Bouk. I checked two guys...Beverly had a career 1.6:1 A:T and in his sophomore year Gay was .84:1.

I’m not sure what the issue for Gaff has been but I’m guessing it’s either a confidence thing or him struggling with the speed of the game. I tend to think it’s more of the former because there are games where he’s aggressive and that usually leads to pretty good outcomes.

Ignoring a 0.64 assist/turnover ratio for a guard is what is truly cherry picking statistics. A team can’t function when guards are that inefficient/careless with the ball. I like James and more importantly his teammates like him, but that's a really bad number. Gaffney at 1.30 is twice as efficient. Even 6 foot /9 Inch Rudy was about 30% more efficient handling the ball at 0.84 vs 0.64. That apparently was the best comparison you could find to suppprt your case. In fact, in the George Mason game my friend Rudy actually shot well, but because we lacked ball handlers/distributors with Marcus pressured and AJ on sabbatical- we couldn’t get the ball to various NBA level guys.

 

[lavuuk153]

Ignoring a 0.64 assist/turnover ratio for a guard is what is truly cherry picking statistics. A team can’t function when guards are that inefficient/careless with the ball. I like James and more importantly his teammates like him, but that's a really bad number. Gaffney at 1.30 is twice as efficient. Even 6 foot /9 Inch Rudy was about 30% more efficient handling the ball at 0.84 vs 0.64. That apparently was the best comparison you could find to suppprt your case. In fact, in the George Mason game my friend Rudy actually shot well, but because we lacked ball handlers/distributors with Marcus pressured and AJ on sabbatical- we couldn’t get the ball to various NBA level guys.

I literally said I looked up two players. I thought of Gay cause he was a scorer like Bouk, left after 2 seasons, and I remember hearing he should come back. Bouk is not a facilitator. I can live with his lack of assists based on his scoring.

But please tell me you’d rather have Gaffney next year vs Bouk. Or was that comment just because you are afraid an NBA team will take him top 10? Also what about how well Beverly took care of the ball? Is he better than Gaffney? There was no reason to include Bouk in your first comment while including people advocating him to be a top 10 pick. Should Gay have come back for another year to boost his stock?

 

[lavuuk153]

Btw I really was just triggered by the Bouknight statement. If your statement was more along the lines of “look at his ratio compared to Bouknight who is definitely going round 1 and might be a lottery pick” then I really wouldn’t have cared and would have just agreed with your overall point.

 

[Husky68]

Chief still holds out hope that Gaffney can consistently duplicate in the games what he does in practice. For all his detractors the last two years, UConn has played its best ball when Gaffney is getting minutes and is on his game,
Usually, when someone is athletic but sometimes has quiet games, at least you see the athletic potential. But, with Gaffney not until late last season was his athleticism visible in games that he has presented at practice.
I don’t get the low BBQ perception, since Gaffney has had a pretty good assist to turnover ratio for this team. It was at 1.30 behind Cole’s 2.48 but ahead of a guy some are advocating as a Top 10 pick (Bouknight 0.64). Granted still needs to get in the 2.0 range this season. Martin (0.77) and Sanogo (0.44) have work to do in that area too. I think the biggest thing holding him back has been deferring to others and projecting confidence in games. I am going to wager he has conquer those drawbacks and is due for a good season.

Gaffney's biggest problem is looking to Hurley every time he dribbles past half court to see if Hurley has any instructions for that offensive set. Just play.

 

[glastonbury50]

I’m still a fan of Gaffney but sooner or later the light switch needs to flip. I do think your stats are cherry picked though and don’t like the swipe at Bouk. I checked two guys...Beverly had a career 1.6:1 A:T and in his sophomore year Gay was .84:1.

I’m not sure what the issue for Gaff has been but I’m guessing it’s either a confidence thing or him struggling with the speed of the game. I tend to think it’s more of the former because there are games where he’s aggressive and that usually leads to pretty good outcomes.

Big jump from Gaff at the end of last year. If its been a confidence thing all along, look for that success to carry on to this year. He is almost there and he will break out soon, I really believe that.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Akok is going to have to be significantly better than he was as a freshman to take minutes from Whaley. Without seeing him on the court there isn’t even a basis to say that he’s a better outside threat than Whaley is at this point.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I have no idea and maybe you're right, but in short when Dan and Isaiah sat down at the end of the season to discuss him coming back I just don't see that conversation being about him coming off the bench. If I was in his shoes and coming off 2 great seasons and a Big East DPOY of the year season I'd be offended if that was the conversation.

I just think we have wildly different views on shooting. I wouldn't consider Martin at the 3 a positive shooting lineup, and as much as I like Akok and his shooting he's ultimately a 26% 3 point shooter and that's just not gonna cut it with the rest of the team makeup next year

What conversation? If he promised Whaley he’d start he should be fired. I imagine it was more about does he have a role. To which you say, we have no experienced backup center, at the PF spot we hope Akok emerges strong but behind him we have just Springs and freshman Johnson. So yes we need you.

I can’t imagine much beyond that unless you want to talk about leadership and effort, where I’m sure Whaley is very valuable. I’d be offended if he offered more.

Akok will shoot well over 30% from 3. Bank on it. Martin shooting will be better than his overall numbers last year. Polley will continue to make shots when completely wide open and when he doesn’t have to do anything at all to get open, like dribble the ball or move around a screen.

 

[Chief00]

I literally said I looked up two players. I thought of Gay cause he was a scorer like Bouk, left after 2 seasons, and I remember hearing he should come back. Bouk is not a facilitator. I can live with his lack of assists based on his scoring.

But please tell me you’d rather have Gaffney next year vs Bouk. Or was that comment just because you are afraid an NBA team will take him top 10? Also what about how well Beverly took care of the ball? Is he better than Gaffney? There was no reason to include Bouk in your first comment while including people advocating him to be a top 10 pick. Should Gay have come back for another year to boost his stock?

Sorry, Chief is not a fan of careless turnovers by guards. I would be thrilled if some team drafts James Top 10, based on their potential assessment. A couple of months ago various Casual Fans gave their draft projection and I gave mine. I said 15-17 based on what I was hearing. Since then, a player, who I had ahead of James tragically deceased, so it would be 14-16 today.
Where I have James slotted has nothing to do with how I feel about him as a person. I don’t really understand how so many here mix the two.

 

[dennismenace]

1. Polley. 2. Whaley. Polley because he's just not that good and we have better options. Martin may not start, so that would be a reduced role, but he's almost certain to be the 6th man if so. Whaley because Akok, if he's all the way back, will cut into his role. He's still a key player. I expect Gaff to have a different role as a SG. Let's see what he does with it.

So does this mean you see RJ Cole as point with Wiggins as his backup? I think Gaff is better at penetration because of his height and passing ability and RJ is the better outside shooter but interested in your take on this.

 

[Get a Job]

So does this mean you see RJ Cole as point with Wiggins as his backup? I think Gaff is better at penetration because of his height and passing ability and RJ is the better outside shooter but interested in your take on this.

Yes, I think that's what he was implying. Here's a picture of RJ's backup being informed of the plan.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

What conversation? If he promised Whaley he’d start he should be fired. I imagine it was more about does he have a role. To which you say, we have no experienced backup center, at the PF spot we hope Akok emerges strong but behind him we have just Springs and freshman Johnson. So yes we need you.

I can’t imagine much beyond that unless you want to talk about leadership and effort, where I’m sure Whaley is very valuable. I’d be offended if he offered more.

Akok will shoot well over 30% from 3. Bank on it. Martin shooting will be better than his overall numbers last year. Polley will continue to make shots when completely wide open and when he doesn’t have to do anything at all to get open, like dribble the ball or move around a screen.

Why would you not start the reigning DPOY? If anyone would sit it’d probably be Sanogo. Whaley is our best rebounder and defender with a developing jumpshot and is a great finisher. I have no idea what’s Polly’s role on the team going to be though. We’re jammed at the 3 and 4.

 

[HuskyHawk]

So does this mean you see RJ Cole as point with Wiggins as his backup? I think Gaff is better at penetration because of his height and passing ability and RJ is the better outside shooter but interested in your take on this.

I'm sure Gaff will play some PG. Scoring guard, who can bring the ball up, shoot and drive to the hole to pass or score. I don't know enough about Diggins, but I don't think a freshman PG is going to play major minutes. I'd guess less than 10 unless he's really good. Others speculated on Jackson playing some PG, I can see him in a backcourt with Gaffney, where it isn't exactly clear who is the "PG".

What is a PG anyway? Aside from being a good enough ball handler to bring the ball up against pressure, are the PGs in modern basketball? Is Ben Simmons really a PG? Is Lebron (he runs the offense)? Hurley is right that Jackson is a PG in the NBA in the sense that he'll have the ball once it crosses midcourt. I think he's going to do some of that for UConn too.