Jalen Adams

[Matrim55]

I think one of the reasons that Adams gets gassed is because he literally has to do everything. Kemba and Shabazz always had someone that can create and take some pressure off of them. (Even if Dyson and Boat weren't at their best at the time.) Adams has to carry the scoring load and the facilitating load, and no one else on the team is particularly good on either.

To put this into context, I just watched every shot Vital has taken over the last 7 games. He's shooting over 70% when it's off a feed from Adams, and under 40% in any/every other situation.

A great PG makes everyone better. Hopefully Alterique is taking notes, and is able to give us 15 mpg of this next year.

 

[upstater]

Alterique is going to run things when he's in next year, so it's fine by me if Jalen plays off the ball half the time. In fact, I can imagine how good Jalen will be with his 3 point shooting and midrange game while playing off the ball.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

To put this into context, I just watched every shot Vital has taken over the last 7 games. He's shooting over 70% when it's off a feed from Adams, and under 40% in any/every other situation.

A great PG makes everyone better. Hopefully Alterique is taking notes, and is able to give us 15 mpg of this next year.

Rodney's great 3 point shooting was based on great passes from Jalen that left Purvis wide open and ready to shoot.

 

[UConn990411]

Alterique is going to run things when he's in next year, so it's fine by me if Jalen plays off the ball half the time. In fact, I can imagine how good Jalen will be with his 3 point shooting and midrange game while playing off the ball.

It would be foolish to make Gilbert the primary point guard considering how well Jalen has looked in that role. Alterique will certainly get his share of minutes at the point, but he should be the secondary ballhandler like Boatright was.

 

[blackbird]

It would be foolish to make Gilbert the primary point guard considering how well Jalen has looked in that role. Alterique will certainly get his share of minutes at the point, but he should be the secondary ballhandler like Boatright was.

Right, no one takes their likely All American point guard, and moves them off the ball. It would be silly. Adams proved he's at his best with when he's facilitating.

 

[upstater]

It would be foolish to make Gilbert the primary point guard considering how well Jalen has looked in that role. Alterique will certainly get his share of minutes at the point, but he should be the secondary ballhandler like Boatright was.

I wrote "when he's in..."

I don't expect Alterique to start.

 

[intlzncster]

Right, no one takes their likely All American point guard, and moves them off the ball. It would be silly. Adams proved he's at his best with when he's facilitating.

You mean like they did with Kemba?

 

[Matrim55]

You mean like they did with Kemba?

Even in the NBA Kemba doesn't average 6.7 apg.

 

[intlzncster]

Even in the NBA Kemba doesn't average 6.7 apg.

Not sure I understand.

I was just countering the statement about "not taking an All American PG off the ball". It's exactly what they did with Kemba and Bazz....and we won a NC with that.

 

[Matrim55]

Not sure I understand.

I was just countering the statement about "not taking an All American PG off the ball". It's exactly what they did with Kemba and Bazz...and we won a NC with that.

My unstated implication: Adams is a superior playmaker to Kemba (college-aged Kemba), while Kemba's gift has always been his ability to score the ball. Adams is not as natural a scorer.

Moving Kemba off the ball made sense. Moving Adams off the ball for any extended period doesn't.

 

[tykurez]

My unstated implication: Adams is a superior playmaker to Kemba (college-aged Kemba), while Kemba's gift has always been his ability to score the ball. Adams is not as natural a scorer.

Moving Kemba off the ball made sense. Moving Adams off the ball for any extended period doesn't.

I definitely agree that it appears Adams best self is when he's facilitating. He played better last year when he was in control and it appeared the same earlier this year when Alterique was playing the primary PG.

But I still think he benefits from developing that part of his game next year. Alterique is a pure PG and the two of them should absolutely see the floor together.

 

[Matrim55]

But I still think he benefits from developing that part of his game next year.

Agree.

Alterique is a pure PG and the two of them should absolutely see the floor together.

Agree they should see the floor together, but to me Alterique is very much a drive-and-kick guard rather than a floor general. Think about the skip passes Jalen throws, or the ability to get a ball to a guy curling off a screen right in rhythm... didn't see much of that from Gilbert. Don't really see much of that from any high school PG, save for the very best – these things are learned over time.

I do expect Gilbert to improve quite a bit over his years here, and to become a floor general. But that's not what I saw from him back in November, nor in high school.

 

[upstater]

Not sure I understand.

I was just countering the statement about "not taking an All American PG off the ball". It's exactly what they did with Kemba and Bazz...and we won a NC with that.

Exactly, Kemba was running point for most of those games. Bazz came in for 15 minutes.

 

[upstater]

Well, it may be a good sign that people see Adams in so many different ways, most positive. I consider him a scorer primarily. Always impressed by his ability to find the hoop on a drive, kisses off the glass, midrange game, and now this year he has added an outside shooting game.

Put him up against sophomore year Kemba and I'd say the two were similar in terms of their scoring capability.
If anything, Kemba had a better handle which made him more capable of running point.

 

[Matrim55]

If anything, Kemba had a better handle which made him more capable of running point.

Kemba as a sophomore averaged 5.1 a/2.9 to with a 29% assist rate. Adams is 6.7/3.2 with a 42% assist rate.

 

[upstater]

Kemba as a sophomore averaged 5.1 a/2.9 to with a 29% assist rate. Adams is 6.7/3.2 with a 42% assist rate.

I was actually complimenting Adams as being just as highly capable a scorer as Kemba was Soph. year.

The comment about his handle compared to Kemba's was just a throw-in. However, it certainly gives Kemba an advantage in terms of being a point guard.

 

[UConnSwag11]

You mean like they did with Kemba?

the ball was in kembas hands for about 65%-70% of the time

 

[UConnSwag11]

My unstated implication: Adams is a superior playmaker to Kemba (college-aged Kemba), while Kemba's gift has always been his ability to score the ball. Adams is not as natural a scorer.

Moving Kemba off the ball made sense. Moving Adams off the ball for any extended period doesn't.

until he he can hit that jumper... I love his mid range game but his three ball needs work... but at this point the way he's playing (minus some turnovers) the ball needs to be in his hands

 

[UConnSwag11]

I love that he has confidence and you can see him chirping at players and fans... not saying I want him to get to the level of being obnoxious or come of as a jerk, but the past several teams have not had any toughness and have been the furthest thing from bullies. The last team we had like that was '09. Kemba and AO were a too and bazz, but as a team we havent had one since '09

 

[aceboon]

Well, it may be a good sign that people see Adams in so many different ways, most positive. I consider him a scorer primarily. Always impressed by his ability to find the hoop on a drive, kisses off the glass, midrange game, and now this year he has added an outside shooting game.

Put him up against sophomore year Kemba and I'd say the two were similar in terms of their scoring capability.
If anything, Kemba had a better handle which made him more capable of running point.

Handle helps but you also gotta have vision and Adams makes passes to set guys up that Kemba wasn't close to making at the same point in their college careers.

 

[upstater]

until he he can hit that jumper.. I love his mid range game but his three ball needs work.. but at this point the way he's playing (minus some turnovers) the ball needs to be in his hands

He is shooting 38% from 3 as a soph. That's pretty decent. Better than Kemba.

 

[champs99and04]

You want Adams touching the ball in the paint as much as possible. How we go about that will be dictated by a few things, most notably how defenses are guarding ball screens and whether our forwards are good enough to alleviate some of the pressure.

For instance, how is Larrier as a screener? If he's a good one, for his size, then you want him and Adams to pick and pop as much as possible. With the '11 team, we really only had three playmakers on the court at one time since neither Roscoe or Oriakhi could make plays in traffic, so it made sense to move Kemba off the ball to spots on the floor where it became harder for the defense to trap.

It seems like Durham and Jackson are both fairly skilled, so I'd imagine the pieces will fit together well.

One thing to consider about Vital's emergence: Gilbert better be able to shoot or he's going to have a tough time playing significant minutes. For a while there in '14, Boat was clogging the floor and making things more difficult than they had to be for Bazz. It'll be interesting to see how things play out.

 

[blackbird]

You mean like they did with Kemba?

Kemba wasn't playing off the ball. Shabazz was pg in name only. ( And, Adams is much more of a true PG than Kemba is.)

 

[upstater]

Kemba wasn't playing off the ball. Shabazz was pg in name only. ( And, Adams is much more of a true PG than Kemba is.)

I'm trying to figure out what you mean by this. Clearly, Kemba was off the ball when Shabazz was running the offense.

 

[blackbird]

Kemba had the ball in his hands a majority of the time. Seriously, he was the offense.

You just don't take your Jr. point guard..a real floor general..and move him off ball for a freshman, just because the freshman also likes to have the ball in his hands. It's stupid.