Jalen Adams | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Jalen Adams

upstater said:
They better have an answer at backup point guard next year, unless you envision Adams going 40 minutes at PG every game.
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Huge difference between having a freshman/inexperienced player as your backup point guard and having one that allows you to move your best player off ball. Not sure how these two thoughts are really comparable
 
blackbird said:
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.
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Alterique will be a great point guard and will without question play much more then 15 minutes a game in that role. Jalen is playing great but is more of a combo guard in my opinion. Time will tell but my gut tells me by the end of next year Alterique will be the primary point guard as I believe he is born for that role. Jalen get freed up to become a scorer first.
 
Rico444 said:
I liked most of your post, but this paragraph is completely unfair IMO. Adams is averaging 36 minutes per game, and he's literally the only point guard on the team. In the back-to-back Tulsa and Memphis games, he played every minute of those games, one of which went to overtime. The only other sophomore (that I can remember, anyway) that we relied on this heavily to lead the team and play a vast majority of minutes was Caron in 2002, and even he played off the ball. People can bring up Kemba, but what he did in 2011 was otherworldly, and while it would be great if Adams can pick up a team on his back next season like that, I'm sure as hell not expecting it, and he can still be an All-American without doing so.
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I completely agree with your post.

Due to injuries and the currently available personnel Adams needs to be on the court almost the entire game. Moreover, Adams has to run the offense and be in "attack mode" the whole time. That requires a ton of energy and very little opportunity to take a rest series.

To expect that kind of conditioning may be unrealistic but it is the reality for what UConn is asking Adams to do this year. It wasn't meant to be a criticism of Adams but simple an area that if he improves he can vastly help UConn and his game. I'm not sure I'd put Adam's conditioning on the same level as Kemba, Napier and Boatright at this point in his career (yes I recognize that is not an apple to apple comparison as Adams is being asked to do more).

Having something to work on is not a insult. The best players in the world have something they can improve. Improving conditioning is always a good place to start for an athlete.
 
Remember KO seeks "positionless basketball" in which players are capable of many roles and thus the offense is unpredictable. I think you'll see the first half of 2017-18 being devoted to developing players and then in Feb-Mar they will settle into roles.

So, I wouldn't be surprised if early next season Jalen is working on his shooting/scoring while they try to develop point guard skills in Alterique and MAL. Then, toward the end of the season when the games count, Jalen is the primary ballhandler / floor general / creator and Alterique, MAL, and Vital are "combo guards" who can take the point in transition, but in halfcourt follow Jalen's lead and take his passes. Three guard sets when not playing Larrier or Jackson at the 3.
 
PAHusky said:
Huge difference between having a freshman/inexperienced player as your backup point guard and having one that allows you to move your best player off ball. Not sure how these two thoughts are really comparable
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As I've said a dozen times, no one ever talked about moving Adams away from PG on this thread.

It is about doing what they did with Kemba in 2011.

EDIT: One person after your post said Alterique will eventually be the primary PG.
 
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upstater said:
As I've said a dozen times, no one ever talked about moving Adams away from PG on this thread.

It is about doing what they did with Kemba in 2011.

EDIT: One person after your post said Alterique will eventually be the primary PG.
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You're kidding, there are multiple posts on every page of this thread discussing moving him off the ball. Since UConn tends to (ideally) play a lineup with two ball handling guards, the discussion is about whether or not he should initiate the offense, not moving him full time to shooting guard. My last post was simply saying that worrying about whether we'll have the talent to spell Adams as primary facilitator next year for small stretches each game is a completely different conversation than whether or not our lineup ideally features him in a roll where he's not initiating the offense every time down the court
 
upstater said:
As I've said a dozen times, no one ever talked about moving Adams away from PG on this thread.

It is about doing what they did with Kemba in 2011.

EDIT: One person after your post said Alterique will eventually be the primary PG.
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What? How is, "Adams should play off ball" not moving Adams away from PG?

Giving Adams a break for 10/15 minutes a game and letting him play off ball for limited time/so he can rest..verses having him play off ball permanently are two different things. He should clearly be the point guard on this team, and he should clearly be the one with the ball in his hands most of the time.

My concern in moving him off ball any more than that is that he would become passive, as he was in the beginning of this year. Adams needs to come into next season knowing he's the alpha dog and leader, and the rest of the team needs to adjust to him.
 
blackbird said:
What? How is, "Adams should play off ball" not moving Adams away from PG?

Giving Adams a break for 10/15 minutes a game and letting him play off ball for limited time/so he can rest..verses having him play off ball permanently are two different things. He should clearly be the point guard on this team, and he should clearly be the one with the ball in his hands most of the time.

My concern in moving him off ball any more than that is that he would become passive, as he was in the beginning of this year. Adams needs to come into next season knowing he's the alpha dog and leader, and the rest of the team needs to adjust to him.
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Who are you quoting here? "Adams should play off the ball?"
 
PAHusky said:
You're kidding, there are multiple posts on every page of this thread discussing moving him off the ball. Since UConn tends to (ideally) play a lineup with two ball handling guards, the discussion is about whether or not he should initiate the offense, not moving him full time to shooting guard. My last post was simply saying that worrying about whether we'll have the talent to spell Adams as primary facilitator next year for small stretches each game is a completely different conversation than whether or not our lineup ideally features him in a roll where he's not initiating the offense every time down the court
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I've been looking for those posts--don't see them.
 
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upstater said:
I've been looking for those posts--don't see them.
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This was a waste of time, but I actually went back to look. YOU started the entire conversation on the first page with "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.". Ucon990411 replied, on the same page, "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." On page 2, Intlzncster and Matrim55 added cogent points to the argument, with Tykurez and blackbird chiming in with compelling thoughts throughout the thread. It's one thing to defend a position, but come on.
 
PAHusky said:
This was a waste of time, but I actually went back to look. YOU started the entire conversation on the first page with "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.". Ucon990411 replied, on the same page, "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." On page 2, Intlzncster and Matrim55 added cogent points to the argument, with Tykurez and blackbird chiming in with compelling thoughts throughout the thread. It's one thing to defend a position, but come on.
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Jalen will be the alpha no matter who has the ball. The defenses thrown at us will enable KO to make a game-to-game decision on where to put his best offensive backcourt weapon and how to utilize him the best, whether it's with the ball or coming off of screens. We are arguing over nothing but good here, if Alterique is healthy we have 2 PG's and a couple on the bench who can play there also, this is all a really good thing. Jalen won't always be the guy with the ball because he can score it in so many ways. So KO can use him with the ball because they are doubling him, to assure he gets the ball to the open people OR he can play him off the ball so he can use picks to get open because we need him to score the ball more from the wing. It will be Jalens mostly, but there will be times it won't be because its best for the offense.

Everyone's right here!:eek:
 
upstater said:
They better have an answer at backup point guard next year, unless you envision Adams going 40 minutes at PG every game.
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Gilbert is clearly the backup PG next year. You are absolutely right about that. The question, really, is who is the primary/starting SG? I look at the roster and see 4 guards, 3 of whom are PGs (Adams, Gilbert, MAL). So is Vital starting at the SG spot? I doubt it. That means some PG needs to play off the ball, and I think most people are suggesting that it should not be Adams. I agree with them.

We have enough depth next year that I don't think Adams needs to play off the ball to get a rest. Instead, I'd rather he gets an actual rest and we let two other guys play. Maybe we go 3 guards, but given that we have two pretty capable small forwards in Larrier and Vance who need minutes, I don't think that should be the case very often. Larrier will see some time at the 4 when we go small, but really we should have a pretty big lineup most of the time.
 
PAHusky said:
This was a waste of time, but I actually went back to look. YOU started the entire conversation on the first page with "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.". Ucon990411 replied, on the same page, "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." On page 2, Intlzncster and Matrim55 added cogent points to the argument, with Tykurez and blackbird chiming in with compelling thoughts throughout the thread. It's one thing to defend a position, but come on.
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This has already been answered. As I already wrote, the key line from me is, "WHEN HE IS IN." Not all the time for heaven's sake.
 
upstater said:
This has already been answered. As I already wrote, the key line from me is, "WHEN HE IS IN." Not all the time for heaven's sake.
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But I think most of us expect Gilbert to start and get major minutes. Who do you think will start at SG? I don't think Jalen can be off ball whenever Gilbert is in, because I think that will be more than half the game.
 
HuskyHawk said:
But I think most of us expect Gilbert to start and get major minutes. Who do you think will start at SG? I don't think Jalen can be off ball whenever Gilbert is in, because I think that will be more than half the game.
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I expect Vital to start next year.

My expectations look like this:

Enoch (25 mins)
Jackson (25)
Larrier (32)
Vital (25)
Adams (34)

Carlton (10), Diarra (3)
Durham (20), Polley (3)
Gilbert (18)
MAL (5)

(Sorry, I did this quick and thought it added up but no time to double check)

If this is close to what happens, then Gilbert is in for 6 minutes when Adams is sitting, and 12 minutes when he is not, and of those 12 minutes, then Adams plays off the ball for about 8 minutes a game of his 34 minutes. It could be though that Gilbert gets most of MAL's minutes too and bumps up to 22 a game.
 
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Excalibur said:
I seriously doubt Vital gets significantly more minutes than Gilbert . . .
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Then I'd guess you imagine Gilbert will be a more effective scorer off the ball than Vital? I can't see it.
 
mauconnfan said:
Jalen will be the alpha no matter who has the ball. The defenses thrown at us will enable KO to make a game-to-game decision on where to put his best offensive backcourt weapon and how to utilize him the best, whether it's with the ball or coming off of screens. We are arguing over nothing but good here, if Alterique is healthy we have 2 PG's and a couple on the bench who can play there also, this is all a really good thing. Jalen won't always be the guy with the ball because he can score it in so many ways. So KO can use him with the ball because they are doubling him, to assure he gets the ball to the open people OR he can play him off the ball so he can use picks to get open because we need him to score the ball more from the wing. It will be Jalens mostly, but there will be times it won't be because its best for the offense.

Everyone's right here!:eek:
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As well as in game decisions. No one is arguing that there is a better player on the team than Jalen. If we all know that than opposing teams will know that and more than likely defenses will be planned to stop him.

Which makes it likely that AG or some other guard will be required to step up and handle PG duties even while JA is in the game. But that's the beauty of next season that was missing from this season. AG, MAL and sophomore CV should be a better option to handle that task than either Rodney or Christian were able to do this season.

Let's put it this way. I want the players and the coaches to be as flexible as possible (up to a point) in running the offense to allow for the ability to counterpunch any defenses thrown at them next season.
 
upstater said:
Then I'd guess you imagine Gilbert will be a more effective scorer off the ball than Vital? I can't see it.
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Gilbert won't play all of his minutes off the ball. Let's say they try to hold Adams to 32 minutes per game. Those 8 minutes likely go to Gilbert. At least some of the time, Gilbert and Adams will be on the court together and Gilbert may spell Adams on the ball for some of that time, and will be off the ball for others. So Gilbert gets minutes due to his versatility. That still leaves rougly 25 minutes for Vital.
 
upstater said:
I expect Vital to start next year.

My expectations look like this:

Enoch (25 mins)
Jackson (25)
Larrier (32)
Vital (25)
Adams (34)

Carlton (10), Diarra (3)
Durham (20), Polley (3)
Gilbert (18)
MAL (5)

(Sorry, I did this quick and thought it added up but no time to double check)

If this is close to what happens, then Gilbert is in for 6 minutes when Adams is sitting, and 12 minutes when he is not, and of those 12 minutes, then Adams plays off the ball for about 8 minutes a game of his 34 minutes. It could be though that Gilbert gets most of MAL's minutes too and bumps up to 22 a game.
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I don't think it's that complicated. Jalen and Gilbert can operate similar to Bazz and Boat. Vital and MAL will be great for getting breathers and we can run 3 guard lineups from time to time. VJ and TL can be the 4s in these lineups. Then have stretches where they go big with two bigs on the floor. I can see the lineup going like:

JA
AG
VJ
TL
SE

JD
Vital
Diarra
MAL
Carlton
Polley
 
HuskyWarrior611 said:
I don't think it's that complicated. Jalen and Gilbert can operate similar to Bazz and Boat. Vital and MAL will be great for getting breathers and we can run 3 guard lineups from time to time. VJ and TL can be the 4s in these lineups. Then have stretches where they go big with two bigs on the floor. I can see the lineup going like:

JA
AG
VJ
TL
SE

JD
Vital
Diarra
MAL
Carlton
Polley
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Let's just say that Vital has made quite the impression on me.
 
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Excalibur said:
Gilbert won't play all of his minutes off the ball. Let's say they try to hold Adams to 32 minutes per game. Those 8 minutes likely go to Gilbert. At least some of the time, Gilbert and Adams will be on the court together and Gilbert may spell Adams on the ball for some of that time, and will be off the ball for others. So Gilbert gets minutes due to his versatility. That still leaves rougly 25 minutes for Vital.
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No it doesn't, because MAL is going to play. He may not play much, but probably 10-12 minutes. They may run some 3 guard sets now and then, but I said earlier why I think that will be limited. Vance and Larrier need minutes and neither are well suited to be PF.

Vital may have impressed upstater, but Vance has impressed me. I can't see Vital starting. I can see him at the 3 if we go small, as Rodney has played the last two years. He's a good rebounder. I see him as the backup SG to Gilbert. But I'll agree that Ollie will play the guys that are playing best.
 
Excalibur said:
I seriously doubt Vital gets significantly more minutes than Gilbert . . .
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If Gilbert is healthy, I'm guessing he'll be the more impact player.

But Vital's development is one of the bright spots of this season. I wouldn't mind seeing him start at SG next year to allow Gilbert to ease back into things.
 
IMO there's a reason why MAL is as rated as high as he is: because he's a fantastic basketball player. He's right about the same spot as where Adams and 'Rique were. I believe MAL is more noted for his defense than either, but I may be wrong.

I would surprised if he doesn't get more minutes than predicted here. He didn't sign up with UCONN to play 5 minutes a game. With the solid rotation, someone's going to be relegated somewhat, especially in crunch time, but still.

I'd love to see some 3 guard lineups with Durham (if he develops as much as I hope) at the 5 and Larrier at the 4.
 
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UConn990411 said:
If Gilbert is healthy, I'm guessing he'll be the more impact player.

But Vital's development is one of the bright spots of this season. I wouldn't mind seeing him start at SG next year to allow Gilbert to ease back into things.
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The funny thing is no one knows a couple of key variables for next season. Will Gilbert recover to his pre injury ability and how long will it take? Can he develop to a point where he is the better PG next season than Jalen? Wouldn't this be a positive thing if that were to happen?

What will a freshman MAL bring? Can CV develop and be better than Gilbert or MAL?

Does anyone really know?

Look at this season and the yo yo commentary about the players during the season. The commentary went as far as the extreme of making them ride the bench to they are going to have great NBA careers. We had players we loved for several games and then a new player stepped in while the player we loved was relegated to an after thought.
 
upstater said:
I expect Vital to start next year.

My expectations look like this:

Enoch (25 mins)
Jackson (25)
Larrier (32)
Vital (25)
Adams (34)

Carlton (10), Diarra (3)
Durham (20), Polley (3)
Gilbert (18)
MAL (5)

(Sorry, I did this quick and thought it added up but no time to double check)

If this is close to what happens, then Gilbert is in for 6 minutes when Adams is sitting, and 12 minutes when he is not, and of those 12 minutes, then Adams plays off the ball for about 8 minutes a game of his 34 minutes. It could be though that Gilbert gets most of MAL's minutes too and bumps up to 22 a game.
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If we can just get them up over 200 minutes per game, watch out.
 
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