KO is trying to pep up DD, also hinting some more changes to come

[HailUConn]

KO's strategy for him cannot be more obvious. If you don't score, find other ways to impact the game. You're 6-9 tall and you have energy. What's more interesting is his last sentence. I think he is trying to deliver a message to DD and the team.

"He has just got to play," coach Kevin Ollie said, after Daniels went scoreless, with one rebound, in 18 minutes vs. Yale on Monday. "He can't worry about scoring. Use your length, use your energy. He's got to change into a different person when he's out on the court and hopefully he does that. We can't wait for anybody on this team."


Again, Grab fricking rebounds if your shots are not falling. Hustle.

"You want [Daniels] to keep his head up," Ollie said, "but at the end of the day, you can't baby him. 'DeAndre, if you're not scoring, you can do other things. You can have a positive impact on the game. You had one rebound in 18 minutes.'"


Here is the article link:

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn...onn-men-notebook-1112-20131111,0,569910.story

 

[aceboon]

reminds me of the message JC was trying to send to Stanley during his senior year when he was struggling, just go get the ball off the backboard. I understand not shooting well but there's no reason why he should only have 3 rebounds in about 50 minutes of playing time.

 

[huskyharry]

DD has to stay fully engaged in the game. If his shot is not falling, he has to be a rebounding, legal screen-setting, consistently perfect defense-positioning machine!
It is difficult to block your man out well and then pursue the rebound, but he has the quickness to get it done. We know you can do it DD, step it up!

 

[UChusky916]

We've got depth this year, he's somewhat expendable if he's not playing well. We have other guys that can step in and contribute. But this team won't reach it's full potential unless DeAndre does.

 

[ctchamps]

If only we could fix ourselves the way we know how to fix other people!

 

[GlastonTim]

I'd take advice from players but sadly, they don't know me

 

[HailUConn]

Borrowed a line from TV ad:

Stay thirsty, DD!

 

[uchusky32]

"We can't wait for anybody on this team.".

Translation: if you don't start hustling grabbing some boards, playing with energy. There's a guy who is, Giff, and he deserves more minutes.

 

[HuskyFich]

he has completely gone away from his post game. Last year he thrived down the stretch posting on the baseline and using a quick spin to get by or the signature "Dirk" step back jumper. It will come, just needs to stay aggressive. We believe DD!

 

[ctchamps]

I'd take advice from players but sadly, they don't know me

You are already ahead of the game making this statement.

Regarding DD: aceboon in post two has hit the nail on the head. DD has some of the personality flaws that SR had. That doesn't make either kid bad. It just means that they grew up or have the genetic personality that makes them timid or they feel like failures when they make mistakes and therefore pull back. Any good coach, and hopefully KO will be good at coaching kids like Stanley and DeAndre, recognizes that there is a need to work with a players personality as much as working on developing skills.

I cringe when I see fans want to punish players because a player fails to deliver the thing a fan needs most, the vicarious high that they can't generate for themselves. And I cringe the most when that fan absolutely has no clue about the way people think, feel and act and insists that others (players, coaches, other fans, other people) bend behavior to their myopic view of how the world should work.

It is a fine line to get the maximum out of a player like DD. He has the skill sets. We've seen that. I doubt it is motivation because DD is a gym rat. Most likely he is one of those individuals who mentally can't deal with his personally "flaw". When things go wrong he gets down on himself which, as everyone observes, manifests in him spiraling negatively downhill.

A lot of kids like SR and DD want strong and demanding coaches because they incorrectly believe that they need someone other than themselves to "will" them out of this mindset. This approach to dealing with timidity or fear of failure, has limited success. Certainly coaches are not psychologists, and they have other goals and players to deal with besides DD. But they have to be careful in how they handle him if they want him to change. Rule of thumb is if someone is overly self critical, it can be dangerous to criticize them or punish them for failure. Now if DD had two flaws, lack of motivation and excessive self criticism then the coaches hands are tied. But DD doesn't. So the key for DD is to figure out a way to encourage himself not to worry about his mistakes, to go in the game and have fun playing basketball as opposed to worrying about what he is doing "wrong".

 

[Gurleyman]

It's also good for the Boneyard to make it through the first Holiday weekend of a new season before going all Chicken Little on our guys who are off to a slow start.

For the "do something out there" folks, Daniels shut down Maryland's hot shooter (Smotrycz) who was on fire with Giffey on him (he made only one bucket with Daniels on him the whole night). So he contributed to that win in other ways. Focusing on staying at home on a hot perimeter shooter can sometimes take you away from the basket for rebounds too.

No excuses for his line against Yale, other than low minutes due to a couple fouls and Giffey's hot hand. But we won by 20, so it isn't like he contributed to some sort of debacle. He just had a personal furlough day. DD needs to shake it off and move on and so do we.

 

[aceboon]

he has completely gone away from his post game. Last year he thrived down the stretch posting on the baseline and using a quick spin to get by or the signature "Dirk" step back jumper. It will come, just needs to stay aggressive. We believe DD!

Yea, he had a great move on the baseline against Smotrycz for 2 on a lil step back, flip shot in the MD game, that's what he needs to focus on right now. Other than that nice up fake baseline move he hasn't looked comfortable off the dribble and his 3 shot isn't falling at all, he needs to focus on operating 10-15ft and in until he gets his confidence back. Then he can worry about trying to play the 2 man, pick and pop game that Bazz has working with Giffey so well.

 

[ctchamps]

It's also good for the Boneyard to make it through the first Holiday weekend of a new season before going all Chicken Little on our guys who are off to a slow start.

For the "do something out there" folks, Daniels shut down Maryland's hot shooter (Smotrycz) who was on fire with Giffey on him (he made only one bucket with Daniels on him the whole night). So he contributed to that win in other ways. Focusing on staying at home on a hot perimeter shooter can sometimes take you away from the basket for rebounds too.

No excuses for his line against Yale, other than low minutes due to a couple fouls and Giffey's hot hand. But we won by 20, so it isn't like he contributed to some sort of debacle. He just had a personal furlough day. DD needs to shake it off and move on and so do we.

I guess I fit into my own category! I nickeled and dimed this subject matter!

 

[Kitaman]

Rebounding and defense are two things that don't require waiting for a player to turn things around offensively.

 

[HailUConn]

Except that NO boss likes his employees to take the furlough day liberally (except US government and the state of California)

 

[ctchamps]

Except that NO boss likes his employees to take the furlough day liberally (except US government and the state of California)

Far too simplified and inaccurate.

 

[CL82]

he has completely gone away from his post game. Last year he thrived down the stretch posting on the baseline and using a quick spin to get by or the signature "Dirk" step back jumper. It will come, just needs to stay aggressive. We believe DD!

Too much pressure to be the guy from the final couple of games last season. He just needs to do the little things and let the game come to him. Agree, it will come.

 

[Chief00]

I don't agree SR and DD had similar personalities

 

[willie99]

------- is the most overrated player I ever coached. He doesn't like his minutes now, just wait until he starts playing less. He thinks he's playing professionally in the NBA, he won't be playing professional in Timbuktu

maybe the best rant ever




PS: paraphrasing, don't remember the exact quote

 

[sdhusky]

Rebounding and defense are two things that don't require waiting for a player to turn things around offensively.

Rock fight. Don't need to have shots falling to start a rock fight.

 

[UCweCONN]

Borrowed a line from TV ad:

Stay thirsty, DD!

"I don't always go scoreless in games, but when I do, I get tons of advise on The Boneyard."

 

[DogMania]

That's a great message for DD and any of his players to that matter.

I remember hearing Caron say that when his shot was not falling, he'd try to do other things to help his team, and that's exactly what he did. I still remember games where his J was not falling, so he'd attack the basket, work his butt off to get garbage offensive rebounds and put-backs, he'd hit both boards and pull down as many rebounds he could.

Another thing I'll never forget. I was at one of the open scrimmages that the coaches were allowed to observe something like once a week. Stanley Robinson was sitting under the basket quite discouraged watching the action after not shooting the ball well at all that afternoon. George was sitting next to Stanley telling him that when his shot is not falling he has to find other ways to help his team win.

When I watched Monday's game, I remember seeing DD get beat badly off the boards, not showing much effort, and was thinking that someone needed to light a fire under him and make him accountable for his less than stellar effort. All players have bad shooting nights, but when that happens every player, including the stars, need to up their effort and do other things to help their team win. Let's see if DD listens and learns. Of course, I'd like to see him come out next game firing on all cylinders, knocking down shots like he did at the end of last season and get his confidence back. But there's something about a player learning this lesson and have a box that shows something like, 2-pts, 5 asts, and 10 rbs.

 

[microfich]

Welcome to Boneyard Psychiatric Associates, where we fully psychoanalyze players based upon what's most important:
Game 2?

 

[HailUConn]

Far too simplified and inaccurate.

Sorry for my summary falling short of your expectation. I am a simple man. But i liked KO's messages to the team: "Play hard or stay in the bench. This team waits for nobody."

 

[HailUConn]

You are already ahead of the game making this statement.

Regarding DD: aceboon in post two has hit the nail on the head. DD has some of the personality flaws that SR had. That doesn't make either kid bad. It just means that they grew up or have the genetic personality that makes them timid or they feel like failures when they make mistakes and therefore pull back. Any good coach, and hopefully KO will be good at coaching kids like Stanley and DeAndre, recognizes that there is a need to work with a players personality as much as working on developing skills.

I cringe when I see fans want to punish players because a player fails to deliver the thing a fan needs most, the vicarious high that they can't generate for themselves. And I cringe the most when that fan absolutely has no clue about the way people think, feel and act and insists that others (players, coaches, other fans, other people) bend behavior to their myopic view of how the world should work.

It is a fine line to get the maximum out of a player like DD. He has the skill sets. We've seen that. I doubt it is motivation because DD is a gym rat. Most likely he is one of those individuals who mentally can't deal with his personally "flaw". When things go wrong he gets down on himself which, as everyone observes, manifests in him spiraling negatively downhill.

A lot of kids like SR and DD want strong and demanding coaches because they incorrectly believe that they need someone other than themselves to "will" them out of this mindset. This approach to dealing with timidity or fear of failure, has limited success. Certainly coaches are not psychologists, and they have other goals and players to deal with besides DD. But they have to be careful in how they handle him if they want him to change. Rule of thumb is if someone is overly self critical, it can be dangerous to criticize them or punish them for failure. Now if DD had two flaws, lack of motivation and excessive self criticism then the coaches hands are tied. But DD doesn't. So the key for DD is to figure out a way to encourage himself not to worry about his mistakes, to go in the game and have fun playing basketball as opposed to worrying about what he is doing "wrong".

Let's say your are right, and I think you are.

Where the heck is SR now? What's in the cards about DD?