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

[HailUConn]

Here is something that may shock you:

In the first 2 games, DD has not even attempted a single free throw. I think it's a pretty good barometer of his aggressiveness on the offense.

Kentan Facey had created one shooting foul and resulted in 2 points in 5 minutes or so, just saying.

Just to clear the air, nobody here is throwing salts over the wounds on DD. It's quite the opposite. People who have high expectation on him were stupefied by his mysterious disappearing acts. For his own good, He needs to do what's expected of him, on a consistent basis.

 

[UConn3432]

It's a perfect storm. A lot of people were adamant on this board that DD will be a lottery pick this year. Others think he is a fringe first rounder. They argued it out for hours over the summer. Now the guys that backed him feel betrayed and the guys who didn't want to make sure they get credit for being right. Poor DD is stuck in the middle.

To his credit, if he was playing for his draft status he would be taking bad shots and forcing the issue. From what I've seen, he's missed a lot of good looks and hasn't been too out of control. He hasn't pouted and I don't have concerns with his body language. Watching Niels have the success he is having should motivate DD to step it up. He'll figure it out, but anyone giving him advice should encourage him to set his target on the 2015 lottery. It'll relax him and it's a sound business decision considering the freakish amount of talent and depth in the 2014 draft.

 

[prankster]

You would reasonably think that DD could find enough motivation based upon the negative feedback he otherwise gets from this forum, alone....

 

[uconnfan68]

You would reasonably think that DD could find enough motivation based upon the negative feedback he otherwise gets from this forum, alone....

Had to log in just to "like" this, but it was worth it.

 

[Gurleyman]

Here is something that may shock you:

In the first 2 games, DD has not even attempted a single free throw. I think it's a pretty good barometer of his aggressiveness on the offense.

Kentan Facey had created one shooting foul and resulted in 2 points in 5 minutes or so, just saying.

Just to clear the air, nobody here is throwing salts over the wounds on DD. It's quite the opposite. People who have high expectation on him were stupefied by his mysterious disappearing acts. For his own good, He needs to do what's expected of him, on a consistent basis.

So let's get this straight - you were on him for being mentally soft because he passed up open perimeter jumpers against Maryland in order to attack the basket, and now you are pointing at foul shots as proof he isn't aggressive. It's like you don't even remember your own arguments.

And Facey got a gift, frankly - he forced up a fadeaway that wasn't there the first time he touched it. A bit of a bailout call.

 

[mcs333]

However he makes a good point. How can your lottery pick and one of the top two players not have a single ft in the first two games. He needs to attack the rim! Ken. Fr. Randle has shot 40+ free throws in his first three games. I believe DD will work his way out of this funk, but right now the first round doubters are look to be winning.

 

[Gurleyman]

However he makes a good point. How can your lottery pick and one of the top two players not have a single ft in the first two games. He needs to attack the rim! Ken. Fr. Randle has shot 40+ free throws in his first three games. I believe DD will work his way out of this funk, but right now the first round doubters are look to be winning.

That's a fair point against Yale - he took 5 shots that were all from the perimeter. And he had zero impact on the game. But an 18-minute sample size in a game that we had under control the whole way. He couldn't really get on the offensive glass because the rest of the team only missed 15 shots the entire night (we missed 20 as a team, and DD was 0-5) and math would say he was maybe on the floor for - what - seven of them?

Against Maryland, he was attacking the rim - that was the whole point of people complaining about his performance (that he didn't take the open looks). He went to two post moves that he missed (he was 4-6 on twos) and I frankly thought he was fouled on both of them. The Maryland defender (probably Smotrycz) low-bridged him with body contact to knock his rhythm off - just subtle enough to get away with it. On his dunk he blew by two defenders who opted not to foul him. Maybe twice, Maryland gambled on reach ins and knocked the ball from him in the paint as well.

Randle gets the ball in the low post a lot - he's tough to guard down there with his size and strength and he's going to draw a lot of fouls from folks who have no other way to stop him. Daniels isn't that type of player - he's a three playing the four. He can get to the line, sure, but he isn't going to shoot 40 of them in three games.

This whole concept that there's anybody here "winning" when someone struggles is what sometimes drives me nuts. You get guys who post that someone is a liability/not good enough (or worse), and then they can't wait to harp on it to say "told you so". We're two games in, and we've got a lot of weapons so we aren't going to force feed a cold hand with a lot of touches to get them going because we need them to score (the way we would with Kemba, Ben, Rip, Ray, etc.). Right now, DD is underperforming (badly so against Yale), but like a good hitter in a funk, he'll come around. And he'll probably have other bad days later in the season, too, but that's just the nature of being on a loaded team.

 

[ctchamps]

That's a fair point against Yale - he took 5 shots that were all from the perimeter. And he had zero impact on the game. But an 18-minute sample size in a game that we had under control the whole way. He couldn't really get on the offensive glass because the rest of the team only missed 15 shots the entire night (we missed 20 as a team, and DD was 0-5) and math would say he was maybe on the floor for - what - seven of them?

Against Maryland, he was attacking the rim - that was the whole point of people complaining about his performance (that he didn't take the open looks). He went to two post moves that he missed (he was 4-6 on twos) and I frankly thought he was fouled on both of them. The Maryland defender (probably Smotrycz) low-bridged him with body contact to knock his rhythm off - just subtle enough to get away with it. On his dunk he blew by two defenders who opted not to foul him. Maybe twice, Maryland gambled on reach ins and knocked the ball from him in the paint as well.

Randle gets the ball in the low post a lot - he's tough to guard down there with his size and strength and he's going to draw a lot of fouls from folks who have no other way to stop him. Daniels isn't that type of player - he's a three playing the four. He can get to the line, sure, but he isn't going to shoot 40 of them in three games.

This whole concept that there's anybody here "winning" when someone struggles is what sometimes drives me nuts. You get guys who post that someone is a liability/not good enough (or worse), and then they can't wait to harp on it to say "told you so". We're two games in, and we've got a lot of weapons so we aren't going to force feed a cold hand with a lot of touches to get them going because we need them to score (the way we would with Kemba, Ben, Rip, Ray, etc.). Right now, DD is underperforming (badly so against Yale), but like a good hitter in a funk, he'll come around. And he'll probably have other bad days later in the season, too, but that's just the nature of being on a loaded team.

Great points. He's a finesse player going to the basket because he's often going against guys stronger than him. I'm with you about his game on offense. In the Maryland game he had a balanced game with his shots. If he makes a three he would have had a very good game.

In the Yale game, the team was getting scoring from NG and OC. There are only so many shots. You play the hot hand. There will be games when DD is the go to guy because of match ups and he gets hot. I prefer a team that has multiple options because, outside of one or two exceptional players, players have off days. The more options available the less like an off day by one or two players will prevent a team from scoring.

So like you I hate scripting games and players. DD's only flaw imo was his defense in the Yale game. I agree with you that his defense was very good in the Maryland game and Smotrycz brought DD to the perimeter on defense. But the Yale game DD was getting out hustled and out played on the defensive end. That is my only criticism of his play in the two games.

 

[Rico444]

I said this in the chat...part of the problem here is that we're setting DD up offensively to fail. When he had his great games last year, a majority of his offense came from the low post. His quickness against traditional 4s is what makes him such a threat. That being said, how many times this year have we run a set play designed to get DeAndre the ball down low? I honestly can't recall one. Run that play to start the game, which we did a few times last year, and he's on his way to getting into a rhythm and having one of those big games we know he can have.

 

[FeedTheDove]

I said this in the chat...part of the problem here is that we're setting DD up offensively to fail. When he had his great games last year, a majority of his offense came from the low post. His quickness against traditional 4s is what makes him such a threat. That being said, how many times this year have we run a set play designed to get DeAndre the ball down low? I honestly can't recall one. Run that play to start the game, which we did a few times last year, and he's on his way to getting into a rhythm and having one of those big games we know he can have.

Yep. Someone said in chat (i think it was jleves) that DeAndre needs to work from inside out. In both games he has taken (and missed) early perimeter jumpers that sort of 'set the tone' for his play the rest of the game.

He needs to establish himself down low first and get comfortable scoring the ball. Then he can bring the outside jumper into his game.

 

[Marty Jackson]

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".

freudslipcon or freudslipcon...
definitely seeing the same tendencies as Sticks.

 

[huskyharry]

Sam Decker (sp?) the 4 from Wisconsin, has a lot of the same talents and size as DD, He was crucial in their win last night against Florida. DD can play like that and we need him to against Florida

 

[HailUConn]

So let's get this straight - you were on him for being mentally soft because he passed up open perimeter jumpers against Maryland in order to attack the basket, and now you are pointing at foul shots as proof he isn't aggressive. It's like you don't even remember your own arguments.

And Facey got a gift, frankly - he forced up a fadeaway that wasn't there the first time he touched it. A bit of a bailout call.

And quite frankly i think he is a bit softie mentally or lack of confidence. Or to be more brutal, he does not have "it". I agree with you that the sample size is too small to judge but we will see, won't we?

Again, this is solely my opinion. You are entitled to yours. That's the end of this conversation.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I've been a huge DD fan since his freshman year.
I saw something special in him
AZHuskie has been ragging me pretty good about DD failures.
You would think he would've learned by now,not to doubt dad.

I'm going to write off his early season woes. Could be sick, injured or have girlfriend problems
When we really need him he will be there.
DD forget the J for now bang the boards like your life depended on it. You can get double doubles without the J.
Your rebounding is your ticket.

 

[jdb50]

We really don't need DD from the 3 point line but for this team to maximize it's potential we do need him from 15 feet and in. Up fake, drive the ball, go to the line.

 

[HailUConn]

I said this in the chat...part of the problem here is that we're setting DD up offensively to fail. When he had his great games last year, a majority of his offense came from the low post. His quickness against traditional 4s is what makes him such a threat. That being said, how many times this year have we run a set play designed to get DeAndre the ball down low? I honestly can't recall one. Run that play to start the game, which we did a few times last year, and he's on his way to getting into a rhythm and having one of those big games we know he can have.

I think this team is going out of the way to get his going offensively against a weak Detroit team, how did he do tonight?

Wait, never mind, only 3 games, let's wait till December.