This is a team of promise, maybe we want the future to arrive now, so we get frustrated by what we see. It will come. Our biggest problem is we simply don't have shooters. Period! Don't think that Bouknight is the shooter either (he hits 45% from the field and 34% from 3 for his career). He is also nearly 100% unlikely to be here next year. I worry about Akok. Is he Ater Majok? He has by all indications a high ceiling, but sometimes guys with high ceilings never get out of the basement. We don't have that answer yet. I noticed after Gaffney dropped 20 he was suddenly the guy. He may be that guy, but one game says a lot less than the 50 or so that preceded it. Polley is a coach killer. The reason being is that romance with him coming in and getting hot and providing instant offense. Here is the problem with that. He is a 6'9" kid that averages 2 rebounds and a grand total of 5 assists on the season....but the romance he provides that this might be the game he gets hot, I have to play him 20 minutes a game (his average). The problem with that is 4 out of 5 games or 3 out of 4 games, take your pick, he kills you. He kills you because he can't make shots, and does nothing else, so you have 4 contributing players on the court for 20 minutes and one doing absolutely next to nothing. He is the worst type of player to have on a roster. He will be your feast 1 game, and your demise the next 3 or 4. But you have to play him, just in case. No you don't, the statistics say no!
Cole is not a good offensive player. He is what I call a high volume shooter, not a scorer. His offensive efficiency is horrible. 36%/34%. The problem is where do you turn? Gaffney looks more steady as a point guard, but his numbers are terrible. Adams for some reason appears to have regressed, he shoots 30%, that just doesn't earn minutes.
The guys that should be taking the shots, simply aren't getting the ball enough, because as several pointed out here, our offense is so predictable, and ends typically with a high ball screen and roll and a bad shot as the shot clock expires. Martin is a very efficient scorer, he shoots 46.4% from 3, which is variance, but he is our best 3 option and he needs to take more. Sanogo averages 5 shots per game, and 1 of those is typically a put-back. This kid needs set plays sliding back and forth with picks across the lane. Yes, he short arms some shots, but he hits 52.4%. Is that an option that we should ignore? Even if doing so, and his FG percentage dropped to 45%, name one player on the roaster that shoots that? Oh yeah, Martin, the other guy that should be taking many more shots. If you have 4 players in your rotation shooting in the 30s, why are they taking so many shots? We are trying ball screens to get 35% shooters looks. So we go into long painful scoring droughts. We have athletic players, why don't we play fast off a made hoop? Why don't we try leaking out off of a miss? Why don't we attack a press? We have a quick athletic team, but we don't do things to use that.
We are young and at this point, we are missing complete players. We have players that can do some things well, a lot of them, but that is not enough. I'm expecting in 2 years, a lot of these players will be doing more things well. It won't matter if 1 of those things we do well is not shooting well. I don't care how well we do everything else if we can't shoot, the NCAA Tournament won't last long.
Cole is not a good offensive player. He is what I call a high volume shooter, not a scorer. His offensive efficiency is horrible. 36%/34%. The problem is where do you turn? Gaffney looks more steady as a point guard, but his numbers are terrible. Adams for some reason appears to have regressed, he shoots 30%, that just doesn't earn minutes.
The guys that should be taking the shots, simply aren't getting the ball enough, because as several pointed out here, our offense is so predictable, and ends typically with a high ball screen and roll and a bad shot as the shot clock expires. Martin is a very efficient scorer, he shoots 46.4% from 3, which is variance, but he is our best 3 option and he needs to take more. Sanogo averages 5 shots per game, and 1 of those is typically a put-back. This kid needs set plays sliding back and forth with picks across the lane. Yes, he short arms some shots, but he hits 52.4%. Is that an option that we should ignore? Even if doing so, and his FG percentage dropped to 45%, name one player on the roaster that shoots that? Oh yeah, Martin, the other guy that should be taking many more shots. If you have 4 players in your rotation shooting in the 30s, why are they taking so many shots? We are trying ball screens to get 35% shooters looks. So we go into long painful scoring droughts. We have athletic players, why don't we play fast off a made hoop? Why don't we try leaking out off of a miss? Why don't we attack a press? We have a quick athletic team, but we don't do things to use that.
We are young and at this point, we are missing complete players. We have players that can do some things well, a lot of them, but that is not enough. I'm expecting in 2 years, a lot of these players will be doing more things well. It won't matter if 1 of those things we do well is not shooting well. I don't care how well we do everything else if we can't shoot, the NCAA Tournament won't last long.
