Napier now the catalyst

[Clockshop]

Great read by Duffy

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/uconn/article/Napier-now-the-catalyst-4101179.php

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Great read by Duffy

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/uconn/article/Napier-now-the-catalyst-4101179.php

Great read by Duffy

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/uconn/article/Napier-now-the-catalyst-4101179.php

Duffy just "gets it" in my opinion. His work is a pleasure to read. Thanks to Duffy again for a great read.

 

[8893]

Thanks for posting. Very good insight.

 

[CTBasketball]

"Five minutes," Napier said. "It takes me five minutes to realize when I see that somebody else is scoring, and when I see that it's better for me not to score."


Love it.

 

[Kitaman]

I don't think we have ever had a point guard to make this statement, and we've had some excellent ones. This is not something an NBA early entry would say, especially a junior. Next year he may make one forget about KEA, and anoint him our best. He should make one of the AA teams next year. He may not be an NBAer but collegiate level he's at the top, as far as I'm concerned. No fear, No fuss and flat out star potential.
An unselfish point guard makes me excited about the next 2 years.

Shabazz Napier on his night: (linky)
“I love passing the ball and getting rebounds and assists. I don’t really care too much about scoring as long as my team wins that’s all that I care about. I am happy when I see a guy get a steal – I like to see somebody else happy. That motivates me to keep it going because when I see my teammates happy I know we’re doing something well collectively.”

 

[ctchamps]

Interesting article. I'll gravitate to a point that I wondered about last season.

It had to be tough on SN last year. The kid takes bb seriously. He's a JC clone even to the detriment of speaking his mind to the press. This article clarifies last year's leadership issues.

If it's accurate, SN wanted the players to push themselves and AO wasn't as motivated. And AO won the backing of the players. Who knows what would have happened if AD didn't come to UConn, but my feeling is that AO saw the hand writing on the wall. He couldn't compete with AD so he submarined the team. I don't think it was conscious. He diverts attention away from his bb weaknesses by helping to sabotage the entire team. It's classical.


For me the following quote says it all: After a brutally frustrating 20-14 campaign, that's what Napier claims he did. The two de facto leaders of that defective group were Napier and Alex Oriakhi, a "goofball," a guy that was "just so funny."
"No one wants to see the guy that's mad," Napier said, referring to himself. "Everyone wants to hang with the guy who's funny. I don't think they understood how serious this was."

 

[jleves]

Interesting article. I'll gravitate to a point that I wondered about last season.

It had to be tough on SN last year. The kid takes bb seriously. He's a JC clone even to the detriment of speaking his mind to the press. This article clarifies last year's leadership issues.

If it's accurate, SN wanted the players to push themselves and AO wasn't as motivated. And AO won the backing of the players. Who knows what would have happened if AD didn't come to UConn, but my feeling is that AO saw the hand writing on the wall. He couldn't compete with AD so he submarined the team. I don't think it was conscious. He diverts attention away from his bb weaknesses by helping to sabotage the entire team. It's classical.


For me the following quote says it all: After a brutally frustrating 20-14 campaign, that's what Napier claims he did. The two de facto leaders of that defective group were Napier and Alex Oriakhi, a "goofball," a guy that was "just so funny."
"No one wants to see the guy that's mad," Napier said, referring to himself. "Everyone wants to hang with the guy who's funny. I don't think they understood how serious this was."

That's a really interesting quote. Leaders have to have people skills beyond just getting angry at under performance. Kemba was great at having people skills and making them work harder. If Napier learns that skill, 'his' teams will be much better for it.

 

[ctchamps]

That's a really interesting quote. Leaders have to have people skills beyond just getting angry at under performance. Kemba was great at having people skills and making them work harder. If Napier learns that skill, 'his' teams will be much better for it.

We all presumed the problem was SN not having people skills. And maybe he didn't. But it's a two way street. If one captain is trying to get his team mates to focus and the other captain is for having a good time and slacking off, the good guy will win every time. I don't think Kemba was undermined with a co captain that had a different agenda.

I always felt SN became frustration with his team mates had merit. His public comments of course exacerbated the problem. I guess he admired his coach too much. But the problem was probably there long before SN spoke publicly about it. We'll see what happens this season if the team starts losing and SN goes public with his frustrations. It's a different group of kids.

 

[joober jones]

We all presumed the problem was SN not having people skills. And maybe he didn't. But it's a two way street. If one captain is trying to get his team mates to focus and the other captain is for having a good time and slacking off, the good guy will win every time. I don't think Kemba was undermined with a co captain that had a different agenda.

I always felt SN became frustration with his team mates had merit. His public comments of course exacerbated the problem. I guess he admired his coach too much. But the problem was probably there long before SN spoke publicly about it. We'll see what happens this season if the team starts losing and SN goes public with his frustrations. It's a different group of kids.

Simply stated, Kemba had the best co-captain in program history. We don 't win the NC in 2011 without Beverly, and I'm not referring to his on-the-court contributions.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Not the least bit surprising that any group of 18-22 yr old kids have trouble coping with two opposing personalities within their peer group and that it led to below expected outcomes.

 

[ctchamps]

Not the least bit surprising that any group of 18-22 yr old kids have trouble coping with two opposing personalities within their peer group and that it led to below expected outcomes.

Correct. I'm not p*ssing on any of the players. The assumption in the forum was that SN had trouble getting along with other players. I think it was more he was upset with other players work ethic vs. personality differences.

 

[jleves]

We all presumed the problem was SN not having people skills. And maybe he didn't. But it's a two way street. If one captain is trying to get his team mates to focus and the other captain is for having a good time and slacking off, the good guy will win every time. I don't think Kemba was undermined with a co captain that had a different agenda.

I always felt SN became frustration with his team mates had merit. His public comments of course exacerbated the problem. I guess he admired his coach too much. But the problem was probably there long before SN spoke publicly about it. We'll see what happens this season if the team starts losing and SN goes public with his frustrations. It's a different group of kids.

Kemba still had AO on the team and found a way to make him productive. Napier didn't. I don't dislike Napier one bit - I think he is a special player. But he has to look like he's having fun when things are going well. You see shots of Kemba all the time smiling and having a good time playing when things went well. Napier needs to learn that skill. It's got to fun and upbeat at some point. Napier hasn't smiled since the national championship trophy. He needs to have fun while motivating people.

 

[ctchamps]

Kemba still had AO on the team and found a way to make him productive. Napier didn't. I don't dislike Napier one bit - I think he is a special player. But he has to look like he's having fun when things are going well. You see shots of Kemba all the time smiling and having a good time playing when things went well. Napier needs to learn that skill. It's got to fun and upbeat at some point. Napier hasn't smiled since the national championship trophy. He needs to have fun while motivating people.

I won't argue that various personalities are beneficial for certain positions. SN will never be a salesman imo. And I will never argue that SN had a role in last season's problems. And people called him out for it. But no one was aware that AO would just lead guys in a different direction from SN. If that direction was having a good time and not working on things it was a problem for the team whether SN was on the team or not. But SN was on the team and was co captain. It's frustrating when the partnership doesn't have a uniform policy. It's doubly frustrating when one guy puts in 100% and the other guy falls short of effort.