No Point Guard

[WhereistheDove?]

No one wants to see UConn be a successful winning program more than me.
No one wants to see Jackson and Newton be the best point guards in the country more than me. They have the potential to be just that good.
Hawkins could have improved his handle over the summer with CP3 Camp and all.
Diara could have done the same thing if he has the attitude like his brother.
The fun of this for all of us is we don't know and we will soon be finding out and I'm getting edgey.

Didn’t take that many posts to get from “we don’t have a point guard” to Newton and Jackson have the potential to be “the best point guards in the country”.

 

[navery12]

Didn’t take that many posts to get from “we don’t have a point guard” to Newton and Jackson have the potential to be “the best point guards in the country”.

He's hedging more than Isaiah Whaley on a high screen

 

[fatlucy]

The only joke I see here is you starting this thread. What is up with you? Newton is going to be as good as Cole with a higher ceiling. He may not be the perfect PG but neither was Cole in all reality. And can’t beat 6’5 either and he will get to the hole easier.

Wow what a joke!

I think with some talent around him, he may be much better than Cole.

 

[auror]

Didn’t take that many posts to get from “we don’t have a point guard” to Newton and Jackson have the potential to be “the best point guards in the country”.

He went to bed around 8am and sobered up by 6pm.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Well, I'm not being wishy washy on this topic. I'm taking a strong stand and am for UConn having a PG.

I am glad to see you are no longer concerned!

 

[ktuck911]

These look like point guard stats to me:

Tristen Newton - Men's Basketball - East Carolina University Athletics

Tristen Newton (2) Guard - AS A SOPHOMORE (2020-21) Game-By-Game Statistics Played in 17 games and made 16 starts, averaging 31.4 minutes per game Averaged

ecupirates.com

Stats don't necessarily determine PG abilities. UConn always had true PGs...Ball handler FIRST guys. Sounds like we're missing that from what @coachn seems to be pointing out. That's a problem if the case. On ball defender can give us fits in bounding the ball with full court presses.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

saying 'we have no point guard' is a bit much, but if the point is concern for the position, then it's an honest thought since, for a variety of reasons, there are legit questions and we just won't know without evidence of these people actually doing all this, together. but we do have talk, loads and loads of talk. no facts, just talk.
youse are overly fixated, regularly so, on height, particularly for the back court.
of course, no one here seems to actually play basketball, which would help you to understand the naivete of that opinion.

heart is usually better than height when u actually want to win anything in hoops.

and oh, a bunch of 'not fives,' not 'can't miss,' not 'ready for the nba now' kids parading around with NCAA Championship hardware, implying a 'fab five' parallel is ridiculous, and offensive. childish.
all this constant hype is starting to wear some of us out.

 

[8893]

Stats don't necessarily determine PG abilities. UConn always had true PGs...Ball handler FIRST guys. Sounds like we're missing that from what @coachn seems to be pointing out. That's a problem if the case. On ball defender can give us fits in bounding the ball with full court presses.

I’m just a casual fan, but to my simple mind, things like assists and assist-to-turnover ratio are indicative of ball handling.

Also, being voted one of the best point guards in the conference.

But I understand that you would rather defer to the OP, who has never seen him play, than to consider Newton’s actual performance.

 

[mauconnfan]

saying 'we have no point guard' is a bit much, but if the point is concern for the position, then it's an honest thought since, for a variety of reasons, there are legit questions and we just won't know without evidence of these people actually doing all this, together. but we do have talk, loads and loads of talk. no facts, just talk.
youse are overly fixated, regularly so, on height, particularly for the back court.
of course, no one here seems to actually play basketball, which would help you to understand the naivete of that opinion.

heart is usually better than height when u actually want to win anything in hoops.

and oh, a bunch of 'not fives,' not 'can't miss,' not 'ready for the nba now' kids parading around with NCAA Championship hardware, implying a 'fab five' parallel is ridiculous, and offensive. childish.
all this constant hype is starting to wear some of us out.

The “Fab 5” isn’t even on the roster not sure why they’re mentioned but ok. Height is a real good thing if indeed they can handle the point and break pressure. I would say by watching film Newton reminds me of a much more athletic Tate George who was very instrumental in running the point for a national contender. I don’t play basketball as you say because I’m 62 but I still watch it. Maybe you should try!

 

[RedDog]

The “Fab 5” isn’t even on the roster not sure why they’re mentioned but ok. Height is a real good thing if indeed they can handle the point and break pressure. I would say by watching film Newton reminds me of a much more athletic Tate George who was very instrumental in running the point for a national contender. I don’t play basketball as you say because I’m 62 but I still watch it. Maybe you should try!

You’re 62 and up at 4 am? You should consider Flomax

 

[Stinger92860]

Khalid is in in the building! One more year of post covid eligibility?

 

[jibsey]

The only joke I see here is you starting this thread. What is up with you? Newton is going to be as good as Cole with a higher ceiling. He may not be the perfect PG but neither was Cole in all reality. And can’t beat 6’5 either and he will get to the hole easier.

Wow what a joke!

I was happy with Cole so if he’s that good….

 

[8893]

I was happy with Cole so if he’s that good….

I would be overjoyed if Newton is as good as Cole; but that's a pretty high bar, because Cole was a great point guard, albeit undersized.

Our problem last year at point was over-reliance on Cole, because of the lack of other good options. I hope that Diarra is an upgrade in that respect, and that Andre can take up a few more minutes at point, so that we don't run into the same problem with Newton.

 

[Palatine]

Cole was a very good point guard but he was a liability on defense.

 

[ctchamps]

Cole was a very good point guard but he was a liability on defense.

Only if players got into the paint, were taller than him, and our shot blockers were away from the basket. That happened but not as frequently as your statement implies.

Cole was an above average perimeter defender. And an argument could be made that part of the problem in which his players were able to drive by him was because he was over utilized. That problem was mostly due to Gaffney and Diggens not able to be reliable backups.

This was a miss in recruiting. I will asterisk this last statement by saying recruiting at any level isn’t easy but with all the restrictions and competition at the college level for a limited talent base plus the age factor in which the bodies and minds undergo major transformations (anybody with teenagers knows this) make projections of how a player will develop very difficult.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Stats don't necessarily determine PG abilities. UConn always had true PGs...Ball handler FIRST guys. Sounds like we're missing that from what @coachn seems to be pointing out. That's a problem if the case. On ball defender can give us fits in bounding the ball with full court presses.

I think that was a critical skill to run 90s and early 2000s ISO offense. It’s not in a modern offense based on motion and ball movement, mostly through the air, not the bounce. Passing accuracy, vision, awareness, and a shot that forces you to be guarded are the key traits. You need to be able to handle the ball, all guards do, but Iverson level dribbling skills aren’t really that important anymore.

Newton is a modern point guard. Jackson is a modern point guard if he fixes his shot. Cole was a throwback PG. Newton may not be better than Cole, but he’s probably going to be a better fit for the offense and defense we run. I am hoping that Hurley starts switching on D now, rather than chasing & fighting through screens and hedging. Couldn’t do that with Cole.

 

[husky429]

Stats don't necessarily determine PG abilities. UConn always had true PGs...Ball handler FIRST guys. Sounds like we're missing that from what @coachn seems to be pointing out. That's a problem if the case. On ball defender can give us fits in bounding the ball with full court presses.

The era of true PGs is over.

 

[mauconnfan]

I was happy with Cole so if he’s that good….

I was fine with Cole as well by no means do I think we will do a ton better. But potentially a better fit for Danny.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

The “Fab 5” isn’t even on the roster not sure why they’re mentioned but ok. Height is a real good thing if indeed they can handle the point and break pressure. I would say by watching film Newton reminds me of a much more athletic Tate George who was very instrumental in running the point for a national contender. I don’t play basketball as you say because I’m 62 but I still watch it. Maybe you should try!

and now a word aboot a most common dynamic from hardwood reality.
assists.
often, there is a highly disruptive guard scorer, who shoots a lot for normal reasons of wanting to win the game, and thinking that he is the teams best option to bucket. to a much lesser degree, there can be the one who is a nutcake loser, thinks that they're allworld, and is more concerned with getting theirs, final score be damned.
whatever the motivation, when either starts out hot, the natural tendency of the d is to start drifting toward that player to try and stop it. the winning guard knows it, expects it, and when it comes, starts piling up dimes becuz they want to win. 2 guys on me? 3 guys on me? somebody is open! even the loser guard sees it, but is a loser guard and can often be expected to 'pass' on the opportunity for a bucket by someone not named him. often heard by me yelling at my team when faced with the loser guard piling up points, stay at home!
implication?
it's never an easy decision to shade toward the winning one, but it's absolute gospel to not shade toward the jacker, cuz his points prolly won't decide the game, but his 'excuse me' assists could. turrible way to lose, chasing ghosts.
i wonder if there is a stat that determines the 'quality' of an assist. they all count the same, but they're really not.
none of this is a judgment on newt as i have almost nothing to base it on, other than his teams record in conference play was 13-34. in rj's howard career, their league record was 17-15. they season after he left, it was 1-15. very impactful dude and a proven winner who regularly, reliably found the free cable whenever it was there. for fans the likes of me, when having a team that looks like it has the stuff, it's only aboot the w's and the l's. the rest is irrelevant.

and oh, unless ajax becomes a proven outside threat, the key will be clogged with defenders staying at home.
that's basketball, susan.

 

[UCSouth]

You’re 62 and up at 4 am? You should consider Flomax

Isn't everyone up and starting their day at 4am?

 

[ClifSpliffy]

other yells by me, bringing different responses from the squad.
when getting outboarded for whatever reasons, 'box out! box out!'
often, i'll hear back 'be quiet already!, we get it!' sumtimes, the response is nastier. lol. like i've never heard people yelling at me before.
on the udder hand, when i yell 'get to your spots, make your shots, and we'll find you!' then, it's more like
'preach!'

basketball is really a fun game to play.

 

[ctchamps]

I think that was a critical skill to run 90s and early 2000s ISO offense. It’s not in a modern offense based on motion and ball movement, mostly through the air, not the bounce. Passing accuracy, vision, awareness, and a shot that forces you to be guarded are the key traits. You need to be able to handle the ball, all guards do, but Iverson level dribbling skills aren’t really that important anymore.

Newton is a modern point guard. Jackson is a modern point guard if he fixes his shot. Cole was a throwback PG. Newton may not be better than Cole, but he’s probably going to be a better fit for the offense and defense we run. I am hoping that Hurley starts switching on D now, rather than chasing & fighting through screens and hedging. Couldn’t do that with Cole.

A lot of this is true but systems are less important than the ability to score or assist others in scoring and to assess instantly which option is going to increase the chances of that happening.

We’ve identified a major weakness last season at the four with Whaley being an above average defender but a below average scorer. So hopefully one or both of Samson or Karaban (or going small with Jackson) will rectify that.

We know what we have in Sanogo. He’s a scoring machine.

Assuming that Newton, Jordan and Andre will start I believe that Newton has best demonstrated the capability I point out in my first paragraph and you make in your second. You correctly point out what Andre has to do to be at Newton’s level. I believe he has been deliberately deferring but won’t this year. Jordan needs to improve both facets.

I would say Bouk demonstrated above average ability to drive to the basket. Martin and Gillespie used their bodies to get there and Solo at a lower level does as well.

 

[mauconnfan]

and now a word aboot a most common dynamic from hardwood reality.
assists.
often, there is a highly disruptive guard scorer, who shoots a lot for normal reasons of wanting to win the game, and thinking that he is the teams best option to bucket. to a much lesser degree, there can be the one who is a nutcake loser, thinks that they're allworld, and is more concerned with getting theirs, final score be damned.
whatever the motivation, when either starts out hot, the natural tendency of the d is to start drifting toward that player to try and stop it. the winning guard knows it, expects it, and when it comes, starts piling up dimes becuz they want to win. 2 guys on me? 3 guys on me? somebody is open! even the loser guard sees it, but is a loser guard and can often be expected to 'pass' on the opportunity for a bucket by someone not named him. often heard by me yelling at my team when faced with the loser guard piling up points, stay at home!
implication?
it's never an easy decision to shade toward the winning one, but it's absolute gospel to not shade toward the jacker, cuz his points prolly won't decide the game, but his 'excuse me' assists could. turrible way to lose, chasing ghosts.
i wonder if there is a stat that determines the 'quality' of an assist. they all count the same, but they're really not.
none of this is a judgment on newt as i have almost nothing to base it on, other than his teams record in conference play was 13-34. in rj's howard career, their league record was 17-15. they season after he left, it was 1-15. very impactful dude and a proven winner who regularly, reliably found the free cable whenever it was there. for fans the likes of me, when having a team that looks like it has the stuff, it's only aboot the w's and the l's. the rest is irrelevant.

and oh, unless ajax becomes a proven outside threat, the key will be clogged with defenders staying at home.
that's basketball, susan.

This is about as solid as your prediction that the Yankees would continue to be an offensive juggernaut lol wow

 

[ClifSpliffy]

This is about as solid as your prediction that the Yankees would continue to be an offensive juggernaut lol wow

ur kind of a 24/7, always triggered loon, with dry feet.
my posts that you stroked out on didn't mention you, or anyone else for that matter, yet somehow, and as usual, u take them as a personal affront.

 

[Jaydumo20]

I think the OP is preposterous. But let's be honest with ourselves, we really don't know what we have in this team this year. How could we? its fun to talk about it, but any definite stance at this point in the year is pure posturing.