PG and other stuff

[tentoes4rings]

I'm not a fan of framing the "What if we still had T-Sam" discussion in the context of replacing Gibbs. I personally am not going to try and shunt current players off the team in my mind. But I do find it interesting that as a big advocate for T-Sam last year, a lot of the argument I received in return was that his penetration and distribution didn't matter if he couldn't shoot. Now, we're seeing we can't just bring in a shooter who happens to be 6 foot 2 and plug him in at PG.

I wasn't advocating replacing Gibbs. I was making a hypothetical point of having TSam and not Cassell. We all cringe when Cassell sees the floor during even semi meaningful minutes and we sorely need another PG. We don't know what transpired behind closed doors last year to prompt TSam to leave. I assume we had a shot at Gibbs and a loss of playing time was mentioned to Samuel. That conversation should have been with Cassell, not Samuel.

 

[Danzz]

You're out of your mind. Did you miss the whole run in 14 that started with KO putting Samuel in while down 10 at USF? I was at that game and everything turned around after his energy and defense. He couldn't shoot, and was counted on to provide that last year. As a defender and backup PG for 10-15 minutes he would have had a good impact. Much more than SCJR, that's for sure.

Disagree. Samuel was an average defender and the drives and layups he made were the result of open lanes from the threats Bazz and Boat created from the perimeter. Better than Sam Jr? OK I'll give you that but there is a reason he isn't here anymore.

 

[intlzncster]

To be completely honest I do think they'd be a lot better. He's stolen so much time and PG time specifically from Jalen that could've made him a much more confident player and leader to this point. I'll stand by this opinion until the end of the season, unless Gibbs single-handedly wins us the tourney.

And this past game Gibbs was clearly not limited to just a shooting role. He had the ball in his hands far too much at the top of the key getting nothing done. Only credit I'll give to him was showing toughness driving and getting to the free throw line.

This team just can't gel as a TEAM. Leadership troubles, PG Troubles, Big man troubles, it's just a recipe for disaster. Bringing Gibbs in as the starting PG was the biggest mistake our coaching staff could've made. I'm sure we can all agree the next 2 years look very promising and something to look forward to.

Jalen wasn't remotely ready at the beginning of the year. So it was tough to play him too much, especially given the unbalanced schedule. It's not like we could play for the long term, as we had to have some of those games.

I won't get into on Gibbs himself, but what other choice did Ollie have? He was handcuffed from the start, and left to take guys like Samuel and SCjr. Gibbs was making the absolute best of a bad situation. It didn't work out.

As you said above, Gibb has the ball in his hands more than he should, but that's simply because we don't have that second ball handler. It's like 2006 (minus a lot of talent) all over again.

I just think you've made Gibbs the punching bag for your frustrations, when the reasons for this season are long and distinguished.

 

[intlzncster]

Yeah I was trying to make a point that our coaches know the point guard duties better than any staff in the country. I think a person can be an effective point guard with proper training and tutelage. Meaning Ollie could have worked Jalen into that role and develop his passing and player placement skills and of course running plays. The natural gifts of awareness, leadership, vision and ball handling are what really separates combos from point guards. Even Kemba seemed more of a combo guard but played the point most effectively.

In other words this team had a rough PG stone (Adams) and at the end of the year its less than polished.

Players usually make their jumps in the off season, after a season to reflect and learn. Judge the quality of the polishing at the beginning of next year.