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- Nov 26, 2011
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Players do not need to be the best at their positions but the best at their roles. A few thoughts on what few players could do to maximize their time on the court and have a more positive affect for the team:
Boatright: The guy has a heart of a lion and is playing like a 1st team All American. He is currently 33rd in all of D1 in scoring at 19.3 ppg, he would be averaging 21.1 ppg putting him at 16th in the country if he had not played the Yale game in which he was clearly bothered by his ankle. Not just his points but his rebounding numbers and his defense really make him a special player.
What could make life a lot easier for him and the rest of the team is if he gets to the line a lot more often then he does now. He needs to get to the line at least 10 times per game and he has only done that once this year (against Dayton, which was our best win so far). Shabazz and Kemba were very good at getting to the line by driving into the lane and making contact with the defender forcing the refs to use their whistles. Boatright has reached that super star level for college and more often than not when he draws contact with the defender the refs will call the foul in his favor. This puts the opposing big men in foul trouble earlier there by making it much easier for himself and the rest of the team, especially Brimah who feasts on smaller and less athletic big men defending him.
Also to Fishy's comment that Boatright is not a natural point guard, that is just plain nonsense. Can't just look at the box score. The play during which Boatright grabbed a looseball rebound in midair and before landing threw a beautiful lead pass to Rodney while a defender was in his face was pure point guard sweetness, very few nba point guards could even make that pass. Boatright has done an amazing job this year in penetrating and kicking out to wide open teammates, his assists are not higher because shots are not going in, and guys are electing to pass up a wide open shots only to dribble into a more contested shots.
Brimah: Not going to analyze any part of his game except rebounding. It is simple at 7ft tall, and as the starting center he has got to rebound the ball much much better. Some of his rebounding issues has to do with his hands, where he bobbles it quite a bite, some of it is because his reaction time is a second to slow, and some of it is his inability to jump while tracking the ball, too often his feet are planted to the floor when grabbing rebounds, that's why his rebounding numbers are much better against smaller teams, because he can get away with grabbing boards just using his height and wing span alone, but he can't get away with it against taller and more athletic big men.
Its up to the coaches to help him in these areas which I am sure they are working on, but one aspect to his rebounding he could improve more readily is when he boxes out he needs to learn to drive the guy his boxing further out by pushing through with his legs, it would help if he improved his lower body strength.
Sam Cassell Jr: Cassell has the highest assist to turnover ratio on our team its almost 4:1, which is amazing! The problem is that he just doesn't pass the ball all that much. He has 11 asts to 3 turnovers. He is clearly our second best ball handler. I believe he is the oldest guy on the team so he makes smart decisions when passing the ball, but the bad shots that he takes act like turnovers. He needs to stop shooting as much and look to his passing game more often. I would love to see him run the point on occasions to allow Boatright to play the two and attack the hoop from the wings without the whole opposing defense focusing on him. I think Ollie also notices this and that's why he yanked Cassell out of the Duke game, when Cassell shot a terrible contest mid range fade-away. Cassell only played 4 minutes against Duke after averaging 25min per game in the previous 7. Cassell will have a tighter leash going forward because he takes too many dumb shots when he has the ability to play at a high IQ level when he looks to pass the ball
He also needs to stop fading away on his shots, even when he takes a wide open shot I often see him fading away on his shot and backpedaling at times. When you are shooting less than 25% from the outside you better put yourself in the best position to go after an offensive rebound.
Facey: Is simply playing his role perfectly. He needs to keep doing what he is doing, and I hope the coaches feature him more often in the offense. He will continue to improve through the year.
Samuel: Has the lowest field goal percentage on the entire team shooting at .281 ! Also is shooting free throws at less than 60%. His ball handling is pretty weak. I like his toughness and his defense is much much better than both Purvis and Cassell. I just don't really know what his role is beyond his defense. He has the second worst ast/to ratio amongst all guards on the team (second only to Purvis). I like him but at this point I just see him as a less athletic and poorer shooter version of Rodney Purvis...and that is just not good.
Hamilton: Getting tired at this point, but Hamilton has a lot going for him. He just needs to simplify his game. He is the best 3point shooter on the team (although is only shooting at 36% from beyond the arc). He should be shooting it at a better rate but he just needs to take more open threes and stop dribbling into tougher shots. He has a great skill set and good feel for the game. Once he simplifies his game I think he will be an even more affective offensive player. Love his passing ability and rebounding, but needs to not force some passes. Looking forward to his development over the course of the year.
Thoughts?
Boatright: The guy has a heart of a lion and is playing like a 1st team All American. He is currently 33rd in all of D1 in scoring at 19.3 ppg, he would be averaging 21.1 ppg putting him at 16th in the country if he had not played the Yale game in which he was clearly bothered by his ankle. Not just his points but his rebounding numbers and his defense really make him a special player.
What could make life a lot easier for him and the rest of the team is if he gets to the line a lot more often then he does now. He needs to get to the line at least 10 times per game and he has only done that once this year (against Dayton, which was our best win so far). Shabazz and Kemba were very good at getting to the line by driving into the lane and making contact with the defender forcing the refs to use their whistles. Boatright has reached that super star level for college and more often than not when he draws contact with the defender the refs will call the foul in his favor. This puts the opposing big men in foul trouble earlier there by making it much easier for himself and the rest of the team, especially Brimah who feasts on smaller and less athletic big men defending him.
Also to Fishy's comment that Boatright is not a natural point guard, that is just plain nonsense. Can't just look at the box score. The play during which Boatright grabbed a looseball rebound in midair and before landing threw a beautiful lead pass to Rodney while a defender was in his face was pure point guard sweetness, very few nba point guards could even make that pass. Boatright has done an amazing job this year in penetrating and kicking out to wide open teammates, his assists are not higher because shots are not going in, and guys are electing to pass up a wide open shots only to dribble into a more contested shots.
Brimah: Not going to analyze any part of his game except rebounding. It is simple at 7ft tall, and as the starting center he has got to rebound the ball much much better. Some of his rebounding issues has to do with his hands, where he bobbles it quite a bite, some of it is because his reaction time is a second to slow, and some of it is his inability to jump while tracking the ball, too often his feet are planted to the floor when grabbing rebounds, that's why his rebounding numbers are much better against smaller teams, because he can get away with grabbing boards just using his height and wing span alone, but he can't get away with it against taller and more athletic big men.
Its up to the coaches to help him in these areas which I am sure they are working on, but one aspect to his rebounding he could improve more readily is when he boxes out he needs to learn to drive the guy his boxing further out by pushing through with his legs, it would help if he improved his lower body strength.
Sam Cassell Jr: Cassell has the highest assist to turnover ratio on our team its almost 4:1, which is amazing! The problem is that he just doesn't pass the ball all that much. He has 11 asts to 3 turnovers. He is clearly our second best ball handler. I believe he is the oldest guy on the team so he makes smart decisions when passing the ball, but the bad shots that he takes act like turnovers. He needs to stop shooting as much and look to his passing game more often. I would love to see him run the point on occasions to allow Boatright to play the two and attack the hoop from the wings without the whole opposing defense focusing on him. I think Ollie also notices this and that's why he yanked Cassell out of the Duke game, when Cassell shot a terrible contest mid range fade-away. Cassell only played 4 minutes against Duke after averaging 25min per game in the previous 7. Cassell will have a tighter leash going forward because he takes too many dumb shots when he has the ability to play at a high IQ level when he looks to pass the ball
He also needs to stop fading away on his shots, even when he takes a wide open shot I often see him fading away on his shot and backpedaling at times. When you are shooting less than 25% from the outside you better put yourself in the best position to go after an offensive rebound.
Facey: Is simply playing his role perfectly. He needs to keep doing what he is doing, and I hope the coaches feature him more often in the offense. He will continue to improve through the year.
Samuel: Has the lowest field goal percentage on the entire team shooting at .281 ! Also is shooting free throws at less than 60%. His ball handling is pretty weak. I like his toughness and his defense is much much better than both Purvis and Cassell. I just don't really know what his role is beyond his defense. He has the second worst ast/to ratio amongst all guards on the team (second only to Purvis). I like him but at this point I just see him as a less athletic and poorer shooter version of Rodney Purvis...and that is just not good.
Hamilton: Getting tired at this point, but Hamilton has a lot going for him. He just needs to simplify his game. He is the best 3point shooter on the team (although is only shooting at 36% from beyond the arc). He should be shooting it at a better rate but he just needs to take more open threes and stop dribbling into tougher shots. He has a great skill set and good feel for the game. Once he simplifies his game I think he will be an even more affective offensive player. Love his passing ability and rebounding, but needs to not force some passes. Looking forward to his development over the course of the year.
Thoughts?
