Purvis has guts

[joober jones]

Ben Eaves would have killed to have this Rodney Purvis season.

 

[UConnDan97]

Regarding the last part, yes, of course. (Though, to me, losing Gilbert was much more devastating than losing Larrier.)

To me, it's pretty clear that Facey is the second best player on the team right now. One could argue over the last stretch of games that he's the best. He's been our best rebounder, his defense has improved a lot, and he's been scoring at an extremely efficient clip.

It gets tough between Purvis and Brimah. Both are extremely flawed players. Brimah is just as foul prone as he was coming into school, which makes him among the most unreliable players we've ever had. He's gotten better defensively, but he still makes plenty of mistakes on that end. Offensively, he is a dreadful screener, has regressed big time as a foul shooter and obviously isn't much of a low post threat. He still can't catch the ball, or even put it on the floor without turning it over. Can't pass at all. He's a disaster, in a lot of ways.

But for all of that he's still actually a player that helps us win when he's out there. Purvis does not. Purvis is shooting 33% from the field. That's unfathomably low this far into the season. He assist/turnover ratio sits at one. His PER is 9.7. His offensive rating is 89.6 and his defensive rating is 102.2. You want your offensive rating to be higher than your defensive rating. Effectively, through about 1/3 of the season, he's having the worst season - for this amount of usage - I have ever seen a UConn player have. I wish I could do more to dress that up but I can't.

It's still 11 games, though. He's a much better player than he's shown and he's still a good teammate and defender. I still believe that he's going to play well later in the year and possibly help us get into the tournament.

I love Facey, but it's a somewhat difficult argument to say that he is our second best player right now, and nearly an impossible argument to make over the entire season. You brought up shooting percentage, which can be a tricky stat. Brimah has a great shooting percentage, but a lot of them are dunks. Purvis has the second best 3 pt shooting percentage in the team behind Jalen. When you factor in all the other stats I provided along with the fact that he has to handle the ball more, break the press, take people off the dribble, and it's really hard to argue against Purvis...

 

[Walker11]

I love Facey, but it's a somewhat difficult argument to say that he is our second best player right now, and nearly an impossible argument to make over the entire season. You brought up shooting percentage, which can be a tricky stat. Brimah has a great shooting percentage, but a lot of them are dunks. Purvis has the second best 3 pt shooting percentage in the team behind Jalen. When you factor in all the other stats I provided along with the fact that he has to handle the ball more, break the press, take people off the dribble, and it's really hard to argue against Purvis...

It is extremely easy to argue that Facey is the 2nd best player right now. Brimah has a lot of dunks. Facey doesn't. Purvis has the 2nd best 3 point shooting percentage behind Adams but he is shooting 29 percent. That is an indictment against the team, not a stat to support Rodney. He also very, very rarely takes defenders of the dribble successfully.

 

[David 76]

I wonder how many of the people saying Facey is our second best player were also saying Facet should not play the rest of the year.

Ahh, tired of arguing. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah every one !

 

[Walker11]

I wonder how many of the people saying Facey is our second best player were also saying Facet should not play the rest of the year.

Ahh, tired of arguing. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah every one !

Its a very small sample size but if you disagree that Facey has been one of the top 2 players the past 5 games, you are clueless. Rodney is a great kid put into an unfair spot so its easy to be be biased towards him but I would prefer people to be rational.

 

[UConnDan97]

Its a very small sample size but if you disagree that Facey has been one of the top 2 players the past 5 games, you are clueless.

And yet over the past three games, which included a career high for Facey, the two players have scored the exact same amount of points.

I'm not trying to argue that Purvis is playing up to potential. He's not. That doesn't change his importance to this team. If we need a 24 point night, there are currently only 2 players that can do it...

 

[James]

And yet over the past three games, which included a career high for Facey, the two players have scored the exact same amount of points.

I'm not trying to argue that Purvis is playing up to potential. He's not. That doesn't change his importance to this team. If we need a 24 point night, there are currently only 2 players that can do it...

efficiency matters, especially when you consider purvis usage is through the roof for a guy shooting 33% from the field. Yes he has been involved in the 2nd most 'points produced' on the team, but he's doing it at an alarmingly inefficient rate. AB is still major defensive factor and Facey has been good on the glass, i think both of those guys could make an easy argument for second best/most important player.

 

[Walker11]

And yet over the past three games, which included a career high for Facey, the two players have scored the exact same amount of points.

I'm not trying to argue that Purvis is playing up to potential. He's not. That doesn't change his importance to this team. If we need a 24 point night, there are currently only 2 players that can do it...

And Kentan has gotten those points on over 60% shooting (and not an Amidah 60% where he only makes open dunks) and Rodney has shot sub 30 %. If we forced fed the ball to a lot of our players I bet they could put up 24 points on 28% shooting. No kudos for that. Rodney is not a bad player and I root like hell for him. He busts his ass on D and should shoot every wide open 3 he sees. I just disagreed with the premise of the OP. Rodney would be a lot better in a more limited role for a better team and has been asked to do to much. I just wish he understood his limitations more and with that I'm sounding like a broken record.

Edit. The most annoying thing to me, and I don't even mean you UconnDan, is the moral high ground claiming subtext from some posters who are simply willfully ignorant. There is a difference in critiquing a guys play and sh!tting on the guy's character like the JSM's of the world.

 

[James]

Adams,Facey, Brimah- average PER of 19.3, average win shares 1.1, average BPM 5.1

Purvis, Vital, Jackson- average PER of 8.8, average win shares .5, average BPM -.6
there is a clear distinction here.

 

[upstater]

I wonder how many of the people saying Facey is our second best player were also saying Facet should not play the rest of the year.

Ahh, tired of arguing. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah every one !

This is an excellent question. So much b'tchn and moanin' about Facey just 5 games ago.

"Ollie doesn't know what he's doing...Facey should never be on the court with Brimah/Enoch!!!"

People need to complain, it seems.

 

[James]

This is an excellent question. So much b'tchn and moanin' about Facey just 5 games ago.

"Ollie doesn't know what he's doing...Facey should never be on the court with Brimah/Enoch!!!"

People need to complain, it seems.

facey only in recent games has shown an evolved skill set, that happens in basketball. sometimes, opportunity is fleeting. So its fair to change your view point on him, though in rp's case, he hasn't shown that sort of growth, there have been no glimpses. I think its clear adams facey and AB are the best and most important players for KO and the metrics back that.

 

[upstater]

facey only in recent games has shown an evolved skill set, that happens in basketball. sometimes, opportunity is fleeting. So its fair to change your view point on him, though in rp's case, he hasn't shown that sort of growth, there have been no glimpses. I think its clear adams facey and AB are the best and most important players for KO and the metrics back that.

I'm sure Ollie knows better. So when we're blasting him for playing Facey, we don't know what he knows.

 

[7774]

Ollie needs to start recruiting guys who have at least one Division 1 skill. Purvis and Vital both seem to lack that one skill.
Brimah can block shots. Adams can penetrate and finish at the rim. This is important so that when players of the caliber like Larrier go
down he knows he can count on a guy to do one thing well.

You cannot seriously think Vital has no division 1 skills. We're only 10 games into his career and he's fairly good at everything except shooting.

 

[pnow15]

You cannot seriously think Vital has no division 1 skills. We're only 10 games into his career and he's fairly good at everything except shooting.

Did you see the little freshman point guard for Auburn repeatedly drive in the lane and shoot layups over our bigs? If Vital is capable of that, he has been hiding it well. Vital also misses the entire rim on half of his threes.

 

[JSM1970]

Vital might be a capable backup for 8-10 mins and never in when game is tight or late

He is forced to with injuries, we want have to see him next year playing these type of minutes

We're fortunate that shooting and scoring isn't important in basketball

You cannot seriously think Vital has no division 1 skills. We're only 10 games into his career and he's fairly good at everything except shooting.

 

[David 76]

Totally missed my point. I asked how many of the by's great minds said KF should never play the again and are now anointing him and trashing RP?
Not who has played better the last 3 to 5 games. Rodney will have better days, then they could all trash Kenyan again.
It is what some people do.

Its a very small sample size but if you disagree that Facey has been one of the top 2 players the past 5 games, you are clueless. Rodney is a great kid put into an unfair spot so its easy to be be biased towards him but I would prefer people to be rational.

tsl

 

[7774]

Vital might be a capable backup for 8-10 mins and never in win game is tight or late

He is forced to with injuries, we want have to see him next year playing these type of minutes

We're fortunate that shooting and scoring isn't important in basketball

He's much better than that, but I get that it's hard for your brain to process anything beyond whether or not shots go in the basket.

 

[JSM1970]

He's not good, can't argue with people who think VJ is a good shooter or Brimah is a good player

Fortunately we won't have to watch him if HD comes or next year

He's much better than that, but I get that it's hard for your brain to process anything beyond whether or not shots go in the basket.

 

[7774]

Did you see the little freshman point guard for Auburn repeatedly drive in the lane and shoot layups over our bigs? If Vital is capable of that, he has been hiding it well. Vital also misses the entire rim on half of his threes.

Yeah I mentioned he's shooting poorly.

 

[pnow15]

Yeah I mentioned he's shooting poorly.

It's the ability to penetrate and break down the defense that goes along with the layups that counts mostly.

 

[7774]

He's not good, can't argue with people who think VJ is a good shooter or Brimah is a good player

Fortunately we won't have to watch him if HD comes or next year

 

[Waquoit]

You cannot seriously think Vital has no division 1 skills. We're only 10 games into his career and he's fairly good at everything except shooting.

He needs a Division 1 attitude. He has just had a ton of minutes dropped in his lap and he plays like it's his birthright. No excuse for a turd like yesterday. His shots may not be falling but he can still hustle. He reminds me of Marcus Cox.

 

[JSM1970]

People will say he just has to work in his shot, like T Sam whose shot still sucks after 4 years of working in it

He will play limited minutes next year so no worries, won't have to be a focal point of the offense

He needs a Division 1 attitude. He has just had a ton of minutes dropped in his lap and he plays like it's his birthright. No excuse for a turd like yesterday. His shots may not be falling but he can still hustle. He reminds me of Marcus Cox.

 

[7774]

He needs a Division 1 attitude. He has just had a ton of minutes dropped in his lap and he plays like it's his birthright. No excuse for a turd like yesterday. His shots may not be falling but he can still hustle. He reminds me of Marcus Cox.

Vital doesn't play hard and hustle?

I have no clue what you're talking about with the D1 attitude and birthright stuff.

 

[JSM1970]

I think he plays hard, he just has zero basketball skills

There's a reason he was rated 166 by 247

Vital doesn't play hard and hustle?

I have no clue what you're talking about with the D1 attitude and birthright stuff.