Purvis

[superjohn]

Purvis makes more bonehead plays than anyone else on the team. Sure, he hit a few shots, but his TO's, bad decisions, missed layups, and other errors overshadow a few made field goals. We'd be a better team if Ollie were to move on from Purvis.

He was the biggest reason we won last night.

 

[Mr. French]

Honestly, his performance last night and other similar ones in the past, are exact examples of what frustrates people, me in particular, about him.

At this stage, he SHOULD be good/smart enough to not make constant, small mistakes...however he just isn't.

The times he decides to keep trying the things he's clearly awful at generally end poorly. When he decides to use his energy, athleticism and spot up shooting, he does stuff like he did in the 2nd half.

That's the guy we need. If it were up to me, for the betterment of the team's success, I'd basically tell him to never dribble more than 2-3x in a rim attack, otherwise give the ball up and spot up...

He's EXTREMELY valuable to this team. If he limits trying to do things he clearly can't do, and focuses on his best attributes, much like Facey, our team is good enough to compete and will add the bonus of letting Jalen keep learning on the fly how to LEAD the team.

 

[upstater]

Rodney Purvis can't dribble consistently... He is a spot up shooter we should treat him like one.

Consistently is the key phrase. When he drove and dumped it off last night, he looked good. When he lost the ball, he looked bad.

If a team isn't pressuring him, Purvis can actually run the point pretty well when Vance is in the game. So Jalen can go off the ball.

But if we're insisting on Rodney being a spot up shooter only, it's not going to work. It is very late in his career to expect him to improve on driving and kicking, but the fact remains, he can do it, and the team needs it.

 

[ctchamps]

Couldn't agree more. He deserves the criticism for his poor play thus far. But something I find to be reoccurring with Rodney over his career here is that many are quick to criticize, yet few are willing to give credit where credit is due when he performs.

Criticism isn't personal. The fact that multiple people need to come to this thread and instead of giving him a shout out and recognize we lose this game without his performance tells me it's not just critiquing when it comes to Rodney.

His mistakes are magnified and his contributions are reduced. He's had three good games and three bad games. Only Jalen has had an equal number of good performances.

Jackson had one good game and he's going to be the next savior. Vital had one good game and he's going to be the next savior. Facey has had one good game and he's going to be the next savior. Durham has an intriguing game and he's going to be the next savior. There's a pattern here.

When we set expectations some of us need them to be fulfilled. If not we have to destroy that individual completely or change who we are. Some of us are in a needy place and want something outside of ourselves to satisfy this need. Others have difficulty admitting we can be wrong. Rodney is this years poster child for failure. But I'd say the failure might just be more in the beholders than the beholden.

 

[ctchamps]

Honestly, his performance last night and other similar ones in the past, are exact examples of what frustrates people, me in particular, about him.

At this stage, he SHOULD be good/smart enough to not make constant, small mistakes...however he just isn't.

The times he decides to keep trying the things he's clearly awful at generally end poorly. When he decides to use his energy, athleticism and spot up shooting, he does stuff like he did in the 2nd half.

That's the guy we need. If it were up to me, for the betterment of the team's success, I'd basically tell him to never dribble more than 2-3x in a rim attack, otherwise give the ball up and spot up...

He's EXTREMELY valuable to this team. If he limits trying to do things he clearly can't do, and focuses on his best attributes, much like Facey, our team is good enough to compete and will add the bonus of letting Jalen keep learning on the fly how to LEAD the team.

We're talking about people not machines. I could easily ask you why do you need to be frustrated by his or any performance. It's not like it's unique or a singular event. Are you a failure for not being able to accept things for what they are. Of course not.

Rodney and Amidah and each and everyone of us are who we are. And just because we can't always make the changes others would like from us it doesn't always mean we aren't trying or are bad.

Many of us are trying to fix things. To make life better. In this forum the focus is on UConn men's bb and therefore that's what we want to fix. My reaction is primarily about our motives. We want this team to be better for what purpose? So the players can have a fulfilling future. Certainly some if not most of us hope to see that. But there are some whose motive are purely selfish. All they care about is their personal satisfaction whether it's just entertainment or about pride. And even those who really care about the players, is the critiquing primarily for the players benefit or for the person making the critique. I'm not talking about your post regarding this rant I'm just using it to critique people who I can have a discussion with and not wanting to go head to head with them.

 

[uconnfan68]

I wondered the same thing, and Majok came to mind for me, too; but I don't think he was here long enough to be most frustrating. Although certainly tops in terms of failing to meet great expectations.

I can't put AO on the list because he was instrumental in getting us #3. I don't like how he left, but I wouldn't call him frustrating.

Dyson would be up there for me. Amidah is in the running, too, imo. Gavin Edwards?

Not Dyson or Edwards. Maybe Amida.

 

[Palatine]

Who are the other 1 seeds, I wonder? Ater Majok? Oriakhi?

Dyson. Sticks.

 

[Mr. French]

We're talking about people not machines. I could easily ask you why do you need to be frustrated by his or any performance. It's not like it's unique or a singular event. Are you a failure for not being able to accept things for what they are. Of course not.

Rodney and Amidah and each and everyone of us are who we are. And just because we can't always make the changes others would like from us it doesn't always mean we aren't trying or are bad.

Many of us are trying to fix things. To make life better. In this forum the focus is on UConn men's bb and therefore that's what we want to fix. My reaction is primarily about our motives. We want this team to be better for what purpose? So the players can have a fulfilling future. Certainly some if not most of us hope to see that. But there are some whose motive are purely selfish. All they care about is their personal satisfaction whether it's just entertainment or about pride. And even those who really care about the players, is the critiquing primarily for the players benefit or for the person making the critique. I'm not talking about your post regarding this rant I'm just using it to critique people who I can have a discussion with and not wanting to go head to head with them.

All I was really saying is he had a great game doing the things that, ideally in MY MIND, he would do almost exclusively, because that's what he's good at. In my opinion, the times he plays bad is because he tries to do things he isn't good at. That's the definition of me accepting him as he is, and trying to exploit his positives and minimize his negatives.

In my opinion, the times he has "failed to live up to fans' expectations" were because he wasn't playing well trying to do things he isn't particularly good at.

I'm not sure why I was the target of that, unless I misread your response...

 

[champs99and04]

I think it was @Matrim55 who put it best - in a tournament bracket of most frustrating players in UConn history, Purvis is a 1 seed.

I thought @champs99and04 put it fairly profoundly as well when he said Purvis was the worst good player in UConn history.

The great thing for a kid like Rodney is that for as wild as his career has been, everything is still in front of him. If he can do what he did last night against Syracuse, he should be able to do it against everybody else on our schedule, too (obviously he's still going to have bad games, but 15, 4, and 3 on 45/40/75 splits is reasonable), and if he can lead us to the tournament, people will forget about everything else fairly quickly.

Another thing I'll say about Purvis is that he seems to feed off the crowd as much as any of our other players. Playing in a conference like the AAC probably hurts him as much as helps him, but it's a good omen for the AAC tournament in Hartford.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Purvis makes more bonehead plays than anyone else on the team. Sure, he hit a few shots, but his TO's, bad decisions, missed layups, and other errors overshadow a few made field goals. We'd be a better team if Ollie were to move on from Purvis.

Yeah, let's move on ASAP from the kid who scored 40% of the team's points last night. Maybe give his minutes to Vance, who seems completely ready to rock under the bright lights.

Rodney had a pretty bad first ten minutes last night but I don't think he turned the ball over once after that. He is who he is, but acting like they don't get bent over a table if he's not playing last night is just dumb.

Did I actually hear someone say "Taliek always made the right play" in a comparison to Rodney? I'm sure that was the sentiment the day after the second to last game of his career, right Mau?

 

[uconnever]

These injuries are a blessing to Purvis. Hard to take him out now and he can shoot til he gets hot. He will have alot of games like yesterday. No where to hide. May be a year of redemption for him.

 

[gtcam]

I am going to kill him or heap undo praise for his overall game
All I can say is NICE GAME Rodney - you saved our butts
Please try to take this now to the next level like you did during the last 5 games of last year
A great ambassador for the program
Thanks

 

[gtcam]

Honestly, his performance last night and other similar ones in the past, are exact examples of what frustrates people, me in particular, about him.

At this stage, he SHOULD be good/smart enough to not make constant, small mistakes...however he just isn't.

The times he decides to keep trying the things he's clearly awful at generally end poorly. When he decides to use his energy, athleticism and spot up shooting, he does stuff like he did in the 2nd half.

That's the guy we need. If it were up to me, for the betterment of the team's success, I'd basically tell him to never dribble more than 2-3x in a rim attack, otherwise give the ball up and spot up...

He's EXTREMELY valuable to this team. If he limits trying to do things he clearly can't do, and focuses on his best attributes, much like Facey, our team is good enough to compete and will add the bonus of letting Jalen keep learning on the fly how to LEAD the team.

Basketball is an ever moving game so as a coach are you really going to tell a player who plays as a 1/2/3 to never dribble more than 2 or 3 times?
Are you sure that Jalen is really learning how to be the leader? Has he shown this overtly so that it really stands out ala KEA, Talik, AJ, Kemba or Bazz when they were running the point? I'm not sure.
I agree RP is valuable to this team and I can see part of that value parlayed into a leadership role
If he plays like he did in the second half and what he did at end of last year - there will be no issues