Rodney Purvis deserves his own thread

[Huskies4ever]

HotRod has been the most consistent player on this year's squad.

Just thought I'd give him a shoutout.

 

[jfuchs91]

If he can refine his handle a little bit, he will be our team's go-to scorer. His three-point shot has looked great this year (which makes his FT woes perplexing) and he's shown explosion when driving to the rim.

My main issues with him is that he usually only takes one or two dribbles on his drives and then puts his shoulders down. A guy like Rodney needs a strong handle to really take advantage of his strength and athleticism. If he can keep his dribble longer, he'd start his gather closer to the basket and be a more effective finisher at the hoop.

But I love what I'm seeing from Rodney this year. Fewer mental mistakes, better on-ball defense, and a strong perimeter shooter. He's also a great teammate and very easy to root for. I'm glad he's a Husky.

 

[mauconnfan]

One of the main things you hit on jfuchs was how great a teammate he is and you are so right. After yesterday's game he spoke about Omar and how happy he is for him, that says a lot about the Ferrari!

 

[djct1999]

HotRod has been the most consistent player on this year's squad.

Just thought I'd give him a shoutout.

because Dham's nightly near triple double reeks of inconsistency. No question Purvis had a game yesterday worthy of its own thread but it still is hard for me to get overly excited vs UMass Lowell with the Maryland game still in my rear view mirror.

 

[RichZ]

My main issues with him is that he usually only takes one or two dribbles on his drives and then puts his shoulders down. A guy like Rodney needs a strong handle to really take advantage of his strength and athleticism. If he can keep his dribble longer, he'd start his gather closer to the basket and be a more effective finisher at the hoop.

When Dyson, Taliek, and yes, even a young Kemba did that, the dominant theme of the 'yard's naysayers and critics was that they were 'overdriving' and taking it too deep into the paint before picking up their dribble.

 

[UconnFanNVa]

If he can refine his handle a little bit, he will be our team's go-to scorer. His three-point shot has looked great this year (which makes his FT woes perplexing) and he's shown explosion when driving to the rim.

My main issues with him is that he usually only takes one or two dribbles on his drives and then puts his shoulders down. A guy like Rodney needs a strong handle to really take advantage of his strength and athleticism. If he can keep his dribble longer, he'd start his gather closer to the basket and be a more effective finisher at the hoop.

But I love what I'm seeing from Rodney this year. Fewer mental mistakes, better on-ball defense, and a strong perimeter shooter. He's also a great teammate and very easy to root for. I'm glad he's a Husky.

I was definitely not a Rodney fan through last year. I'm still not extremely high on him but I do love his character and his fight. I'll tell you alot of team it seems like everyone on our team is afraid to shoot the ball but he'll let er rip, you need guys like that. His 3 point shooting seems to get better in crunch time and as he gets further away from the basket and his FT shooting isnt improving. I've never seen anything like it where a player can shoot 44% from 3 point land and 50 something % from the FT line. Seems like something that should be completely fixable. And if he worse on how he attacks the paint, he could get alot more calls in his favor and alot more free points at the line.

Definitely see the improvements, and like the attitude and toughness.

 

[jibsey]

He scores the ball and has a smile on his face. What's not to like?

 

[aceboon]

I'll remember this thread if he's a no show for the first 30-35 minutes against Texas

 

[CallMeBruce]

I'll remember this thread if he's a no show for the first 30-35 minutes against Texas

You must get invited to a lot of parties.

 

[aceboon]

You must get invited to a lot of parties.

my friends and family live in reality, so yea

 

[Rico444]

He's still very hot and cold this year. Luckily he's been more hot than cold so far, but he still goes through seom rough stretches. I'd say D-Ham is more consistent. Still, Rodney's probably been our 2nd best player behind him.

 

[2Husky]

He's the only player to score double figures every game this year, that's pretty consistent

 

[James]

He is a great shooter but someone needs to teach not to jump before passing and also recognize when a teams defense rotates. It's almost like he thinks nobody is going to be in the paint when he goes in for his "power Layups". Definitely uconns most disciplined defender, would like for him to raise his offensive awareness.

 

[champs99and04]

He is a great shooter but someone needs to teach not to jump before passing and also recognize when a teams defense rotates. It's almost like he thinks nobody is going to be in the paint when he goes in for his "power Layups". Definitely uconns most disciplined defender, would like for him to raise his offensive awareness.

In fairness to him, he's come a long way from last year. Assist rate way up, turnover rate slightly down, free throw rate up.

Some of that is probably a product of playing in an offense that is suited to his skill set, though. His driving lanes are way clearer than they were last year with Samuel, Nolan, etc. clogging up the floor.

 

[James]

In fairness to him, he's come a long way from last year. Assist rate way up, turnover rate slightly down, free throw rate up.

Some of that is probably a product of playing in an offense that is suited to his skill set, though. His driving lanes are way clearer than they were last year with Samuel, Nolan, etc. clogging up the floor.

He's come a long way indeed , I respect how he has become one of the better defensive guards around .

I think he fancies himself a combo guard but when I look at his strengths he plays like a 3+d wing. Those guys aren't great playmakers and neither is purvis. A great pass doesn't always lead to an assist ( people who talk about the spurs always discuss this) ; I would like for him to move the ball more/quicker and focus on 'spacing'. As opposed to him doing the driving and dishing that Gibbs or hamilton does. Whenever purvis runs a pnr it looks super unnatural due lack of a tight handle . He should also have the ultimate green light to get up threes , can't do that when your power spinning into the lane. Him spacing the floor as a 44% 3pt shooter actually makes the offense easier to run; does klay thompson ever run pick n rolls? Not really (he is the dribble hand off king) , nor does he catch n survey the floor in order to make a homerun play.


All that said he is our most important player because of his defense and he leads in ppg. Gibbs hamilton and miller are all demonstratively worst on that end.

 

[intlzncster]

My main issues with him is that he usually only takes one or two dribbles on his drives and then puts his shoulders down. A guy like Rodney needs a strong handle to really take advantage of his strength and athleticism. If he can keep his dribble longer, he'd start his gather closer to the basket and be a more effective finisher at the hoop.

Rodney's got thaat Dyson bull mentality/methodology when going to the rim. He doesn't quite have the Dyson quick slitheryness though, and that's what hurts him there.

 

[Palatine]

He needs to keep his head up. That said, he has been awesome on offense.

 

[Jimdish255]

I'll remember this thread if he's a no show for the first 30-35 minutes against Texas

Texas is one of those seeding games we need to win. More importantly we need to execute in a way that transfers over into a consistent high level of play against the better teams.

 

[intlzncster]

Texas is one of those seeding games we need to win. More importantly we need to execute in a way that transfers over into a consistent high level of play against the better teams.

That's a much harder game than we thought coming into the season. Probably the second best team we play OOC.

 

[MexicoHusky]

Rodney is playing great, but he still has a lot to improve on. At the NBA level he'll be need to be a better ball handler and have better vision. I'm hoping Rodney sticks around another year to improve on those skills.

 

[champs99and04]

He's come a long way indeed , I respect how he has become one of the better defensive guards around .

I think he fancies himself a combo guard but when I look at his strengths he plays like a 3+d wing. Those guys aren't great playmakers and neither is purvis. A great pass doesn't always lead to an assist ( people who talk about the spurs always discuss this) ; I would like for him to move the ball more/quicker and focus on 'spacing'. As opposed to him doing the driving and dishing that Gibbs or hamilton does. Whenever purvis runs a pnr it looks super unnatural due lack of a tight handle . He should also have the ultimate green light to get up threes , can't do that when your power spinning into the lane. Him spacing the floor as a 44% 3pt shooter actually makes the offense easier to run; does klay thompson ever run pick n rolls? Not really (he is the dribble hand off king) , nor does he catch n survey the floor in order to make a homerun play.


All that said he is our most important player because of his defense and he leads in ppg. Gibbs hamilton and miller are all demonstratively worst on that end.

I agree with pretty much all of that. For somebody who has been shooting the three at his clip he's not a locked and loaded type of guy. He has some of the same tendencies as D-Ham in that he'll hesitate himself into submission when he gets a look, but at least with D-Ham he's been better at converting in the lane and finding shooters/cutters.

Clearly, he has been much better than Gibbs, Hamilton, and Miller defensively. I'm still holding out hope that Miller turns things around on that end, and I think he will. I suspect as the season goes on we will see more switching with him, which he is good at...particularly since Purvis is able to guard smaller fours.

 

[intlzncster]

I agree with pretty much all of that. For somebody who has been shooting the three at his clip he's not a locked and loaded type of guy. He has some of the same tendencies as D-Ham in that he'll hesitate himself into submission when he gets a look, but at least with D-Ham he's been better at converting in the lane and finding shooters/cutters.

Clearly, he has been much better than Gibbs, Hamilton, and Miller defensively. I'm still holding out hope that Miller turns things around on that end, and I think he will. I suspect as the season goes on we will see more switching with him, which he is good at...particularly since Purvis is able to guard smaller fours.

Only problem with that is he's the LAST guy we need to take off the perimeter right now, even for a couple seconds! hahah

 

[James]

@champs99and04 @intlzncster Yeah i'm also not a fan of switching unless the team has already mastered the basic principles of getting over screens and closing out harder on shooters. Its almost like a cop out to me, you see cassell immediately call for a switch when he gets in the game because he is just too slow to get over screens. In the nba its a bit different because they are more sound defensively, therefore switching becomes devastating and hard to score on. That is a good point on miller, I feel like he is being asked to do a TON of new things on the basketball court.

 

[champs99and04]

@champs99and04 @intlzncster Yeah i'm also not a fan of switching unless the team has already mastered the basic principles of getting over screens and closing out harder on shooters. Its almost like a cop out to me, you see cassell immediately call for a switch when he gets in the game because he is just too slow to get over screens. In the nba its a bit different because they are more sound defensively, therefore switching becomes devastating and hard to score on. That is a good point on miller, I feel like he is being asked to do a TON of new things on the basketball court.

Case in point Kentucky last year. It came back to bite them against Wisconsin.