Samson Johnson

[mets1090]

• UConn had the most efficient offense in the country in 7 years playing the way they did. They averaged around 1.25 points per possession, meaning you would need to shoot around 38-40% from 3 to be considered as good as their average possession depending on how many offensive rebounds you get.
• To justify putting a shot up in the first 15 seconds of the shot clock, you probably want to be gunning for considerably more than the average 1.25 points. Spencer or Karaban taking an open 3 at 50%+, anyone attempting a layup or dunk, etc. will reasonably be worth 1.5+ points.
• Clingan was a menace on the offensive boards, so anyone else taking a 3 is relatively better as long as they shoot better or even slightly worse percentages. e.g. Newton shooting 30% on his late clock 3s with Clingan planted in the paint is probably just as efficient as Clingan shooting 38% with no big man inside, and they could get that whenever they wanted.
• When Clingan was open at the top of the key, it is because the other team's center was around the free throw line while UConn would have 4 or 5 guys at or near the 3 point line, meaning the relative advantage UConn has on the offensive glass would more than likely not exist with Clingan shooting.

He could have shot 38% on open 3s and it likely would be a net negative, considering the sacrifice they'd be making on the offensive glass, the ease with which they generated open 3s for Karaban or Spencer, and the number of open lay ups and dunks they got. It is reasonable to think that if Clingan played for the 30th best offense, he would have been given the opportunity to try taking more open 3s and get a bigger sample than 8 shots. But instead he played on the number 1 offense, so we really have no way of knowing how good he is in a game setting.

 

[AntG168]

• UConn had the most efficient offense in the country in 7 years playing the way they did. They averaged around 1.25 points per possession, meaning you would need to shoot around 38-40% from 3 to be considered as good as their average possession depending on how many offensive rebounds you get.
• To justify putting a shot up in the first 15 seconds of the shot clock, you probably want to be gunning for considerably more than the average 1.25 points. Spencer or Karaban taking an open 3 at 50%+, anyone attempting a layup or dunk, etc. will reasonably be worth 1.5+ points.
• Clingan was a menace on the offensive boards, so anyone else taking a 3 is relatively better as long as they shoot better or even slightly worse percentages. e.g. Newton shooting 30% on his late clock 3s with Clingan planted in the paint is probably just as efficient as Clingan shooting 38% with no big man inside, and they could get that whenever they wanted.
• When Clingan was open at the top of the key, it is because the other team's center was around the free throw line while UConn would have 4 or 5 guys at or near the 3 point line, meaning the relative advantage UConn has on the offensive glass would more than likely not exist with Clingan shooting.

He could have shot 38% on open 3s and it likely would be a net negative, considering the sacrifice they'd be making on the offensive glass, the ease with which they generated open 3s for Karaban or Spencer, and the number of open lay ups and dunks they got. It is reasonable to think that if Clingan played for the 30th best offense, he would have been given the opportunity to try taking more open 3s and get a bigger sample than 8 shots. But instead he played on the number 1 offense, so we really have no way of knowing how good he is in a game setting.

This is basically what I was just trying to say haha. With Karaban and Spencer on the court you want them taking the VAST majority of 3’s. It’s a numbers game. It doesn’t mean Clingan couldn’t shoot

 

[navery12]

His shooting is not a secret to NBA scouts. It’s why he rumored to potentially go #1. He’s shot the crap out of the ball in workouts. He hasn’t made THAT much of an improvement in 2 months.

And again 3’s and fts are not the same especially for big men. Some bigs find shooting from deep easier than figuring out the touch from the line. Even with that DC’s ft percentage was weighed down by his slow start early on. He shot much better from the line late in the season.

Our staff hunts the highest percentage shot available in our offense. A DC 3 was way down that list even if he was capable of making it.

Free throws are by far the #1 predictor of 3 point shooting ability translating from college to the NBA. And he did improve a bit but he was still in the 60s for the latter half of the season, it was a weakness. And he's always been able to shoot 3's in workouts and warmups, but in game it's never really shown up

I'm gonna stop because I'm not trying to downplay Donovan, but some posters (not you) are just living in a fantasy land with their posts in this thread

 

[JonnyRI]

Why would Hurley prevent a player from doing something that would help us win games?

Hurley asks them to do the MOST helpful thing to win games.

We should all know by now this by no means showing off what a player can do. Just the most helpful thing to make the team win a championship.

They are very different things.

 

[NJHusky]

This is basically what I was just trying to say haha. With Karaban and Spencer on the court you want them taking the VAST majority of 3’s. It’s a numbers game. It doesn’t mean Clingan couldn’t shoot

He said it waaaay more eloquently..

 

[AntG168]

He said it waaaay more eloquently..

Way more haha

 

[Palatine]

Why would Hurley prevent a player from doing something that would help us win games?

Because Hurley puts the team ahead of the players in games.

In practice, he develops players to their fullest potential. What a player is capable of is different from how he can best help the team.

 

[7774]

Because Hurley puts the team ahead of the players in games.

In practice, he develops players to their fullest potential. What a player is capable of is different from how he can best help the team.

lol

 

[Palatine]

lol

Insightful.

 

[7774]

Insightful.

I asked why Hurley would prevent a player from doing something that increases our chances of winning, and your answer was essentially he wouldn’t because he prioritizes winning over individual players.

So I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do but laugh at that.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

How do we know hes that far behind offensively? Hurley doesn't always let players show their full repertoire i.e. Castle running the offense, Clingan taking threes. And that could just be because they haven't coached and practiced those things for the offense they want to run. It may not be because they don't have those skills or potential for those skills. I still see Samson doing more, like at the T pick and pops and one dribble drives. We'll see.

40 games last year informs me that he is far behind offensively. But seriously, who cares about that? If all he does is dunks and ally oops, that would be fine, SO LONG AS he stays out of trouble!!!! That little change would make all the difference in the world. May I remind us all that Adama after his first year had the same problem, and he came back sophomore year a new man!!! I have trust in this coaching staff to help these young men get better.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Now you're adding a qualifier to justify your smear? You are out of line. Thumbs down.

smear???? did you watch the damn games??? SJ was good for the same three fouls every game: an illegal screen 18 feet from the basket, a push 7 feet from the hoop while fighting for position, and a touch foul due to his failure to keep his arms up. EVERY GAME!!!! if this is not low basketball IQ I don't know what is.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

I'm so happy that all the yarders are chipping in & doing their parts to make a ton of fun bulletin board material to help Samson reach his full potential this year!

Dude is gonna be a monster in 2024-25!

That's fine. I hope that he becomes a monster! We are all rooting for the same team dude. But it is ok to point out that SJ's failure to stay on the court due to foul trouble has to stop. Pointing that out does not make one a bad fan. If you are right and he becomes a monster, this team may be better than last year's team.

 

[mets1090]

As for Samson, it's pretty simple. In my opinion, it's unlikely he's good for much beyond easy buckets but on a team with 4 other threats, 4 easy buckets per game is just as good or better than a more complete offensive player who gets you 5 hard earned buckets on 9 post plays. Transition/pick and roll dunks will suffice out of UConn's center on offense.

His necessary improvement begins and ends with playing defense without fouling. He needs to be able to stay on the floor. He needs to be strong enough to at a minimum not get rag dolled and pick up fouls at an astronomical rate. On average, this past season he would have picked up 5 fouls in 27 minutes. In conference play it was 23 minutes. He's not going to be an elite rim protector like Clingan or an elite 1 on 1 post defender like Sanogo, but he's rangy and athletic enough to inherently be a disruptor as long as he can stay on the court.

As a follow up, I hope Singare shows enough in practice that he can give you 5 minutes if Samson has not solved his fouling issues. That would prevent ever playing Karaban at the 5, and also hopefully indicate they have their Center tandem set up for the following season.

 

[Samoo]

Because we clearly didn’t need it to win games…….

Or we needed his rim protection, which no one else provided at that high of a level, more than we needed his mediocre three points shooting on a team with high level shooters.

 

[UCLJ0211]

Need a picture or it didn’t happen

 

[AntG168]

Or we needed his rim protection, which no one else provided at that high of a level, more than we needed his mediocre three points shooting on a team with high level shooters.

Better yet his defensive rebounding

 

[Husky68]

Because we clearly didn’t need it to win games…….

Agree. Castle did ok shooting 3's at the combine but not his job to hunt 3's in the game (that was Spencer and Newton's job as they were better at it), Karaban could drive but Castle was better at it and had smaller defender so Castle drove more.

 

[alphasigko]

Better yet his defensive rebounding

I just looked up his career Per Game Rebounding stats for 3 years as a Husky:
ORB 0.8
DRB 1.2
TRB 2.0

Not sure that qualifies as "needing his defensive" or offensive rebounding. This is clearly in need of improvement going forward.

 

[AntG168]

I just looked up his career Per Game Rebounding stats for 3 years as a Husky:
ORB 0.8
DRB 1.2
TRB 2.0

Not sure that qualifies as "needing his defensive" or offensive rebounding. This is clearly in need of improvement going forward.

So move him further away from the basket and out of position?

I didn’t claim he was a great defensive reb

They needed his defensive rebounding

In the biggest games they got it

 

[alphasigko]

So move him further away from the basket and out of position?

I didn’t claim he was a great defensive reb

They needed his defensive rebounding

In the biggest games they got it

Yes they did, and, yes they do.

But hopefully more than 1.2 per game.

 

[RuffRuff]

Free throws are by far the #1 predictor of 3 point shooting ability translating from college to the NBA. And he did improve a bit but he was still in the 60s for the latter half of the season, it was a weakness. And he's always been able to shoot 3's in workouts and warmups, but in game it's never really shown up

I'm gonna stop because I'm not trying to downplay Donovan, but some posters (not you) are just living in a fantasy land with their posts in this thread

Agree on the FT translation, but he did improve and oddly, always missed the same way (back rim). Has a great stroke, is always on line, just doesn’t have the depth thing down.

In comparison to a guy like Samson (43% or so), who just has terrible form and no touch at all on his stroke. Missed all over the rim.

I for one thing Cling may be an exception to this over time. Even a guy like Luka shoots in the lower 70s from the line. It’s not a 1 to 1 thing.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

You have still not provided any facts to back up this opinion.

It’s really not a controversial take. He shot better on way higher volume, including stretches where he was shooting it pretty well.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Your constant nasty smearing of this player says more about him than you. You suck.

How is this smearing him?

 

[bmayuc]

This kinda went off the rails but... Samson kind is what he is at this point.

Pros

• Incredibly bouncy rim runner that has massive lob gravity on offense
• Covers insane amount of space with mobility and length on defense - great help D
• Speed/athleticism gives opposing bigs fits with conditioning and focus
• Incredible change of pace

Cons

• very poor rebounder for height
• Cannot anchor against strength at all, causes major foul problems
• Limited offensive skillset (pass, dribble, etc)

Looking forward and hoping that an extra 20-25 lbs will allow him to at least not get pushed around as much underneath and possibly with rebounding - thought much of rebounding is instinct and Sam hasn't show that.