This team still has no PG...

[JimHurley]

Adams is our best PG. With Hamilton struggling, I like Adams bringing the ball up with Gibbs and Purvis on the wings. Then Facey and Miller down low. This gives us a good ball handler who penetrates (Adams) with two outside shooting threats (Gibbs+Purvis).

 

[David 76]

Adams is our best PG. .

What makes you say that? I think he has the potential to be a very good point guard. I was as excited as everyone else when he committed. I think he is a more natural PG than Gibbs. But he hasn't exactly had a quick start for us.
He has been inconsistent on D. He is shooting 39% and 19% from three. His assist to t/o ratio is about 1,4.
Gibbs is shooting about 41% and 39% from 3 and is getting about 1.8 assists per t/o.

JAis getting 20 minutes a game. Not like he isn't getting game time Be patient and let him adjust. We would be worse had he been starting.

 

[JimHurley]

What makes you say that? I think he has the potential to be a very good point guard. I was as excited as everyone else when he committed. I think he is a more natural PG than Gibbs. But he hasn't exactly had a quick start for us.
He has been inconsistent on D. He is shooting 39% and 19% from three. His assist to t/o ratio is about 1,4.
Gibbs is shooting about 41% and 39% from 3 and is getting about 1.8 assists per t/o.

JAis getting 20 minutes a game. Not like he isn't getting game time Be patient and let him adjust. We would be worse had he been starting.

He gives us a swagger when he comes in that I like. He makes everyone around him better and when he penetrates, Purv and Gibbs get open looks.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

He makes everyone around him better and when he penetrates, Purv and Gibbs get open looks.

You can keep repeating that he makes everyone around him better as long as you'd like but it's not going to make it any more valid. I think the kid is going to be a great player at UConn. I like having him on the court because he exudes confidence and plays with a chip on his shoulder. I'd like him to be further along at this point in the season but that's how it goes. But all that being said it seems like the Adams / Gibbs posts are informed more by what people's vision of what Jalen can be is, rather than what he's bringing to the table right now. I do think he's due for a breakout game, but we haven't seen it yet. Ultimately, I think this team has the most potential offensively when we can take Gibbs off the ball and let him be a shooter - I'm optimistic that he found his stroke - and that means Jalen running the show, but we're not there yet.

 

[JimHurley]

You can keep repeating that he makes everyone around him better as long as you'd like but it's not going to make it any more valid. I think the kid is going to be a great player at UConn. I like having him on the court because he exudes confidence and plays with a chip on his shoulder. I'd like him to be further along at this point in the season but that's how it goes. But all that being said it seems like the Adams / Gibbs posts are informed more by what people's vision of what Jalen can be is, rather than what he's bringing to the table right now. I do think he's due for a breakout game, but we haven't seen it yet. Ultimately, I think this team has the most potential offensively when we can take Gibbs off the ball and let him be a shooter - I'm optimistic that he found his stroke - and that means Jalen running the show, but we're not there yet.

Completely agree with this. Adams will only go forward from here.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

UConn looks like a very good pickup team right now. We run a ton of isolations, with most of the offense coming from dribble penetrations. We still have a relatively healthy assists/made fieldgoals ratio of 50%, which actually surprised me given how we play.

Gibbs and Hamilton are shooting too much, and Brimah (when he was healthy) and Miller are not shooting enough. I think that is a function of the isolation offense we are playing right now, because we do not have 7-8 players all on the same page yet. I don't know that the isolation offense is so much a conscious choice as a function of the offense continually breaking down because the players are not on the same page yet.

There are 3 new players among our top 6 minutes players, and 5 of the top 6 have played together for 2 years or less. It's not just that we are plugging in 2 or 3 new players, but there is no base of experienced players used to playing with each other over the long term. The only key player that is a Junior, is hurt, and he happens to be our center where we have no depth, which makes the offense more dependent on dribble penetration off isolations. We have a lot of good players, but other than Hamilton, I am not sure how much NBA talent we have. It is hard to merge this many new players into a cohesive team, and it hasn't happened yet.

All that said, we still should lose to teams like Temple. That game has to be a W, no matter what style we are playing.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Can anyone imagine how bad we'd be without Gibbs and Miller? Heading into last off season it wasn't expected we'd have either.

 

[pnow15]

Can anyone imagine how bad we'd be without Gibbs and Miller? Heading into last off season it wasn't expected we'd have either.

The debate is not about whether these two should be Huskies; it is about how to take the best possible advantage of their skill sets.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

The debate is not about whether these two should be Huskies; it is about how to take the best possible advantage of their skill sets.

Thanks for the clarification, professor.

Just making an observation.

Gibbs is more suited for the 2 guard but Jalen can't take the reigns full time just yet.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Adams is our best PG. With Hamilton struggling, I like Adams bringing the ball up with Gibbs and Purvis on the wings. Then Facey and Miller down low. This gives us a good ball handler who penetrates (Adams) with two outside shooting threats (Gibbs+Purvis).

Adams isn't our best anything. He's been one of our least efficient players on offense. His assist rate is slightly higher than Gibbs', but his turnover rate is significantly higher, and his shooting has been horrible. Honestly, you guys are all too busy hating Gibbs for not looking like Kemba that you're forgetting that the guy you want to give the ball to has been pretty bad almost all season.

 

[lange10]

Adams isn't our best anything. He's been one of our least efficient players on offense. His assist rate is slightly higher than Gibbs', but his turnover rate is significantly higher, and his shooting has been horrible. Honestly, you guys are all too busy hating Gibbs for not looking like Kemba that you're forgetting that the guy you want to give the ball to has been pretty bad almost all season.

Thank you. Only 4 games with an offensive rating over 100 (Furman, Gonzaga, Ohio St., Temple). His offensive rating for the year is 92.1. Of the players who get significant time, the next lowest is DHam at 106.9. All this means to me is that Adams is the X factor. If he figures it out come February/March and gets it going, I think we can be very dangerous.

 

[James]

Adams has a lot of skills in his toolbox not represented by an offensive rating , a stat that weighs FG % very high in college . Adams just is not a consistent scorer ( in the paint, on the perimeter, transition) at this point of his development, but he is a really good passer from what i've seen. He also operates in the high pick n roll better than most freshman out there, he can generate offense. It would also not be wise to ignore the job he did on levert when tasked to guard a 6'6 future pro.

Having said all that there is no need to juxtapose gibbs and adams, we need both to play heavy minutes. Gibbs is eons ahead of adams offensively, but he does do a few things that frustrate me. The main one is over penetration; if you drag defenders into the paint for help kick the ball out, don't try finishing over three dudes. but thats just nitpicking, he is really good.

 

[Palatine]

JA averages 20 minutes a game. He has 31 assists and 23 turnovers.

SG averages 31 minutes a game. He has 43 assists and 24 turnovers.

Ollie has said he thought JA should be further along by now. He is definitely a more natural PG than Gibbs. However, Gibbs has actually outperformed him at the point. And the there's this, Jalen is shooting 39% from the floor and 19% from the arc. Basically at this point JA needs to improve every facet of his game.

There's not really much that can be changed. We need Gibbs to play and we need him to play some point. Jalen needs to keep getting minutes. Jalen just needs to improve. If he does, the whole team will get better. It would be so much much better if he earned more minutes rather than having Ollie force feed them to JA.

 

[Pudge]

Adams?

"Pretty bad"?

He's a Freshman. Sheesh. How long have you guys been watching college hoop? And ... there are lots of famous quotes from famous coaches on Freshmen. Kevin Ollie made a smart move getting Gibbs and NOT putting pressure on Jalen Adams. He can develop in normal development mode. Aren't we all glad that we aren't knocking the crap out of him because we are counting on him as our lead guard?

 

[CallMeBruce]

Adams?

"Pretty bad"?

He's a Freshman. Sheesh. How long have you guys been watching college hoop? And ... there are lots of famous quotes from famous coaches on Freshmen. Kevin Ollie made a smart move getting Gibbs and NOT putting pressure on Jalen Adams. He can develop in normal development mode. Aren't we all glad that we aren't knocking the crap out of him because we are counting on him as our lead guard?

When we're talking about maybe starting him over Gibbs, he doesn't get graded on a curve. I didn't say he's a bust or that we should be recruiting over him. I said that he hasn't played well enough to warrant talk about him supplanting an All-Big East guard. In your quest to show how measured and reasonable you are, you might want to start with actually reading the posts you're criticizing.

 

[Pudge]

When we're talking about maybe starting him over Gibbs, he doesn't get graded on a curve. I didn't say he's a bust or that we should be recruiting over him. I said that he hasn't played well enough to warrant talk about him supplanting an All-Big East guard. In your quest to show how measured and reasonable you are, you might want to start with actually reading the posts you're criticizing.

Sorry ... are you feeling shamed?

Look at the Language. Don't use "Pretty bad" if you are talking about a kid who was playing - largely - teams including rarely anyone playing higher level basketball this time last year. It is a learning experience. For every Yogi Farrell, Marcus Paige, Melo Trimble, James Robinson, Isiah Taylor, Frank Mason, Kris Dunn, Demetrius Jackson, Monte Morris, Tyler Ullis, Fred Van Vleet you could mention, I would venture that less than 20% looked like a AllAll Conference in January of their first year.

My view is Jalen Adams is playing fine. At times, he has been superb. More often, he has looked a little off. His shooting must improve dramatically. But, I see no reason to think he won't be groomed and developed into one of UConn's best lead guards. I expect that.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Sorry ... are you feeling shamed?

Look at the Language. Don't use "Pretty bad" if you are talking about a kid who was playing - largely - teams including rarely anyone playing higher level basketball this time last year. It is a learning experience. For every Yogi Farrell, Marcus Paige, Melo Trimble, James Robinson, Isiah Taylor, Frank Mason, Kris Dunn, Demetrius Jackson, Monte Morris, Tyler Ullis, Fred Van Vleet you could mention, I would venture that less than 20% looked like a AllAll Conference in January of their first year.

My view is Jalen Adams is playing fine. At times, he has been superb. More often, he has looked a little off. His shooting must improve dramatically. But, I see no reason to think he won't be groomed and developed into one of UConn's best lead guards. I expect that.

I'll explain this again, and I'll try to go slowly, since you seem to be struggling.

At this point, Sterling Gibbs is our starting PG. Dissatisfied with his play, several posters have advocated making Adams our starting point guard. Still with me? Great.

My point was that Adams, at this point in time, is not an impact player, and has not played well enough to be the starting point guard yet. Do you understand what yet means? In other words, I'm talking about right now. Today. Not next season. Not after he's developed. So right now, Adams, whose play this year has been well-below average, is not good enough to be our starting PG. This season, his performance, from the perspective of offensive efficiency, particularly his shooting and his ball security, has been pretty bad. Bad for a freshman? No. But we don't get bonus points for playing freshmen.

I'm not saying he's a bust. I'm not saying he won't eventually be very good or even great. I'm saying that the idea that he should start over Gibbs is silly, since Gibbs has been a much, much better player this season. Did you understand it this time?

 

[JimHurley]

Adams isn't our best anything. He's been one of our least efficient players on offense. His assist rate is slightly higher than Gibbs', but his turnover rate is significantly higher, and his shooting has been horrible. Honestly, you guys are all too busy hating Gibbs for not looking like Kemba that you're forgetting that the guy you want to give the ball to has been pretty bad almost all season.

Well I'd go as far to say Adams is our only PG. Gibbs is more a SG. As a freshman, it's normal that he has a high turnover rate. And he isn't known for his outside shooting. Adams always gives us a spark when he comes in that no one else can match. I love it when he's on the court.

 

[Pudge]

Apparently, you're quite liberal in your pejorative view.

"Pretty bad""well below average" ... Means what?

Adams is fine. And has been blessed by the addition of Gibbs in many ways. Gibbs isn't a true facilitator; but I'm glad he's on our team. In order to be a better team this year, Hamilton & Gibbs & Adams all have to play better.

 

[HuskyHawk]

....... In order to be a better team this year, Hamilton & Gibbs & Adams all have to play better.

There. End the thread. For those saying Gibbs "isn't a PG", then we can clarify further: Gibbs needs to create for others a bit more (he did at Seton Hall). Hamilton needs to hit his shots when he has them, create when appropriate and not force things. Adams is a freshman, he needs to do everything better. While we are at it, Rodney needs to remember how to hit free throws.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Apparently, you're quite liberal in your pejorative view.

"Pretty bad""well below average" ... Means what?

Adams is fine. And has been blessed by the addition of Gibbs in many ways. Gibbs isn't a true facilitator; but I'm glad he's on our team. In order to be a better team this year, Hamilton & Gibbs & Adams all have to play better.

10.6 PER (second-worst on the team, after Nolan), .452 TS% (worst), .414 eFG (worst by a lot), .083 WS/40 (tied with Nolan for worst). That's pretty bad. I see the talent, but it hasn't manifested as good play yet, and until it does, the idea that he should be taking Gibbs' run is absurd.

 

[Pudge]

10.6 PER (second-worst on the team, after Nolan), .452 TS% (worst), .414 eFG (worst by a lot), .083 WS/40 (tied with Nolan for worst). That's pretty bad. I see the talent, but it hasn't manifested as good play yet, and until it does, the idea that he should be taking Gibbs' run is absurd.

In this case ... use your eyes.

Stats and "Moneyball" only take you so far. I see a kid that easily gets to the hoop when he wants (but finishes at a sub-par rate); plays damn good one on one defensive positioning; plays hard; faster than others by a good margin; and has good shooting form. I see his failings this basketball season as purely Freshman lack-of-confidence. I don't think the stats reflect either his value to the team; nor do I think it measures his efficiency game to game. Inconsistent is what I would say more than anything. That speaks to confidence. He is surrounded by Gibbs & Purvis & Hamilton & Miller & Ricky Moore & Hobbsie & Kevin Ollie. I can't think of a better laboratory for a Guard. NOTE: He is taking minutes at crucial game moments.

 

[zls44]

Statistics are a measurement of what actually occurs during the game. Usually they disprove biases based on false theories.

 

[Pudge]

Statistics are a measurement of what actually occurs during the game. Usually they disprove biases based on false theories.

I believe ... in Baseball, statistics have clearly shown us that we have all been measuring run production and winning baseball in the wrong way. Far easier to measure. In basketball, where two things are damn good indicators of winning production yet largely unmeasurable (defense and catalyst role), I simply have not come around to the metrics nearly as much as basketball.

 

[David 76]

So....
We should play Adams more because he is a good passer w/o resultant assists and with resultant t/os?
Because his defense is superior except for the times he has been lost on defense?

I think we are all close to saying the same thing. Gibbs is better now and we believe Adams will be a superior and truer PG. Unless you feel JA should start now, then you are wrong and wronger for bringing it up after Gibbs' best game.