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Message: [QUOTE="wallman, post: 2970500, member: 1736"] [B]"As far as Walker yes this year her shooting has been good but last YEAR it wasn't. And in high school I recall her shooting %'s were not that good. Okay but not that great. So I'm supposed to discount an entire year plus her high school "shooting" numbers for a few games this year?"[/B] First of all, she was a freshman, learning a new system, and being lambasted openly for any mistakes she made. Also, she acquitted herself well in the big games that she played in. Just for the record, her shooting %: 44.4 & 37.1 /Lou- 49.3 & 39.4 (2P & 3P respectively). And Lou played with Stewie, Moriah, Tuck and Nurse. I think you are being very selective here. [B]"Mayas was a super 4 in college. Before Maya came to UCONN I was on the old ESPN board and argued with those that thought Maya would kill kalana's minutes because I felt UCONN could play Maya at 4. I believe if certain players can "play up" - positions then you should do it.[COLOR=rgb(44, 130, 201)] [U]In the college game[/U] [/COLOR]"playing up" enhances ball movement and pace of play. "[/B] The operative word is "in the college game". You may get away with playing undersized in college, but not in the pros, for the most part. And Maya ain't making her living off being a "super 4", that's for sure. Maya is an intelligent, athletic and very gifted player, so being made to play the 4 by Geno (as you claimed) did not negatively impact her productivity as much after UCONN. But other players may not be as gifted or talented, so playing them out of position in college (when they should be honing and perfecting their skills at their realistic positions) has a detrimental effect on their post-UCONN productivity. [B]"You seem to want to [COLOR=rgb(44, 130, 201)][U]hard define positions from high school to college to WNBA[/U][/COLOR]. Thus I'll always disagree with your outlook. I agree with the Geno strategy of giving his best players minutes and be fexible in positions they play."[/B] I am not hard defining anything. I believe our differences are based on how we look at these things. I believe you are more tactical, whereas I am more strategic. You are more up on the "position-less player", the "play-up" concept, innovative, non-traditional, etc. All good constructs, but to a point! One can be flexible with players' positions within a limit (during their development in college). Basketball has a fundamental component which defines how it is played for the most part, and that component is size. Basically, the big guys are closer to the basket and the smaller guys are further away. Big guys, for the most part, are slow, clumsy and can not dribble well, so they are not effective the further you go away from the basket. But around the basket, they can use their strength and height more effectively. Smaller players are fleet of foot, dribble well, etc. for the most part. They are more effective further out where they can maximize their strengths. These are the two extremes, and medium sized players fall somewhere within these two. Occasionally, you may have an athlete who has the size of a big and the attributes of a smaller player (EDD, Candace Parker, Stewie, KLS). Other times you may have an athlete with the size of a smaller player, but some attributes of a big guy (Gabby, Megan, etc.). Those two types of athletes create mismatches under the right circumstances, and innovative coaches (Geno, etc.) will design plays to maximize the advantage. But as the level of competition increases (i.e., more parity), these mismatches shrink. Your opponent may have similar type players, or players at those positions who can take away or reduce the advantage that your mismatch creates. For example, KLS feasts on less talented teams because their smaller players' strengths (dribbling, quickness, etc.) in their natural positions are matched by KLS, thus playing KLS outside against those players accentuates her "big guy" strengths (length, jumping ability, etc.), and thus her advantage. Against more talented teams, that advantage is minimized, so she has to take them inside where her "big guy" strengths give her the advantage. And while she was not doing that early in her career, she is now incorporating that aspect of her game. This will only make her a better player at the next level. For Gabby, unfortunately she was put in the position whereby she only worked on the advantage she created on the inside against less athletic Bigs. Either due to her own negligence or the situation she was put in, she never developed attributes of her game that are more appropriate for her size. So when confronted with Bigs who were just as athletic but also bigger, her college mismatches disappeared. At the end of the day in basketball, things revert to the mean..... big guys closer to the basket, smaller guys further from the basket. All other variations are mere tactical adjustments that are situational. So a player (and also the coaches) must develop those skills appropriate for the player's piece of real estate first and foremost, and then any other skills that can be used in other areas. Gabby, unfortunately did not developed the skills appropriate for her piece of basketball real estate as she found out in her rookie WNBA season. We fundamentally disagree on how we see the game. I am more a strategic, big picture person. You are, imo, more tactical, day-to-day person. Nothing wrong with that. In particular game situations, I would agree with you on "play-up", innovation, creating mismatches, etc. But regarding the long term, preparing a player for the long run, I am for first ensuring the player is capable at their natural position. That means the college coach looking to develop the player for post-college career and just the advantage the player provides in a certain situation for the program. I think I have said all that I will say regarding this. We can disagree, not a problem for me. Merry Christmas![/QUOTE] This is such a bogus argument. First, if Geno thought those players could play in the backcourt, they would be playing in the backcourt but none of them have shown they have that ability. KLS plays where she is as Geno trusts her to make the correct decisions. Just as Geno trusts her to inbound the ball, where you get a lot of easy baskets through her ability to read the defense and know what all the options are. Gabby was unique in her ability to make reads from the high post, that is lacking this year except when he moves KLS to that position. He has the luxury with KLS to move her around the court where he thinks he can use her to score or get easy buckets for the other players on your team, last year he used Gabby and KLS to do that. You try to put down KLS for scoring like it is easy, she actually makes it look easy as she is able to read defenders no matter what they throw at her, plus she can score form multiple levels and positions. [/QUOTE]

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