Time to bench AG | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Time to bench AG

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Time for the kids to play, a new era with a much higher winning %.
 
HooperScooper said:
Never did I think the team would look so much better without Gilbert on the floor. Hurley has some things to think about.
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I feel for AG but they have to start Adams next game. Hopefully bringing AG in off the bench will take some pressure off of him and get him back in the flow.
 
Gilbert showed a lot of promise last year. He was clutch down the stretch in that Florida game. He is in a rough slump right now. Hope he figures it out soon. Glad the other guys are stepping up.
 
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AG is a true baller, however the issue I have with his game is he has to understand when he drives into the big boys down low he has to have an "out" pass as his second option and he's just not ever going to add that to his repertoire and thats the biggest knock on him as far as Im concerned. I can live with everything else but I have seen him drive WAY too many times and he's no Jalen Adams who would perfect the hesitation floater.
 
FT% alone may get Adams more minutes compared to AG. As we have seen many times before, poor FT shooter contort and twist around basket looking to avoid contact. Good FT shooters square up looking for contact.
 
UconnPT2007 said:
Brendan Adams should be starting at PG until Bouknight proves himself. AG’s inefficiency is killing us. 24% fg and 21% from 3 not counting this half’s bricks. He doesn’t make up for the inefficiency in any other facet of the game.
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Naw we just 3 games in. They guards kept getting to the rim a lot all second half. AG is our best in ball defender wether people realize it or not. He can terrorize ball defenders at times. He just doesn’t steal the ball a lot like UConn guards of the past. He will find himself, and it’s just gonna makes us better. He taking shots he can hit. They will start going down. The worst thing we can do is bench him.
 
CTBasketball said:
Gilbert has struggled to start this season, but if we’re going to be a tournament team we will need him to be a large contributor and play a role.
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This may have been nearly unquestionable truth until tonight‘s game. Now I’m not so sure...

The arc of improvement of our young players seems like it’s going to be big. BAdams and Gaffney were smart and ran the PG position well. They’ll only get better with more minutes.

I’m rooting crazy for Al to get things turned around because we are definitely a better team with him playing well (duh)
 
husky429 said:
I thought Bouk looked good in those few minutes. He made some bonehead moves on D, but 2/3/1 is no joke in just a few minutes. He is SO FAST on that court.

Akok looks amazing. Wish that 3 had gone down from the corner.

AG is unplayable right now. I'd give him a few to start the half, but if he can't start leading this team, pushing the ball, hitting ahead, and PASSING instead of stalling our offense, BAdams and Bouk should be playing his minutes. These are IQ errors--nothing to do with his shoulder or rust. He can change them easily if he makes the decision to.
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I thought the offense played better even with Gaffney who had his first good night. AG has been absolutely awful. Poor decisions is my concern. His shot isnt falling which happens but when you're terrible on defense, terrible running the offense and just overall look lost out there thats what concerns me. Hes a much better player than what hes shown. He needs to get it together, just relax and play ball.
 
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As terrible as he’s playing we need the kid. We don’t need those hurried jump shots, but we need his ball handling and for him to make better PG decisions. The old saying of the PG being an extension of the coach needs to apply for AG, but until someone can do a few of those things better we have to play the kid
 
Tough one for Dan Hurley to figure out. Continue starting/playing AG even when his play (at this time) is bad enough to cost the team wins? Can’t do that. But AG, at his best, can help this team. How does Danny get AG back to playing his best when the freshmen and sophomore need and deserve more playing time than AG right now? Got to somehow figure this out.
 
The problem is the lack of growth in terms of skill. Still a below average shooter, still has turnover issues, still has no idea what to do once he gets into the lane.

Of course, injuries play a part in this. But there has to be a point where you say enough is enough. Not saying that should be right now but I also don’t think that it should be completely out of question.
 
I find it funny that some are ready to
hand the keys to JG already. Did he play better tonight than his first few games? Yeah because he was pretty poor (to say the least) in those, so not a huge mountain to climb. AG is in a serious slump, benching doesn’t help get him out of it. BA has played very good but we need a guy like him off the bench. Let’s see how we do without AG for a full game to make an actual judgement.
 
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husky429 said:
I thought Bouk looked good in those few minutes. He made some bonehead moves on D, but 2/3/1 is no joke in just a few minutes. He is SO FAST on that court.

Akok looks amazing. Wish that 3 had gone down from the corner.

AG is unplayable right now. I'd give him a few to start the half, but if he can't start leading this team, pushing the ball, hitting ahead, and PASSING instead of stalling our offense, BAdams and Bouk should be playing his minutes. These are IQ errors--nothing to do with his shoulder or rust. He can change them easily if he makes the decision to.
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HEY!!
 
I don’t think he should lose all his playing time, but I do believe he should be coming off the bench and not starting. Adams has earned that spot, and bouknight clearly needs a lot of minutes going forward. The offense in the second half was night and day different in terms of improvement.
Adams is a much better passer and shooter (especially free throws) and compliments the weaknesses of Vital much better. He isn’t going to drop 20 every night but he’s surprisingly a lot better than last year and has earned his spot in the lineup.
Bouknight is special offensively, able to create his own shot off the dribble and has the size to make things happen on the boards - though he looked lost at times on defense tonight (given it’s his first college game, you expect that for a while). Looks like a potential star and leading scorer.
Gaffney isn’t nearly as polished but did show an ability to run the point and distribute (Such as his alley-oop lob to Bouk).
The only negative in the second half was that Akok became an afterthought on offense. Man is it nice to have an NBA talent like him on the roster, feels like forever since we’ve had a blue chip lottery talent. The sky is the limit for a player of his size and length who is agile, can defend multiple positions, and shoot the 3. Akok is in a different league compared to everyone else on the roster - and he’s still very raw offensively!
AG is a plus ball-handler, and that’s about it. Putting him in the starting line-up is like throwing a flat tire onto a car. He is a horrific shooter from everywhere and his small size means finishing at the rim on drives is difficult. He doesn’t distribute the ball well usually and that makes him the Absolute worst possible pairing with Vital. If he continues to start then his only mission should be to be a pass first creator looking to set up polley, akok, or vital. Ideally, he comes off the bench and plays as the leader of that unit with Sid, Whaley, etc.
I know it sounds harsh but the kid is now a 4th year player as a Redshirt Junior who isn’t going to be here next year and now has more talented or better fitting players behind him.
 
AG hit the floor hard. He also gave Buffalo their first points trying to dribble through a crowd, got his pocket picked. It is just my opinion, AG hitting the floor was Hurley's out. Gave him a chance to see Bouk and Gaffney. He let those two play together for some time. AND, I liked what I saw.In fact I thought I saw next years starting lineup in there. Those two looked like they played together before. Akok is amazing. Been awhile since we had Freshman come in and make an impact. BAdams is special also. We have a very good bench.
Game time tonight is 9:30 . It's killing me. Father time is kicking my a**.
 
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husky429 said:
Way too early to say he's a bust. TODAY he is unplayable. I don't think it will last. He's in a mental rut or something--Hurley will get him back on track.
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Right. He was objectively better last year. Most players don't regress, especially when they had a summer to work out.

Progress isn't linear, and it's hard to be a PG at a high level. We forget this. Game will slow down for him later on this year.

But, more than that, he needs to see his shot fall a few times for confidence. The players on the team love him, and it would be a morale boost for everyone.
 
MervthePurvis said:
Would he be our biggest high ranked bust over hazelton?
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I think you can’t disregard how snake bit the kid has been. Have to wonder what he would look like if he hadn’t had one injury after another, and developed under a different coach.
 
If AG sits, then the team will just have to adapt to not getting 3 or 4 bricks and TO's from its PG in the first 5 minutes of every game. To see Adams and Gaffney handle this team last night was nothing short of thrilling. There is a potential in front us this morning that we could not have dreamed of at 9:20 EST last night. And Bouknight! By God, eight points, six rebounds, and he SAT for the last six minutes of the game. Hurley must have figured, "Save him for when we need him."
 
U guys are nuts If u think Adams should be starting at point guard over Gilbert - we need Gilbert to settle things down and run the offense and plus we also need his defense. I don’t care how bad he is playing. We need him at point. I agree he’s an awful slump right now and definitely think his minutes should get reduced but I’ll be shocked tonight if we don’t miss his ball handling skills. Btw. Is AG definitely out for rest of tourney?
 
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husky429 said:
Way too early to say he's a bust. TODAY he is unplayable. I don't think it will last. He's in a mental rut or something--Hurley will get him back on track.
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You make a good point. One of the collateral benefits of the play of Adams and Gaffney is that it gives Hurley the ability to “coach up” AG by taking him off the floor. It’ll be interesting to see where that goes.
 
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