We Have a Problem at Point Guard

[NJHusky]

Cole may be short, but he’s strong and quick. To me, he should be driving more and looking for contact / fouls.

I think guys like Boat & AG were quick...Cole seems to me to be smart player that knows where to be on the court, but not quick enough to get past guys at will.

 

[pj]

It may take Cole a little longer to find his rhythm in the offense. PG has more facets than other positions. He has found a nice groove defensively. The offense should catch up over time.

A snap shot of Cole right now shows 9.7 points, 4.0 assists, 2.2 turnovers and a steal plus, per game. Those are decent numbers. His shooting has been poor as he is 32% from the field overall and 34% from three. He's 81% from the foul line but his misses were catastrophic. But just watching him play, I believe there is upside to his offensive game.

Defining this as a "problem" is probably an overstatement.

I like this take. Cole's biggest problem is building chemistry with his team. Virus stoppages haven't helped. I expect things will come together for him and he'll be seen as a quality PG before the season is over.

 

[Marat]

If people expected Cole to be 95% El-Amin, then they will be disappointed. I guess you can say he has similar height/build/speed as KEA did, but that's about it (for now). RJ needs the time to build chemistry with the others and get more games/reps in. I can see him improving his leadership, playmaking, and shooting as the season goes on. If he can be 75% El-Amin, that would be good enough for me.

 

[Waquoit]

Taliek Brown is a great comp for Cole's intended stat line and role. Taliek put up around 7-9 ppg his whole career and wasn't known as a shooter. He did small things to help facilitate and keep cohesion for the other studs on the court. Same concept for Cole. Occasional 3 will be just a bonus but shouldn't be expected. And Gilbert last few years was a momentum killer, two completely opposite situations. If Cole puts up 8 ppg, 5 assists and plays great on-ball defense and limits mistakes then we could see overall success later on in the season as players develop.

For Taliek, the occasional three-pointer came at the rate of one per year.

 

[Marat]

For Taliek, the occasional three-pointer came at the rate of one per year.

But that 30 ft heave in OT against Pitt (Big East Championship) was pretty big !

 

[Palatine]

This post is just begging to reposted after Cole had a 20 point game.

 

[Marat]

This post is just begging to reposted after Cole had a 20 point game.

And I wouldn't be suprised to see it happen ....

 

[Captbluefin]

Just like Purvis and Larrier he is a good piece to the team.
But nowhere near what several people were claiming he was.

Wasn’t JimOllie claiming that Cole was the 2nd best player just a hair behind Bouk ?

The time tested stats of a mid-major star moving up to a big time league and team were always against him.
He is a nice backup PG in the Big East nothing more than that

 

[BrysonDeMan]

And I wouldn't be suprised to see it happen ....

yeh - what happened to "he hasn't played for 2 years so let's give him a little bit of time"? i think he'll be fine. another piece that can get better as the season goes on ... along with Akok, Andre getting back and getting minutes and Gaffney continuing to mature. this team isn't even close to it's ceiling yet