What if......

[August_West]

a hypothetical I've been churning lately.

This is all easy because it is hindsight, but it's food for thought.

What if we didn't sign 5th year Gibbs and TSam didn't transfer. Would we be a better team right now? Team is the operative word, we definitely would not be a more talented collection of individuals, but as a team playing the coaches system, would we be better?

I could make a case for yes.

Having TSam here instead of Gibbs turns the keys over to JA on day one. It would have speeded up his development and that would have been to our advantage as has become painfully obvious through the progression of this season.

I get what KO was thinking , upgrade talent level and experience to bring our frosh point along slowly. Especially in light of a front loaded early season OOC schedule where we desperately need wins to offset crap AAC. It is solid thinking, I get it. But it did not pay off. We lost those OOC games anyway.

TSam should never be confused with an elite division 1 point, but he was a very serviceable, solid backup, who has experience and greatly contributed in NCAA NC run. More than Gibbs has I dare say.

Furthermore the exact holes in Gibbs games that we ( and KO apparently ) all kvetch about are exactly what TSams strengths were.

We hate Gibbs on the break. TSam thrived in open court action
Gibbs doesn't hit the hole hard . That was TSams whole game in half court.
If Gibbs gets to rim, he can't finish. TSam was anabove average finisher
Gibbs defense comes and goes. TSam was a very good, consistent perimeter defender.

TSam couldn't shoot a lick. Gibbs is an elite shooter.one who we haven't taken advantage of this year at all. So in light of trading off the fact that the one benefit of Gibbs over TSam is underutilized, I wonder if TSam would have been a better fit this season.

Its like we have one piece of the puzzle too many. Purvis and Adams both lose minutes for Gibbs. that would not have been the case with TSam here. Too many cooks are spoiling this broth.

 

[BoatShow]

Some revisionist history on TSams ability at the rim. He bricked more layups than anyone last year.

 

[August_West]

Some revisionist history on TSams ability at the rim. He bricked more layups than anyone last year.

That's probably true. He took some ill advised forced drives at times last year. Even with that he was a more creative finisher than purvis or Gibbs this season.

 

[djct1999]

This is a very easy hypothetical. I'd prefer Gibbs to TSam, 100x out of 100.

 

[8893]

Whatever warts we have now--and there are many--I think it would have been worse under your scenario, if for no other reason than because our ball handling would be even more horrendous than it is now.

TSam dribbled like the ball was square.

 

[storrs15]

TSam last year was brining nothing to the table. He was a sloppy ball handler who couldn't finish at the rim and played mediocre defense at best. I'll take Gibbs any day of the week

 

[August_West]

This is a very easy hypothetical. I'd prefer Gibbs to TSam, 100x out of 100.

As a player, no brainer.

Are we a better team? Would Gibbs minutes be better served by more Adams and Purvis and a smattering of TSam. Maybe.

 

[TasteofUConn]

a hypothetical I've been churning lately. This is all easy because it is hindsight, but it's food for thought. What if we didn't sign 5th year Gibbs and TSam didn't transfer. Would we be a better team right now?. . . (lots of stuff) . . . .

Stopped reading right there. Let me put your mind at ease young fellow. This isn't even a question.

But it does say a lot about where we are at this season that this even gets thrown out there.

 

[TheRogers]

Gibbs could really be something special for this team if used the right way. I'd rather have him than TSam. If Gibbs was used similarly as Ben, this team would be deadly.

 

[djct1999]

As a player, no brainer.

Are we a better team? Would Gibbs minutes be better served by more Adams and Purvis and a smattering of TSam. Maybe.

The answer again is no. A better question, one that is constantly being asked, is if we are better as a team with Gibbs playing the 2. Gibbs, the player, is not the problem. Gibbs, playing out of position, might be.

 

[August_West]

Please people read this with some nuance it is not a one to one trade deal. That is not the premise. The premise is would we have been better with Adams running the show with a TSam as a backup, and Purvis eating a few more minutes. Than having Gibbs at his current contribution level.

 

[August_West]

The answer again is no. A better question, one that is constantly being asked, is if we are better as a team with Gibbs playing the 2. Gibbs, the player, is not the problem. Gibbs, playing out of position, might be.

So since our coach is so willing to play someone out of position and not changing, could you say that not having Gibbs here to do that with might be better? I said that in my OP. What's the point of having him here if you aren't utilizing his one strength.

 

[CTBasketball]

It is a good case for a hypothetical.

I think we would be better with neither and signing Tyler Dorsey

 

[imno1]

It would be interesting just to see if he finally could hit a 3.

 

[August_West]

It would be interesting just to see if he finally could hit a 3.

Probably not lol. But KO doesn't want to play that way anyway. We are not a good 3 point shooting team as it stands anyway.

 

[bobbygt]

I think the biggest 'What if' in this scenario is whether Ollie would be doing the same thing as he's done with Adams this year-would TSam be starting over him?

But, if we assume that Adams gets the keys from day one, my guess is that this team would have about the same record, or maybe one or two more losses more, but would be picking up steam right about now and would be better and more consistent at this point in the season.

Again, I'm just indulging myself with this hypothetical. Gibbs has won the team a few games all by himself. But it's also clear to me that the backcourt situation is just as inconsistent as the frontcourt's and we can all see pretty clearly that Adams should be playing more.

 

[8893]

I realize that it is not the definitive statistic on this, but Fangraphs suggests that @Waquoit would have three fewer free orders of Buffalo Wild Wings if we had TSam instead of Gibbs.

 

[BUConn10]

Hmmm let me see. Can the guy in question to replace TSam hit any form of jump shot with at least 10% consistency? He can?

Then Gibbs every time.

 

[superjohn]

a hypothetical I've been churning lately.

This is all easy because it is hindsight, but it's food for thought.

What if we didn't sign 5th year Gibbs and TSam didn't transfer. Would we be a better team right now? Team is the operative word, we definitely would not be a more talented collection of individuals, but as a team playing the coaches system, would we be better?

I could make a case for yes.

Having TSam here instead of Gibbs turns the keys over to JA on day one. It would have speeded up his development and that would have been to our advantage as has become painfully obvious through the progression of this season.

I get what KO was thinking , upgrade talent level and experience to bring our frosh point along slowly. Especially in light of a front loaded early season OOC schedule where we desperately need wins to offset crap AAC. It is solid thinking, I get it. But it did not pay off. We lost those OOC games anyway.

TSam should never be confused with an elite division 1 point, but he was a very serviceable, solid backup, who has experience and greatly contributed in NCAA NC run. More than Gibbs has I dare say.

Furthermore the exact holes in Gibbs games that we ( and KO apparently ) all kvetch about are exactly what TSams strengths were.

We hate Gibbs on the break. TSam thrived in open court action
Gibbs doesn't hit the hole hard . That was TSams whole game in half court.
If Gibbs gets to rim, he can't finish. TSam was anabove average finisher
Gibbs defense comes and goes. TSam was a very good, consistent perimeter defender.

TSam couldn't shoot a lick. Gibbs is an elite shooter.one who we haven't taken advantage of this year at all. So in light of trading off the fact that the one benefit of Gibbs over TSam is underutilized, I wonder if TSam would have been a better fit this season.

Its like we have one piece of the puzzle too many. Purvis and Adams both lose minutes for Gibbs. that would not have been the case with TSam here. Too many cooks are spoiling this broth.

Adams would have been playing huge minutes at the start of the year which is intriguing to think how he may have developed but I think you are forgetting how horrible TSam was last year, he looked so out of place at this level. He did have some great moments in the torunament as a change of pace guy off the bench in a 3 man backcourt with the other 2 studs, once he was forced into big minutes the following year it became clear he wasn't a Uconn level player.

 

[UConnDad]

Looking forward to seeing a Penn State game next season!

 

[Bryan Lord]

Adams seems to be progressing just fine anyway but I see the argument.

 

[pnow15]

I agree that TSam was the perfect backup: for the wildcat offense on the football team.

 

[UconnFanDC]

Gibbs is not being used in the right place. At times neither is Hamilton. What hamilton bring to the team is special if used as a 2/3. 4 against smaller teams for the advantage. He should not be leading the team in assist. In my opion, the structure or expectation of the team and some players hurt what should be a less then 5 loss team. I cant help but to imagine what we would do in the Big ten or what Ohio State or Michigan would do in the AAc. or Texas for that matter.

 

[gtcam]

Whatever warts we have now--and there are many--I think it would have been worse under your scenario, if for no other reason than because our ball handling would be even more horrendous than it is now.

TSam dribbled like the ball was square.

BUT what you are misunderstanding is AW said his scenario would have forced JA to be PG at the start so TSam's ball handling would be minimized.
In addition - TSam understood the position better that SG will ever and his skills (except outside shooting) are on par
To me, SG has been the biggest disappointment this year

 

[ctchamps]

This is worse than turkey and philly chesse steak suggestions!