JJ Starling

[SU94]

My main point was his jumpshot used to be very good. He looks like he’s ailing

You see this in baseball sometimes, when a ballplayer/pitcher injures their shoulder (almost always a longer rehab that the elbow) that they sometimes have to re-learn how to throw the baseball. As if the muscle memory is gone or has to be re-wired (not literally). The shoulder compartment is extremely complex, and Starling is clearly working through something. He is obviously going to be frustrated, but honestly, I cannot think of a better person to work through it with him than Gerry.

I hope Starling can get it back and I think he will, but it may not be this season.
His HS jumper was damn smooth.

 

[DilemaCuse]

I don't know how much longer they can continue to start him and give him extended minutes. Last night was almost Jalen Carey bad. They almost need to play cuffe and Copeland over him. When westry gets healthy could cut into his minutes as well.

 

[mark79]

It’s tough when he doesn’t have a jump shot. Not really a hot take what I’m about to say but he’ll be back next year.

He’ll be running the point next year in Judah’s spot. You’ll have either Moore, Cuffe or Justin Taylor starting at the 2 next year. All of which are MUCH better shooters than Mintz and JJ. They compliment JJ better and JJ will be the guard that can get past his guy, drive and kick out. To be honest JJ and Judah are too similar of players in terms of strengths and weaknesses. Their strengths and weaknesses are pretty much the same. I think JJ will have a much better season next year when he’s the lead guard and the off guard will be a much better shooter to spread the defense out more. The lane is too congested for him right now when he gets into the paint. JJ is not having a problem beating his guy off the dribble, he’s having a tough time finishing around the rim, his jumpshot is not good and he’s had a couple sloppy turnovers.

Great post

 

[mark79]

It’s tough when he doesn’t have a jump shot. Not really a hot take what I’m about to say but he’ll be back next year.

He’ll be running the point next year in Judah’s spot. You’ll have either Moore, Cuffe or Justin Taylor starting at the 2 next year. All of which are MUCH better shooters than Mintz and JJ. They compliment JJ better and JJ will be the guard that can get past his guy, drive and kick out. To be honest JJ and Judah are too similar of players in terms of strengths and weaknesses. Their strengths and weaknesses are pretty much the same. I think JJ will have a much better season next year when he’s the lead guard and the off guard will be a much better shooter to spread the defense out more. The lane is too congested for him right now when he gets into the paint. JJ is not having a problem beating his guy off the dribble, he’s having a tough time finishing around the rim, his jumpshot is not good and he’s had a couple sloppy turnovers.

We saw JJ at his best the very first game when Judah didn’t play. That is the JJ we’ll get next year unless he can get his head straight this year with Judah as lead dog. It’s tough when two lead dogs are in there together. One of them has to win out.

 

[Eric15]

IMO we should start Judah/Taylor/Bell/Maliq/Naheem. That gives us more interior defense which is often a huge problem for us with Taylor getting pushed around by bigger forwards in the post.

Starling can be the first player off the bench for either Judah, Taylor or Bell to sub out. JJ is still a very good player so far this year, 3rd leading scorer, 2nd rebounds, 2nd assists.

But yeah, you simply can't have a starting shooting guard who is shooting 5.6% from deep. I wish that was a typo.

 

[Cusefan0307]

IMO we should start Judah/Taylor/Bell/Maliq/Naheem. That gives us more interior defense which is often a huge problem for us with Taylor getting pushed around by bigger forwards in the post.

Starling can be the first player off the bench for either Judah, Taylor or Bell to sub out. JJ is still a very good player so far this year, 3rd leading scorer, 2nd rebounds, 2nd assists.

But yeah, you simply can't have a starting shooting guard who is shooting 5.6% from deep. I wish that was a typo.

Taylor has the 2nd best defensive rebounding % on the team after Copeland and the 3rd best defensive rating after Brown and Copeland so defense against bigger guys for him really hasn't been the problem people think it is. I do agree someone should eat into JJ's minutes, but maybe that starts with Cuffe?

 

[jordoo]

His shooting is tough to watch but worse was the 4-5 turnovers that lead to easy points the other way. He needs to pass to open people not force the ball. There also seems to be a lack of court awareness on both ends. I get it he had a bad game and probably his continued shooting struggles are effecting the rest of his floor game. He has a lot of physical talent, he rebounds very well for his size and position, he gets assists when he isn't forcing his shot; That said Westry cannot get healthy fast enough . . . . . . . . .

 

[Sbucketball]

Anyone have a status update on Westry?

 

[Cuse44]

IMO we should start Judah/Taylor/Bell/Maliq/Naheem. That gives us more interior defense which is often a huge problem for us with Taylor getting pushed around by bigger forwards in the post.

Starling can be the first player off the bench for either Judah, Taylor or Bell to sub out. JJ is still a very good player so far this year, 3rd leading scorer, 2nd rebounds, 2nd assists.

But yeah, you simply can't have a starting shooting guard who is shooting 5.6% from deep. I wish that was a typo.

This 100%

 

[Cusefan0307]

Anyone have a status update on Westry?

I wouldn't expect much from him this season.

 

[OptimusOtto]

You can tell he’s pressing too. Towards the end of the game he got back to the line and missed the first one and you could see the stress and frustration.

 

[FrancoPizza]

if he's injured just redshirt him. don't need another garrett shrader soap opera.

 

[NineOneSeven]

It's obvious he's really trying but struggling to get that shot together. Back in HS he was a much better shooter and it's also obvious working back from injury has totally screwed with his mechanics. Now the entire mental side is part of it too, which becomes a tough cycle to break.

I was chatting with someone who has done some coaching around the CNY area and followed JJ in high school. I was told he's taking this really hard. He clearly understands it's an issue not just for him this year but any next steps, and rightfully so that elicits a lot of emotion. I feel bad for him. I really hope he can figure something out. Even just making 1 next game will be a good development.

 

[CuseTG2003]

It appears to me JJ is running the pg right now and Mintz is playing more off ball.

Realistically, his shot's so broken that it's not getting fixed in-season. JJ needs to focus on everything but shooting. Run the team, drive and kick, set others up, and play good D. He clearly has talent and can be a significant contributor to a successful team w/out shooting/scoring. Let Judah handle the scoring from 2.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Realistically, his shot's so broken that it's not getting fixed in-season.

why was there no attempt to fix it over the spring and summer?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Realistically, his shot's so broken that it's not getting fixed in-season. JJ needs to focus on everything but shooting. Run the team, drive and kick, set others up, and play good D. He clearly has talent and can be a significant contributor to a successful team w/out shooting/scoring. Let Judah handle the scoring from 2.

I think that is right.

It's hard having a perimeter player that never attempts a three, so he may be a candidate for the "take until you miss" rule when he's wide open.

If that means he gets one a game, but it's a really good look he boots, so be it.

 

[CuseTG2003]

why was there no attempt to fix it over the spring and summer?

I'm sure there was. Bad habits can be very tough to break, especially when there are likely injury-related structural issues involved.

 

[Sbucketball]

Brey and his staff really screwed Starling. They ruined him just to win 3 games in the ACC. I feel bad for him (and us).

 

[Brooky03]

What exactly happened with Starling's shoulder(s)?

I'm seeing that he sprained them but not that he had any surgery or anything. Then, I saw references to him changing his mechanics, which I assume was an effort to not sprain them again.

If I'm at all on target with this, changing mechanics to avoid re-injury is a questionable decision, to put it lightly. For my money, I'd keep the mechanics that were working and instead focus on making the shoulder more stable through strength and range of motion training. That seems like the obviously better solution, no? There wasn't anything about his HS shooting motion that seemed abnormal. This isn't a Tiger Woods putting insane shear forces on his knee type of situation. His shoulders seem to be not working the way they're meant to and it was decided to just let them keep not working right and come up with mechanics around that instead of fixing the actual problem.

What am I missing?

Edit: Reading some more, it sounds like he just kind of naturally changed his mechanics to avoid injury, subconsciously. Okay, that’s making sense. So, Gerry is trying to fix his mechanics back to what they were, yes? Needless to say, it’s going to be a long road because his mechanics now aren’t close.

 

[OrangeinDC]

Something is very off with him. Again I suspect lingering shoulder issues but here was his jumpshot in HS. Not even close to todays

JJ Jumper

Something that jumped out at me last night, is he's moving to fast, playing rushed, similar to what Sy Boogie would do. When you look at the roles solidifying on the team, I know what JJ's position is, but I don't really know his role other than to compliment Judah. Him and Kyle don't seem to have their roles clarified. I wonder if that's part of the issue with him? Injuries aside of course, but he seems like he's in his head.

 

[Jeremy L.]

My guess is after the surgery, the staff has tried to reconstruct his shot. I haven't seen shoot around, but what I hear is that he's a little better during warmups when he has the time and patience. My guess is that once he's in game, he goes back to what's comfortable for him or he's trying to rush what he's been working on. Probably going to need an offseason to get into the rhythm of a new jumper.

My guess is that he'll return for his junior season because of it when a lot of noise was him being one and done with Judah

 

[Cusefan0307]

My guess is after the surgery, the staff has tried to reconstruct his shot. I haven't seen shoot around, but what I hear is that he's a little better during warmups when he has the time and patience. My guess is that once he's in game, he goes back to what's comfortable for him or he's trying to rush what he's been working on. Probably going to need an offseason to get into the rhythm of a new jumper.

My guess is that he'll return for his junior season because of it when a lot of noise was him being one and done with Judah

He had surgery on his knee, not his shoulders.

 

[OrangeinDC]

It appears to me JJ is running the pg right now and Mintz is playing more off ball.

He's initiating the offense but I don't think he's playing true PG. Judah is a scoring lead guard and it looks like JJ is trying to duplicate him at times. Judah is doing a good job sliding between lead and scoring guard right now (don't think he's a true PG either). They're both combo guards that can play the 1 and JJ is still figuring out what that means.

 

[Sbucketball]

What exactly happened with Starling's shoulder(s)?

I'm seeing that he sprained them (AC joint I'm guessing) but not that he had any surgery or anything. Then, I saw references to him changing his mechanics, which I assume was an effort to not sprain them again.

If I'm at all on target with this, changing mechanics to avoid re-injury is a questionable decision, to put it lightly. For my money, I'd keep the mechanics that were working and instead focus on making the shoulder more stable through strength and range of motion training. That seems like the obviously better solution, no? There wasn't anything about his HS shooting motion that seemed abnormal. This isn't a Tiger Woods putting insane shear forces on his knee type of situation. His shoulders seem to be not working the way they're meant to and it was decided to just let them keep not working right and come up with mechanics around that instead of fixing the actual problem.

What am I missing?

He had some sort of shoulder injury and a knee injury last year. Wore wraps. I don't believe ND said much about his shoulder and the focus was more about his knee. Brey apparently changed Starling's shot mechanics because he was on the hot seat and couldn't afford to sit Starling given how bad ND was, but it didn't work, Brey got fired after winning 3 games, and ND broke a first round draft pick.

 

[jordoo]

Something that jumped out at me last night, is he's moving to fast, playing rushed, similar to what Sy Boogie would do. When you look at the roles solidifying on the team, I know what JJ's position is, but I don't really know his role other than to compliment Judah. Him and Kyle don't seem to have their roles clarified. I wonder if that's part of the issue with him? Injuries aside of course, but he seems like he's in his head.

That may be the case but it doesn't give you an excuse to drive into horrible situations which result in spotting the other team 8-10 points. That is what stuck out the most.