Bell needs to step it up

[FireballPhil]

I personally think everyone needs to ease up on Bell. Granted he hasn't been as involved as we think he should be, but I suspect that is in part by design, trying to get everyone else comfortable. Bell has actually improved his game offensively, it looks like he has been working with someone trying to expand his game. I am actually quite shocked that he has shown more to his game. Defensively, everyone lets their guy get past them frequently, Bell has shown his tenacity to still stick with his guy and try to block it from behind. Bell is very serviceable, but the team needs to start working at getting him more looks. I suspect we will. As bad as it is barely squeaking by these teams, they have been getting a lot of very valuable experience. I see improvement in the team, Red looks like he is figuring out rotations. I think the team that shows up in NYC will look a lot different. I worry about Carlos and Lucas, and to a certain extent Eddie. We will find out soon enough.

 

[MikeSU02]

This year, 40.5% from the floor, including 22.2% from three. Awful. Doesn’t mean he can’t turn it around.

His PER, while it’s early, is three percentage points below what an average player would be.

I wouldn’t use it because it’s early, but he’s 8th on the team in DBPM and 7th in BPM, overall.

His rebounding % is basically the same as last year. His assist % is slightly up, which makes sense since Judah isn’t dominating the ball so much. But for a guy playing 34mpg, getting 3.3 boards and 1.3 apg isn’t great. Someone has to get stats and he is basically getting a minimal amount against his minutes.

Last game, he scored 9 points on 13 shots. Insane inefficiency. For the year he’s basically 14 points on 12 FGA per game. And that’s only going to get harder with our competition.

Last year everything was blamed on the guys that were tabbed as trouble. Fine.

But there is no wishing away Chris Bell’s troubles. He’s a junior. We just played three awful teams.

For those that think he’s doing ok, great. Can’t wait to see how we do in our next five games. Should become abundantly clear.

 

[cusefan88]

Bell is so hard on himself. Wish he would relax and let the game come to him. He's his biggest enemy. If he can cool it and stay calm he'll be fine.

 

[baggerbob]

agreed. It just frosts me that this kid has so much talent but doesn't seem to have the desire. My sense is he has been coddled too much when he should have been challenged. He would be better off with a mentor coach like Fran than Red.

Look if Bell didn't ever show any of the other abilities, then fine, but he has shown he can do the other things at times.
As a 3rd year starter he needs to step up and do all these things to help the team.
At this stage of his career, there are no more excuses.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

This year, 40.5% from the floor, including 22.2% from three. Awful. Doesn’t mean he can’t turn it around.

His PER, while it’s early, is three percentage points below what an average player would be.

I wouldn’t use it because it’s early, but he’s 8th on the team in DBPM and 7th in BPM, overall.

His rebounding % is basically the same as last year. His assist % is slightly up, which makes sense since Judah isn’t dominating the ball so much. But for a guy playing 34mpg, getting 3.3 boards and 1.3 apg isn’t great. Someone has to get stats and he is basically getting a minimal amount against his minutes.

Last game, he scored 9 points on 13 shots. Insane inefficiency. For the year he’s basically 14 points on 12 FGA per game. And that’s only going to get harder with our competition.

Last year everything was blamed on the guys that were tabbed as trouble. Fine.

But there is no wishing away Chris Bell’s troubles. He’s a junior. We just played three awful teams.

For those that think he’s doing ok, great. Can’t wait to see how we do in our next five games. Should become abundantly clear.

I think he just hasn't found his shot yet. The percentages make that a pretty obvious statement.

 

[Cheriehoop]

I think he just hasn't found his shot yet. The percentages make that a pretty obvious statement.

I’m surprised but I haven’t really seen any sets, screens specifically run for him - maybe I’ve missed them? I have seen Eddie find him a few times but yesterday when JJ was going off - Bell often was standing alone after his defender ran inside to give help on JJ. Maybe Chris was a decoy to help give JJ the room to drive since he was being covered and his defender was consistently late sucking in to give help. I do agree with Cusefan88 about his frustration when he misses. Red mentioned that in an article that he is very hard on himself and expects that he should be making every shot he takes. Red said he has talked to him about being able to shake off and forget about any missed shots. It’s what drives me nuts (or nuttier) is the bashing that goes on here when there’s no one who cares more about their performance than the players themselves and their coaches. .

 

[Bayside44]

First, I'm surprised that Bell isn't all world since I was told all his problems were because he was playing with Judah and Benny and the other malcontents on team Cobra Kai last year.

Second, he cannot play defense. That ship has sailed.

Yeah, he may be able to dribble a bit more than last year, when he was a two-dribble player. He may be a four-dribble player now. Congrats. It's his third year.

He is what he is. He had 9 points on 13 shots yesterday and, again, cannot play D.

It's over.

[EDIT: I have to note, I was super bullish on Bell making a leap this year. I have to take the L on that]

I'm gonna regret this, but...how many dribbles is a 6'8" guy supposed to take?