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Better, but will it be good enough?
- Thread starter SUFan44
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You can't have JJ, and Donnie in 27 minutes each go 6-19, and 3-8 from 3. If that happens very often we will lose.
If you aren’t hitting shots get the ball to others.
DomeHolmes
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Three things I saw that can probably change: our turnovers were out of control, but hopefully that is just first game jitters for a lot of people. We missed lots of shots at the rim too. Finally, I expected much more drive and dish/dump from George. Again, there’s every chance of that could improve.
Even though it’s a small sample size, what I fear are three things that likely wont change much.
-We did not “out athlete” them as I had hoped. I thought the overall athleticism would be better. Didn’t really see a “Dawg”. (Except Kyle)
-We still don’t have that Alpha guy/freak athlete who can put it on the deck, get to the rim, and slam it home. It’s really hard to be elite without that guy.
-Buffalo got way too many easy looks at the rim. Either you have rim protectors or you don’t. It looks like we don’t. But still better than last year.
I think this season will depend on how often we win shootouts, and how well we take care of the ball.
Even though it’s a small sample size, what I fear are three things that likely wont change much.
-We did not “out athlete” them as I had hoped. I thought the overall athleticism would be better. Didn’t really see a “Dawg”. (Except Kyle)
-We still don’t have that Alpha guy/freak athlete who can put it on the deck, get to the rim, and slam it home. It’s really hard to be elite without that guy.
-Buffalo got way too many easy looks at the rim. Either you have rim protectors or you don’t. It looks like we don’t. But still better than last year.
I think this season will depend on how often we win shootouts, and how well we take care of the ball.
Orangezoo
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Donnie can be that guy you claim we don’t have. Remember he’s not played a game in almost a year. You saw him get his sea legs near the end. Let him shake the rust off.
Sadiq will most likely be that energy guy on defense who can elevate everyone’s level of play on that end.
Actually, it sounds like you don’t have an opinion. Right?
SUFan44
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I think we are better but I’m not sure we are as good as we all hope. We will see.
23Zone
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My takeaways
Betsey needs to see the court a lot this year. He was by far the most impressive player yesterday.
Donnie still does not play strong. Thinks he is a 2G. To be honest I was expecting more explosiveness. Maybe he is still holding back?
Starling continues to make bad decisions and honestly we are better when he plays less. I'd like him to play 20 minutes a game.
George will be fine at the PG. Needs to play 35 minutes. Fennel 5 minutes in relief.
Kingz and Kiyan at the 2G makes me feel very confident. Kiyan can stroke it but D probably needs to firm up.
Badly need Sadiq for a shred of toughness.
Womack, Tiawara, Zephir probably won't see the court much if any this year.
Kyle has the worst looking foul shot perhaps ever. With that said he did make some in 2nd half.
Not much sample size to comment on Soure.
Betsey needs to see the court a lot this year. He was by far the most impressive player yesterday.
Donnie still does not play strong. Thinks he is a 2G. To be honest I was expecting more explosiveness. Maybe he is still holding back?
Starling continues to make bad decisions and honestly we are better when he plays less. I'd like him to play 20 minutes a game.
George will be fine at the PG. Needs to play 35 minutes. Fennel 5 minutes in relief.
Kingz and Kiyan at the 2G makes me feel very confident. Kiyan can stroke it but D probably needs to firm up.
Badly need Sadiq for a shred of toughness.
Womack, Tiawara, Zephir probably won't see the court much if any this year.
Kyle has the worst looking foul shot perhaps ever. With that said he did make some in 2nd half.
Not much sample size to comment on Soure.
SUalldway
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Really impressed with Betsey's shooting from the "small?" forward position. He has a smooth shooting motion.
cusefan88
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He's going to be a great asset off the bench. He's a big guy. Definitely can play both forward spots and complement Donnie and Sadiq.
Betsy’s D was the least impressive of anyone wearing orange given his size and athleticism. But the flip side is his offensive skills were the most impressive. He has the physical traits to play solid D… and he needs to. I’m glad Autry yanked him in the 2nd after a pretty egregious set of plays. I agree he will be a solid piece off the bench.
TheHaze315
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I consider myself a pessimist in the sports world, but even to me some of these takes after 1 exhibition are something..
Niastri
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I disagree on one point. I thought Starling showed defensive intensity we haven't seen from him.
There was one possession where he initiated a one man press on their point guard and harassed him into nearly a 10 second violation. Sure, it was against a lower division PG in his first game, but when have we ever seen Starling do that?
The defense on a whole fell apart when they got up 18 points in the second half. Credit to Buffalo for continuing to play hard and making those five threes during their run. But then the starters came back in, and Buffalo was shut down the rest of the way.
Last season, that run when we had a lapse in our intensity would have meant a six point lead going to a six point deficit.
Last night, it meant an eighteen point lead going to a six point lead. Not great, but not a catastrophe.
FireballPhil
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I disagree, I thought JJ had a good game last night. He was a leader and didn't make any dumb mistakes. His shot looks much improved. He set the tone early and the team responded. I am much more worried about Donnie than I am JJ after seeing them play last night.
Feel like JJ was kind of going through the motions. I think we know what we are going to get from him at this point
FireballPhil
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Pretty much sums up what I got out of it besides JJ. I thought JJ started and finished strong, is clearly the leader of the team, but was quite in the middle of the game. A lot of that is due to the fact that he was playing the 2 instead of the 1 and when Fennel was in the offense was quite bit more shaky. This is where it will pay dividends down the road in that Adrian didn't have JJ take over but let Luke learn. The youth showed when the freshmen played, but they didn't to horrible. Hopefully they learn and grow.
23Zone
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I didn't notice the defensive breakdown but thanks for pointing that out. Personally I still wish we played the 2-3 zone with man-to-man principles. I think we finally have the length and athleticism. I'm not convinced we are ever going to be a good man to man defense with Autry at the helm.
Donnie was fine once they ran some p and r with him and George. I was struck in general by the lack of any sort of structured offense… they ran almost no pick and roll with George even though he’s know for that. They ran no high post with Freeman even though he is ideal for that type of role and offense. We saw very little drive and kick. Instead we saw a lot of dribble handoffs, but the few times they had some structure to the offense they almost always got a high quality open shot.
I am guessing (hoping) they are saving the structure for the games that count.
Eh if he can’t teach m2m he ain’t teaching the JB zone… it will be tavern league. But I did see improvement in the defensive strategy for sure.
FireballPhil
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It is hard to say much about your three points based off one game. The only thing I will say is that on your third point you have to remember Buffalo was just as big or bigger than us down low. Last years team would have lost this game just on the post play alone. I was worried going in how they would respond and I thought for the most part they did a decent job. After one game I am not to worried about the play under the basket, other than Donnie.
FireballPhil
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Did Donnie score any points on the floor or were they all from the free throw line? I do agree the pick and roll wasn't used as much, but I suspect it was to see how other guys could create their own space for shots hence a lot of hand-offs. I don't want to dog Donnie to much, it was his first game back against a physical team.
23Zone
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Fair enough
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