CJ can play shooting guard?

[JarHeadJim]

Eamonn Brennan from ESPN
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/84496/syracuses-key-returnee-c-j-fair

 

[JarHeadJim]

My bad Dan already posted this!

 

[HoustonCuse]

Ouch he completely forgot about Silent G. It is going to be hilarious what a firestorm that kid is going to cause in Maui when he starts and plays great. People are just going to be like WHAAATT?? WHO IS THIS CAT?

 

[cuseincincy]

When I started reading this I was thinking "what a tool Brennan is, of course CJ is more of a forward than a guard, he's not a guard by any stretch of the imagination!" But as I kept reading he made me think with his 4 forwards comment and I reflected back to Nova's successful 4 guard lineup. If Roberson is more of a player than Gbinje then I could see it at least possible for a lineup to include Grant, Cj and Roberson along with Rak and Ennis. Now that is of course calling Rak a forward which I guess is OK even though I see him as more of a 5. I don't think we could do this alot but if Ennis is everything we are hoping he is I think CJ is at least an adequate enough ball handler to be on the court with this group. Kind of interesting to me at least.

 

[orangefog]

Ouch he completely forgot about Silent G. It is going to be hilarious what a firestorm that kid is going to cause in Maui when he starts and plays great. People are just going to be like WHAAATT?? WHO IS THIS CAT?

Oh bother. I hate to break it to you, but Miles Davis passed away quite some time ago.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Brennan is an amateur. Poor offering on his part. Any one of us on here can do his job more than adequately.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

When I started reading this I was thinking "what a tool Brennan is, of course CJ is more of a forward than a guard, he's not a guard by any stretch of the imagination!" But as I kept reading he made me think with his 4 forwards comment and I reflected back to Nova's successful 4 guard lineup. If Roberson is more of a player than Gbinje then I could see it at least possible for a lineup to include Grant, Cj and Roberson along with Rak and Ennis. Now that is of course calling Rak a forward which I guess is OK even though I see him as more of a 5. I don't think we could do this alot but if Ennis is everything we are hoping he is I think CJ is at least an adequate enough ball handler to be on the court with this group. Kind of interesting to me at least.

I wondered too, but then I remembered that CJ (and Dirty) couldn't earn any real run last year at the 2g, when we had what had to be our worst 3rd guard in over a decade. And there was a talented forward in Grant that would have been nice to get some floor time. If it didn't happen last year, I doubt it will happen this year. Plus this coming year we will have more guards to chose from - Ennis, MG, Cooney, Buss, and possibly BJ. Jb will use those.

The four forward thing is just outright lunacy. We have our deepest crop of centers ever - Rak, BMK, and DC2. A beastly McD looks to be starting out as listed as third on the depth chart at the beginning of the year. A center will be on the court at all times next year.

If Brennan needed to stir the pot, he should have just gone to the tried and true. The old "We will have the most depth we have had in years, will JB press?" I would have fallen for it, I can't help it. I would have been "Yeah, he could rotate the guards and keep them fresh, and 15 fouls to give in the middle!, this is the year

 

[cuseincincy]

I wondered too, but then I remembered that CJ (and Dirty) couldn't earn any real run last year at the 2g, when we had what had to be our worst 3rd guard in over a decade. And there was a talented forward in Grant that would have been nice to get some floor time. If it didn't happen last year, I doubt it will happen this year. Plus this coming year we will have more guards to chose from - Ennis, MG, Cooney, Buss, and possibly BJ. Jb will use those.

The four forward thing is just outright lunacy. We have our deepest crop of centers ever - Rak, BMK, and DC2. A beastly McD looks to be starting out as listed as third on the depth chart at the beginning of the year. A center will be on the court at all times next year.

If Brennan needed to stir the pot, he should have just gone to the tried and true. The old "We will have the most depth we have had in years, will JB press?" I would have fallen for it, I can't help it. I would have been "Yeah, he could rotate the guards and keep them fresh, and 15 fouls to give in the middle!, this is the year

I think the 4 forward thing is counting Rak as a forward. And even with the depth I think this may be the least likely team to press with in my memory of SU. Backcourt quickness is NOT going to be a strength of this team.

 

[Gabjon]

I wondered too, but then I remembered that CJ (and Dirty) couldn't earn any real run last year at the 2g, when we had what had to be our worst 3rd guard in over a decade. And there was a talented forward in Grant that would have been nice to get some floor time. If it didn't happen last year, I doubt it will happen this year. Plus this coming year we will have more guards to chose from - Ennis, MG, Cooney, Buss, and possibly BJ. Jb will use those.

The four forward thing is just outright lunacy. We have our deepest crop of centers ever - Rak, BMK, and DC2. A beastly McD looks to be starting out as listed as third on the depth chart at the beginning of the year. A center will be on the court at all times next year.

If Brennan needed to stir the pot, he should have just gone to the tried and true. The old "We will have the most depth we have had in years, will JB press?" I would have fallen for it, I can't help it. I would have been "Yeah, he could rotate the guards and keep them fresh, and 15 fouls to give in the middle!, this is the year

The interesting thing is how do you define who is a forward? Mike G played the 3 in HS and at Duke but he is clearly a guard for us. BJ played the 3 in HS but he is more of a guard than CJ is. If you look at our roster only 3 players played guard in HS Ennis, Paterson, and Cooney everyone else is or was a forward except the centers of course. We will have 4 forwards on the floor in some shape or form next year, my guess is it will be the norm.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

I think the 4 forward thing is counting Rak as a forward. And even with the depth I think this may be the least likely team to press with in my memory of SU. Backcourt quickness is NOT going to be a strength of this team.

JB is already looking to put in MG, a converted forward, and probably BJ, another long convert. I just don't see CJ taking a guard spot.

If we add Barton to the mix, we will have 6 avg-good guards. We already have an avg-good 15 fouls to give at center. A way to use that to SU's advantage might be to press the ball up, LVille style. Tire the other team, try to quicken the pace, and give out minutes to a lot of different players. It always sounds good to me preseason.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

The interesting thing is how do you define who is a forward? Mike G played the 3 in HS and at Duke but he is clearly a guard for us. BJ played the 3 in HS but he is more of a guard than CJ is. If you look at our roster only 3 players played guard in HS Ennis, Paterson, and Cooney everyone else is or was a forward except the centers of course. We will have 4 forwards on the floor in some shape or form next year, my guess is it will be the norm.

Are you calling our centers forwards? The Rak at forward experiment is near dead. Even if he gets a token start there, it is really just to get him floor time before he goes to his best spot at center. Rak, BMK, and DC2 are centers. There were times last year when we had serious foul trouble where we may almost had to put in Grant or CJ in the middle, we then would have been playing a 3 forward lineup.

MG is now a guard. He put in a full year learning the SU way to play the position. There is talk that he will be the backup pg when Ennis needs a blow. You even state that he is clearly a guard for us.

So, yeah, if you call our centers forwards, and you call our guard MG a forward, you could try and make a convoluted case that we have will have 4 forwards on the floor. But really, IMO, the norm for us will be to have a center, 2 guards, and two forwards.

 

[orangefan13]

I am not saying its a definite or even likely, but imo I don't think rak at forward is as far fetched as people think. Rak is a JR and he is the most likely to play pf of DC2 and Keita. Plus JB favors upperclassmen and rak has 1-2 years on grant, roberson and BJ. He continually says we go as far as our upperclassmen bring us year after year.

Granted, he is alot like Paul Harris on the wing defensively. However, I don't believe he has gone full speed yet, and as he grows it will dawn on him time is running out. We could see some sort of lateral speed burst from him once he finds the will that Fab Melo, Senior Rick Jackson, and Kristoff found. I believe he has litterally three times the dormant will hiding in him of anybody on the team. But, he needs to have someone tear it out of him while he digs for it himself. The lack of pursuit to fall in love with hustle is a social disorder in basketball. A big man coach would probably help.

In the end JB is going to weight whether it would be a better option to go with Grant, Roberson or BJ over Rak, and Dajauns excellent dribble drive scoring ability will also factor in there. Frankly, we can sit around all day and state opinions as facts but I would be willing to bet JB would awnser the question "Can Rak play the four?" with ignorance preseason. JB is not the type to give up on things easily. Its not in his nature like ours.

 

[Col. Bleep]

Oh bother. I hate to break it to you, but Miles Davis passed away quite some time ago.

A nominee for the "oblique, subtle but funny criticism of word useage" hall of fame. (The OSBFCWUHOF)

 

[Gabjon]

Are you calling our centers forwards?

The interesting thing is how do you define who is a forward? Mike G played the 3 in HS and at Duke but he is clearly a guard for us. BJ played the 3 in HS but he is more of a guard than CJ is. If you look at our roster only 3 players played guard in HS Ennis, Paterson, and Cooney everyone else is or was a forward except the centers of course. We will have 4 forwards on the floor in some shape or form next year, my guess is it will be the norm.

I am not calling our centers forwards and I'm aware that Mike G is a guard for us and I believe BJ is too, but both of those guys would be forwards at other school so it all about perspective.