Cup half full?

[AccuRater]

One good thing to come out of the Fab situation appears to be the acceleration of Rak's development. His performance vs Cinti, while not equal to Fab at his best this year, was much better than he had shown earlier. If Rak's development continues, and Fab comes back later in the season, we will have an amazing presence for 35 minutes or so at the 5 during tourney time.

 

[jekelish]

My cup is always full, if you know what I mean.

(and I agree with you, the bright side of this is that it allows Rak more minutes and gets him experience, something we really need for him)

 

[All4SU]

Even though RAK has been starting, he probably hasn't felt like he was needed in the team concept. The ND may have been a bit overwhelming. Perhaps the Cincy game, he settled down a bit. Agree with you that this is the upside of Waiting for Melo.

 

[Orangezoo]

If Rak can develop some chemistry on offense with the pick n roll, continue to move his feet and better judge when to attack for the block vs when to stand his ground he would greatly minimize the loss. Add that to his ability to rebound and that huge loss becomes less and less. the biggest development in the cincy game was Rak showing the ability to make that pass to a guard on the backcut. This will open up the lane more for the Pick N Roll, keeping teams a bit more honest. Although he doesn't have the girth, his length and athleticism on top of being a pretty good basketball player should have us in a better spot than many think.

 

[BleedsOrange44]

The good thing is, they don't have to rely on him for offensive production. Just crash the boards and defend without getting into foul trouble and everything will be fine. He has a better matchup against WVU than he did against Cincy. WVU has no one of Gates' size and strength, even though Jones is a better player. He won't be able to shove Rak around I don't believe. But yes if Rak can develop and become a good rebounder, the team is that much better when Fab comes back and the rebounding issues may be all but gone.

 

[cusetown1]

Christmas is a great shot blocker and very athletic. If anything he can bring energy to the team. He will more than serviceable going forward. He just needed confidence.

 

[Oakland]

One good thing to come out of the Fab situation appears to be the acceleration of Rak's development. His performance vs Cinti, while not equal to Fab at his best this year, was much better than he had shown earlier. If Rak's development continues, and Fab comes back later in the season, we will have an amazing presence for 35 minutes or so at the 5 during tourney time.

His development has been accelerated by playing in games. I give JB a lot of credit for continuing to start RC despite his poor play and some slow starts by the team. JB did the same thing last season with Melo, which is one reason he is playing better this season.

 

[SUintheVille]

While I am very glad Rak had a very good game against Cincy, that was one game. One game previous, he was not good against ND. Surely he will continue to learn, but he may also still have some bad games...he is still learning. But the overall trend will be up, just not necessarily up every game. We all know that.