Does Boehiem have Roberson on too tight a leash? | Syracusefan.com

Does Boehiem have Roberson on too tight a leash?

CuseitUp

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Is it just me, or is Boehiem yanking Roberson way too quickly. Next year, this guys our 3, and we are probably not going to have a Cooney sized improvement out of him, so just wondering what Boehiems thought process is to not give him more minutes whenever possible.
 
When you have 2 guys like Grant and Fair, it's probably hard for JB to sit there and let missed defensive assignments continue happening when you know you could just put CJ or Jerami back in and those mistakes are less likely to happen. Not to mention all our games have been close, so we can't exactly afford to give away points or possessions. I would definitely like to see Tyler get more PT because I think we'll need him, but I can understand where coach is coming from.
 
I'm not sure it's even a short leash. Like somebody else said, Grant and Fair are there. He is going to play the best guys, he always has and always will. JB plays every single game to win, he plays every minute to win and will do it. So far it's worked for him.
 
Of course it's a short leash but it's the same leash Christmas, Fab Melo, Cooney were all on. Not going to change. This is why a lot of people, myself included, wish would could just come up and blow someone out of the building instead of letting teams hang around, so a guy like Roberson could get a solid 20 min of play. Otherwise it's 2 min here or there which can't be easy on him.
 
Of course it's a short leash but it's the same leash Christmas, Fab Melo, Cooney were all on. Not going to change. This is why a lot of people, myself included, wish would could just come up and blow someone out of the building instead of letting teams hang around, so a guy like Roberson could get a solid 20 min of play. Otherwise it's 2 min here or there which can't be easy on him.
It does haave to be tough for these kids. But if you're Roberson, look at the past 4 or 5 years and see how many players have gone through this iwth JB their freshman years who then contributed massively the rest of their careers. Also, he knows that Grant and Fair won't be here next year; there's 80 minutes of playing time available on the wings next year, and only McCullough is around who will match him. Roberson should easily get 30mpg+ next year unless Jerami comes back.
 
I see where your coming from, but with Coleman and Baye out, we have 3 guys effectively playing 40 mins each(5 if you count the fact that Gbinije never comes in). That is definitely not good for the team. In years past, at least we had some rotation going on, guys werent the only backup, yet benched. An example, at the end of last game, we played Grant/CJ/Gbinije/Cooney/Ennis rather than Grant/CJ/Roberson/Cooney/Ennis why? I have no idea, and we were up DD.
 
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I see where your coming from, but with Coleman and Baye out, we have 3 guys effectively playing 40 mins each(5 if you count the fact that Gbinije never comes in). That is definitely not good for the team.

How exactly do you know this in light of the fact we are 144-26 since the start of the 2009-2010 season and 23-0 this year?
 
Most coaches want players to be aggressive on shots that they know players can hit efficiently. Him shooting a 3 fairly early into the shot clock coupled with it being low percentage will not help him get more minutes. On a positive side, Roberson defensively has improved. His positioning is better, and he hustles out to shooters nicely.
 
Roberson has been hurt by not being able to participate in summer practices / scrimmages. He's definitely capable of more than he's shown, but at this stage of the season is still pretty green and doesn't have JB's confidence defensively--which is the kiss of death for PT.
 
JB will worry about next year next year. He plays to win every game and isn't gonna jeopardize losing a game this year in hopes of developing a player for next year.
Hello! You play to win the game.

Well said.
 
Is it just me, or is Boehiem yanking Roberson way too quickly. Next year, this guys our 3, and we are probably not going to have a Cooney sized improvement out of him, so just wondering what Boehiems thought process is to not give him more minutes whenever possible.
How long you been watching Syracuse play?
 
RF2044 said:
Roberson has been hurt by not being able to participate in summer practices / scrimmages. He's definitely capable of more than he's shown, but at this stage of the season is still pretty green and doesn't have JB's confidence defensively--which is the kiss of death for PT.

This is turning into an old excuse for me. He's been eligible for plenty of time now to get with the program.

He has shown sparks already that he can be a great player down the road. He just isn't there yet. A month of practices and scrimmages wasn't going to change it.
 
Is it just me, or is Boehiem yanking Roberson way too quickly. Next year, this guys our 3, and we are probably not going to have a Cooney sized improvement out of him,

And what basis do you have for saying that?

One of the toughest things people do, yet they do it year-in and year-out, is to project how a player will play the ensuing year based upon the way he is playing in the current season - especially younger guys who are getting little to no playing time.

Regardless, a potentially highly beneficial, unintended consequence of Keita being out for a few games is that either Roberson, Gbinije or both should get more playing time - which could pay dividends down the road.

In 2003, a highly beneficial, unintended consequence of the Billy Edelin suspension was that Josh Pace was inserted into the rotation while Billy was out. It paid substantial dividends for us in the tourney.
 
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Gbinije was one of the top 3 players on the floor first half against unc. Granted it was at guard, he played real well.
 
JB rides his starters, upperclassmen much more than any coach out there -always has, always will. The only way a freshman gets PT is out of pure necessity (Ennis). It is the reason why I laugh when SU gets praised for huge sophomore leaps; when you go from 1 min a game to 25+, you will look a whole lot better, typical player growth aside.
 
JB had a quote the other day where he said he's trying to develop an 8th guy. I don't understand how yanking Roberson so quickly is "developing" him. It's fine that he's coaching to win the game, but the games in March (and April) are what matter the most. Right now, we have literally nobody behind CJ and Grant and, with Keita out, nobody behind Christmas. Even if both CJ and Grant are getting 36 minutes a game that leaves 8 Roberson could be getting. When both of them were playing like crap against Notre Dame, especially Grant, that was the perfect time to see if Roberson could establish a bit of a comfort level. We've seen it happen before where a guy that was getting no playing time was forced into the lineup, and did much better once he wasn't looking over his shoulder. Demetris Nichols his sophomore year comes to mind.
 
if the kid shows the right stuff in practice he has a better chance of getting time in a game.
 
I dunno what we are even arguing apart. JB has done this for 30+ years! It will only change due to injury (see Riley in 2010.) That said, we do have an injury problem right now. While Keita is out, Roberson will probably play 8-10 mins/game (possibly more if Rak gets in foul trouble.) When Keita comes back, he will get 0-3 mins, as per usual.

Can we please stop talking about this? One of the worst threads I have seen here.
 
I see where your coming from, but with Coleman and Baye out, we have 3 guys effectively playing 40 mins each(5 if you count the fact that Gbinije never comes in). That is definitely not good for the team. In years past, at least we had some rotation going on, guys werent the only backup, yet benched. An example, at the end of last game, we played Grant/CJ/Gbinije/Cooney/Ennis rather than Grant/CJ/Roberson/Cooney/Ennis why? I have no idea, and we were up DD.


I don't agree with some of your points, but let's just play this scenario out. Let's assume at face value that we will in fact have five guys who need to be iron men on Wednesday [barring foul trouble]. JB is going to need to find ways to "steal" minutes with subs like Gbinije and Roberson. Gbinije might have to play up front just in tandem with either forward, just so that JB can get each of them down for a quick rest. Roberson is similarly going to have to play. Grant can't play 4, then battle inside at 5, without getting some rest.

Also, JB might have to make more judicious use of his timeouts than usual, just so that the team can sit down for 3 minutes of real time during commercials. No use bringing them into halftime, so to speak.

If we get to the end of the game in one piece [i.e., Rak not shackled to the bench with 4 fouls in only 12 minutes of playing time], I like our chances. Even if we have 5 players having to play close to 40 each, the end of games really bog down with timeouts, free throws, etc. adding some "built in" stoppages where our players can steal a moment of rest or two.
 
What I don't like about Gbinije at one of the forward spots, is that it feels like we are compromising a strength to only possibly get better ball-handling, offense. I like him at the guard spots, but he sure looks like a T-Rex 6'7" to me, and all that length/close out speed seems to be gone with him at the back of the zone.
 

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