Frank Howard

[rrlbees]

I think for this team to be successful our PG needs to get all the other players involved. Not just two of them. That being said, when Frank has the ball, they all need to be ready at all times.

That’s the problem on this team. Only 3 guys can score.

 

[jgeorge322]

Not what I've seen. He gets sped up and makes mistakes, which is why they pressure him, but the turnovers aren't caused by poor ballhandling. The signs of a poor ballhandler are picking the ball up early, getting stripped, not being able to get by the primary defender when he's overly aggressive. Frank doesn't struggle with any of these three things more than most good point guards. He struggles with decision making and passing. He dribbles well enough to get to the spots on the court that he needs to get to to make plays. His problem is that he doesn't always know the correct spot to get to and doesn't know what to do when he gets there.

I don't care that he gets criticized; he deserves the criticism, but I think it's misplaced to put the bulk of it on his physical abilities (ballhandling). I don't think it's a secret that his problems start and end with what's going on between his ears.

I respectfully disagree. He does pick the ball up too early. He loses the ball when going up a lot. He has been known to dribble off his feet in the past. The genesis of the problems you are alleging is because hes not confident with his handle. Players who arent dont get sped up or make the mental mistakes you speak of. Plus, just look at how he dribbles. It looks loose. Again, my opinion and hope he can figure it out.

 

[br801]

eh gotta look at the A/TO ratio too

I think we will have to live with a relatively low A/TO ratio and hope he can do enough good things to make up for his turnovers. He isn't and never will be a conservative game manager like a Tyler Ennis. Frank makes a lot of passes that seem to surprise his teammates, he actively looks to his bigs for lobs, and he takes the ball agressively to the rim, all of which increase the chances for turnovers. Hopefully he will become more efficient as this very young group plays more together and develops better chemistry.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

That’s the problem on this team. Only 3 guys can score.

If he can get Chukwu the ball, he is either going to shoot 50% from the field or 50 or 60% from the line. Chukwu has good hands. Drive and dish.

 

[doc05]

He’s done more at this point in his career than Mike Gbinije did. Gbinije didn’t start playing well until the second half of his junior season.

What?! I could have sworn Gbinje played point for a Final Four team. Maybe I'm dreaming or something.

 

[Cusefan0307]

What?! I could have sworn Gbinje played point for a Final Four team. Maybe I'm dreaming or something.

Yes you are. At this point in Gbinijes career he had done less than Frank has.

 

[CuseLifer11]

Yay! Another Frank Howard thread.

 

[Sherman20]

Even if Frank was playing great Washington still needs to play! You can't have both guards playing 40 minutes every game, they'll be beat up and exhausted by February.

We do need more guard depth. We really need Geno to get over his ego and return to the team. I don’t think you can transfer again as a grad transfer.

 

[Sherman20]

He won 6th man of the year award in the Big East as a sophomore.

Stop. Sophomore scoop was awesome, that was his best season.

 

[Sherman20]

Yes you are. At this point in Gbinijes career he had done less than Frank has.

The start to Gbinije’s junior season was rough but he turned it completely around by ACC play.

 

[pearl31]

I think we will have to live with a relatively low A/TO ratio and hope he can do enough good things to make up for his turnovers. He isn't and never will be a conservative game manager like a Tyler Ennis. Frank makes a lot of passes that seem to surprise his teammates, he actively looks to his bigs for lobs, and he takes the ball agressively to the rim, all of which increase the chances for turnovers. Hopefully he will become more efficient as this very young group plays more together and develops better chemistry.

agree... but he is the PG and A/TO is the key metric for a team's PG

 

[MSOrange]

We do need more guard depth. We really need Geno to get over his ego and return to the team. I don’t think you can transfer again as a grad transfer.

Pretty much guarantee that Geno possibility has left the station and won't be coming back

 

[pearl31]

Yay! Another Frank Howard thread.

what'd jb have for breakfast this morn?

 

[doc05]

Yes you are. At this point in Gbinijes career he had done less than Frank has.

Ah, I see the qualifier (was on a flight). Still, that's not saying much at this point. Until Frank does well in conference play he hasn't proven much to me. Gbinje had a completely different role when he arrived.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

agree... but he is the PG and A/TO is the key metric for a team's PG

I think wins is the key metric

 

[moqui]

6 assists per game on a team that doesn’t shoot that well isn’t bad. And so far it’s 3rd in the ACC. He does play more mins than many so that helps but the lack of shooters hurts.

to normalize for games/minutes: he's currently 39th in the entire nation in assist rate . . . on a team that is ranked 331 out of 351 in 3pt pct, and only 131st in 2pt pct. that's solid work afaiac

 

[moqui]

I was traveling yesterday and was only able to listen to parts of the game. So I watched it this morning having the advantage of having read the board and all these Frank posts. Many of the things I read didn’t happen or were greatly exaggerated. None of the turnovers were due to a “loose handle”. One was a travel. A couple were passes and a lack of communication. Only on one did he show frustration when Moyer didn’t do something. The first turnover when he thought Moyer was going to zig when he zagged, Frank immediately pointed to himself. The others didn’t involve teammates. As to getting out on 3 point shooters, people may want to watch the game over. It happened once...maybe.

when you get too invested in your personal assessment of a player it becomes difficult to evaluate him honestly. i've fallen into that trap myself in the past.

 

[moqui]

he turns the ball over too much, but it's not a disastrous rate. some of our best recent teams have had lead guards who turned the ball over at similar rates. frank's to% at the moment is 24.2. here are some comps:

2010
triche 25.7
rautins 25.5

2012
scoop 24.3

2013
mcw 24.2

that's 3 thirty win teams, two #1 seeds, and a final four squad.

 

[pearl31]

he turns the ball over too much, but it's not a disastrous rate. some of our best recent teams have had lead guards who turned the ball over at similar rates. frank's to% at the moment is 24.2. here are some comps:

2010
triche 25.7
rautins 25.5

2012
scoop 24.3

2013
mcw 24.2

that's 3 thirty win teams, two #1 seeds, and a final four squad.

wow, interesting #s!

 

[supp]

he turns the ball over too much, but it's not a disastrous rate. some of our best recent teams have had lead guards who turned the ball over at similar rates. frank's to% at the moment is 24.2. here are some comps:

2010
triche 25.7
rautins 25.5

2012
scoop 24.3

2013
mcw 24.2

that's 3 thirty win teams, two #1 seeds, and a final four squad.

Yeah, but you have to admit that our margin for error is thinner this year. MCW is a great comp but he was also maybe the best guard we've had at the top of the zone. If Frank was better defensively to make up for the offensive lapses, there'd be fewer Frank threads.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Yes you are. At this point in Gbinijes career he had done less than Frank has.

Gbinijie was a SF/SG recruited by Duke. He then came here and was groomed to play PG because the staff knew Kaleb couldn’t hack it. He bailed us out.

Howard was recruited to be a PG.

 

[pearl31]

Howard was recruited to be a PG.

but he wasn't one in HS

 

[SoBeCuse]

but he wasn't one in HS

Banking on these combos/long guys to play PG is playing russian roulette, IMO.

 

[rrlbees]

Yeah, but you have to admit that our margin for error is thinner this year. MCW is a great comp but he was also maybe the best guard we've had at the top of the zone. If Frank was better defensively to make up for the offensive lapses, there'd be fewer Frank threads.

Frank is just fine defensively. Very good in fact.

 

[moqui]

Yeah, but you have to admit that our margin for error is thinner this year. MCW is a great comp but he was also maybe the best guard we've had at the top of the zone. If Frank was better defensively to make up for the offensive lapses, there'd be fewer Frank threads.

he's not mcw on the defensive end - we'll be lucky if anyone ever is - but i don't accept the narrative that he's a bad defender. the team defense is vastly better than last year, in large part because frank is a massive upgrade over the cat who had the gig most of last season.