Frank

[rrlbees]

I agree .. off the ball as in on the bench

Some of you guys are going to be miserable again next year. Enjoy the accomplishments.

 

[Col. Bleep]

4 sources closer to the program than yours told me Frank is a PG, always was a PG and always will be a PG. Anyone that can’t see he has always been a pass first guard...I can’t help you. 3rd in the conference in assists with the WORST finishers in the nation down low. Yeah... he’s a SG.

I cut Frank Howard a lot of slack...especially playing sick or recuperating.
He may have been recruited to be a point guard but he was mostly a 2 in high school.

Franklin Howard - Basketball Recruiting - Player Profiles - ESPN

There are certain positions in sports that someone excels at because he or she is a natural for it.
A quarterback in football.
A pitcher in baseball.
A goalie in hockey,
And a point guard in basketball.

The skills can be taught but you've got to have an innate feel for it.
A talented athlete can learn the skills.
But it's not easy and natural pure points, say Sherman Douglas or Pearl, are generally the ones who really excel.
(The best example I can think of offhand was Jason Kidd. He could score 2 points all game and totally control the basketball game).

Frank Howard is still learning.
He's not a natural point.

For that matter, neither is Jalen Carey.
But he's playing and learning it this year.
That's a nice head start.

 

[MGP]

Ha. I was going to say the exact same thing. I think it’s the opposite of what was said. He always seems to come back with something good after a mistake. That’s mental toughness, another thing people say he doesn’t have. All this psycho analysis is nuts. Frank is no different than any other player. Except he’s the only one on this team that tries to pick guys up after their own mistakes.

I agree Bees. I guess I meant more immediately after mistakes. Seems like most of his TO's or bad decisions translate into 2 pts. the other way or a dumb clutch/grab foul. He compounds his mistakes. I totally agree he comes up big after. (BTW, nobody did that better than 'Melo). Disagree as to Frank is no different than any other player. I believe his BB IQ lacks, and some of that is owed to his lack of mental focus at times. Again, more of my observation as an explanation of why he can be so frustrating/exhilarating more so than psychalalization. He's ours and we've got to ride him through good and bad...

 

[kuethstheman]

Actually when he turns it over it’s usually passing the ball but getting stripped or bouncing it off his foot or mishandling it. Those are myths perpetuated by others. Last night he had the two early turnovers. One was a one handed pass to someone where the ball slipped out of his hand and the other he tried to dump it down to Dolezaj and passed it too high.

I was down on Frank early in the season because he made a lot of mistakes and they seemed to be due to lack of focus. He's been terrific through the ACC schedule. We're lucky to have him, even if he doesn't have the best handle for a PG.

 

[bpo57]

4 sources closer to the program than yours told me Frank is a PG, always was a PG and always will be a PG. Anyone that can’t see he has always been a pass first guard...I can’t help you. 3rd in the conference in assists with the WORST finishers in the nation down low. Yeah... he’s a SG.

Also has to be up near the very top of the national charts in terms of turnovers. You can't hang that all on his surrounding cast. Have you ever seen somebody that reacts more slowly to a double team trap? That said, I agree with you that he's not a SG.

 

[rrlbees]

I was down on Frank early in the season because he made a lot of mistakes and they seemed to be due to lack of focus. He's been terrific through the ACC schedule. We're lucky to have him, even if he doesn't have the best handle for a PG.

You’re right, he made a lot of turnovers early in the season, then the last 12-13 games of the regular season, which was our toughest part of the schedule, he averaged 2.1 which is great for a 40mpg guy. There was an uptick during the ACCT, but then last night he was back to 2.

 

[JazzNC]

Just my two cents... Syracuse WON THE GAME! I'm not a huge Frank fan, but my goodness...Frank played sick. Enough about his performance last night. Let's focus on getting him back to 100%, and on our next opponent TCU.

 

[bpo57]

You’re right, he made a lot of turnovers early in the season, then the last 12-13 games of the regular season, which was our toughest part of the schedule, he averaged 2.1 which is great for a 40mpg guy. There was an uptick during the ACCT, but then last night he was back to 2.

In 20 ACC games this year he averaged 3.25 turnovers per game and shot well below 40% from the field and from three. Those #s are not very pretty. For sure he had some solid games in ACC play but the lack of consistency was clear.

 

[Orangezoo]

Actually when he turns it over it’s usually passing the ball not getting stripped or bouncing it off his foot or mishandling it. Those are myths perpetuated by others. Last night he had the two early turnovers. One was a one handed pass to someone where the ball slipped out of his hand and the other he tried to dump it down to Dolezaj and passed it too high.

I say give an assist to Devo on this. That was a staple of Eric's when he played.

 

[br801]

Ha. I was going to say the exact same thing. I think it’s the opposite of what was said. He always seems to come back with something good after a mistake. That’s mental toughness, another thing people say he doesn’t have. All this psycho analysis is nuts. Frank is no different than any other player. Except he’s the only one on this team that tries to pick guys up after their own mistakes.

"Psycho analysis" is right.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

No doubt that he's not a natural PG. You have to have a certain feel for the game and you have to be secure with the ball. Not sure he's a natural SG either as the percentages clearly show. If SU had a more typical roster similar to what they've had during the JB era then Frank would be a guard coming off the bench.

How do the percentages clearly show that? There is absolutely no way you can show anything from his percentages shooting the ball while being the PG as well and how that would relate to him being able to just be a 2G.

The Frank hate is strong with this one...

 

[rrlbees]

Also has to be up near the very top of the national charts in terms of turnovers. You can't hang that all on his surrounding cast. Have you ever seen somebody that reacts more slowly to a double team trap? That said, I agree with you that he's not a SG.

First site I looked at didn’t have him anywhere near the top for turnovers per 40 mins.

 

[rrlbees]

In 20 ACC games this year he averaged 3.25 turnovers per game and shot well below 40% from the field and from three. Those #s are not very pretty. For sure he had some solid games in ACC play but the lack of consistency was clear.

For 40mpg 3.25 isn’t that bad at all.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

The guy has strep throat lol. Man Frank gets slated every night by this board. What a shame. Team would be horrendous without him and not even in the CBI.

Gotta take the good with the bad.

Just for the sake of clarity, believe it was said yesterday that the CBI doesn't take P5 conference teams, so even without him we wouldn't play in that tournament.

It should be noted that I can't confirm that assertion.

 

[AZOrange]

I actually think the recruiting has been mostly fine. I think a bigger issue is player development. Everyone on the roster is a 4 star player. We aren't developing skills like we used to.

Totally agree. Made this point re fundamentals last week and drew a lot of the same ire that is here. We have had a great year considering our limitations and JB and the players have done a fantastic job. But if you ask any questions about the players/coaching/teaching it’s negative. I just wanted to know what was up with Frank.

 

[AZOrange]

For 40mpg 3.25 isn’t that bad at all.

You can’t discount the mpg or the lack of people to pass to.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

This whole is Frank a point guard or not discussion kinda misses the point that he projects as small ball power forward at the next level.

Try to keep up with what really matters, sports fans.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

This whole is Frank a point guard or not discussion kinda misses the point that he projects as small ball power forward at the next level.

Try to keep up with what really matters, sports fans.

You know some people are going think you are serious. It's time for you to embrace the sarcasm font...

 

[OttoMets]

I actually think the recruiting has been mostly fine. I think a bigger issue is player development. Everyone on the roster is a 4 star player. We aren't developing skills like we used to.

There's something to this. For 30-odd years, the goal was use four years of instruction to turn a guy who can't shoot into a guy who can shoot. Now kids come in and are branded as "can't shoot" and they're not allowed to shoot, to the detriment of their all-around game.

 

[br801]

You know some people are going think you are serious. It's time for you to embrace the sarcasm font...

I put people who use the sarcasm font on ignore.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I put people who use the sarcasm font on ignore.

I do the same to those who don't....

 

[br801]

I do the same to those who don't...

Did you say something?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

You know some people are going think you are serious. It's time for you to embrace the sarcasm font...

Not gonna.

 

[rrlbees]

Two sources close to the program told me Frank isn’t a PG but a SG playing PG to help the program.

He struggled with the ball but overall was a gamer.

Interesting.

 

[bpo57]

How do the percentages clearly show that? There is absolutely no way you can show anything from his percentages shooting the ball while being the PG as well and how that would relate to him being able to just be a 2G.

The Frank hate is strong with this one...

Just my opinion. I haven't seen any evidence that he's a particularly good outside shooter. I guess you're saying that his shooting would improve if he were a 2G. Hard to know that. There were PGs playing today that shoot 8-10 percentage points higher than Frank from three.