Glad Symir Sat On The Bench All Season

[tbonezone]

He was the only real PG on the team and his assists per min warranted more PT. This team might have made the NCAAs if:

PG
10 mins Joe
30 mins Symir

SG
20 mins Buddy
20 mins Joe

SF
30 mins Cole
10 mins Buddy

PF
30 mins Jimmy
10 mins Benny

C
30 mins Jesse
10 mins Frank

That would have kept everyone fresh. You have 6 "starters" at 30 mins per game and 2 guys at 10 mins per game (8 man rotation). But JB is stubborn. The talent was there he just used it horribly.

if you ain't got a bench capable of playing 2 minutes a half for your starters you ain't got a bench. building a bench and developing rotation is good coaching. JB doesn't.

 

[PhatOrange]

Symir at point all season with Joe at the 2 and Buddy at the 3 would've won more games period. Symir could handle all the pressure that anyone threw at him. He wouldn't have stumbled over his feet or got his pocket cleanly picked multiple times, or have to dribble with his back to the basket.

His dribble penetration would've opened up the shooters and freed guys underneath. He didn't need to score or have a great outside shot. Lazarus Simms couldn't shoot from the outside and neither could Scoop Jardine. Yet they ran the team.

This doesn't even consider that Symir is also a great a defender.

The only way the lineup was possible was if Cole and/or Jimmy came off the bench and we know Jimmy wouldn't have. But there's still no reason all 5 of them couldn't have played more with better combos and rotations. JB completely blew it.

 

[longtimefan]

He’s improved a lot and I’ve been impressed. He got playing time early on and he didn’t look that good until January and February. But yes there were games he should’ve gotten more playing time.

In addition, he had 2 injuries in the second half of the season that caused him to miss 4 games and be below optimum a couple of others.

If he had stayed healthy, we would likely have beaten UNC and Miami (Dome), and might have won at Pitt and at ND. How different would the season have looked?

 

[pearl31]

Symir at point all season with Joe at the 2 and Buddy at the 3 would've won more games period

eh highly highly debatable

 

[Trueblue25]

It’s amazing how much harder working and offensively involved our team appears to be when we have a second guard that plays defense, triggers transition and looks to create for others. Maybe this was the best Syracuse could have played today.

 

[PhatOrange]

eh highly highly debatable

It's not debatable.

 

[4evaOrange]

Imagine Sy and Jesse running the pick and roll and when not open kicking it to Joe who gets the open shot after his man moves to help.

 

[Alsacs]

I don't get the take that he can't be a big minutes guy because hes not a shooter. We have a team full of shooters, he doesn't need to shoot to be a big value add. We need a slasher / distributer and the dude is quicker than anyone else on the floor for us. Building a one dimensional team is one of the contributing factors for this crap season. A team has to have some diversity and levels. Really thinking he should have been a starter with JG3 spelling and rotating in at the SG even though it obviously was never going to happen.

Again the take is JB was blinded but something not wanted to be said out loud. Doug Gottljeb said it.


We relied WAY too much on Buddy.
Kid should have rotated like a lot of better guards before him.

Because Joe couldn’t play the SG he had to play PG.

 

[UpstateSM]

Got to hand it to JB, he really got these guys to play a great game. As an underdog he's done it his whole career. I respect the fact he's done it his way, not the way the so called fans want him to coach.

We were 15 point underdogs on a neutral court today. Syracuse basketball shouldn’t be about moral victories and being happy that our guys played hard.

 

[orangepassion]

Just like Jesse earlier, he wasn't ready.

 

[OrangeDW]

There were signs he should have been playing earlier. It's very reminiscent of Edwards last year.

Yup. Going way back to the GTown game. He made a huge difference in the first half, and then never played again. It cost us that game.

He should’ve been taking the reigns around that time, and in the following weeks.

Oh well, at least we’re finally freed up to play a real PG next year, after two wasted seasons.

 

[OrangeDW]

Symir = Z Sims. Right down to sitting the bench behind a shooting guard playing out of position at the point(Lloyd), as a Junior.

Easily the best passer and ball handler and decision maker on the team. You know….actual PG skills.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Symir = Z Sims. Right down to sitting the bench behind a shooting guard playing out of position at the point(Lloyd), as a Junior.

Easily the best passer and ball handler and decision maker on the team. You know….actual PG skills.

Yeah but Lloyd was fun because on the break usually you want the PG to give it up, but with Lloyd you wanted the PG to get it back because he was the best dunker we had.

 

[baggerbob]

Well it appears he can play the back line based on what we saw yesterday.

Your point guard on the national championship team didn't have an outside shot, but you don't win without Billy.

 

[OrangeDW]

Yeah but Lloyd was fun because on the break usually you want the PG to give it up, but with Lloyd you wanted the PG to get it back because he was the best dunker we had.

Moten being entrenched at the 2 was the issue.(just like Buddy this year) Lloyd couldn’t play the 2 much because Moten was there and was our best player.(though Moten could’ve played more SF, like he did early in his career.)

But Lloyd’s decision making wasn’t the best. He was really a 2 guard with a pretty good handle.

 

[Scooch]

I don't know how the season would have panned out had we played more of Torrance at the 1, and mixed the lineup more. But, that's precisely why you try that sort of thing out.

It really is mind blowing that we were a .500 team for essentially the entire season, and we rigidly stuck with the same lineup for all of it.

I mean, I watched the Celtics tinker with their rotation endlessly for months as they stumbled through the early part of the season. They've apparently finally hit on a good allocation of roles and minutes, but it took a lot of trying.

We didn't try.

 

[djcon57]

I don't know how the season would have panned out had we played more of Torrance at the 1, and mixed the lineup more. But, that's precisely why you try that sort of thing out.

It really is mind blowing that we were a .500 team for essentially the entire season, and we rigidly stuck with the same lineup for all of it.

I mean, I watched the Celtics tinker with their rotation endlessly for months as they stumbled through the early part of the season. They've apparently finally hit on a good allocation of roles and minutes, but it took a lot of trying.

We didn't try.

Jim said it. He doesn't experiment.

Until he does.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Moten being entrenched at the 2 was the issue.(just like Buddy this year) Lloyd couldn’t play the 2 much because Moten was there and was our best player.(though Moten could’ve played more SF, like he did early in his career.)

But Lloyd’s decision making wasn’t the best. He was really a 2 guard with a pretty good handle.

I remember him being more of a scorer than his stats suggest. He averaged 12.5 points a game (I thought it was more) and averaged a little over 5 assists (that's pretty good!).

 

[OrangeDW]

I remember him being more of a scorer than his stats suggest. He averaged 12.5 points a game (I thought it was more) and averaged a little over 5 assists (that's pretty good!).

Tough to score too much as the third option. Wallace and Moten were awfully good.

That team’s parts ended up being more than the sum, unfortunately.

And still I dream of a season like that now, lol. You mean we were a SEVEN seed before!??? Hallowed ground, now.

 

[CuseCPT]

JG3 is pretty good at the 2 it seems, wonder if any of his previous coaches ever tried that.

 

[pearl31]

If Sy can develop just a somewhat dependable jump shot, enough to keep defenses halfway honest, I could see him being a sort of Scoop Jardine presence for us

 

[shermstheman]

JB not reducing Buddy’s minutes was just shown wrong.

Torrence and Richmond could have played more minutes and slid Joe to 2 guard.

This game showed we could have played the guards more in a rotation.

JB not reducing Buddy’s minutes was just shown wrong.

Torrence and Richmond could have played more minutes and slid Joe to 2 guard.

This game showed we could have played the guards more in a rotation.

Buddy was first team ACC. Don’t you want to play those guys as much as possible? Sy is great but I think the point is to go three guard or go with who is helping most. In any case you want Buddy in a lot.

 

[tbonezone]

Jim said it. He doesn't experiment.

Until he does.

injury or foul trouble. the only times the old man goes to the bench. unless you're already doghoused. then it's 1 mistake. juggling minutes or defenses at his age is apparently too much for him. just keep it simple . like applesauce . no chew and easy on the digestion.

"who are we playing ?"

 

[shermstheman]

Not playing Torrence enough the entire season cost us games.

The Georgetown game he played for 5 minutes and didn’t play in the second half.

This year Torrence should have played 15-25 MPG.

Torrence did have a bunch of poor/mediocre games early. He developed. Could he have developed sooner? Maybe. But I have to trust minutes are earned. Sy earned his later we might have like but I certainly appreciate and trust him. He’s been great.

 

[OrangeDW]

Buddy was first team ACC. Don’t you want to play those guys as much as possible? Sy is great but I think the point is to go three guard or go with who is helping most. In any case you want Buddy in a lot.

The minutes per game of the first team all ACC guys:

31, 34, 32, 33, and 38.

Buddy is the outlier. He played too much, IMO. Should’ve been around 30 mpg.