If Griff ever shows up

[Wrinkle]

You're right he should, if he was effective, clearly he isn't and we've made an impossible turnaround on a lost season with him not playing starter minutes.

Ever since Kadary and Braswell started playing more, our forced, rushed, off balanced, and I'll say it bluntly, dumb shots have become a thing of the past. We're a better team with a better shot selection with better ball movement while playing better defense, a lot of that is because of Kadary and Braswell, or the lack of Joe and Griffin the two guys who stop ball movement, force bad shots and who are the two worst defenders.

I'm certainly not advocating for Griffin over Kadary and that's not the reality of the rotation. I believe you're exaggerating Griffin's struggles. Outside of his disastrous performance vs UNC he has not been bad at all when given minutes. 26 vs Gtech, 22 and 10 and 4 blocks in a critical win vs Clemson, 12 8 and 5 on good shooting vs nc state, and he's been sitting since. Listen man we're winning so I'm OK, but I certainly think we will need Griffin's contributions if we really want to make this a run

 

[Ajflood12]

yeah...its weird he's hit an extended slump just as the team (and almost every other player minus QG, maybe) has hit its high.

Its his defense. He really isn't big enough to cover for a power forward (marek) at center. hes scrappy and gives it his best. He still doesnt quite get how to rotate...but he's also being asked to do things defensively that are a bit beyond him, i think. He cant stop a power forward/center from scoring or getting rebounds AND shut down the 3 on his side of the court...

He should be a guard. It should be a 4 man guard rotation. he is a shooting guard, imo.

But I think he was told if he came to SU he'd be a starter and the only slot was at forward...so thats where he is.

If youre gonna go undersized center...you gotta go with 2 power forwards...hence braswell (who is taller and plays bigger down there)

Agreed but he doesn’t have the handle for a guard or much awareness to protect the ball in traffic. If we were getting a full court press I would be scared to see him and joe bringing the ball up. That would get messy.

 

[Trueblue25]

Sticking by it.

He’s too good when he’s on to not give him a few minutes in the first half to see if he can get it going.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Agreed but he doesn’t have the handle for a guard or much awareness to protect the ball in traffic. If we were getting a full court press I would be scared to see him and joe bringing the ball up. That would get messy.

I think he could do it. He had 2 or 3 nice passes that led to buckets vs WVU...his drives and dishes are dangerous. He's an underrated passer...or maybe better put passing is an underutilized but strong part of his game.

That could be a surprise attack method for SU in the next games...Griffin driving to PASS...

He normally just drives to shoot...could catch another team off guard. would def not be in the scouting report.

Breaking the press is something he needs some more coaching/training on...but well within his skillset.

 

[orangemass]

Houston is not a good match up for Griffen... We will need all hands on deck to protect the backboard and that isn't his strength... I expect to see a lot of Bobby B, brass ones

 

[jsshap]

We can’t keep starting him. He’s cooked.

Joe(I mean...but...yeah), Buddy, Bras, Q, Marek next game.

Griff is gone. I have negative confidence there at this point. Why bother?

I give him much credit for being so happy for team at end of the game yesterday. It’s an incredibly short leash for him right now - arguably unfairly so - but 3/4 players would not handle it like that.

 

[CardiacCuse]

it’s interesting that when the game is on the line and we need a stop, he plays Kadary, yet said in the presser that Joe is better in the zone.

ah well, id rather he just say it than actually play it the other way, I guess

overall kadary is clearly the better defender (a great 1 on 1 defender and great at stealing the pass)...but i did notice the same in a few recent games...that kadary's rotations and stopping of penetration etc were not airtight and in some cases not quite as good as the starters perhaps...cant remember the game(s), but i remember thinking along the same lines recently (which surprised me)...so I dont think hes just saying it. I think buddy and joe (to an extent) have stepped up their d lately too.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Houston is not a good match up for Griffen... We will need all hands on deck to protect the backboard and that isn't his strength... I expect to see a lot of Bobby B, brass ones

yeah agreed...i think the houston game will be won or lost on the boards.

 

[Trueblue25]

Houston is not a good match up for Griffen... We will need all hands on deck to protect the backboard and that isn't his strength... I expect to see a lot of Bobby B, brass ones

I don’t disagree - just funny that while that’s probably true, Griff leads us in blocked shots by far

 

[Sherman20]

overall kadary is clearly the better defender (a great 1 on 1 defender and great at stealing the pass)...but i did notice the same in a few recent games...that kadary's rotations and stopping of penetration etc were not airtight and in some cases not quite as good as the starters perhaps...cant remember the game(s), but i remember thinking along the same lines recently (which surprised me)...so I dont think hes just saying it. I think buddy and joe (to an extent) have stepped up their d lately too.

I think that’s because of the tendinitis. You can see Kadary doesn’t quite have the same spring in his step on D that he did before this injury flared up. He’s battling and still able to make some incredible plays and break down the defense off the dribble, but he’s def been slowed by this injury. You can see how gingerly he runs on it at times. The good thing is that Joe has really stepped up his play.

 

[CardiacCuse]

I think that’s because of the tendinitis. You can see Kadary doesn’t quite have the same spring in his step on D that he did before this injury flared up. He’s battling and still able to make some incredible plays and break down the defense off the dribble, but he’s def been slowed by this injury. You can see how gingerly he runs on it at times. The good thing is that Joe has really stepped up his play.

I think that's most of it but also just being a freshman and not enough minutes yet in the z0ne to have it on auto-pilot like an upper classman.

 

[OrangeinDC]

You're right he should, if he was effective, clearly he isn't and we've made an impossible turnaround on a lost season with him not playing starter minutes.

Ever since Kadary and Braswell started playing more, our forced, rushed, off balanced, and I'll say it bluntly, dumb shots have become a thing of the past. We're a better team with a better shot selection with better ball movement while playing better defense, a lot of that is because of Kadary and Braswell, or the lack of Joe and Griffin the two guys who stop ball movement, force bad shots and who are the two worst defenders.

We still have occasional dumb shots... poor passes and bad D, it didn't all go away. Griff is to good of a player and kid (from what I've seen) to just give up on him and not try to get his confidence back, just my opinion. I love Bras and think he should have been playing all along, his defense is better then Griff's at the forward but Griff has better offense. Dude is an SU player, so I don't root for him to fail nor will I say him, were good. Would love to see some coaching him up from his funk vice kicking him to the curve. Also, Griff is a 2, not a three, no different the MD playing out of position.

Here's another point I think people miss... Q plays better when Griff plays well, if you look at the trend. Offensively, when Griff is hot, you can't slack of Q. We are not talking about a player that may give you 5-7 points a game on a good day, Griff can do some things and drop 20+ on someone at any time when his playing well. Different situations call for different players so I'm not bitching about our recent games. But for the record Griff is not dumb, he's not challenged, he's not mental, he's not a head case... (not saying you implied that two3), He's a kid figuring it out and he's one of ours.

 

[SUOrangeSU]

The thing that's working in his favor (probably the only thing right now)...Houston is probably not going to game plan at all for him and will probably draw the worst perimeter defender. He legit could be an x-factor on Saturday. I hope the coaches are being positive with him, talking him up. He just needs to not force it. Let it come to him.

But man, he is cheering and jumping around on that bench like crazy. It's great to see