In Defense of Starling

[Otto21]

I’m really curious how this will play out, because I’ve heard Autry call JJ one of the best guards in the league and country more than once and not all that long ago. Has known JJ a long time. I’m excited for the new faces but who knows what’s going to happen. I’m hoping Donnie is the clear number one option. The rest? Going to be interesting for sure.

 

[Niastri]

ok.

so you think the defense is all set then?

and im crazy for thinking it might not be?

They are using standing reach and wingspan as a substitute for tall. The fact is, using Kyle for an example, with a 9’ standing reach and a 44” vertical leap, his ability to contest shots might be the best we’ve ever had, based on pure ability to get his hand highest in the air.

More importantly, the guys I referenced (Kyle, Souare and White) all have very long arms, good to great hops and agility unusual for a player their size.

This is going to allow switching, double teams, weakside shotblocking and recovery that we haven’t had in a while. Even Freeman, who was terrible last season at rotating to help on defense was much better by the time he was injured.

Compared to last year, our forwards are going to be much better defensively. It won’t be close, especially whenever you use the lineup after Freeman’s injury…

Our guards weren’t any good at defense last year, either. Taylor, Cuffe and Carlos were our only positive DBPM players last season, and they combined for 2.6 DBPM.

Starling wasn’t great, but George was a 1.2 and Kingz a .4, so we’re at worst a wash, and likely an improvement.

Anyway, we’ve reached the silly season where we’re hypothesizing without any additional data… I feel like I’ve made those points previously.

We’ll see in the Fall how much better the team is. I think it’s going to be a lot better.

 

[djcon57]

They are using standing reach and wingspan as a substitute for tall. The fact is, using Kyle for an example, with a 9’ standing reach and a 44” vertical leap, his ability to contest shots might be the best we’ve ever had, based on pure ability to get his hand highest in the air.

More importantly, the guys I referenced (Kyle, Souare and White) all have very long arms, good to great hops and agility unusual for a player their size.

This is going to allow switching, double teams, weakside shotblocking and recovery that we haven’t had in a while. Even Freeman, who was terrible last season at rotating to help on defense was much better by the time he was injured.

Compared to last year, our forwards are going to be much better defensively. It won’t be close, especially whenever you use the lineup after Freeman’s injury…

Our guards weren’t any good at defense last year, either. Taylor, Cuffe and Carlos were our only positive DBPM players last season, and they combined for 2.6 DBPM.

Starling wasn’t great, but George was a 1.2 and Kingz a .4, so we’re at worst a wash, and likely an improvement.

Anyway, we’ve reached the silly season where we’re hypothesizing without any additional data… I feel like I’ve made those points previously.

We’ll see in the Fall how much better the team is. I think it’s going to be a lot better.

What will this year's team look like?

At least we won't play zone with Carlos. Just on every underneath out of bounds, not once in a while as a surprise, not a percentage of the time, but every single time so the other team can be sure to have prepared plays for it. :(

syracusefan.com

I like your analysis and posts but you said the defense would be better last year vs the year before as well. And even said "This year it will be Lampkin or Freeman. Neither are shotblocking specialists, but at least have the size to prevent easy layups."

This year it's "we have shot blocking to contest shots so we'll be better".

At some point, we're going to need to see the actual improvement otherwise the "defense is going to be better" talk sure feels like deja vu. It's been this way since for like 5 years now and has only got worse and worse

 

[Niastri]

What will this year's team look like?

At least we won't play zone with Carlos. Just on every underneath out of bounds, not once in a while as a surprise, not a percentage of the time, but every single time so the other team can be sure to have prepared plays for it. :(

syracusefan.com

I like your analysis and posts but you said the defense would be better last year vs the year before as well. And even said "This year it will be Lampkin or Freeman. Neither are shotblocking specialists, but at least have the size to prevent easy layups."

This year it's "we have shot blocking to contest shots so we'll be better".

At some point, we're going to need to see the actual improvement otherwise the "defense is going to be better" talk sure feels like deja vu. It's been this way since for like 5 years now and has only got worse and worse

Hmm, good point. I always am the optimist. Looking at that post though, I wasn’t wrong.

(It felt really weird using bolded font on my own quote from a year ago.)

My comparison in this case was about size. Brown and Taylor were just too small and consistently getting overpowered… They also were consistently just being shot over like they weren’t there.

Lampkin never got overpowered, and Freeman vs. Taylor was a complete mismatch size and talent wise. We also didn’t get beat up on the boards as badly with Lampkin.

But, as frustrating as watching the Taylor and Brown interior defense was at times, this past season’s defense was even worse. No doubt, my optimism was misplaced.

In the end, though, there’s no way to know how good the team could have been. We effectively lost McLeod and Westry before the season started, we lost Freeman halfway through. Maybe my prediction would have been correct if we had Lampkin, Freeman and McLeod playing, with a small dose of Davis, instead of Davis starting.

Unfortunately, last year’s guesses didn’t include McLeod being out almost all season, nor did it include Freeman’s injury.

Either way, we have pivoted from immovable (and almost immobile) 300+ lb center Lampkin and McLeod to extremely athletic, much smaller center Kyle and Souare.

One thing is certain, Lampkin and McLeod were not great at playing pick and roll, and couldn’t switch on screens. The new forwards all are athletic enough to switch, allowing other options we just couldn’t do last season.

Nice work pointing out my eternal optimism, though. I refuse to put a stop to that, at any rate.

 

[djcon57]

Hmm, good point. I always am the optimist. Looking at that post though, I wasn’t wrong.

“I think having actual centers playing center and actual power forwards playing power forward will make the team defense much better.”

The team defense wasn’t much better.
In what way can you conclude you weren’t wrong?

 

[orangefog]

Hmm, good point. I always am the optimist. Looking at that post though, I wasn’t wrong.

(It felt really weird using bolded font on my own quote from a year ago.)

My comparison in this case was about size. Brown and Taylor were just too small and consistently getting overpowered… They also were consistently just being shot over like they weren’t there.

Lampkin never got overpowered, and Freeman vs. Taylor was a complete mismatch size and talent wise. We also didn’t get beat up on the boards as badly with Lampkin.

But, as frustrating as watching the Taylor and Brown interior defense was at times, this past season’s defense was even worse. No doubt, my optimism was misplaced.

In the end, though, there’s no way to know how good the team could have been. We effectively lost McLeod and Westry before the season started, we lost Freeman halfway through. Maybe my prediction would have been correct if we had Lampkin, Freeman and McLeod playing, with a small dose of Davis, instead of Davis starting.

Unfortunately, last year’s guesses didn’t include McLeod being out almost all season, nor did it include Freeman’s injury.

Either way, we have pivoted from immovable (and almost immobile) 300+ lb center Lampkin and McLeod to extremely athletic, much smaller center Kyle and Souare.

One thing is certain, Lampkin and McLeod were not great at playing pick and roll, and couldn’t switch on screens. The new forwards all are athletic enough to switch, allowing other options we just couldn’t do last season.

Nice work pointing out my eternal optimism, though. I refuse to put a stop to that, at any rate.

I am always optimistic, as well. I do believe we have a better roster. Another center wouldn't hurt. But, I don't think our coaches know how to coach defense...or offense, very well. I would love to be wrong, but after 2 years, there is no evidence our team knows what the hell to do during games.

 

[Niastri]

“I think having actual centers playing center and actual power forwards playing power forward will make the team defense much better.”

The team defense wasn’t much better.
In what way can you conclude you weren’t wrong?

My optimism included a healthy Freeman and McLeod. Without them, we had Lampkin and Davis. My optimism involved having actual big men being big men, as opposed to Brown and Taylor playing out of position. Then we lost two of the three big men for the season.

But you are right, my optimism was too optimistic. We can’t go back and rerun the season with a healthy team, so no way to know if I was actually wrong.

If we come back here a year from now, and Kyle and Souare both miss the season, and White isn’t up to being our starting center, will you tell me I was wrong this year too?

 

[MikeSU02]

One carve out, I want to be sure that people don't think I think JJ is awful. I don't.

As others have mentioned, if he focuses on what he can do, I think he will be a very solid 3rd/4th option on offense.

Red has to fix the defense from tip to tail. That isn't just on JJ, but he does have to commit to it.

Find those driving lanes, attack the defense, use your pull up and ability to find the right angles, get to the FT line, get us in the bonus.

Assuming there is better shooting and better lead guard play and more talent on the floor, those lanes should be more accessible to him.

But one final note -- I want to be clear, my biggest question right now isn't JJ, it's if Red can coach. Huge fan of who we have now and the off season. But I need to see Red be a better coach.

 

[Orangezoo]

One carve out, I want to be sure that people don't think I think JJ is awful. I don't.

As others have mentioned, if he focuses on what he can do, I think he will be a very solid 3rd/4th option on offense.

Red has to fix the defense from tip to tail. That isn't just on JJ, but he does have to commit to it.

Find those driving lanes, attack the defense, use your pull up and ability to find the right angles, get to the FT line, get us in the bonus.

Assuming there is better shooting and better lead guard play and more talent on the floor, those lanes should be more accessible to him.

But one final note -- I want to be clear, my biggest question right now isn't JJ, it's if Red can coach. Huge fan of who we have now and the off season. But I need to see Red be a better coach.

Exactly- need to see if Red can do the job. I don’t know what control he has over doing an overseas or over the border trip but to me not doing one is not a good start to putting things all together especially defensively. Instead an assistant will be busy coaching TBT and we will just do nothing extra until guys start coming into summer session and repeating the approach from the previous two years ( at least as it appears from afar).

 

[djcon57]

My optimism included a healthy Freeman and McLeod. Without them, we had Lampkin and Davis. My optimism involved having actual big men being big men, as opposed to Brown and Taylor playing out of position. Then we lost two of the three big men for the season.

But you are right, my optimism was too optimistic. We can’t go back and rerun the season with a healthy team, so no way to know if I was actually wrong.

If we come back here a year from now, and Kyle and Souare both miss the season, and White isn’t up to being our starting center, will you tell me I was wrong this year too?

We had Freeman and Lampkin for half the season and the defense was abysmal. If we built the offseason prediction based on a healthy McLeod, that’s on on us. It’s was the same as counting on Westry.

And yes I would absolutely tell you you were wrong is Kyle and Souare both miss the season. Because (A) Kyle’s injury concerns are baked into his price and (B) we should have a 3rd center because of Kyle’s injury concerns and Souare’s lack of competent playing time.

Back to the original point. Do I think the d will be better if Kyle plays the whole season? I hope so. But we’ve seen nothing from a Red coached team to allow anyone to be so definitive as what I’ve seen the past two offseasons

 

[Niastri]

We had Freeman and Lampkin for half the season and the defense was abysmal. If we built the offseason prediction based on a healthy McLeod, that’s on on us. It’s was the same as counting on Westry.

And yes I would absolutely tell you you were wrong is Kyle and Souare both miss the season. Because (A) Kyle’s injury concerns are baked into his price and (B) we should have a 3rd center because of Kyle’s injury concerns and Souare’s lack of competent playing time.

Back to the original point. Do I think the d will be better if Kyle plays the whole season? I hope so. But we’ve seen nothing from a Red coached team to allow anyone to be so definitive as what I’ve seen the past two offseasons

Fair enough. I’m more optimistic about Kyle and Souare than you. I might be more optimistic about Freeman and White than you as well.

Souare, in particular, is very inexperienced. His video from right before he went to Georgia Tech in 2022 showed a player with little to no basketball experience. Since that time, he spent a year of prep school, redshirted and played 510 minutes at Georgia Tech last season. He also grew a couple inches and gained at least 30lbs. He is a completely new player.

I started writing about each player individually, but I think I’ll spare everybody that. I won’t re-argue all my thoughts about those players… I have written at length in each of their individual threads, and elsewhere.

I think one of the things that Kline has brought to the table is an emphasis on length and athleticism instead of pure size. Moving from Lampkin and McLeod to Kyle and Souare is representative of that.

In the end, they spent their money on guards and Freeman. They went less expensive for big men, but had a specific type of player that they wanted.

 

[billsin01]

I have been increasingly frustrated by certain posters who are constantly downplaying JJ Starling in this board. I found myself ranting about it in a recruiting thread, so decided to move it here instead.

JJ Starling was stuck as the only viable offensive threat last season on a team decimated by injuries and lack of talent. Red’s best, sometimes only, offensive play call was Starling Isolation. There was nothing else.

On top of that, Starling was our de facto point guard, playing away from his strengths.

JJ Starling was put in am extremely difficult position last season, and all he did was score 18 points, pull pull down 4 rebounds and dish out 3 assists per game, while maintaining a positive assist to turnover ratio. His scoring wasn’t as efficient as you would like, mostly because he was dribbling into the teeth of the defense every possession with nobody to pass to, and he shot too many threes at the end of the shot clock. But he shot 48% on two point shots on the season, despite being the guy that every team knew they had to stop.

Even Starling’s defense isn’t as bad as his detractors suggest. He has improved each year, and this past season, Starling was a -.4 DBPM… Win Shares had him a positive dWS, also by a hair, this time positive. A hair under average, by those two rate stats that break out defense. All while playing a blistering 35 minutes a game as the team’s only offensive threat. If Starling had gotten a rest, even by not having to bring up the ball, do you think he might have been a little quicker in stopping defensive penetration? Probably. Oh, by the way, starling was second in steals and fourth in blocks on last years endemic defensive squad. The kid busts his butt, playing for his hometown team.

Can we stop complaining about Starling? The dude could have gone anywhere, and probably made more money doing it. Yet he’s here, a McDonald’s All American that is going to finish his career in Syracuse! Somehow half the posters here act like we are saddled with him.

I’m thrilled Starling chose to stick around, and I think he’s going to be great.

Edit: I’m going to cross post this, because I just spent a few minutes researching a rant, and it isn’t even in the right thread. Dang it.

JJ Starling was stuck as the only viable offensive threat last season on a team decimated by injuries and lack of talent. Red’s best, sometimes only, offensive play call was Starling Isolation. There was nothing else.

On top of that, Starling was our de facto point guard, playing away from his strengths.

JJ Starling was put in am extremely difficult position last season, and all he did was score 28 points, pull pull down 4 rebounds and dish out 3 assists per game, while maintaining a positive assist to turnover ratio. His scoring wasn’t as efficient as you would like, mostly because he was dribbling into the teeth of the defense every possession with nobody to pass to, and he shot too many threes at the end of the shot clock. But he shot.480 on two point shots on the season, despite being the guy that every team knew they had to stop.

Even Starling’s defense isn’t as bad as his detractors suggest. He has improved each year, and this past season, Starling was a -.4 DBPM… Win Shares had him a positive dWS, also by a hair, this time positive. A hair under average, by those two rate stats that break out defense. All while playing a blistering 35 minutes a game as the team’s only offensive threat. If Starling had gotten a rest, even by not having to bring up the ball, do you think he might have been a little quicker in stopping defensive penetration? Probably. Oh, by the way, starling was second in steals and fourth in blocks on last years endemic defensive squad. The kid busts his butt, playing for his hometown team.

Can we stop complaining about Starling? The dude could have gone anywhere, and probably made more money doing it. Yet he’s here, a McDonald’s All American that is going to finish his career in Syracuse!

Somehow half the posters here act like we are saddled with him. It makes me a little angry.

JJ Starling College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

JJ Starling - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

I wanted to respond to the original post ... even though I'm very late here. I always appreciate people willing to defend players under any circumstance because I think we, as fans/fanatics, often have outsized expectations and then hold it against the Scoop Jardines (or fill in any other player who isn't Carmelo) of the world when they don't turn into Chris Paul or something.

But, I'll also quibble with the post a bit because I would say the truth of JJ lies somewhere between the criticism and your defense of his play.

In terms of defending JJ, I'll grant a few things:

• This hasn't been a great coaching situation, nor a great roster situation. I'd extend this to everyone who's been here the past two years. I don't think it was wise to invest that much in Lampkin, but he played pretty hard and wasn't in a great situation. Same for Jaquan Carlos -- he really struggled, for sure, but we were asking of ton of him. Judah -- I know people didn't like certain aspects of his game -- but the same holds true for him. It's tough to parse out what we're trying to do on either end of the floor in terms of a system. That's not a great spot for any player.
  
  
• The kid plays hard and seems like a good kid, at least from the outside. The first part is incredibly important, the latter point is often overlooked but counts, IMO.
  
  
• He has really nice athleticism and he does have an ability to get hot in bursts and be a really effective scorer -- his game against Carolina in Year 1 was outstanding. He's had plenty of others like it and that is a skill.

But, the issue I always seem to come back to with JJ is this -- does he do enough stuff to help you win games? You point out in the post that he improved on defense but even if we call him a net zero defender by the numbers, it's clearly not a strength.

He improved his assist numbers but 2.8 apg in 35 mpg with a 30% usage rate is not particularly impressive. He generates very little in terms of opportunities for teammates offensively.

His shooting from deep is under 30 for his college career -- and we're talking about a pretty large sample (365 attempts). It's not that he's necessarily as bad as he looked at times last year (<27%) but his career 68% from the line doesn't give me at on of hope that he's going to come back as a 35% shooter from three this year.

His rebounding is solid and he hustles for loose balls on that end, but it's not like we're talking MCW-level, difference-making rebounding from a guard here.

At the end of the day, to me JJ does some nice things and he can absolutely get hot and carry your offense for a half or a game or, to be honest, a few games in a row. He has that ability. But it's those stretches where he's struggling to score efficiently that I think can really be difficult to overcome because he just doesn't do a lot outside of put the ball in the basket.

Just one man's opinion at the end of the day. Hope he goes out and proves me wrong -- I'm rooting for the kid.

 

[Niastri]

I wanted to respond to the original post ... even though I'm very late here. I always appreciate people willing to defend players under any circumstance because I think we, as fans/fanatics, often have outsized expectations and then hold it against the Scoop Jardines (or fill in any other player who isn't Carmelo) of the world when they don't turn into Chris Paul or something.

But, I'll also quibble with the post a bit because I would say the truth of JJ lies somewhere between the criticism and your defense of his play.

In terms of defending JJ, I'll grant a few things:

• This hasn't been a great coaching situation, nor a great roster situation. I'd extend this to everyone who's been here the past two years. I don't think it was wise to invest that much in Lampkin, but he played pretty hard and wasn't in a great situation. Same for Jaquan Carlos -- he really struggled, for sure, but we were asking of ton of him. Judah -- I know people didn't like certain aspects of his game -- but the same holds true for him. It's tough to parse out what we're trying to do on either end of the floor in terms of a system. That's not a great spot for any player.
  
  
• The kid plays hard and seems like a good kid, at least from the outside. The first part is incredibly important, the latter point is often overlooked but counts, IMO.
  
  
• He has really nice athleticism and he does have an ability to get hot in bursts and be a really effective scorer -- his game against Carolina in Year 1 was outstanding. He's had plenty of others like it and that is a skill.

But, the issue I always seem to come back to with JJ is this -- does he do enough stuff to help you win games? You point out in the post that he improved on defense but even if we call him a net zero defender by the numbers, it's clearly not a strength.

He improved his assist numbers but 2.8 apg in 35 mpg with a 30% usage rate is not particularly impressive. He generates very little in terms of opportunities for teammates offensively.

His shooting from deep is under 30 for his college career -- and we're talking about a pretty large sample (365 attempts). It's not that he's necessarily as bad as he looked at times last year (<27%) but his career 68% from the line doesn't give me at on of hope that he's going to come back as a 35% shooter from three this year.

His rebounding is solid and he hustles for loose balls on that end, but it's not like we're talking MCW-level, difference-making rebounding from a guard here.

At the end of the day, to me JJ does some nice things and he can absolutely get hot and carry your offense for a half or a game or, to be honest, a few games in a row. He has that ability. But it's those stretches where he's struggling to score efficiently that I think can really be difficult to overcome because he just doesn't do a lot outside of put the ball in the basket.

Just one man's opinion at the end of the day. Hope he goes out and proves me wrong -- I'm rooting for the kid.

Thanks for your viewpoint.

I think, after all the conversation, my initial post was a bit of a reaction to the criticism Starling receives around here.

I think you nailed it with the point I bolded above.

Starling is a good player. He is very good at some things. He isn’t the best player on a tournament or championship team… But he’s a good starter on an upper division ACC team who was miscast as the go to guy last year. Thus, he took the brunt of the fan frustration with what amounted to a terrible year for the team.

It isn’t fair, and I felt like pushback was needed. Thanks for phrasing it so well.

 

[baggerbob]

They are using standing reach and wingspan as a substitute for tall. The fact is, using Kyle for an example, with a 9’ standing reach and a 44” vertical leap, his ability to contest shots might be the best we’ve ever had, based on pure ability to get his hand highest in the air.

More importantly, the guys I referenced (Kyle, Souare and White) all have very long arms, good to great hops and agility unusual for a player their size.

This is going to allow switching, double teams, weakside shotblocking and recovery that we haven’t had in a while. Even Freeman, who was terrible last season at rotating to help on defense was much better by the time he was injured.

Compared to last year, our forwards are going to be much better defensively. It won’t be close, especially whenever you use the lineup after Freeman’s injury…

Our guards weren’t any good at defense last year, either. Taylor, Cuffe and Carlos were our only positive DBPM players last season, and they combined for 2.6 DBPM.

Starling wasn’t great, but George was a 1.2 and Kingz a .4, so we’re at worst a wash, and likely an improvement.

Anyway, we’ve reached the silly season where we’re hypothesizing without any additional data… I feel like I’ve made those points previously.

We’ll see in the Fall how much better the team is. I think it’s going to be a lot better.

Something that we haven't had often in the last few years are players who can rotate and block a shot from the side and behind. The 1987 team was great at that.

 

[tbonezone]

the use of the the word DEFENSE with JJ starling is a incongruous . he don't play it.

 

[IthacaMatt]

JB built his teams with steals and blocked shots as among his most important characteristics.

Even Craig Forth blocked a couple shots a game… in 23 minutes as a junior. The championship year, he blocked 1.2 in only 17 minutes. We only think of him as an average or worse shotblocker because he was playing with McNeil, who was a great shotblocker, averaging 2.9 in only 19 minutes per game the championship year.

What Craig did well, he was exceptional at.

His pick handoffs to Gerry on the wing off an inbounds play were money. He set crushing picks.

On defense, he got his blocked shots frequently without jumping. Just made himself tall with hands up high. It also prevented him from getting in foul trouble too much.

And the thing he was so underrated at, and was a key to that zone, was that he would seal off the baseline, like he was a wall that would not be passed.

To visualize what I'm talking about, Melo was remarkable using the baseline, and could always seem to get around his defender without going out of bounds, or getting trapped under the backboard, or under the rim.

Forth took that away from guys, pretty much everybody. He was so great positionally protecting the back line of the zone, to keep guys from getting behind us and getting to the rim.

 

[IthacaMatt]

ok.

so you think the defense is all set then?

and im crazy for thinking it might not be?

I think we need another big guy, too.

 

[IthacaMatt]

They are using standing reach and wingspan as a substitute for tall. The fact is, using Kyle for an example, with a 9’ standing reach and a 44” vertical leap, his ability to contest shots might be the best we’ve ever had, based on pure ability to get his hand highest in the air.

More importantly, the guys I referenced (Kyle, Souare and White) all have very long arms, good to great hops and agility unusual for a player their size.

This is going to allow switching, double teams, weakside shotblocking and recovery that we haven’t had in a while. Even Freeman, who was terrible last season at rotating to help on defense was much better by the time he was injured.

Compared to last year, our forwards are going to be much better defensively. It won’t be close, especially whenever you use the lineup after Freeman’s injury…

Our guards weren’t any good at defense last year, either. Taylor, Cuffe and Carlos were our only positive DBPM players last season, and they combined for 2.6 DBPM.

Starling wasn’t great, but George was a 1.2 and Kingz a .4, so we’re at worst a wash, and likely an improvement.

Anyway, we’ve reached the silly season where we’re hypothesizing without any additional data… I feel like I’ve made those points previously.

We’ll see in the Fall how much better the team is. I think it’s going to be a lot better.

This is a very solid, glass-half-full look at how the defense could function with those types of guys.

But they have to have toughness. A lot of slender forwards over the years haven't had the necessary physicality to stand up to the best teams.

Yes, a lot of these guys might make the 2nd year jump, but there is something to be said for having played a bunch of games before.

 

[Niastri]

Something that we haven't had often in the last few years are players who can rotate and block a shot from the side and behind. The 1987 team was great at that.

One thing I’m optimistic about Freeman this upcoming season is his improvement in help defense.

Early in the season there were a few times where he literally turned and watched a perimeter opponent drive all the way to the basket. He didn’t react at all to help prevent the layup.

By the time he was injured and out for the season, he was rotating pretty well. I recall a similar play. When the guard was beaten of the dribble, Freeman rotated, got there in time and blocked the shot.

Freeman demonstrated a significant improvement in his reactions in help defense during his first 14 games.

His physical abilities have always been very good defensively, he just didn’t seem to have innate defensive instincts. I look forward to his continued improvement.

Last season, we really didn’t have many guys who could block a shot, when McLeod was injured. Since McLeod was a non factor most of the season, Majstorovic and Bell were our top shotblockers by block %. They had 2.1 and 2% respectively.

Our incoming players have much better block %. Some other relevant block% numbers from last season.

The top qualified P4 player was Houston’s Joseph Tugler, who came in at 12.4%(advanced stats indicate he should have been the defensive player of the year).

Kyle 9%
Souare 3.7%
Kingz 2%
Lampkin 1.8%
Freeman 1.5%
George and Betsey 1.4%
Starling 1%
Lucas Taylor .8%

We don’t know about White definitively, but he has the physical tools and reputation of being a decent shotblocker coming in.

Next season we will be much more effective at challenging and blocking shots than this year.

My worry this year is if we have the physical strength as a team to compete. I didn’t have that with last season. We knew what we were getting with Lampkin, and physical strength was the number one characteristic. Shotblocking wasn’t part of his game. That changes next year.

Can Kyle, Freeman, White and Souare compete physically and not wear down during ACC play while playing at 50-90 lbs lighter than Lampkin did last season?

 

[IthacaMatt]

One thing I’m optimistic about Freeman this upcoming season is his improvement in help defense.

Early in the season there were a few times where he literally turned and watched a perimeter opponent drive all the way to the basket. He didn’t react at all to help prevent the layup.

By the time he was injured and out for the season, he was rotating pretty well. I recall a similar play. When the guard was beaten of the dribble, Freeman rotated, got there in time and blocked the shot.

Freeman demonstrated a significant improvement in his reactions in help defense during his first 14 games.

His physical abilities have always been very good defensively, he just didn’t seem to have innate defensive instincts. I look forward to his continued improvement.

Last season, we really didn’t have many guys who could block a shot, when McLeod was injured. Since McLeod was a non factor most of the season, Majstorovic and Bell were our top shotblockers by block %. They had 2.1 and 2% respectively.

Our incoming players have much better block %. Some other relevant block% numbers from last season.

The top qualified P4 player was Houston’s Joseph Tugler, who came in at 12.4%(advanced stats indicate he should have been the defensive player of the year).

Kyle 9%
Souare 3.7%
Kingz 2%
Lampkin 1.8%
Freeman 1.5%
George and Betsey 1.4%
Starling 1%
Lucas Taylor .8%

We don’t know about White definitively, but he has the physical tools and reputation of being a decent shotblocker coming in.

Next season we will be much more effective at challenging and blocking shots than this year.

My worry this year is if we have the physical strength as a team to compete. I didn’t have that with last season. We knew what we were getting with Lampkin, and physical strength was the number one characteristic. Shotblocking wasn’t part of his game. That changes next year.

Can Kyle, Freeman, White and Souare compete physically and not wear down during ACC play while playing at 50-90 lbs lighter than Lampkin did last season?

Terrific post.

 

[007]

One thing I’m optimistic about Freeman this upcoming season is his improvement in help defense.

Early in the season there were a few times where he literally turned and watched a perimeter opponent drive all the way to the basket. He didn’t react at all to help prevent the layup.

By the time he was injured and out for the season, he was rotating pretty well. I recall a similar play. When the guard was beaten of the dribble, Freeman rotated, got there in time and blocked the shot.

Freeman demonstrated a significant improvement in his reactions in help defense during his first 14 games.

His physical abilities have always been very good defensively, he just didn’t seem to have innate defensive instincts. I look forward to his continued improvement.

Last season, we really didn’t have many guys who could block a shot, when McLeod was injured. Since McLeod was a non factor most of the season, Majstorovic and Bell were our top shotblockers by block %. They had 2.1 and 2% respectively.

Our incoming players have much better block %. Some other relevant block% numbers from last season.

The top qualified P4 player was Houston’s Joseph Tugler, who came in at 12.4%(advanced stats indicate he should have been the defensive player of the year).

Kyle 9%
Souare 3.7%
Kingz 2%
Lampkin 1.8%
Freeman 1.5%
George and Betsey 1.4%
Starling 1%
Lucas Taylor .8%

We don’t know about White definitively, but he has the physical tools and reputation of being a decent shotblocker coming in.

Next season we will be much more effective at challenging and blocking shots than this year.

My worry this year is if we have the physical strength as a team to compete. I didn’t have that with last season. We knew what we were getting with Lampkin, and physical strength was the number one characteristic. Shotblocking wasn’t part of his game. That changes next year.

Can Kyle, Freeman, White and Souare compete physically and not wear down during ACC play while playing at 50-90 lbs lighter than Lampkin did last season?

This is a good analysis, Niastri

Having athletic rim protectors with length should make a big difference. But...the overriding issue will continue to be how well the player's execute on defense and the staff's willingness to hold players accountable. What we saw last year on defense was embarrassingly poor from a fundamentals, concept, execution, and effort/concnetration perspective.

Those issues were systemic and need to change. Otherwise, the changes to the roster will be negligible on defense.

 

[Niastri]

I got to thinking about Houston and Joseph Tugler after referencing him in my previous post.

Here is an article about Houston from earlier this season. I think it’s clear that they have become the standard for following “length over height” when it comes to building a basketball roster. I couldn’t find a measurement for standing reach for Tugler, but his wingspan is between 7’4 and 7’6 depending on the source.

For reference, wingspans in next years front court.

White is 7’0 with 8’11 standing reach.
Kyle is 7’2, I couldn’t find his reach.
Souare is 7’2 with 8’11 standing reach.
Freeman I also couldn’t find. One place said ‘almost 7’ wingspan’ but they didn’t have a measurement.
Betsey 7’0 with no standing reach measurement.

The Tao of Tugler

Is Houston's valuing of wingspan over height a sign of the future or a team finding their outlier niche?

statsbywill.substack.com

 

[Orangezoo]

I got to thinking about Houston and Joseph Tugler after referencing him in my previous post.

Here is an article about Houston from earlier this season. I think it’s clear that they have become the standard for following “length over height” when it comes to building a basketball roster. I couldn’t find a measurement for standing reach for Tugler, but his wingspan is between 7’4 and 7’6 depending on the source.

For reference, wingspans in next years front court.

White is 7’0 with 8’11 standing reach.
Kyle is 7’2, I couldn’t find his reach.
Souare is 7’2 with 8’11 standing reach.
Freeman I also couldn’t find. One place said ‘almost 7’ wingspan’ but they didn’t have a measurement.
Betsey 7’0 with no standing reach measurement.

The Tao of Tugler

Is Houston's valuing of wingspan over height a sign of the future or a team finding their outlier niche?

statsbywill.substack.com

The thing about Houston that makes this work is the quality of their defensive rotations paired with how quickly and aggressively they close out when the scenario dictates it. Thus they maximize this particular physical metric vs simply it being a number.

What makes them different then is they can then avoid the issue that comes with a lumbering or less athletic 6-11/7 footer they ask to play the same way who is more easily beaten when he closes out given he can’t get there quite as fast and can’t move his feet as well when the offensive player tries to attack the close out.

It can’t be stressed enough though that this is in combination with great team defense that takes away other options in combination with this tactic. If you watch closely, even in this tape, every man is closely accounted for by the Houston defense even when they are shading an extra guy towards a certain KU player. When Tugler closes out his man on that block, you also see the entire Houston defense identify and guard their man more closely to take away the quick pass or be ready for a deflection. It’s really impressive to watch just how organized they are defensively.

 

[Niastri]

On a side note, I looked for Lampkin’s wingspan and standing reach. He seemed comparatively short armed.

You definitely have to take everything you read with a grain of salt!

I find a site that listed Lampkin having a 30” inch vertical.

I’m done googling basketball players for today.

 

[Niastri]

The thing about Houston that makes this work is the quality of their defensive rotations paired with how quickly and aggressively they close out when the scenario dictates it. Thus they maximize this particular physical metric vs simply it being a number.

What makes them different then is they can then avoid the issue that comes with a lumbering or less athletic 6-11/7 footer they ask to play the same way who is more easily beaten when he closes out given he can’t get there quite as fast and can’t move his feet as well when the offensive player tries to attack the close out.

It can’t be stressed enough though that this is in combination with great team defense that takes away other options in combination with this tactic. If you watch closely, even in this tape, every man is closely accounted for by the Houston defense even when they are shading an extra guy towards a certain KU player. When Tugler closes out his man on that block, you also see the entire Houston defense identify and guard their man more closely to take away the quick pass or be ready for a deflection. It’s really impressive to watch just how organized they are defensively.

Well, yes. We have to get better at defense. Being longer armed might be a step in that direction, but it certainly isn’t the final step.

The fact they recruited better athletes in the portal is a huge step in the right direction.