JB on Hughes

[Cuseball]

Great news. Some will complain that JB made any comment but this is great. Coaches have seen him for one year in practice and know what he can do. He'll contribute this year, he won't be the starter nor the star and the following year we will be in very good hands with Carey, Hughes, Marek and Sidibe leading the way

Cuse!

 

[Cusesky8214]

From a old orangehoops.org article

"Johnson would have to red shirt a year at Syracuse after transferring. Coach Jim Boeheim was touting that Johnson was an outstanding player, and everyone would be surprised how good he was when he would be eligible to play. However most ignored Boeheim's comments as typical coach hype. How wrong they would be."

 

[orangefog]

I can't believe people are complaining. I am having internal debates on different lineups. How do we get our best 5 on the floor at the same time? Who are the best 5? If Sidibe is as good as I expect, then we have a best 8 players. And then depth beyond that. I think the starting 5 will be Frank, Tyus, Hughes, O'Shae and Chukwu. I think Sidibe will be our best center, but that is a different discussion. But, with the addition of Hughes, we will have 4 guys that can hit the three. All 4 can also drive. 3 can even finish, just kidding, I think O'Shae will finish much better. If these guys take turns driving and kicking the ball out, we will get a ton of open looks. We could get more open looks in one game than we got in the whole ACC portion of our schedule last year. Then swap in Carey and Sidibe, and there will be no rest for opposing defenses. That is huge.

 

[Orangezoo]

Based on how things are coming along , if we stay healthy it's going to be the most fun as an SU sports fan in long time September through April.

 

[Orangezoo]

I can't believe people are complaining. I am having internal debates on different lineups. How do we get our best 5 on the floor at the same time? Who are the best 5? If Sidibe is as good as I expect, then we have a best 8 players. And then depth beyond that. I think the starting 5 will be Frank, Tyus, Hughes, O'Shae and Chukwu. I think Sidibe will be our best center, but that is a different discussion. But, with the addition of Hughes, we will have 4 guys that can hit the three. All 4 can also drive. 3 can even finish, just kidding, I think O'Shae will finish much better. If these guys take turns driving and kicking the ball out, we will get a ton of open looks. We could get more open looks in one game than we got in the whole ACC portion of our schedule last year. Then swap in Carey and Sidibe, and there will be no rest for opposing defenses. That is huge.

No love for the Slovakian sensation?

 

[sutomcat]

Great news. Some will complain that JB made any comment but this is great. Coaches have seen him for one year in practice and know what he can do. He'll contribute this year, he won't be the starter nor the star and the following year we will be in very good hands with Carey, Hughes, Marek and Sidibe leading the way

Cuse!

I wish there was a little more elaboration. Hopefully a local writer will follow up and get a professionally written story up soon.

 

[moqui]

I'm not saying this as a criticism -- just as an observation. You haven't been high on Hughes from the beginning. You've often pointed to his numbers at East Carolina as the basis for you not being enthused.

I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised.

that's not the way things work around here.

when someone goes all in on the downside, and then get surprised, they are rarely pleasant about it.

see for example the handful of dead-enders bitterly clinging to their anti-frank agendas

 

[Toga]

 

[dasher]

I actually remember JB talking very highly about Wes to the media

he did. Wes had a lot of hype. I remember asking one professional insider and asking if Wes was as good as a kid that was at pitt that I loved as a player. The answer I got was Wes is much better.

 

[OttoMets]

A few times during the season Wes had to sit he referrred to him as the most talented player that we had.

Yep, the buzz was that 'Paul Harris won't start next year' even if he decided to return.

 

[Alsacs]

I'm not saying this as a criticism -- just as an observation. You haven't been high on Hughes from the beginning. You've often pointed to his numbers at East Carolina as the basis for you not being enthused.

I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised.

I won’t deny this.
I will be shocked if Hughes shooting percentages are a lot better.
I am sure he could score if he had high volume.
He is going to be the 3rd option which is good for our offense but he won’t get the shots so his percentage better be a lot better than ECU.
I honestly see this as JB pumping this kid in the media because he likes him.
Which is fine but I prefer speak softly and let him surprise.
Battle is the guy who should be getting the hype and pumped up tires.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

“We’re going to be a significantly better offensive team next season.”

We have a lot of posters on this board, myself included, who have said that we should be at least as good on defense, and definitely better on offense this season.

JB says "significantly better," and I think he's in a better position to judge than we are.

That and being better on offense than last year actually isn't all that hard. We were fairly miserable on offense.

 

[Alsacs]

that's not the way things work around here.

when someone goes all in on the downside, and then get surprised, they are rarely pleasant about it.

see for example the handful of dead-enders bitterly clinging to their anti-frank agendas

I want Hughes to be good.
I am sorry if I am skeptical of the fact he hasn’t shown here it yet and these comments put expectations on him I think aren’t necessary.
When JB says less it’s a good thing.

 

[Alsacs]

That and being better on offense than last year actually isn't all that hard. We were fairly miserable on offense.

Sidibe better be a post player or our offense will be the same thing.
With just an extra scorer which is good.

Our offense won’t be consistently good till it’s not reliant on ISO ball.
We aren’t pro ball thus I am not a fan of ISO offense in college unless you have the elite talent to have a stud running it.

 

[RF2044]

Sidibe better be a post player or our offense will be the same thing.
With just an extra scorer which is good.

Our offense won’t be consistently good till it’s not reliant on ISO ball.
We aren’t pro ball thus I am not a fan of ISO offense in college unless you have the elite talent to have a stud running it.

0.0% chance our offensive will be "the same thing" no matter what Sidibe's status is.

 

[orangefog]

No love for the Slovakian sensation?

I love Marek. I think he is one of our 8 best players. He may be one of our 5 best. I just don’t know if having our 5 best players, if they are Frank, Tyus, Hughes, O’Shae and Marek will work with Marek at the 5. Preseason and early season games are going to be crazy with JB trying to figure out our best lineup(s). We are in for a treat this year.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

0.0% chance our offensive will be "the same thing."

I imagine you're right. I was going to post a facetious post saying our illegal practices so far run by all the assistants wearing Groucho Marx glasses was installing a brand new offense. But, since we don't have the sarcasm font installed on this new version yet, I was afraid it might get us sanctioned.

 

[Alsacs]

0.0% chance our offensive will be "the same thing."

I am talking about iso ball and ball screens.
With little ball movement and individual players making plays.
For our offense to be better we need a post presence so they can spread the floor easily.
If we have no post offense it will be the same offense as last year but with more experienced personnel and more options on the bench which is good.

 

[Ceerqqq]

That’s one of the very few times he spoke highly. He’s usually the opposite.

Yeah, I think people gotta understand that while JB does make inaccurate projections sometimes, it should be more than a little bit obvious that he does not relish the consequences of having some of his offensively talented players getting the idea that they are "all that" (before actually proving themselves on the court), when maybe they aren't.

Having been humbled by previous disappointments, I read JB as being 'typically' reluctant to dish out copious amounts of praise to first-year players unless he feels mostly certain that the kid won't disappoint. So you might want to factor that into your projections, people.

 

[Brooky03]

I won’t deny this.
I will be shocked if Hughes shooting percentages are a lot better.
I am sure he could score if he had high volume.
He is going to be the 3rd option which is good for our offense but he won’t get the shots so his percentage better be a lot better than ECU.
I honestly see this as JB pumping this kid in the media because he likes him.
Which is fine but I prefer speak softly and let him surprise.
Battle is the guy who should be getting the hype and pumped up tires.

Wes shot 29% and 33% from deep at Iowa State in his Freshman and Sophomore years. He shot 42% at Cuse. I'm not predicting 42% from Hughes, but a big jump from a guy transferring from a bad school to Syracuse has precedent.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

This praise is great and all, but what does he bring to the table that we didn't have last season?

 

[realorange]

I love the positivity, but when I read this... I think this; regarding 2016-17 season.

View attachment 130284

I am not sure JB knows how to avoid speaking in extremes anymore. Everything is hyperbole.

Jim Boeheim to ESPN: 'This is the best team we've had in a long time'

Maybe but we've heard similar comments about Hughes from other coaches and the players as well.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

This praise is great and all, but what does he bring to the table that we didn't have last season?

More shooting to spread the floor I hope.

 

[Cusefan0307]

From what I saw in warm ups and pre game shoot arounds last year Hughes is a better shooter than Battle, Howard, and Oshae.

 

[OrangeXtreme]