General20
Basketball Maven
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Early season is my favorite time to write and talk about basketball. College is not like the NBA, these guys are not finished products. Teams are constantly evolving. Syracuse will not be the same team in January as it is now, and it will not be the same team in March as it was in January.
Late season games are basically a win or lose proposition. You are what you are and all that matters is getting that W. In the early season it matters how you win, and how you progress.
Late season games might mean more and might be better games, but the best time to talk basketball and to analyze basketball is now.
I was out of the country during the preseason so this was my first time getting to watch the team play. To be frank, I don't think I learned a ton from this game.
Lehigh used a soft press that backed off into a man to man. They chose not to switch on screens, which to me is a mysterious choice. They are already shorter and weaker than SU, why ask guys who are at a physical disadvantage to also fight through screens? The result was Syracuse getting a LOT of open jump shots – which Syracuse took to the tune of 34 three point shots taken. I don't think many (if any) were bad shots. They made 32% of those shots which is kind of mediocre. Not terrible and not great; acceptable but close to what the minimum acceptable percentage is. Its a very “first game of the season” kind of percentage, which is fine because this was the first game of the season. For the record, I think taking those threes was absolutely the right way to go, and I think we are going to have to be hot from three to beat the better teams in our league.
On defense, Syracuse did what it always does, and Lehigh was completely useless against it. I want to point out that Lehigh's offensive problems were self inflicted - Syracuse didn't play particularly good defense. One of the differences between zone and man to man is the extra teamwork required to play zone. You can play good man to man defense right off the bat, but zone defense usually improves a lot as the season goes on and people get more comfortable in their role. This is usually offset by the fact that offenses (which also require lots of teamwork to execute against a zone) are not running at full capacity either and struggle to just about an equal degree.
In this case Lehigh struggled more on offense than Syracuse did on defense. In this case, Lehigh was completely inept on offense and Syracuse had a twenty point lead at halftime despite playing fairly poor on both sides of the ball.
The first half felt like an exhibition. Boeheim saw how Lehigh struggled and used that opportunity to practice some stuff. He used lots of different line ups, many of them crazy ones we will never see in meaningful games. This usually results in sloppy play (and plenty of teaching opportunities the next day which is what Boeheim wants) and it did in this case too.
Its hard to learn much as a fan with crazy line ups rotating in and out at every stoppage, but the thing that stood out to me most was Syracuse's versatility. For a while now I've noticed a transition away from traditional basketball positions in recruiting, and the proof was there today. Gbinije, Richardson, and Howard all have similar body types and are similar in the fact that they don't have a traditional position and are simply “basketball players” with a variety of skills.
The second half looked more like a real basketball game because Lehigh went on a run. What did they do differently to make this run? Part of it was a stretch of really sloppy passing from Syracuse. Lets face it, everybody in the Dome knew who was winning this game within five minutes of the tip. Syracuse seemed to get a little lackadaisical, which is common in these types of games. I'm not worried about it.
The other part of it is Lehigh started executing against Syracuse's zone, and they did it by running the same play over and over again. This does worry me, because I think its a weakness teams will be able to exploit all year, and it only took twenty game minutes for Lehigh to figure it out. The rest of the teams we play will now have film on it, and won't miss it.
The play was this. Pass it to Kempton in the high post or on the side of the paint – allow SU's center and power forward (in this case Coleman and Roberson) to double – then pass out of the double to another big (often times 6'8 Jesse Chukwu) crashing the paint on the small forward's (in this case Malachi Richardson's) side of the zone. Let him finish over Malachi.
This play worked over and over again for good reason. Freshmen never play good zone defense (the only guy I can ever remember being a good defender as a freshman is Brandon Triche who was groomed to play it in high school). Richardson (being a freshman) was never in quite the perfect position, and is not likely to be in the perfect position much in the future. Since he is short for a wing in our zone he can't use his length and athleticism to make up for these mistakes (as Lyden or Roberson can). In other words, this a is a great way for teams to exploit us. Plan to see it a lot over the season.
Admittedly, Lehigh is pretty well suited to exploit this weakness because Kempton was a good passer and comfortable being hounded by bodies down by the basket, not all teams will have that. But I still find it concerning.
Speaking of freshmen playing bad defense, we are also probably going to be weak in the post all year long. Coleman hasn't played for two and a half seasons and is basically still a freshmen and still looks like a freshman on defense. As does Lyden. Obokoh is better, but he isn't great at using his body, and extending his arms. I think fouls will be a problem or him all year long. Hopefully he improves.
Long story short, I dont expect this team to be a very good defensive team. We are going to need to score some points to win.
Lehigh switched to zone about half way through the second half when they had the lead down to 10 or so. I thought this was a good move because it eliminated their guys needing to fight through screens (which they couldn't do). Luckily Syracuse made two really tough three pointers as soon as Lehigh switched to zone, a 25 footer by Gbinije and a three off the bounce by Richardson. When those shots when in Lehigh gave up on the zone. This was a mistake because they were both low percentage shots. Who knows what would have happen if those shots missed and Lehigh stayed in zone? I still think SU would have won, but we probably would have had to sweat it out a lot more. If the game had a turning point, I think this was it.
I'll give my individual player assessments in order of how good I think the guy played (from best to worst).
Gbinije – You've got to respect this kid. He's a completely different player than the guy who came to Syracuse. He's an above average ball hadler, passer, defender, rebounder, slasher, three point shooter, and mid range shooter. And he even posted up a few times in this game! Did anybody notice that the point guard was the only guy on the team to score using a traditional back to the basket move? This probably isn't a great sign. Gbinije played the best today and is the best player on our team by a long shot. Its a shame his legacy might be that he was a great player on a couple of bad teams.
Joseph – The second best player on the team in this game. My only complaint is that I wish he played more. He handled Lehigh's admittedly weak press with ease, he shot well, looked aggressive and passed well. Ive always been a believer in him. Bright future for this kid.
Cooney – I'm sure he's going to be as divisive to Syracuse fans as always. This performance certainly is not going to change anybodies perception of him. I still think his hustle helps in more ways than people realize. That guy runs more in a game than any player I have ever seen. He also took on a lot of the ball handling duties, and played solid D.
Richardson – He's a 50/50 guy – meaning he played great on offense and terrible on defense. Part of this is not his fault, he should be playing on the top of the zone. The good news is 3 of Malachi's 4 three pointers came off the bounce. Its much more difficult to hit a three off the dribble than it is to just shoot from the spot where you catch it. Its also just about impossible to stop a 6'6 guy who can hit a three off the bounce. Only one game of course, but I'd call this a very good sign. He also seems to be an excellent passer, which I was not aware of. The bad news is Lehigh was able to score down low against him on several occasions. He will figure out how to limit this to a degree as the season goes on, but I think this will always be a problem of playing him on the wing.
Obokoh – The best center today by a mile. Lyden was abused in the few situations he had to guard someone down low one on one. Coleman was abused in the few situations he had to guard someone down low one on one. Obokoh did the abusing. On offense he gives us nothing and is used in the Forth role of hanging out by the three point line giving screens all possession, but he's the only center I have much hope for defensively which is a big deal. As I said earlier, he does not use his body well, which will result in a lot of fouls. This worries me. I hope he improves as the year goes on.
Lydon – You've got to love basketball heights. Kempton is listed at 6'10 and Lyden is listed at 6'8. They guarded each other a lot and Lyden definitely looked taller than Kempton. So how tall is he really? I have no idea. I do know this though, Lyden is a definite physical presence out there with his size, length, and athleticism. He had 2 official blocks, and 2 more where he had a clean block but another player committed the foul. He will be a great defender on the wing of the zone before its all said and done. He's not really a center. I had been comparing him in my mind to other 6'8 shooters like Nichols and Southerland who were not very good as freshmen. Lydon is not like those guys. He's a lot more physically imposing. He is still a freshman though. He was extremely tentative on offense, and didn't really seem to have a great understanding of what Syracuse is trying to do, but it will be exciting to watch him progress. If we are going to win the national championship next year (something I will have in mind as I evaluate players progression) we are going to need Lydon to be a 30 minutes and 10 points per game kind of guy. I had my doubts about that, but I now believe he will be that kind of guy. As for this year, I think we are going to have to live with the typical freshman ups and downs.
Roberson – He's a blue collar type of player and those kind of guys usually struggle against small mid majors. This was not Roberson's kind of game but we know the kind of things he will do for us as well as the kind of things he will not do for us. Against the North Carolinas and Virginias of the world he'll hardly come off the court. Today he hardly played. He looked more comfortable dribbling and had a few nice drives to the basket - unfortunately he finished none of them. He had maybe the best pass of the day to Coleman down low for a dunk. Overall not the performance you'd want, but in the end Roberson will be judged by how he rebounds and defends against the best teams we play, not the worst.
Coleman – You've got to feel for this kid. He came in as a freshman needing to adjust to the college game (as almost all freshman bigs do). He got hurt half way through that season and has been hurt ever since. Two and a half years later he now has to go through those awkward freshman growing pains all over again. The problem is, I'm no longer sure how much of his original talent he has left. Coleman did a bad job with positional defense, I think that will improve a lot over the season. He also did a horrible job rebounding even though he mostly seemed to be in good position. This worries me. Lehigh guys were simply jumping over him. Remember, Coleman could barely walk for the last two years. Now he is expected to run and jump with elite athletes. He wasn't able to do either from what I saw. Will this improve? I hope so. He deserves it. I'm not at all sure it will.
Howard – He's not going to play meaningful minutes this year. We have too many guards ahead of him, and he's not at all ready defensively. I look forward to seeing his progression in the future because I think eventually he will be a good player for us.
Late season games are basically a win or lose proposition. You are what you are and all that matters is getting that W. In the early season it matters how you win, and how you progress.
Late season games might mean more and might be better games, but the best time to talk basketball and to analyze basketball is now.
I was out of the country during the preseason so this was my first time getting to watch the team play. To be frank, I don't think I learned a ton from this game.
Lehigh used a soft press that backed off into a man to man. They chose not to switch on screens, which to me is a mysterious choice. They are already shorter and weaker than SU, why ask guys who are at a physical disadvantage to also fight through screens? The result was Syracuse getting a LOT of open jump shots – which Syracuse took to the tune of 34 three point shots taken. I don't think many (if any) were bad shots. They made 32% of those shots which is kind of mediocre. Not terrible and not great; acceptable but close to what the minimum acceptable percentage is. Its a very “first game of the season” kind of percentage, which is fine because this was the first game of the season. For the record, I think taking those threes was absolutely the right way to go, and I think we are going to have to be hot from three to beat the better teams in our league.
On defense, Syracuse did what it always does, and Lehigh was completely useless against it. I want to point out that Lehigh's offensive problems were self inflicted - Syracuse didn't play particularly good defense. One of the differences between zone and man to man is the extra teamwork required to play zone. You can play good man to man defense right off the bat, but zone defense usually improves a lot as the season goes on and people get more comfortable in their role. This is usually offset by the fact that offenses (which also require lots of teamwork to execute against a zone) are not running at full capacity either and struggle to just about an equal degree.
In this case Lehigh struggled more on offense than Syracuse did on defense. In this case, Lehigh was completely inept on offense and Syracuse had a twenty point lead at halftime despite playing fairly poor on both sides of the ball.
The first half felt like an exhibition. Boeheim saw how Lehigh struggled and used that opportunity to practice some stuff. He used lots of different line ups, many of them crazy ones we will never see in meaningful games. This usually results in sloppy play (and plenty of teaching opportunities the next day which is what Boeheim wants) and it did in this case too.
Its hard to learn much as a fan with crazy line ups rotating in and out at every stoppage, but the thing that stood out to me most was Syracuse's versatility. For a while now I've noticed a transition away from traditional basketball positions in recruiting, and the proof was there today. Gbinije, Richardson, and Howard all have similar body types and are similar in the fact that they don't have a traditional position and are simply “basketball players” with a variety of skills.
The second half looked more like a real basketball game because Lehigh went on a run. What did they do differently to make this run? Part of it was a stretch of really sloppy passing from Syracuse. Lets face it, everybody in the Dome knew who was winning this game within five minutes of the tip. Syracuse seemed to get a little lackadaisical, which is common in these types of games. I'm not worried about it.
The other part of it is Lehigh started executing against Syracuse's zone, and they did it by running the same play over and over again. This does worry me, because I think its a weakness teams will be able to exploit all year, and it only took twenty game minutes for Lehigh to figure it out. The rest of the teams we play will now have film on it, and won't miss it.
The play was this. Pass it to Kempton in the high post or on the side of the paint – allow SU's center and power forward (in this case Coleman and Roberson) to double – then pass out of the double to another big (often times 6'8 Jesse Chukwu) crashing the paint on the small forward's (in this case Malachi Richardson's) side of the zone. Let him finish over Malachi.
This play worked over and over again for good reason. Freshmen never play good zone defense (the only guy I can ever remember being a good defender as a freshman is Brandon Triche who was groomed to play it in high school). Richardson (being a freshman) was never in quite the perfect position, and is not likely to be in the perfect position much in the future. Since he is short for a wing in our zone he can't use his length and athleticism to make up for these mistakes (as Lyden or Roberson can). In other words, this a is a great way for teams to exploit us. Plan to see it a lot over the season.
Admittedly, Lehigh is pretty well suited to exploit this weakness because Kempton was a good passer and comfortable being hounded by bodies down by the basket, not all teams will have that. But I still find it concerning.
Speaking of freshmen playing bad defense, we are also probably going to be weak in the post all year long. Coleman hasn't played for two and a half seasons and is basically still a freshmen and still looks like a freshman on defense. As does Lyden. Obokoh is better, but he isn't great at using his body, and extending his arms. I think fouls will be a problem or him all year long. Hopefully he improves.
Long story short, I dont expect this team to be a very good defensive team. We are going to need to score some points to win.
Lehigh switched to zone about half way through the second half when they had the lead down to 10 or so. I thought this was a good move because it eliminated their guys needing to fight through screens (which they couldn't do). Luckily Syracuse made two really tough three pointers as soon as Lehigh switched to zone, a 25 footer by Gbinije and a three off the bounce by Richardson. When those shots when in Lehigh gave up on the zone. This was a mistake because they were both low percentage shots. Who knows what would have happen if those shots missed and Lehigh stayed in zone? I still think SU would have won, but we probably would have had to sweat it out a lot more. If the game had a turning point, I think this was it.
I'll give my individual player assessments in order of how good I think the guy played (from best to worst).
Gbinije – You've got to respect this kid. He's a completely different player than the guy who came to Syracuse. He's an above average ball hadler, passer, defender, rebounder, slasher, three point shooter, and mid range shooter. And he even posted up a few times in this game! Did anybody notice that the point guard was the only guy on the team to score using a traditional back to the basket move? This probably isn't a great sign. Gbinije played the best today and is the best player on our team by a long shot. Its a shame his legacy might be that he was a great player on a couple of bad teams.
Joseph – The second best player on the team in this game. My only complaint is that I wish he played more. He handled Lehigh's admittedly weak press with ease, he shot well, looked aggressive and passed well. Ive always been a believer in him. Bright future for this kid.
Cooney – I'm sure he's going to be as divisive to Syracuse fans as always. This performance certainly is not going to change anybodies perception of him. I still think his hustle helps in more ways than people realize. That guy runs more in a game than any player I have ever seen. He also took on a lot of the ball handling duties, and played solid D.
Richardson – He's a 50/50 guy – meaning he played great on offense and terrible on defense. Part of this is not his fault, he should be playing on the top of the zone. The good news is 3 of Malachi's 4 three pointers came off the bounce. Its much more difficult to hit a three off the dribble than it is to just shoot from the spot where you catch it. Its also just about impossible to stop a 6'6 guy who can hit a three off the bounce. Only one game of course, but I'd call this a very good sign. He also seems to be an excellent passer, which I was not aware of. The bad news is Lehigh was able to score down low against him on several occasions. He will figure out how to limit this to a degree as the season goes on, but I think this will always be a problem of playing him on the wing.
Obokoh – The best center today by a mile. Lyden was abused in the few situations he had to guard someone down low one on one. Coleman was abused in the few situations he had to guard someone down low one on one. Obokoh did the abusing. On offense he gives us nothing and is used in the Forth role of hanging out by the three point line giving screens all possession, but he's the only center I have much hope for defensively which is a big deal. As I said earlier, he does not use his body well, which will result in a lot of fouls. This worries me. I hope he improves as the year goes on.
Lydon – You've got to love basketball heights. Kempton is listed at 6'10 and Lyden is listed at 6'8. They guarded each other a lot and Lyden definitely looked taller than Kempton. So how tall is he really? I have no idea. I do know this though, Lyden is a definite physical presence out there with his size, length, and athleticism. He had 2 official blocks, and 2 more where he had a clean block but another player committed the foul. He will be a great defender on the wing of the zone before its all said and done. He's not really a center. I had been comparing him in my mind to other 6'8 shooters like Nichols and Southerland who were not very good as freshmen. Lydon is not like those guys. He's a lot more physically imposing. He is still a freshman though. He was extremely tentative on offense, and didn't really seem to have a great understanding of what Syracuse is trying to do, but it will be exciting to watch him progress. If we are going to win the national championship next year (something I will have in mind as I evaluate players progression) we are going to need Lydon to be a 30 minutes and 10 points per game kind of guy. I had my doubts about that, but I now believe he will be that kind of guy. As for this year, I think we are going to have to live with the typical freshman ups and downs.
Roberson – He's a blue collar type of player and those kind of guys usually struggle against small mid majors. This was not Roberson's kind of game but we know the kind of things he will do for us as well as the kind of things he will not do for us. Against the North Carolinas and Virginias of the world he'll hardly come off the court. Today he hardly played. He looked more comfortable dribbling and had a few nice drives to the basket - unfortunately he finished none of them. He had maybe the best pass of the day to Coleman down low for a dunk. Overall not the performance you'd want, but in the end Roberson will be judged by how he rebounds and defends against the best teams we play, not the worst.
Coleman – You've got to feel for this kid. He came in as a freshman needing to adjust to the college game (as almost all freshman bigs do). He got hurt half way through that season and has been hurt ever since. Two and a half years later he now has to go through those awkward freshman growing pains all over again. The problem is, I'm no longer sure how much of his original talent he has left. Coleman did a bad job with positional defense, I think that will improve a lot over the season. He also did a horrible job rebounding even though he mostly seemed to be in good position. This worries me. Lehigh guys were simply jumping over him. Remember, Coleman could barely walk for the last two years. Now he is expected to run and jump with elite athletes. He wasn't able to do either from what I saw. Will this improve? I hope so. He deserves it. I'm not at all sure it will.
Howard – He's not going to play meaningful minutes this year. We have too many guards ahead of him, and he's not at all ready defensively. I look forward to seeing his progression in the future because I think eventually he will be a good player for us.
