Line up changes

[newmexicuse]

No, he had just gotten into the game. No other mistakes. He had a wide open shot, with a great pic from Frank to free him up. He took the shot, then he was immediately subbed out. He missed badly, but getting open looks is kind of the point of running an offense. JB just didn't like who got the open look.

I don't see him standing around, ever. Even without the ball he's directing other players on where to go.

I will not disagree that the particular play you referenced as his miss might just be JB having a hissy fit. It would not be the first time nor the last.

However, you don't see him standing around ? He is a PG - he is supposed to be able to drive, dish, create, and score at the rim if there is an open lane. When does he ever try to drive & dish or drive & finish? When does he ever try to get himself an open look inside the trey line ? When does he ever drive for a pullup deuce ? He has taken 12 shots this year - 10 from the three point line. All he seems to do is stand at the trey line; however, I will say this the ball does not stick in his hands, he is moving it right along.

I loved his HS vids - the jury may be out on whether or not he has the athleticism to translate what he did in HS to the next level. If his athleticism doesn't translate in the end, no fault of the kid. Sometimes talent levels get mis-judged. ( Joseph is the poster child for that). My complaint is that i do not see the same energy and style of play that I thought we would be getting when we signed him.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I will not disagree that the particular play you referenced as his miss might just be JB having a hissy fit. It would not be the first time nor the last.

However, you don't see him standing around ? He is a PG - he is supposed to be able to drive, dish, create, and score at the rim if there is an open lane. When does he ever try to drive & dish or drive & finish? When does he ever try to get himself an open look inside the trey line ? When does he ever drive for a pullup deuce ? He has taken 12 shots this year - 10 from the three point line. All he seems to do is stand at the trey line; however, I will say this the ball does not stick in his hands, he is moving it right along.

I loved his HS vids - the jury may be out on whether or not he has the athleticism to translate what he did in HS to the next level. If his athleticism doesn't translate in the end, no fault of the kid. Sometimes talent levels get mis-judged. ( Joseph is the poster child for that). My complaint is that i do not see the same energy and style of play that I thought we would be getting when we signed him.

You're serious with these questions, aren't you? Good Lord you must be new to SU hoops.

At what point has he played PG this year? I'm struggling to understand how you think he should be able to do any of these things. He does not initiate any of the plays on offense. That's Howard's job right now. I'm asking for him to be freed up to do the very things you want from him, but HE IS NOT ALLOWED TO DO THAT RIGHT NOW!!! FFS dude, understand the way this team works for half a second.

 

[newmexicuse]

You're serious with these questions, aren't you? Good Lord you must be new to SU hoops.

At what point has he played PG this year? I'm struggling to understand how you think he should be able to do any of these things. He does not initiate any of the plays on offense. That's Howard's job right now. I'm asking for him to be freed up to do the very things you want from him, but HE IS NOT ALLOWED TO DO THAT RIGHT NOW!!! FFS dude, understand the way this team works for half a second.

Many of his few minutes come when he is subbing in for Frank the few times that Frank sits & HW is the PG. Even if they are on the court at the same time and HW is ostensibly the 2G, that still does not exempt him from trying to make plays. When you are shooting 10% from the trey line, you need to find other ways to contribute to what is our totally stagnant offense when the opportunity to get on the court arises. I will not exempt Jimmy from this issue. HW treasures the minutes he gets. I do not doubt that he thinks he will stay on the court longer by doing nothing than trying to make a play and failing. No doubt a significant part of what i am saying/complaining about is on the coach.

 

[RF2044]

I'm not sure that any lineup changes will be effective, because we lack depth at this point. Thorpe was a guy that Boeheim supposedly liked a lot, and felt would fit in well prior to him getting injured. If he was still here, and able to provide some outside shooting, then maybe we'd have the option of going small a little more effectively. But he's not, so it isn't a "great" option anymore because Howard Washington isn't as ready at this stage of his developmental curve as a 5th year senior who averaged 15ppg, albeit at a lower level of competition.

Sidibe might have given us some other options [we really need him back healthy, BTW], but at least in the pivot Chukwu has shown a lot of improvement. Having a capable Chukwu [who admittedly will provide inconsistent scoring] AND a capable Sidibe made this team look strong inside early on, but that's declined a bit due to Sidibe's lack of lateral mobility. Hopefully, he can shake the tendinitis or whatever is holding him back, because he is a much better player than I think many realize.

I also love Dolezaj, but we're starting to see why it is hard for a guy to play inside at 180 pounds. In another year or two [and hopefully he's still around that long], he's going to provide good shooting, but that's just not a part of his game right now. I'm not saying that his game is identical, but he reminds me a lot of young CJ Fair in the sense that he has a great feel for the game, JB trusts him, and he almost always looks to make the right / safe play. The downside to that latter element to his game is that he rarely forces and almost always plays within himself, which is a great attribute for a young player, but it also means that he's mistake avoidant. If he could knock down 15 foot shots, it would help this offense a ton. But he's not making those shots consistently, so he's not going to force them -- at least not at this stage.

That's really the extent of the depth -- those three -- so I'm not sure what lineup adjustments we can make.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Many of his few minutes come when he is subbing in for Frank the few times that Frank sits & HW is the PG. Even if they are on the court at the same time and HW is ostensibly the 2G, that still does not exempt him from trying to make plays. When you are shooting 10% from the trey line, you need to find other ways to contribute to what is our totally stagnant offense when the opportunity to get on the court arises. I will not exempt Jimmy from this issue. HW treasures the minutes he gets. I do not doubt that he thinks he will stay on the court longer by doing nothing than trying to make a play and failing. No doubt a significant part of what i am saying/complaining about is on the coach.

I'd like to see him be able to initiate the plays and allow the playmakers to do their jobs. Frank shooting, Battle and Oshae driving. If we get offense from HW, then that's gravy. But JB will not allow that to happen this year. So that means Frank must initiate and we've seen 'mixed' results from that.

We are talking about the same thing I think. But the only one who can make these things happen is JB.

 

[RF2044]

Many of his few minutes come when he is subbing in for Frank the few times that Frank sits & HW is the PG. Even if they are on the court at the same time and HW is ostensibly the 2G, that still does not exempt him from trying to make plays. When you are shooting 10% from the trey line, you need to find other ways to contribute to what is our totally stagnant offense when the opportunity to get on the court arises. I will not exempt Jimmy from this issue. HW treasures the minutes he gets. I do not doubt that he thinks he will stay on the court longer by doing nothing than trying to make a play and failing. No doubt a significant part of what i am saying/complaining about is on the coach.

I think it is important to keep in mind that HW is a 165 pound three star. This is a kid who could have a tremendous career in Orange and play a key role on future teams, even if it is just as a bench reserve [and I don't discount that he could emerge as a quality starter down the road]. But expecting him to play a lot or make big contributions this year is expecting too much. Based upon what we've seen, I think it is most likely that the maximum we can expect is for him to be a minutes-eater -- even if it is just 2-3 minutes per half -- which can provide Frank and Battle with an opportunity to catch some modicum of rest.

I think we'll see a sophomore jump from a guy like HW. He'll come back stronger next year, with some game experience under his belt, and look like he belongs out there more than he does this year.

 

[MSOrange]

I'm not sure that any lineup changes will be effective, because we lack depth at this point. Thorpe was a guy that Boeheim supposedly liked a lot, and felt would fit in well prior to him getting injured. If he was still here, and able to provide some outside shooting, then maybe we'd have the option of going small a little more effectively. But he's not, so it isn't a "great" option anymore because Howard Washington isn't as ready at this stage of his developmental curve as a 5th year senior who averaged 15ppg, albeit at a lower level of competition.

Sidibe might have given us some other options [we really need him back healthy, BTW], but at least in the pivot Chukwu has shown a lot of improvement. Having a capable Chukwu [who admittedly will provide inconsistent scoring] AND a capable Sidibe made this team look strong inside early on, but that's declined a bit due to Sidibe's lack of lateral mobility. Hopefully, he can shake the tendinitis or whatever is holding him back, because he is a much better player than I think many realize.

I also love Dolezaj, but we're starting to see why it is hard for a guy to play inside at 180 pounds. In another year or two [and hopefully he's still around that long], he's going to provide good shooting, but that's just not a part of his game right now. I'm not saying that his game is identical, but he reminds me a lot of young CJ Fair in the sense that he has a great feel for the game, JB trusts him, and he almost always looks to make the right / safe play. The downside to that latter element to his game is that he rarely forces and almost always plays within himself, which is a great attribute for a young player, but it also means that he's mistake avoidant. If he could knock down 15 foot shots, it would help this offense a ton. But he's not making those shots consistently, so he's not going to force them -- at least not at this stage.

That's really the extent of the depth -- those three -- so I'm not sure what lineup adjustments we can make.

Very good post- and when you consider the Virginia game at least, I'm not sure what else JB could have done as far as the rotations except play Washington more. Chukwu was playing really well. so there wasn't a huge need for Sidibe other than for a breather and Dolezaj played 13 minutes without accomplishing a whole lot.

 

[Consigliere]

That is not crystal clear to me. I do remember the shot you are alluding to; however, I do not remember the context. Was somebody else wide open for a better shot underneath ? Had Howard made a D faux pas right before or right after the shot ? Was something else going on that caused the yank ?

I do not believe that Jimmy is putting kids in them game and telling them to just stand around. Maybe, Howard had done too much standing around in the first place, and Jimmy was just frustrated by a missed shot - good or bad.

You can have your opinion, I agree opportunities have been scarce for Howard, but i also think. HW did not get a Syracuse university basketball scholarship to do nothing on the court.When he does get chances he needs to assert and try to make plays. Better he shows effort and gets pulled for messing up a play then that he just stands there and does nothing in the first place.

Not sure when this was. Washington hasn't taken a shot since the Eastern Michigan game. He DID get a quick hook after a terrible turnover against Notre Dame.

 

[AlpharettaCuse]

It’s not inexperience that is the problem.
Kentucky and Duke are loaded with freshman.
Our problem is we don’t recruit the highest offensive skill we can our recruiting is tailored to the zone.
We sacrifice skill for length.
Brissett will get better but he isn’t here longer than next year.
Jonny Flynn wouldn’t be recruited nowadays because he would be too small for the zone.

We just recruited Quade Green last year. He’s the same height as Flynn. 6-0. Syracuse recruits the same players Duke and Kentucky recruit. See Green, Jordan Tucker, Nerlens Noel, Anthony Davis, Dakari Johnson, Doron Lamb, Alex O’Connell, Hamidou Diallo, Mo Bamba, Trevon Duval, Mike Gbinije, Nick Richards, and even that Cole Swider kid that picked Villanova. I’m pretty sure Syracuse recruited Michael Porter for a while too. And that kid that went to Kansas, Billy Preston. And Lonnie Walker and Brandon Randolph. And Matt Coleman. A lot of Top 30 kids.

We don’t just recruit long/tall athletes with no skill. I don’t get why some people think this. We recruit the best players possible.

 

[OrangeDW]

Yes! The “put a front court player at the top of the zone for the LENGTH” post makes its way here during the season!! Usually that’s an off-season post.