Maliq at center doesn’t work

[two3zone]

You want to go back to being a zone team?

No but when we play zone it’s mind blowing that McLeod isn’t on the floor.

 

[Cusefan0307]

No but when we play zone it’s mind blowing that McLeod isn’t on the floor.

That I can agree with, but I read it as he wants to go full time zone with McLeod in the middle. My mistake if that's not correct.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

There was another one where the guy got around McLeod. That shouldn’t happen at his size.

We are going to have to accept that no defender, no matter how large and talented, is 100% effective. Smaller, quicker guys have scored on Shaq, Duncan, Robinson, Chamberlain, Mourning, Wemby, et al. It’s going to happen.

In McLeod’s case, I don’t think that means he’s not effective. There’s give and take. He presents a massive deterrent in most instances, for his own man as well as in help situations. The issue I’m seeing is that with big/small mismatches, if you have the big, we’re just not going to exploit that. We are not seeing a concentrated effort to make that our advantage by being adept and efficient at feeding the post. We do it once, almost as a token, and then we instantly go back to being guard-dominant.

As Shaq repeats ad infinitum, when the defender is too small in the post, that should be the easiest two points you can score. “Chicken.” But, maybe red doesn’t have enough confidence in McCleod to be consistent. Not sure why we don’t do it more, as our guards certainly haven’t been consistent enough.

 

[hoopsupstate]

I’m not sure how Red wants to play his defense. His guards should force the lead guard to one side of the floor so they create a weak side for defensive help. Don’t allow them to penetrate in the middle of the floor because it doesn‘t create a weak side. Some coaches try to keep the ball on one side and deny ball reversal. I didn’t see many players “helping the helper.” Rotations are still being developed, but Red has to have some basic rules to his defense. I’m sure he does. I’m going to try and focus tonight on our defensive awareness. It’s really important that the guy playing the ball stays in front and forces his player to one side of the court. If we constantly have to help each other, shooters will be open. It would be nice if they could funnel all drivers to McCloud. It’s funny that we all practically know all the in and outs of our zone defense. Now we have to learn how Red wants to play his man defense. Coaches have different philosophies about how they want their defense to be played.

 

[Cuse_NYC]

You want to go back to being a zone team?

No no no but if it needs to be played for say half the time McLeod is out there, then sure. Whatever makes the team better

 

[Orangezoo]

Everyone had an opinion on who should have been named HC. So, no one can have “objectivity on the coaching comments?”

The point is patience. The sample size is tiny and then there is a preference as to who should be coaching and the style they want to see. So no if you preferred someone else and are already getting antsy with Red then that's not coming from an objective lens.

To each their own but I have no idea how people can genuinely infer and project from 2 exhibitions and one regular season opener without the team at full strength that Red's defensive strategy and subbing is flawed. That's just having a pre conceived preference and projecting it onto what they are seeing.

The team hasn't played a full game with everyone at full health that was part of the vision of the roster he put together. They haven't had the amount of time it takes to build a system and execute it as intended. They are working through it amongst the injuries/suspensions.

 

[Orangezoo]

No no no but if it needs to be played for say half the time McLeod is out there, then sure. Whatever makes the team better

So why can't we have trust that what is happening now is in the plan to be best to make the team better? Look everyone plays armchair coach on here I get that. That said I think he deserves some time to prove the concept.

 

[Orangezoo]

I’m not sure how Red wants to play his defense. His guards should force the lead guard to one side of the floor so they create a weak side for defensive help. Don’t allow them to penetrate in the middle of the floor because it doesn‘t create a weak side. Some coaches try to keep the ball on one side and deny ball reversal. I didn’t see many players “helping the helper.” Rotations are still being developed, but Red has to have some basic rules to his defense. I’m sure he does. I’m going to try and focus tonight on our defensive awareness. It’s really important that the guy playing the ball stays in front and forces his player to one side of the court. If we constantly have to help each other, shooters will be open. It would be nice if they could funnel all drivers to McCloud. It’s funny that we all practically know all the in and outs of our zone defense. Now we have to learn how Red wants to play his man defense. Coaches have different philosophies about how they want their defense to be played.

So far I think there aren't as many guys in tune with executing those rules yet so what you see on the floor is guys still learning and making mistakes. Pair that with no Benny, no Westry, Brown being dinged up and then even McLeod losing some time to discomfort in that hand. It's hard when the personnel is inconsistent from the time you started to install the system to game 1 let alone several changes from game 1 to game 3. I don't expect we will have a true feel until we get into Mid December.

 

[FrancoPizza]

No but when we play zone it’s mind blowing that McLeod isn’t on the floor.

Besides, flying to the corner 3 is more entertaining when it's a 7-4 guy falling into the big donor chairs.

 

[Sherman20]

I’m not sure how Red wants to play his defense. His guards should force the lead guard to one side of the floor so they create a weak side for defensive help. Don’t allow them to penetrate in the middle of the floor because it doesn‘t create a weak side. Some coaches try to keep the ball on one side and deny ball reversal. I didn’t see many players “helping the helper.” Rotations are still being developed, but Red has to have some basic rules to his defense. I’m sure he does. I’m going to try and focus tonight on our defensive awareness. It’s really important that the guy playing the ball stays in front and forces his player to one side of the court. If we constantly have to help each other, shooters will be open. It would be nice if they could funnel all drivers to McCloud. It’s funny that we all practically know all the in and outs of our zone defense. Now we have to learn how Red wants to play his man defense. Coaches have different philosophies about how they want their defense to be played.

Exactly. Keeping drivers out of the lane and forcing them to one side of the paint or the other should be a key tenet of our defensive scheme. I’ve watched videos of Mick Cronin’s highly rated, stout defenses at Cincinnati and that is a central principle. It’s also a central principle of the pack line defense (which Griff coached at Dayton), along with strong on-ball pressure. I imagine it’s going to take these guys time to learn all the intricacies and details of Red’s defense and then be hyper-focused on employing them correctly and instinctually. There’s a lot of work to be done and but I think we have the athletes and speed to be successful at it eventually.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Why can’t we question Red wanting to play small? He said it AGAIN at Carrabba’s. Teams will score at will against us with Maliq at center. I will stand by this.

Give up. Most people don’t consid

I'm not advocating that McLeod should have played more minutes over Brown last night. It was clear from the jump that attempting to have a 7'4" guy guard a 6'7" guy on the perimeter wasn't going to work out. I'm just saying that Brown at the 5, especially if you're going to run zone for extended possessions, is absolutely not going to work in the long run.

The 6’7 guy has to guard the 7-4 guy on the other end. The first play of the game resulted in the easiest bucket of all time. Then they never ran a play for him again.

 

[Cuse_NYC]

Give up. Most people don’t consid

The 6’7 guy has to guard the 7-4 guy on the other end. The first play of the game resulted in the easiest bucket of all time. Then they never ran a play for him again.

stopped making any effort to throw the oop as well

 

[CardiacCuse]

whole frontcort defense looks very vulnerable

 

[Niastri]

McLeod had 5 blocks and 2 fouls. I'm becoming more and more of a fan... He also had 9 boards and didn't miss a shot from the field. It's criminal he only got 3 shots.

 

[rrlbees]

McLeod had 5 blocks and 2 fouls. I'm becoming more and more of a fan... He also had 9 boards and didn't miss a shot from the field. It's criminal he only got 3 shots.

I wanted to see some minutes with McLeod at the 5 and Brown at the 4. I feel bad for Brown only playing the 5.

 

[Niastri]

I wanted to see some minutes with McLeod at the 5 and Brown at the 4. I feel bad for Brown only playing the 5.

It is a quandary... Largely caused by needing to get shooting from both forwards due to inconsistent at best shooting so far from Starling and Mintz. Hopefully Mintz hitting a couple will take the lid off.

If Starling and Mintz can at least be that threat from deep, Red can safely play with McLeod and Brown together, for short bits at least. Otherwise, we're playing Taylor and Bell together and either Starling or Mintz is on the bench. Can't really do that for long.

Williams would have been helpful. My hope is he does what he needs to do to get back to the team.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Hima stinks. Next.

St. John's would disagree with you.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Yeah idn about Red’s in game decisions thus far

He's in the process of finding out what they can do. This is going to take 10 games or so, especially for a first year coach. You have to remember, he is asking them to do things differently than they did under Boeheim. It takes time to bake a cake.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I was referring specifically to Brown's lateral movement, not anyone else. I was told by all the anti-zone people (I'm not a zone lover btw) that these guys all played man-to-man their entire basketball careers and could easily transition back to it. Through three games of watching them play man-to-man, I think it's safe to say that it's not like riding a bike. I'll accept there will be some growing pains, but there's nothing I've seen so far to make me think that these guys will be any better in man-to-man defense than they were in zone last year.

Well, except that he probably played against forwards or guys smaller than him in high school and AAU when he last played man. Playing center in college is a different level of physicality than he encountered before.

 

[IthacaMatt]

We are going to have to accept that no defender, no matter how large and talented, is 100% effective. Smaller, quicker guys have scored on Shaq, Duncan, Robinson, Chamberlain, Mourning, Wemby, et al. It’s going to happen.

In McLeod’s case, I don’t think that means he’s not effective. There’s give and take. He presents a massive deterrent in most instances, for his own man as well as in help situations. The issue I’m seeing is that with big/small mismatches, if you have the big, we’re just not going to exploit that. We are not seeing a concentrated effort to make that our advantage by being adept and efficient at feeding the post. We do it once, almost as a token, and then we instantly go back to being guard-dominant.

As Shaq repeats ad infinitum, when the defender is too small in the post, that should be the easiest two points you can score. “Chicken.” But, maybe red doesn’t have enough confidence in McCleod to be consistent. Not sure why we don’t do it more, as our guards certainly haven’t been consistent enough.

Good post!

 

[IthacaMatt]

McLeod had 5 blocks and 2 fouls. I'm becoming more and more of a fan... He also had 9 boards and didn't miss a shot from the field. It's criminal he only got 3 shots.

Every time they throw a lob up near the rim, he puts it down.

 

[CardiacCuse]

at least give mcleod some post up chances every game...they dont even consider it, it seems...which is weird

 

[SUFan44]

St. John's would disagree with you.

One decent game doth not make a player. His zero minutes this season speaks more to my point.

 

[IthacaMatt]

One decent game doth not make a player. His zero minutes this season speaks more to my point.

You said "he stinks". Maybe he's been hurt. I've heard he has a lot of pain in his knees. The question is not his talent, if he could do that against a quality opponent. The question is whether he is ever healthy enough to play, or whether we have another DuJuan Coleman on our hands.

 

[Cusefan0307]

You said "he stinks". Maybe he's been hurt. I've heard he has a lot of pain in his knees. The question is not his talent, if he could do that against a quality opponent. The question is whether he is ever healthy enough to play, or whether we have another DuJuan Coleman on our hands.

I think he’s going to redshirt and grad transfer after the season. He averaged 1 ppg and 1.7 rpg last year.