Maliq

[sufandu]

I can’t remember the last time I was as frustrated by any aspect of Syracuse basketball as I am our chronic underutilization of Maliq offensively. It’s pathetic and entirely the fault of our average coaching staff.

Two shot attempts. Two! Obviously he made both. Taylor who is currently on another planet mentally somehow took seven shots.

We have this weapon that we don’t know how to use in any type of competent manner.

Him only having two shot attempts is on him. Everytime he touches the ball he immediately looks to give it up if he doesn't have a wide open layup. He never dribbles or attempts to make any offensive move. If the guards don't beat their man and force his guy to leave him, he won't shoot. I get that he does lots of little things well and is a good glue guy, but I just don't understand how people don't see that he isn't an offensively skilled player. Is it that we've had so many inside players that couldn't even catch the ball that now that we have someone that can we think he's Hakim Warrick?

 

[Bayside44]

Yes. This isn’t the 100 percent zone years.

Plenty of players go to other programs and fade away. Continue to stay the course here as long as Red gives his word that he’ll allow him to grow his game

Agreed. He was just some toolsy kid with some upside that Cuse took a run at. We have a ball dominant point for now and Maliq isn't a post player really. Keep growing.

 

[sufandu]

Maliq has made 14 out of his last 17 shot attempts from the field.

The entire season in 26 games, he's only had two games where he's shot less than 50% from the field.

In 12 out of 26 games, he's shot at least 75% from the field.

Yes. He does a good job at making himself available to receive feeds for layups. He does not create any of his own shots. His shooting percentage is misleading. If he can learn to beat a guy off the dribble and/or some post moves he could great. He's not that guy yet.

 

[DilemaCuse]

I wondered if the staff intentionally took him out of the game plan or just wanted him as a decoy?

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Teams have stopped covering Taylor. He has a wide open jumper whenever he wants one.

Unfortunately he struggles to even hit the rim.

Can’t play 4 on 5. That is what is happening when Taylor is in right now.

I’m comfortable in saying that Taylor is the worst starter SU has had in the past 40 years (my memory doesn’t go back any further).

Kind of feel bad for the kid because he really shouldn’t be out there.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Justin had wide open looks but is afraid to shoot.

I mean the dude took 7 shots in 14 minutes.

How many FGAs this dude getting if he isn't afraid to shoot?

 

[baggerbob]

Even Q wasn't feeding Maliq tonight. Judah returned to selfish Judah again.
Maliq needs more touches. Too much ball pounding and poor shot selection along with poor coaching tonight.

Two guys need to sit the next game, Taylor, and Judah. Taylor because he can't shoot, and Judah because he doesn't understand he is supposed to set up his teammates.
He is strictly a me first guard, and if I can't get a shot then I'll throw it to you.

 

[tptcuse]

Two guys need to sit the next game, Taylor, and Judah. Taylor because he can't shoot, and Judah because he doesn't understand he is supposed to set up his teammates.
He is strictly a me first guard, and if I can't get a shot then I'll throw it to you.

C'mon. Judah? He wasn't great last night, but he wasn't the reason we lost.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

C'mon. Judah? He wasn't great last night, but he wasn't the reason we lost.

I understand the frustration that Judah didn't take the leap we hoped, but the Judah slander on this board is absurd.

Libel? Maybe it's libel.

I don't know what I'm talking about.

 

[AlaskaSU]

This team would be so much better if Cope had an outside shot.

 

[pokercuse08]

I understand the frustration that Judah didn't take the leap we hoped, but the Judah slander on this board is absurd.

Judah is the most talented player on this team, and right now they'd be terrible without him. He's also not the type of guard who makes his teammates better, he tries to do to much, his late-game situational awareness is awful, and he's absolutely not a point guard. You can't win big games with a guard like him running the point, unless he's like generationally good. He's not. So he's just one of our many combo guards who can't shoot from the outside. He's got more talent than Q and JJ, but he's also more selfish and his game is built around getting fouled and he whines too much when he tries to draw contact and the refs don't give it to him. If your game is built around getting to the stripe and you want to be a consistent scorer for your team, you have to attack the basket and earn the calls, not lean into the defender and hope they call it.

I want to see Syracuse winning big games, contending for conference titles, making deep tournament runs, and cutting down nets. So I want him gone, so that they can get players in who can do that. I think the best defense of him I've heard is some form of, "Well if he had better players around him, maybe he'd be able to play the right style of play to win."

Maybe, but it's pretty unlikely IMO, and I'd rather not take that gamble.

 

[sufandu]

Two guys need to sit the next game, Taylor, and Judah. Taylor because he can't shoot, and Judah because he doesn't understand he is supposed to set up his teammates.
He is strictly a me first guard, and if I can't get a shot then I'll throw it to you.

I don't think Judah was as bad last game as his numbers looked. He gave the ball up quite a bit and guys gave it right back to him. If he isn't blowing by his guy and drawing a secondary defender or if other guys aren't moving well without the ball or shooting it when they get it, he won't get assists. The only finishers we have are guards. That doesn't make for many assists.

 

[MGDCuse]

I understand the frustration that Judah didn't take the leap we hoped, but the Judah slander on this board is absurd.

Libel? Maybe it's libel.

I don't know what I'm talking about.

Libel is written, so you actually do know what you're talking about OIG.

 

[sufandu]

This team would be so much better if Cope had an outside shot.

Or if Malik had a post game or if Bell could dribble. I'm not sure it means much to say a guy would be better if he had a major skill he lacks. The thing that keeps alot of players from being great is that they lack a significant skill.

 

[Wrinkle]

Copeland is the only player who can make the passes out of pick and roll, and other than those rolling situations Brown can really only score as a trashman.

I think Copeland should be the primary ballhandler and Copeland/Brown pick and roll is easily our best way to initiate halfcourt offense, but Brown is limited in how he can score (yet highly effective in those ways in which he is capable)

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Libel is written, so you actually do know what you're talking about OIG.

I was trying to remember that one scene from Spider-Man where J. Jonah Jameson explains this and couldn't quite remember it.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

[Judah]s also not the type of guard who makes his teammates better

This gets bandied about and I need some convincing that this isn't just a board trope, because a couple of things don't line up.

On one hand, folks seem pretty quick to acknowledge that the team a) would be less talented without Judah and b) would have a worse record without him.

Yet somehow, even though we're better with Judah, he somehow doesn't make his teammates better? Like his individual talent is so overwhelming that it leads to better results in terms of record, but his inability to elevate his teammates holds the record back?

What exactly does Judah "making his teammates better" look like? Does it look like the team suddenly collectively rebounding better? Does it look like magically one of our guys becoming a viable center? Is the reason why Taylor can't make a basket and poses zero threat offensively because of something Judah does?

The guy is 3rd in the ACC in assists - would he need to lead the conference in assists in order to be sufficiently making his teammates better? I absolutely concede that Judah has made some bad decisions late, but I also think Red lets him gas out a lot of games for whatever reason (Starling too) and that probably doesn't help with the decision making or sense he needs to do more than he should.

Judah hasn't come back and been the dominant force we hoped but my goodness the standard he's judged by sure seems arbitrary.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Or if Malik had a post game or if Bell could dribble. I'm not sure it means much to say a guy would be better if he had a major skill he lacks. The thing that keeps alot of players from being great is that they lack a significant skill.

Good lord with the post game nonsense. Do you all watch basketball outside of SUhoops from 30 years ago? If Maliq is actually 6’8” as some here contend, spending time on post moves is just wasted time. He needs to keep working on his shot, because he’s actually wing sized.

And most times he’s playing against the other teams five, so unless he has super post moves, he’s probably getting packed anyway. He’d be far better off dragging his guy away from the hoop, faking a shot, then driving and stuffing the ball. Which I’ve seen him do just once this year, but he did it well. That’s his game for the future.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

This gets bandied about and I need some convincing that this isn't just a board trope, because a couple of things don't line up.

On one hand, folks seem pretty quick to acknowledge that the team a) would be less talented without Judah and b) would have a worse record without him.

Yet somehow, even though we're better with Judah, he somehow doesn't make his teammates better? Like his individual talent is so overwhelming that it leads to better results in terms of record, but his inability to elevate his teammates holds the record back?

What exactly does Judah "making his teammates better" look like? Does it look like the team suddenly collectively rebounding better? Does it look like magically one of our guys becoming a viable center? Is the reason why Taylor can't make a basket and poses zero threat offensively because of something Judah does?

The guy is 3rd in the ACC in assists - would he need to lead the conference in assists in order to be sufficiently making his teammates better? I absolutely concede that Judah has made some bad decisions late, but I also think Red lets him gas out a lot of games for whatever reason (Starling too) and that probably doesn't help with the decision making or sense he needs to do more than he should.

Judah hasn't come back and been the dominant force we hoped but my goodness the standard he's judged by sure seems arbitrary.

You can use stats to make all the arguments you like. If it wasn’t for bell never dribbling before shooting his threes, and making shots when he’s completely covered, I really don’t believe Judah would be in the top 6. He rarely makes the pass that hits the guy just as he’s getting open. It always seems late to the guys on the wing.

 

[Dinkyspond]

I mean the dude took 7 shots in 14 minutes.

How many FGAs this dude getting if he isn't afraid to shoot?

I was at the game and had a good vantage point of the whole court. He had a lot more open shots that he passed up, maybe 3-4. He is gun shy because his confidence is so low. GTech dared him to shoot and played off him to clog the lane to stop our penetrating guards. It worked to perfection.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

You can use stats to make all the arguments you like. If it wasn’t for bell never dribbling before shooting his threes, and making shots when he’s completely covered, I really don’t believe Judah would be in the top 6. He rarely makes the pass that hits the guy just as he’s getting open. It always seems late to the guys on the wing.

Ok, but this is something we can work with - Judah making his teammates better means he gets his passes on time to guys on the wing.

 

[Fly Rodder]

You can use stats to make all the arguments you like. If it wasn’t for bell never dribbling before shooting his threes, and making shots when he’s completely covered, I really don’t believe Judah would be in the top 6. He rarely makes the pass that hits the guy just as he’s getting open. It always seems late to the guys on the wing.

Yeah, a couple of things lead to those assist numbers: a) he handles the ball at the beginning of nearly every single possession, as such b) he leads the team in FGA. A lot of those possessions end up as Judah dribbling for 15 seconds, then attempting to get to the paint where he throws up a shot, gets fouled, or throws the ball to a teammate to save his ass late in the shot clock.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Yeah, a couple of things lead to those assist numbers: a) he handles the ball at the beginning of nearly every single possession, as such b) he leads the team in FGA. A lot of those possessions end up as Judah dribbling for 15 seconds, then attempting to get to the paint where he throws up a shot, gets fouled, or throws the ball to a teammate to save his ass late in the shot clock.

Great. So what in there needs to be different for the claim to be true that Judah makes his teammates better?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I was at the game and had a good vantage point of the whole court. He had a lot more open shots that he passed up, maybe 3-4. He is gun shy because his confidence is so low. GTech dared him to shoot and played off him to clog the lane to stop our penetrating guards. It worked to perfection.

So a fearless Taylor takes 10-11 shots in 14 minutes.

I don't think we want that.

 

[Fly Rodder]

So a fearless Taylor takes 10-11 shots in 14 minutes.

I don't think we want that.

Why not? He’s shown talent, he just needs more shots to build his confidence.

I think this team is just fine, everyone tries hard and they do good occasionally. Run it back. Red has them right where he wants them.