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[QUOTE="Coach Orange, post: 895989, member: 2260"]
It's been awesome to see Rak enhance his game this season, especially since he didn't seem to do this much at all last year. His footwork is more effective than in the past. On offense, he is fighting for position early, often sealing his defender properly with his hips. He also rolls with better spacing than he used to in our ball-screen game. He has even made strong cuts to the basket when his defender turns to help or goes to double the ball handler.

Defensively, as 315Pat mentioned, he still needs to work on stepping up to guard the player at the free throw line and applying ball pressure, but from block-to-block and up to the mid-post, he slides his feet well to shut down the paint. He had a couple of steals yesterday by stepping into the passing lane in that area. It will be interesting to see if teams with great athletes continue to attempt lobs to players behind him--he has lost track of players on the baseline a few times this season; I'd love to see him adjust and steal/disrupt that pass more often.

That said, as recently as Monday night, BMK seemed to get the big minutes down the stretch of the game. Rak was in foul trouble, but he logically would have played the last few minutes if he was the "one" that Boeheim trusts. He didn't. I'd say Coach B trusts the match-up and which player seems to have the "hot hand" more than just the name on the back of the jersey right now.

Both players serve a role on this team, and both need to play well if the squad is to reach its full potential.
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