Our "Lottery Pick"

[SBU72]

He blew how many layups today in the first half? That's simply a function of being a freshman who needs to get stronger. Like a million freshmen before him.

Getting stronger does not happen during the season. Learning how to use what he has can. Early on in the season, the little two man offense between Xmas and McM worked pretty well in either direction. Now it seems McM doesn't get in either the high or low post to do it.

 

[jekelish]

Ehhhh. He averages 5 ppg there is no chance he gets drafted in the first round and he stays.

Daniel Orton says hi: http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/Players/Orton_Daniel.html

 

[supp]

I'm concerned. He went from being an offensive focal point to an after thought. Thing is, the offense has improved since his role was reduced. What worries me though is that we aren't doing anything to help him. He rarely sees the ball, and when he does, he isn't given it in a position to do much. It's kinda like when you play pickup with a guy that you don't know, and after you play you feel like he didn't do much. Turns out, the only time anyone ever passed it to him was when he was 30 feet from the basket. We could make more of an effort to get him the ball.

I'm worried the Chad Ford Boeheim pressers messed with his head and knocked down his confidence. He scored in doubles the two games right after that, and has been in single digits since. Coach might have overplayed his hand there.

I know, I know, people are going to say McCullough needs to pull it together and help himself, and he needs to gain Coach's trust in order to start seeing the ball again. But that's a little weird - was he not trusted when he was averaging 14 and 9 to start the season?

We've become so used to playing 4 on 5 in recent years with one frontcourt player being a non-factor on offense that we automatically revert to that if given the chance. You're right that they used to run sets for McCullough that were effective. Now he's getting non-factor treatment where it's largely up to him to scrap on the boards to get his points. That's not a big part of his game at this point in his career. But that also plays right into Roberson's game when he subs in for him.

They've got to make a concerted effort to get McCullough involved again. We may be better on offense but we're not that much better. Generally, I think Gbinije and McCullough should be taking more shots, Cooney fewer, and Patterson none beyond 5 feet for us to be successful. I think McCullough is also one of those players who if he's not involved on offense, his whole game goes to hell. We've had lots of players in the past like that too.

 

[Bayside44]

Getting stronger does not happen during the season. Learning how to use what he has can. Early on in the season, the little two man offense between Xmas and McM worked pretty well in either direction. Now it seems McM doesn't get in either the high or low post to do it.

He can get stronger in relation to adjusting to and expecting the physical play and getting used to it.

Otherwise in the old days he'd be a role player and there would be guys in front of him as he developed.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

We've become so used to playing 4 on 5 in recent years with one frontcourt player being a non-factor on offense that we automatically revert to that if given the chance. You're right that they used to run sets for McCullough that were effective. Now he's getting non-factor treatment where it's largely up to him to scrap on the boards to get his points. That's not a big part of his game at this point in his career. But that also plays right into Roberson's game when he subs in for him.

They've got to make a concerted effort to get McCullough involved again. We may be better on offense but we're not that much better. Generally, I think Gbinije and McCullough should be taking more shots, Cooney fewer, and Patterson none beyond 5 feet for us to be successful. I think McCullough is also one of those players who if he's not involved on offense, his whole game goes to hell. We've had lots of players in the past like that too.

Completely agree.