RAK and scoring

[conradical]

i understand his role changed this year, but why wasn't RAK given the chance to be a scorer last season? if the coaches were able to turn him into an offensive weapon for his senior year, then why couldn't they have done it for his junior year instead? the tools had to have been there all along.

watching RAK now, it's frustrating to think about what a non-factor he was last year while night in and night out the team had to fight just to put up 60 points.

regardless, i couldn't be happier for his success; he seems like a good guy who out of nowhere is playing himself into the nba.

 

[NineOneSeven]

DAMN GOOD QUESTION

Because we had Fair we could just ISO all game? Because Baye (bless his heart) hustled on defense?

He's improved from last year. But LOL at people who don't think he could have contributed more if given the chance.

 

[rrlbees]

DAMN GOOD QUESTION Because we had Fair we could just ISO all game? Because Baye (bless his heart) hustled on defense? He's improved from last year. But LOL at people who don't think he could have contributed more if given the chance.

LOL at some people.

 

[Antiprodigy]

It is more about his mental tools than his physical tools. I think that last year he was physically capable of doing what he is doing. He had short bursts of it in certain games. However, the mental tools were not there. He did not seem to have the fire, the desire.

I think it was Bees who commented a few weeks back about JB having a long conversation with Rak over the summer, and the fact that Rak took that conversation to heart and dedicated himself to building the fire within himself.

I will add that I do not feel that it was Ennis' strong suit to feed the post. Gbinijie, Cooney, Joseph & Buss have had it deeply ingrained into them to feed Rak as much as possible. JB has made it known for some time that Rak was the man. He was the key to doing anything as a team.

This is truly Christmas all basketball season. Enjoy what you see, because it doesn't happen often at SU, that we get a chance to see so much offense from the Center position.

 

[Ghost]

Eh, our guards never seemed to show much interest, or skill for that matter, when it comes to feeding the post. I suppose this year JB has more or less demanded that it happen.

In one of SWC's recaps JB mentioned that Rak had some of this in him last year, but we had other options. I suppose that answers the question. We had CJ and we were going to run with him as our primary. It worked as well for most of the year - then it went pooooooooof.

 

[Brooky03]

The answer has more to do with Rak than the coaches or the offensive strategy. By multiple accounts on this board, Rak's improvement is largely due to him finally getting in the right state of mind before this season.

 

[RF2044]

It is more about his mental tools than his physical tools. I think that last year he was physically capable of doing what he is doing. He had short bursts of it in certain games. However, the mental tools were not there. He did not seem to have the fire, the desire.

I think it was Bees who commented a few weeks back about JB having a long conversation with Rak over the summer, and the fact that Rak took that conversation to heart and dedicated himself to building the fire within himself.

I will add that I do not feel that it was Ennis' strong suit to feed the post. Gbinijie, Cooney, Joseph & Buss have had it deeply ingrained into them to feed Rak as much as possible. JB has made it known for some time that Rak was the man. He was the key to doing anything as a team.

This is truly Christmas all basketball season. Enjoy what you see, because it doesn't happen often at SU, that we get a chance to see so much offense from the Center position.

LOL at people who don't understand this ^^^^^ and believe that it was the coaches holding him back.

 

[Millhouse]

i shouldn't need to preface this with hall of fame, all time great blah blah

boeheim blew it with rak last year. christmas isn't some knucklehead who will get shown up in public and just roll with it. boeheim started treating him better and rak responded.

 

[NineOneSeven]

LOL at some people.

Another superb addition to a thread.

 

[NineOneSeven]

It is more about his mental tools than his physical tools. I think that last year he was physically capable of doing what he is doing. He had short bursts of it in certain games. However, the mental tools were not there. He did not seem to have the fire, the desire.

I think it was Bees who commented a few weeks back about JB having a long conversation with Rak over the summer, and the fact that Rak took that conversation to heart and dedicated himself to building the fire within himself.

I will add that I do not feel that it was Ennis' strong suit to feed the post. Gbinijie, Cooney, Joseph & Buss have had it deeply ingrained into them to feed Rak as much as possible. JB has made it known for some time that Rak was the man. He was the key to doing anything as a team.

This is truly Christmas all basketball season. Enjoy what you see, because it doesn't happen often at SU, that we get a chance to see so much offense from the Center position.

Good post. Agreed completely about feeding the post with Ennis. Also, with no legit back up, there's no threat of being pulled early for a mistake early in the game--something that occurred very often early in his career.

LOL at people who don't understand this ^^^^^ and believe that it was the coaches holding him back.

Certainly wasn't just the coaches holding him back-- he had to get out of his own way, as they say-- but I still strongly believe he was under-utilized last season.

 

[RF2044]

Certainly wasn't just the coaches holding him back-- he had to get out of his own way, as they say-- but I still strongly believe he was under-utilized last season.

Ultimately, its up to the player. He's always had the athletic tools. He began showing more offensive skill last season. But he wasn't focused. This year he is.

Lack of killer instinct? Not enough want-to? Island mentality / too laid back? Whatever you want to label it, Rak was too comfortable drifting around the court without doing too much for three years. I don't disagree that we traditionally suck feeding the post and generally don't emphasize the pivot most seasons [this year being a notable exception]. Even so, his contributions were lacking for somebody with his physical gifts because he spent the better part of three seasons going through the motions.

Rak's issues have been more about Rak and less about the coaches from the beginning. This is a guy who envisioned being a one-and-done when he came to SU. He wasn't prepared for how hard he'd have to work to bring his skill level up to the level of his physical attributes, or for how competitive things are in the post at the collegiate level. He didn't show the right level of game concentration, and frequently made defensive mistakes. He didn't always play as hard as he should have--hence the subpar rebounding totals his first couple of seasons.

This year, he is focused. He is dialed in. He's demanding the ball, and chasing every rebound like they belong to him as soon as it leaves the shooter's hand. His work ethic and skill level are now at the same level as his athleticism. And the net result is that he's become a player who is formidable as hell.

 

[rrlbees]

Another superb addition to a thread.

Well when some people don't get the previous posts, what else is there to say?

 

[Ghost]

Ultimately, its up to the player. He's always had the athletic tools. He began showing more offensive skill last season. But he wasn't focused. This year he is.

Lack of killer instinct? Not enough want-to? Island mentality / too laid back? Whatever you want to label it, Rak was too comfortable drifting around the court without doing too much for three years. I don't disagree that we traditionally suck feeding the post and generally don't emphasize the pivot most seasons [this year being a notable exception]. Even so, his contributions were lacking for somebody with his physical gifts because he spent the better part of three seasons going through the motions.

Rak's issues have been more about Rak and less about the coaches from the beginning. This is a guy who envisioned being a one-and-done when he came to SU. He wasn't prepared for how hard he'd have to work to bring his skill level up to the level of his physical attributes, or for how competitive things are in the post at the collegiate level. He didn't show the right level of game concentration, and frequently made defensive mistakes. He didn't always play as hard as he should have--hence the subpar rebounding totals his first couple of seasons.

This year, he is focused. He is dialed in. He's demanding the ball, and chasing every rebound like they belong to him as soon as it leaves the shooter's hand. His work ethic and skill level are now at the same level as his athleticism. And the net result is that he's become a player who is formidable as hell.

Is it up to the player when the team isn't feeding the post? If you're a guard you can shoot yourself out of trouble - not so much in the post.

We are talking about a kid that had an extremely short leash - if you missed your first shot or two and repeatedly went to the bench, in extremely limited touches mind you, you're probably going to be hesitant on offense. Defense is what keeps you in games - that's what you're taught.

If he started a game with a couple misses like he had in the 35 point outing against Ga. Tech he may have seen the court for all of 4 minutes more in the first half.

I'm not quite clear on what "drifting around the court" means to be honest. He was always posting up.

His rebounding totals per 40 minutes have gone up, but not immensely. They actually barely top his per 40 numbers as a Frosh. He's up about 2 from Soph/Junior year, but 1.2 of those come from offensive rebounds. A decent amount of that could be coming off his own misses around the rim - who knows though. More shots at the rim, and less threes than years past, also probably means more long rebounds. This year we aren't as reliant on threes so we could assume there are more balls in his area to be rebounded in general.

At this point we see him demanding the ball more because he's getting hammered in the post. The skirmishes we see down low are because the defender is more aggressive in guarding the post - when he wasn't a threat, you didn't have to fight down low - he was the 8th option on offense. It will always LOOK like he's doing more to demand the ball - but that's a byproduct of him scoring and having to fight much harder to get position. In years past nobody was killing themselves to keep the ball from going into the post because we were never going to throw it in the post anyway.

I always read SWCs recaps for comments about Rak, because I think we misused him and I've brought all of these up multiple times so this is nothing new. However, for the sake of repeating myself again, last year JB said we should get him more touches in the post - we never did.

This year he said he had some of this in him last year, but we never focused on him. Maybe JB's lying on his radio show - who knows.

I do find it hard to believe anyone thinks this kid had a talk with JB about being fiery and a team leader and suddenly decided to DEVELOP and deploy a plus/plus skillset with each hand and score the ball. It would be akin to BJ showing up next year with the same PG skill set as B. Edelin because JB told him to do it up and try harder.

No way to ever know how much he could have contributed previously - but I'm comfortable assuming it was far more than what we got. Could be wrong though - it's an unknowable.

 

[RF2044]

Is it up to the player when the team isn't feeding the post? If you're a guard you can shoot yourself out of trouble - not so much in the post.

We are talking about a kid that had an extremely short leash - if you missed your first shot or two and repeatedly went to the bench, in extremely limited touches mind you, you're probably going to be hesitant on offense. Defense is what keeps you in games - that's what you're taught.

If he started a game with a couple misses like he had in the 35 point outing against Ga. Tech he may have seen the court for all of 4 minutes more in the first half.

I'm not quite clear on what "drifting around the court" means to be honest. He was always posting up.

His rebounding totals per 40 minutes have gone up, but not immensely. They actually barely top his per 40 numbers as a Frosh. He's up about 2 from Soph/Junior year, but 1.2 of those come from offensive rebounds. A decent amount of that could be coming off his own misses around the rim - who knows though. More shots at the rim, and less threes than years past, also probably means more long rebounds. This year we aren't as reliant on threes so we could assume there are more balls in his area to be rebounded in general.

At this point we see him demanding the ball more because he's getting hammered in the post. The skirmishes we see down low are because the defender is more aggressive in guarding the post - when he wasn't a threat, you didn't have to fight down low - he was the 8th option on offense. It will always LOOK like he's doing more to demand the ball - but that's a byproduct of him scoring and having to fight much harder to get position. In years past nobody was killing themselves to keep the ball from going into the post because we were never going to throw it in the post anyway.

I always read SWCs recaps for comments about Rak, because I think we misused him and I've brought all of these up multiple times so this is nothing new. However, for the sake of repeating myself again, last year JB said we should get him more touches in the post - we never did.

This year he said he had some of this in him last year, but we never focused on him. Maybe JB's lying on his radio show - who knows.

I do find it hard to believe anyone thinks this kid had a talk with JB about being fiery and a team leader and suddenly decided to DEVELOP and deploy a plus/plus skillset with each hand and score the ball. It would be akin to BJ showing up next year with the same PG skill set as B. Edelin because JB told him to do it up and try harder.

No way to ever know how much he could have contributed previously - but I'm comfortable assuming it was far more than what we got. Could be wrong though - it's an unknowable.

I'm not going to lie--I think that the notion that Rak was always capable of producing at this level, and the only thing that was holding him back was the coaching is bunk. Scoring is one part of the game, not the only part.

You aren't clear about what "drifting around the court means?" Okay... we must have been watching a different player the previous three years. The guy I saw was often a generally subpar rebounder for his physical tools, prone to defensive lapses, and would often lose mental focus out on the court--which often hurt us defensively, which is what our team needed from him the most, and also a reason why he was frequently pulled. I do not disagree that his offensive skill set steadily improved over the course of his four year career--it didn't happen all at once--but even so he has been tremendously inconsistent. Remember when he had that really solid stretch last year when Keita got injured? That only lasted 3-5 games, just part of the inconsistency that has frustated the coaching staff. That's been Rak's career at SU prior to this season in a nutshell: he would demonstrate intermittent flashes of tantilizing potential, only to lapse back into lengthy stretches of ineffectual play.

Glad to see that he's taking things seriously now--and it is no coincidence that it had to do with recognizing that he had the opportunity to play for pay, but needed a big senior year to garner NBA consideration. The potential was there, but Rak needed to take the next step to seize it and maximize his abilities. Not sure what's hard to believe about that.

 

[Ghost]

I'm not going to lie--I think that the notion that Rak was always capable of producing at this level, and the only thing that was holding him back was the coaching is bunk. Scoring is one part of the game, not the only part.

You aren't clear about what "drifting around the court means?" Okay... we must have been watching a different player the previous three years. The guy I saw was often a generally subpar rebounder for his physical tools, prone to defensive lapses, and would often lose mental focus out on the court--which often hurt us defensively, which is what our team needed from him the most, and also a reason why he was frequently pulled. I do not disagree that his offensive skill set steadily improved over the course of his four year career--it didn't happen all at once--but even so he has been tremendously inconsistent. Remember when he had that really solid stretch last year when Keita got injured? That only lasted 3-5 games, just part of the inconsistency that has frustated the coaching staff. That's been Rak's career at SU prior to this season in a nutshell: he would demonstrate intermittent flashes of tantilizing potential, only to lapse back into lengthy stretches of ineffectual play.

Glad to see that he's taking things seriously now--and it is no coincidence that it had to do with recognizing that he had the opportunity to play for pay, but needed a big senior year to garner NBA consideration. The potential was there, but Rak needed to take the next step to seize it and maximize his abilities. Not sure what's hard to believe about that.

Oh, I by no means intend to say he was capable of producing at this level all along - the idea that he was is daft. I just doubt in one summer he developed a left hand that is far superior to the right we saw prior to this year. I think limited touches limited his productiveness - and to some extent a failure by the coaches to get the players to work the ball into the post.

I never really bought into the whole Rak was unfocused or lazy argument. From early in his Sophomore year on his biggest problem was that he spent too much time trying to box out on a team where nobody boxes out. His Frosh year through the early portion of his Sophomore year were the only years I would categorize him as unfocused - and lacking in hustle at all. He would pin a man, while two other had free reign on defensive possessions.

How do you be consistent in the post when you're touches are that limited? Guards control the ball, they dictate the posts ability to get shots.

Eh, I suppose ultimately taking it serious can account for a bit of a jump, but if that's all it was, I'm sure we would see player making monumental jumps all the time.

I would still say that if Grant and Ennis came back we would be seeing a Rak that goes for 8/7 - and rarely sees the ball. I just don't think the majority of this is Rak saying, "hey, JB said I can score if I work hard, and I can play in the NBA if I dominate..."

 

[Jack Hall]

Well when some people don't get the previous posts, what else is there to say?

What previous posts? The ones that said JB talked to him before this summer and also insinuated that all of a sudden after that talk something suddenly clicked w Rak? I dont doubt that most of a players progress is on the player. Ie these are big boys and theres only so much the coaches can do. But by simply saying that JB talked to him before the offseason begs the question, if its so easy to motivate a player by having a sitdown w him before his senior year- why didnt JB have a big talk with him after his freshman or sophomore year? Its a complicated situation and i really doubt a couple posts explain everything. Not to mention it appears some think this website is for debate and others not so much?

 

[MCC]

I'm not going to lie--I think that the notion that Rak was always capable of producing at this level, and the only thing that was holding him back was the coaching is bunk. Scoring is one part of the game, not the only part.

You aren't clear about what "drifting around the court means?" Okay... we must have been watching a different player the previous three years. The guy I saw was often a generally subpar rebounder for his physical tools, prone to defensive lapses, and would often lose mental focus out on the court--which often hurt us defensively, which is what our team needed from him the most, and also a reason why he was frequently pulled. I do not disagree that his offensive skill set steadily improved over the course of his four year career--it didn't happen all at once--but even so he has been tremendously inconsistent.

I concur that the on-court concentration was suboptimal, and suggest that perhaps the inconsistency / staggered development may have reflected Rak's focus on academics. The guy graduated in 3 years - he put the time in, probably an inordinate amount of time compared to most student athletes. If that extra 10% of his time / energy was spent on classwork / studies rather than digesting and applying hoops knowledge or on-court work then the transference of same to his bball development may be the key to the SR year delta.

 

[Ghost]

I concur that the on-court concentration was suboptimal, and suggest that perhaps the inconsistency / staggered development may have reflected Rak's focus on academics. The guy graduated in 3 years - he put the time in, probably an inordinate amount of time compared to most student athletes. If that extra 10% of his time / energy was spent on classwork / studies rather than digesting and applying hoops knowledge or on-court work then the transference of same to his bball development may be the key to the SR year delta.

I would imagine the NCAA will probably find a way to punish us for that too.

 

[Jack Hall]

I concur that the on-court concentration was suboptimal, and suggest that perhaps the inconsistency / staggered development may have reflected Rak's focus on academics. The guy graduated in 3 years - he put the time in, probably an inordinate amount of time compared to most student athletes. If that extra 10% of his time / energy was spent on classwork / studies rather than digesting and applying hoops knowledge or on-court work then the transference of same to his bball development may be the key to the SR year delta.

Good post that may shed some light on the subject!

 

[RF2044]

What previous posts? The ones that said JB talked to him before this summer and also insinuated that all of a sudden after that talk something suddenly clicked w Rak? I dont doubt that most of a players progress is on the player. Ie these are big boys and theres only so much the coaches can do. But by simply saying that JB talked to him before the offseason begs the question, if its so easy to motivate a player by having a sitdown w him before his senior year- why didnt JB have a big talk with him after his freshman or sophomore year? Its a complicated situation and i really doubt a couple posts explain everything. Not to mention it appears some think this website is for debate and others not so much?

You are being way too literal. Nobody is suggesting that it is all due to JB's talk, and some magical switch flipped only due to that talk. But ultimately, it is up to the player to embrace what is required and to commit to it. It doesn't matter how many times people hear advice, if they don't have the intrinsic motivation, they won't put in the effort.

In that regard, it is no different than people who want to quit smoking or lose weight--they can have all of the data and even want to make the change, but until they commit to changing behaviors, it won't stick. That's why there are billions of broken new year's resolutions every year because people lack the motivation to stick to the change, even when they know that change is beneficial.

Rak had all the tools. Always did. He just wasn't 100% committed or motivated to be the best that he could be. If it was JB's talk that made the light go off, great. If it was the allure of earning NBA $$$, or Rak wanting to leave it all out on the court for his senior year, or some combination, then good for Rak and good for us. I just don't understand what some of you are having a difficult time understanding about this [or "believing," as several recent posts have put it]. Rak's committment to being a great player is different now than at any point of his career up to this point. Undisputed fact. He's putting in more work than at any point in his career to hone his skills, and the results are self-evident. THAT's what has led to this transformation more than anything else. Whether that comes from JB having an impactful conversation with him or from some other source of motivation, it doesn't alter the fact that Rak is more motivated to be a great player than at any point in his career up to this point.

And just to qualify things sufficiently, a big part of this is that Rak had all the physical ability in the world. If JB had the same talk with say, Billy Celuck, it doesn't mean that he'd magically transform into an NBA prospect. Rak has a wealth of athletic ability, he just hadn't maximized his potential. And when the light came on for him, after the aforementioned discussion with JB, Rak changed his approach, focus, and committment. And that provided the motivation to actualize his potential.

 

[Jack Hall]

btw Rak got Player of the Week, great for him, he earned it bigtime imo

 

[Ghost]

Let's say you have all the tools in the world to build a house, but someone forgets to bring you the nails. Once the nails arrive, did you gain focus, or did you finally have all the necessary tools to succeed?

Not touching the ball certainly has to be a factor in his progress as a player. Again, go back and read JBs comments from SWC's recaps, he said he had some of this in him last year, but we didn't need him on offense. That's not me saying that - clearly the coaches never put any emphasis on touching the ball.

If you're not touching the ball on offense, you're going to have trouble to getting into the flow of a game. I think most equated that to him being lazy/disinterested, but I never thought (outside of his Frosh year) that was what we were witnessing.

I don't take exception to much of anyone has said, obviously he's putting in more work (more than year's past though, who knows...), but I do think people are attributing this to Rak finally motivating himself are putting too much emphasis on that side as well.

If Ennis and Grant come back he's probably a 9/7 player again - with limited touches. Do you think his numbers would be anywhere near what they are now in that scenario even with his new found focus? I would still guess (as this obviously is a guess) that his biggest obstacle was being all but ignored on offense. He is more focused, but the attitude probably comes from finally playing one-on-one with someone - you tend to get more fiery when you're challenging on both ends of the court. You're involved in the play - you think you're getting fouled, etc...

 

[HoustonCuse]

...and if he had the tools as a Jr then surely he could have done this as a Soph and so on back to the womb. These type threads are eye rollers because it just seems like people are looking for the dark ring around every silver lining. Taking Rak's play this year and turning into a way to be disgruntled about last year is just... I don't know.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Stats

 

[NineOneSeven]

The biggest takeaway, outside of the ridiculous increase in points, is fouls.