Starters

[osullfam]

A lot being made in the National media about Dion being "not even good enough to start for the Orange". We all know that he had as many minutes as Scoop and BT, and was almost always on the court at the end of close games. We also know that he was practically unguardable this season.
With that as preamble, HOFHC JB is odd about starters. 2 Hamburger freshman in a row who started and had single digit minutes in important games (often low single digits). It's not a great leap to think that promises are being made to people and starters are not necessarily the most deserving.

 

[orangefan13]

Who cares what the media thinks.? They just look for the usual trends and comment if they don't see them.

Rak was a PF for 4/5 of the season and that wasn't working out well at all.
Yes we could have moved him to Center all year but then we would have needed Southerland to show up as a solid forward (which he wasn't for the first 3/4 of the season) to do so. And we lacked the rebounding BIG TIME between, Fair, Joseph, and Southerland which is a huge reason he couldn't move to center. And Asking a freshmen to learn two positions is asking alot.

Dion played quite a bit as a fresh, and was up to 9 ppg the last 7 games of the season. Not bad for a freshmen. But quite frankly for 3/4 of the season he wasn't ready either averaging only 6 ppg as a SG(one of the most important scoring postions on the court) who lacked big time on the defensive end his freshmen season as well.

As a soph we needed the isolation dribble off the bench. It made much more sense to bring the transition, iso game, and emotion of Dion off the bench then to start three isolation players and bring a streaky up and down shooter without alot of emotion and without attacking aggressivness one on one in Brandon Triche off the bench. Better to go with one of your isolation guys to bring some iso and energy off the bench. The 6th man role was actually more important then the starter in this case. Similar to Scoop coming off the bench for freshmen Triche in 09-10, and how important KJo was in iso attacking the rim and making foul shots late that year.

Melo flatout sucked as a freshmen outside of his one solid performance against St Johns where JB kept him out there deservingly. Sorry but thats what it was. We gave him a shot in the NCAA's to but he got a few chippy fouls and that kept him out of the games.

MCW could have made some decent minutes this year but it would have been more of a hurt then Dion Triche and Scoop. Dion was more ready as a score first pg then MCW as a solid point. Scoop got by his man better and had more passing experience then MCW at point.
As a scorer, MCW played double digit minutes 14 times this year and had more then 5 points 3 times 6, 7, and 13(with a lucky 3 point bank). Triche compared to MCW scored double figures in 16 games and had 9 points 5 other games. This teams biggest weakness was its rebounding and to make up for it they had superior ball handling. MCW would have hindered that some with his inexperience and turnovers.

Syracuse has been the number 1 or 2 team in the country two of the last three years going into the tournament so I can care less what outsiders think.

 

[SoBristol]

You can offer a lot of justifications/excuses for the rotations; but it comes back to a few odd situations (Fab's high potential but lack of conditioning in 2010-11; BT already being a two-year starter and a hard-working solid player) and an odd coaching decision (starting Rak and pulling him within 60 seconds).
Putting Rak out to start didn't hurt him or the team, but how many coaches would do that?
Dion was clearly our best individual talent (deserved more minutes), but JB had to rotate 3 good guards and keep all three happy. Several ways to do that -- JB's way worked well. He avoided a move that would have demoted a vet. Most coaches would have concluded Dion had earned the starting role and would roll out the best 5 for the opening tip. But doubtful those coaches would have done as well as 34-3.

 

[tbonezone]

it's bound to raise some media eyebrows that in a JB system where first round draft picks usually average 38+ minutes a game that dion came off the bench. i'd agree with several of bristols points above tho. just very atypical for a coach who historically plays a short bench and runs his best ragged.

 

[SUintheVille]

Talking heads need to talk about something and stir up conversation, controversy, and ratings. Who cares what they think. Dion will become a great NBA player in time.

 

[OrangeZone]

by those whose opinion truly 's matters in basketball; both college and pro. JB knows hoops. Also credit is deserved for both JB and staff and Dion for getting his head in the right place and realizing what he was learning valuable life lessons through JB's coaching and mom's tough-loving.
Now it's up to Dion to apply what he learned into his next coaching relationship. If he successfully accomplishes that; he will have a long and successful NBA career.

 

[realorange]

If you watched the Draft , Bilas immediately dismissed the "did not start" comments by saying that was simply symantics because Dion had starter minutes.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

A lot being made in the National media about Dion being "not even good enough to start for the Orange". We all know that he had as many minutes as Scoop and BT, and was almost always on the court at the end of close games. We also know that he was practically unguardable this season.
With that as preamble, HOFHC JB is odd about starters. 2 Hamburger freshman in a row who started and had single digit minutes in important games (often low single digits). It's not a great leap to think that promises are being made to people and starters are not necessarily the most deserving.

John Havlichek didn't start early in his NBA career: he jist finished games.
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