Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="billsin01, post: 2617894, member: 837"] Finally getting around to adding Part 2, which I wanted to do particularly because of the Sidibe question and a few others. So without further ado: [B]Sidibe: How healthy can he actually be?[/B] This is a big one, IMO, because if you look at his season and figure he was relatively healthy for the first 7 games of the season (he played at least 17 minutes in each game until that point), then he was a guy who put up 5+ ppg and 4.6 rpg (and that was while missing 12 of his first 18 FTs). He then played sparingly and made little impact for six weeks until his big game against Pitt and logging 35 minutes combined over the next two games. After that he was on ice until the conference tournament vs. UNC. So the question for me is this: Do we get a healthy Sidibe this year ... or in general for the next three years? Of all the questions facing this program, this may be the most important (arguably). So the scary part for me, personally, is that tendinitis is not something I've heard of being repaired by a surgical procedure. It also doesn't take a basketball expert to understand that big guys and knee problems aren't a good match. On the flip side, when healthy he looked like a potential college version of a Capella type guy -- surprisingly good catching and finishing around the rim with some athleticism to potentially expand his game beyond that AND a really solid playmaker defensively (8 blocks, 7 steals and a bunch of rebounds in those first seven games). Additionally, he even made some free throws as the year went on -- made 15 of his last 24. So with Chuckwu graduating next year, probably the best stop-gap in Moyer transferring out, and missing out on Golden -- Sidibe's health is a huge factor for this team in '18-'19 and beyond. [B]How many guys does JB trust?[/B] JB takes a bunch of grief on here for being unwilling to play more than 6.5 players but I tend to feel like JB's opinion is that his job is to win games in the season in which he's coaching. So if he doesn't trust a player, that player isn't going to be part of the rotation until the season is literally over. There is probably room for criticism here, but its the way it is for JB. What's interesting, however, is that when JB has players he trusts, he'll expand the rotation. The '11-'12 season is a good example with a bunch of guys hitting 10+ minutes a game and no one over 32 mpg. So for this group we know he already trusts Frank, Tyus, Marek, Chuckwu, Sidibe (if healthy) and OB. That's six. I get the vibe he really likes Hughes (obvoiusly, judging from the comments) and usually legit recruits at least get a good opportunity so I'm going to add Carey to that list. So the question is can any one of Buddy, HW or Braswell earn their way in? Guessing Braswell is a no, but Buddy is a shooter and the coach's kid, so he has some opportunity and HW got some minutes last year, so maybe? My guess is we have our 8 and that's where it will stay, but could be an interesting thing to watch with the other three guys. [B]If the rotation is 8, can we keep Braswell/Washington in the fold?[/B] There are probably people here who won't care if one or both of these dudes transfer, but to me it would be a nice start to the '19-'20 roster to have them back. Washington gives you a veteran PG who will share the ball and Braswell has athleticism and shooting -- both are pretty valuable skills these days. Whatever their roles this year, I would expect they would at least be valuable depth next year. Hope we can keep a few of these developmental kids around as we move forward. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?