The Myth...

[newmexicuse]

so much said in so many threads. A lot to chew upon.

When you cut through everything, there is this myth that we have a team of long lean athletes. The term athlete implies somebody who can run and jump faster and higher than the majority of his peers.

The truth is that we have a total lack of team speed and athleticism. We have a team that is long, unathletic, and slow.

The only two players on the entire roster who are truly fast for their positions are probably Jalen, who can't as of yet harness his speed to make positive basketball plays, and Braswell who everybody says is too raw to help, notwithstanding that he seems to produce whenever he gets opportunities. All the more reason to keep him chained to the bench. Can't risk adding a new dimension to proven mediocrity.

In terms of proven athleticism that actually translates to basketball skills, we really only have Ty, and he is too often too erratic.

Early in the year, I will pat myself on the back, I was about the only one here who thought Buddy would help this season. Silly me, but i now think that Bras should also be given some minutes and a role. I have said this for awhile, but it seems to be getting more imperative now.

We have become the masters of the plod, if I were Jimmy, I would be as open minded as possible to try and find effective ways to increase team speed.

 

[Newhouser]

I agree with a lot of this - we don't have the super athlete. I think Oshae's best athletic attribute is the quickness of his second jump, and the rest of the core seems slow and non-athletic which is odd because we supposedly choose athleticism over basketball ability in some of our recruits. at this point I'd settle for either.

 

[Brooky03]

I love this post on multiple levels

 

[cspades99]

I think Elijah has surprising spring (he gets HIGH for boards in every game and there's always a play when he's above everyone) but his conditioning sucks, so it cancels whatever athleticism is hiding in there.

I agree, though. We USED to recruit long, lean, athletes. Now, we just recruit length. Frank is not a super athlete. PC is not. Ty and OB are fine. Buddy certainly isn't. Sidibe isn't now that his legs are shot. And even with athleticism, this team can't run. That's for damn sure. Beyond lack of speed, they lack the collective bball IQ.