Why the short leash with Howard?

[pearl31]

Must've been some "defensive mistake". Meanwhile _______ makes ones that cost us games and still plays 40 and never gets yelled at. Whatever.

JB yanked Cooney more than once tonight for bad plays

 

[pearl31]

Odd threads have been my specialty lately.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Howard is the closest thing to a PG on the roster

 

[OrangeDW]

I think he has more PG skills than many give him credit for. Very good passer, but he needs to learn to take a little zip off some of his passes.

He'll be fine if JB is patient with him. But you know where that's going.

Yeah, he has court vision. Loved the play where they cheated out to Lydon and he hit Roberson in the middle for the easy layup.

 

[iommi]

It is tough to be hard on Howard given his illness--and who honestly knows where he is in terms of recovery. Must suck to play sans energy.

But tonight he played 14 minutes or 30% of the game. Solid run for a reserve. We'll need him down the stretch.

But I think that anyone expecting him to get lots of developmental PT is bound to be disappointed. He'll get his feet wet this year, gain some game experience, and then it will be up to him to work hard in the offseason and build upon the exposure he got this year, and to come back next year having made the sophomore jump.

Pulling for this kid--he was my favorite recruit in the class of 2015.

I agree that Howard won't get the time he needs, but JB should give him more minutes than he will grant the kid. I'm not saying throw in the towel this year but giving him five more minutes a game isn't going to kill us. And honestly, this season is a dead end street, so...

 

[RF2044]

Wonder what would happen if Howard pulled up for a 30 footer in crunch time.

Bold insight--nobody's ever brought these criticisms up before, perhaps you should start a thread about it.

 

[OrangeDW]

Ultimately I'm just sick of the three SG's and two PF's lineup. I can see the thinking that they are our 5 best players, but in my opinion the pieces just don't fit well on either end of the court and they never will, and it will only be masked in the very few games when all three two guards are hot from 3.

I'd like to see more minutes for Howard and Coleman(very encouraged by tonight). Now a big part of that is Coleman has to stay out of foul trouble and keep himself on the court, and Howard has to play well enough to justify it. I'm hoping those 2 can come through and earn more minutes, and we'll have a better balanced team on each end without the glaring holes that we've seen with the main 5 to this point.

 

[OrangeDW]

Bold insight--nobody's ever brought these criticisms up before, perhaps you should start a thread about it.

Cry about it.

 

[RF2044]

Cry about it.

I'm joking--lighten the .

We won.

 

[OrangeDW]

I'm joking--lighten the .

We won.

I don't think you were...but I was. With the 30 footer comment, at least.

 

[iommi]

Bold insight--nobody's ever brought these criticisms up before, perhaps you should start a thread about it.

Of course that's not some new revelation, but then again, these kind of thoughts also get shot down and/ or deleted so it kind of is bold in a way.

But anyway, I stick by my belief that Howard needs to be spoon fed developmental minutes.

 

[RF2044]

I don't think you were...but I was. With the 30 footer comment, at least.

Carnac you are not.

 

[OrangeDW]

Of course that's not some new revelation, but then again, these kind of thoughts also get shot down and/ or deleted so it kind of is bold in a way.

But anyway, I stick by my belief that Howard needs to be spoon fed developmental minutes.

Not to rip on Gbinje because he really has improved a lot over the years and has been good most of this year...but I'm just not used to our best players making the decisions he and the other 5th year senior made down the stretch in some of our losses. Some of those shots/passes/decisions would've been crazy if freshmen made them.

Going forward, we need much more solid play down the stretch of close games out of him and TC because despite our flaws we have enough talent to play a lot of teams close. Would be nice to pull some of them out and give ourselves a chance to be in the mix.

 

[OrangeDW]

Carnac you are not.

Sorry to let you down.

 

[iommi]

Not to rip on Gbinje because he really has improved a lot over the years and has been good most of this year...but I'm just not used to our best players making the decisions he and the other 5th year senior made down the stretch in some of our losses. Some of those shots/passes/decisions would've been crazy if freshmen made them.

Going forward, we need much more solid play down the stretch of close games out of him and TC because despite our flaws we have enough talent to play a lot of teams close. Would be nice to pull some of them out and give ourselves a chance to be in the mix.

I love how people are so hyper-sensitive to negative comments towards TC that he has basically assumed the role of Syracuse's Lord Voldemort...He Who Shall Not Be Named (if issuing criticisms). Some folks here think TC is the whipping boy but I see him as a sacred cow in these parts for the most part.

 

[Shark58]

a few years back, I used to think there was another young orange guard who needed playing time to develop his probable skills, esp because he would be needed in the near future

that fine young man became a pariah at lord & taylor and an NBA rookie of the year, yet was still bench buried his first year in Jim's typical too short for my liking rotation

this is not the only such story, but a difference between then and now is our totally unbalanced roster (so eloquently discussed above in this thread). giving Frank more burn at the 1 allows g to play off the ball where he operates better. not saying he would be playing at the end of some of our bad losses, but if we had a more "pure" pg on the floor, we don't make some of the mistakes that we do.

 

[Shark58]

I love how people are so hyper-sensitive to negative comments towards TC that he has basically assumed the role of Syracuse's Lord Voldemort...He Who Shall Not Be Named (if issuing criticisms). Some folks here think TC is the whipping boy but I see him as a sacred cow in these parts for the most part.

Cooney Dichotomy would be a good band name

 

[OrangeDW]

I love how people are so hyper-sensitive to negative comments towards TC that he has basically assumed the role of Syracuse's Lord Voldemort...He Who Shall Not Be Named (if issuing criticisms). Some folks here think TC is the whipping boy but I see him as a sacred cow in these parts for the most part.

Agreed, but it goes the other way too. I like the kid, and root for him like I root for all the players. Respect how hard he works/plays and love it when he's hot, and I do think he has slightly improved other areas of his game. But if you recognize him for what he is(he's average for this level of ball), some take offense...and then you get the posts where people go overboard in ripping him and saying they can't wait until he's gone, etc.

 

[iommi]

^^^^^^^^^^
Yes, shark. And though he's nowhere near the talent MCW was/ is, the irony is we recruited FH because he fit the MCW mold of s long, lean guard.

 

[Ghost]

Malachi, if I recall correctly.

Had a guy open, just got a little to enthusiastic with the dish.

He was trying to pass to Lydon - in the post. It was the greatest pass I've ever seen. It was a bullet pass, and maybe 10 feet over his head...I have to admit I laughed at that one. His reaction was pretty good too.

 

[iommi]

Agreed, but it goes the other way too. I like the kid, and root for him like I root for all the players. Respect how hard he works/plays and love it when he's hot, and I do think he has slightly improved other areas of his game. But if you recognize him for what he is(he's average for this level of ball), some take offense...and then you get the posts where people go overboard in ripping him and saying they can't wait until he's gone, etc.

That's fair. I've never questioned Cooney's work ethic and heart. He's just not worthy of star minutes. Imagine how good he'd be as a role player if he improved his shot selection. He could've been a weapon off the bench.

 

[Ghost]

I heard Malachi took out a Dome Dog vendor in row 11.



I keed. I keed. (use Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's voice).

But yeah, the pass sucked. As an aside, I said in the chat room, Malachi either makes an awesome pass, or an awful pass. Rarely does he make just an average pass.

I know - it's simply bizarre!!

He is better than Cooney or G at threading the needle, and probably has a better feel for the pick-n-roll than either of those two, but my god, it's either a great pass, or an absolutely terrible pass soooo often with him. The terrible passes often come on pretty simple looks too. You have to be encouraged by his feel for the game though - the fact that he's seeing those passes, and making those plays off the bounce, bodes well going forward for his development as an all-around threat on offense.

 

[iommi]

I know - it's simply bizarre!!

He is better than Cooney or G at threading the needle, and probably has a better feel for the pick-n-roll than either of those two, but my god, it's either a great pass, or an absolutely terrible pass soooo often with him. The terrible passes often come on pretty simple looks too.

I think he goes for style points way too much. That could contribute to the extremes in his passing game.

 

[Ghost]

^^^^^^^^^^
Yes, shark. And though he's nowhere near the talent MCW was/ is, the irony is we recruited FH because he fit the MCW mold of s long, lean guard.

It's odd, but Lydon seemed far more engaged offesnively with Howard in the game. It's too hard to judge/pull anything from it with such a limited sample size for the year - but you wonder if it's chemistry from practice?

I think he/Richardson both seem to have a better feel for certain aspects on offense than the more experienced players on the team. They're not there yet, as in obviously they couldn't replace them due to the experience issues, but they seem to have better vision, or at least seem to be more adept at seeing plays develop and anticipating the defense to slip passes through. Another good sign.

 

[Ghost]

I think he goes for style points way too much. That could contribute to the extremes in his passing game.

Ahhh, style points...one of these days G is going to throw down one of these dunks where it looks like he wouldn't even be able to touch the rim without the bailout-foul (he takes off from DEEEEEP at times) and take all the style points the forum has ever had to offer.

He does attack the rim hard. I'll give him that.