Shun my friend, you are a bright light in a place place that can get to dark at times. I appreciate ya, you are an inspiration, and you have nothing but my complete respect! I hope all is well with you and hope today is a GREAT DAY for you!
For those out there already doubting...
- Thread starter gary-7
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Shun my friend, you are a bright light in a place place that can get to dark at times. I appreciate ya, you are an inspiration, and you have nothing but my complete respect! I hope all is well with you and hope today is a GREAT DAY for you!
Hi DSouthr, I wish to express my gratitude toward what you add to our board. Your insight on things is refreshing. I also want to wish you and the ones you LOVE, PEACE & HAPPINESS.
!!!!!!!!!!!! GO TAR HEELS !!!!!!!!!!!!
don't you just love it SMILE
I don't know if this is the best thread to bring this up on but maybe it fits well. We have all noticed the same thing, lack of offers out to BIG front court guys outside of Bamba and the offer to carter. Knox is a big wing and PJ is a under sized power forward both 5 stars with offers. But other than that, the offers seem to be going to guards, specifically combo guards that can jump shoot and wings.
Now we all watched the end of the regular season and all the way thru the post season Roy use Theo as a power forward in a small ball look. WE all saw how well that worked and the longer we went back to it the better we got from that look IMO. If leaves me wondering, did that make such a strong impression on Roy that he maybe wants to morph his power forwards in to more wings like guys like Theo, Wilkes, Knox, PJ, Hamilton, or Zion? Power forwards that handle the ball a lil more, that maybe are better passers as opposed to the bigger 4 that struggles to defend outside on switches? Don't know if I love that idea or not but it sure was effective using Theo as a 4 and Theo is a far cry from what we expect to see playing power forward for us. Not the first time Roy has gone to that either, recall PJ Harrison finally starting his last season with us, not in the back court but as our power forward. You have to jump shoot well to get away with this and that wing playing the 4 has to be an exceptional defender most often but we may see that playing out in the way these offers have been going out? Just suggestion for thought...
Now we all watched the end of the regular season and all the way thru the post season Roy use Theo as a power forward in a small ball look. WE all saw how well that worked and the longer we went back to it the better we got from that look IMO. If leaves me wondering, did that make such a strong impression on Roy that he maybe wants to morph his power forwards in to more wings like guys like Theo, Wilkes, Knox, PJ, Hamilton, or Zion? Power forwards that handle the ball a lil more, that maybe are better passers as opposed to the bigger 4 that struggles to defend outside on switches? Don't know if I love that idea or not but it sure was effective using Theo as a 4 and Theo is a far cry from what we expect to see playing power forward for us. Not the first time Roy has gone to that either, recall PJ Harrison finally starting his last season with us, not in the back court but as our power forward. You have to jump shoot well to get away with this and that wing playing the 4 has to be an exceptional defender most often but we may see that playing out in the way these offers have been going out? Just suggestion for thought...
Seems a good read on the situation, but I still bet we get 2 bigs + 1 Wing.
Still can have the small ball look, but able to play straight up against more physical bigs.
I wish I at 52 had the ability to be at peace the day after a loss, but I'm still pretty out of sorts. It is getting better since it used to be several days of angst.
Lord grant me a piece of Shun's peace!
Still can have the small ball look, but able to play straight up against more physical bigs.
I wish I at 52 had the ability to be at peace the day after a loss, but I'm still pretty out of sorts. It is getting better since it used to be several days of angst.
Lord grant me a piece of Shun's peace!
The small ball lineup with Theo at PF was indeed very effective for us and I hope to see more of it this year. And I fully expect to with Kennedy and Isaiah's health and foul issues. If those two resolve their issues and are able to play 28 MPG, we may not need to go small but it was so effective, I hope we still employ that strategy at least a few minutes every game. I guess the extent to which we use it will be determined by how many minutes Kennedy, Isaiah, and Tony can effectively play.
But you may be on to something regarding Roy going after more versatile PF's. College lineups are more perimeter oriented than they used to be and Roy is being drug kicking and screaming into the future. Many of these PF's see themselves as equally capable of playing away from the basket as close to the basket. And many guys who would have been centers 10 years ago are now considered PF's. The huge centers like Montross are fewer and farther between these days. It's one reason I think we're having problems signing bigs. There aren't many of them that want to play with their backs to the basket, something our bigs have traditionally done.
Roy likes playing two Bigs. That hasn't changed.
However, fewer teams seem to be able to do that these days, and even though he still likes the size/rebounding advantage, Roy also knows he's better off if he can adjust to match up when called for (or when it's to our advantage). As many of us discussed last season, Theo has the versatility to slide to the 4 and sometimes that "small" lineup was pretty damned sporty. I think it's fair to say that although he's still recruiting both premium and project Bigs, Roy also has an eye out for potential combo forwards to be able to continue his more flexible approach.
Finally a shout out to Roy's versatility! I love that he doesn't just follow trends or settle for tradition; Roy adapts to the game and innovates.
Our Coach is a trendsetter, not a slave to convention!
He shows it in recruiting and in-game strategy.
Our Coach is a trendsetter, not a slave to convention!
He shows it in recruiting and in-game strategy.
Ha! You and I talked about that enough last season to bore most folks.
In all seriousness the key was Theo. There were a couple of times when we tried it without Theo (which meant JJ had to play the 4) and it didn't go as well. Theo gives us an athletic forward who can do at least a credible job of guarding low, but more importantly was tenacious on the glass --- and as we know rebounding is is the trigger for the transition game. And THAT is what makes it "sporty". When we used a "small" lineup and got into the running game it was like a jail-break out there. I wouldn't have wanted to coaching against that onslaught
.
I'll take a stab, Dave.
Theo is 6-6 with a wingspan of 7-1 which, coupled with his quickness, enables him to effectively guard PF's. On offense, he can pull them away from the basket and use his quickness to his advantage. Very few PF's can match his athleticism and foot speed. This has the added advantage of drawing one of the opposing team's best rebounders away from the basket, limiting their boards. It also creates more space in the lane for cutters and for our lone big to operate in. It also makes for an extremely athletic unit which can be very effective defensively.
If you look at our games during the latter part of the season, we often made big runs when we went to this lineup. Granted, Brice was often the lone big and he was consistently able to score. I'm hoping Isaiah will be able to do the same and make the "small ball" lineup equally effective this year. If whomever is playing SG can knock down enough treys to keep defenses honest, it would certainly help.
Theo is 6-6 with a wingspan of 7-1 which, coupled with his quickness, enables him to effectively guard PF's. On offense, he can pull them away from the basket and use his quickness to his advantage. Very few PF's can match his athleticism and foot speed. This has the added advantage of drawing one of the opposing team's best rebounders away from the basket, limiting their boards. It also creates more space in the lane for cutters and for our lone big to operate in. It also makes for an extremely athletic unit which can be very effective defensively.
If you look at our games during the latter part of the season, we often made big runs when we went to this lineup. Granted, Brice was often the lone big and he was consistently able to score. I'm hoping Isaiah will be able to do the same and make the "small ball" lineup equally effective this year. If whomever is playing SG can knock down enough treys to keep defenses honest, it would certainly help.
Well arch yeah, you got some of it, gary, man, disappointed, I set it up on the freakin tee and expected you to smack it long and straight and thou you are right in what you say, it wasn't what i was looking for! LOL
For me, the really sweet part of Theo at the 4 is how it allows us to switch off so many screens and not get drilled by that high big man pick as our lil fellas run under or the bigs can't get out of the way. That for me is a game changer, it just smoothed out our defense and forced opposing teams to put up bad shots and with Theo in we were athletic enough to the extent that we could get to those long rebounds from those bad shots.
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