Zeller played “anxious” at times leading up until his last 2 years. It clicked for him before his senior year though. I think Zeller had a much more advanced skill set than any of the bigs we have now.
Late stuff (Pitt game)...
- Thread starter gary-7
- Start date
Awesome break down as usual!
I got excited when I saw the TP at PG lineup with JB on the bench. I thought, "this is the answer to our backup PG injury/suspensions" BUT: it was horrible. Spacing was terrible and nobody wanted to take a shot. On D, I was unpleasantly surprised as well. We HAVE to figure out how to get JB rest, so maybe Platek will have to try point
I got excited when I saw the TP at PG lineup with JB on the bench. I thought, "this is the answer to our backup PG injury/suspensions" BUT: it was horrible. Spacing was terrible and nobody wanted to take a shot. On D, I was unpleasantly surprised as well. We HAVE to figure out how to get JB rest, so maybe Platek will have to try point
MUCH more.
Even as a freshman (before his injury) you could tell he'd be good. Our current guys look like they could be good, but we can't be as confident of that as we were with Zeller.
I was just pointing out that even with a guy as good as Zeller, some skills take a while to emerge.
Zeller went from a guy who could make you cringe if a hard pass was thrown to him in the interior as a junior to a guy who could flawlessly field a full court pass at top running speed right under the basket and still convert.
Justin could do that.
Nobody on this team currently has that skill.
Manley looks like he might have the hands and quick release to do that, but does he have the running coordination? I hope to see next season.
Huff looks like he can handle the running part, but can his hands get good enough?
I haven't a clue about Brooks. Seems to run pretty well, seems to have decent hands (as long as no one is trying to take the ball out of his hands), but I've never seen him in that sort of situation. He might be closer to it than the other.
I'm not sure I'd read too much into that. Although Theo has played point-SF plenty of times, he isn't usually out there without another ball handler - usually Joel. Joel gets an on-court "rest" that way - pretty much like Marcus used to get an on-court rest when Dexter took the ball up as a freshman, or with Nate in other years.
He and the other guys need to get used to it.
Plus, Theo wasn't moving quite freely after his injury.
I imagine it's different playing point when you know you have JB there if you need him (and as a shooter you can pass to), than when JB is on the bench and can't bail you out. But Theo will adjust.
I also think Platek can help us. He's not there yet, but he's pretty solid.
It's hard to detail all the nuances that go into it, but the trick is to not let the ball-handler get a direct cut to the basket off the screen (thus the quick "hedge" to redirect), while not losing reach to cover his own man who will often roll to the basket. Luke was accepting switches too readily --- that was fine when he was switching with a 3-man, but ain't gonna hunt with a PG --- or now getting caught in no-man's land between the hedge and the roll.
I think part of the problem is that Luke for a good part of the season was acting as another perimeter defender in weave and interchange switches on the wings. Now that he's playing a lot of 5 he's having to deal with his guy screening for the PG. Honestly, having an elite defending PG in JB, I would rather he just get outta Joel's way as soon as feasible and keep contact with his own man. Trust me, there's nothing that'll ruin a PG's day quicker than his own 5-man hanging him out to dry on high ball-screens.
Passes are no better than the person catching them... or finishing off of them. We, especially our young guys, haven't been very good on the back end of that arrangement this season. Thus, the explanatory value of the Blown Assist, and the increase in TOs.
In 2015-16 the team had a historically good A/TO ratio (1.64), and a huge improvement from the previous season. Why? Experienced team playing two PGs. Last season was still very strong (1.53) --- better than 2008-09 for example. We are currently riding at 1.4, which isn't awful by any means, but could be SO much better. JB has had to wrangle and push thru a lot of team offensive dysfunction of late, and we just went thru a bad spell of games where guys weren't moving on offense, but we've always been willing to share the ball. Better team movement, better catching, better finishing is the cure. The guy running the show is doing his job. If we can get all five on the floor doing theirs things will take a turn for the better. Hopefully Saturday was a start.
Thanks. Especially the first part. I can visualize that more easily now.
Not many do. Z was the perfect UNC big man because of his ability to run the floor.
