I will give Kenny more time, but I'm beginning to think he is never going to be more than a role player, similar to Britt and McDonald. I think he is a very nervous player. Time for him to step up.
Quick stuff (Barton Exhibition)...
- Thread starter gary-7
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Despite much of this board's myopia on the matter, LMac was a very important role player. He was a strong 3-pt threat and a much better defender than some liked to give him credit for. Roy moving him into the starting lineup after the suspension saved us from a trip to the damned NIT. Kenny is even stronger in his floor game, so if he can start to match LMac's offensive threat he'll be fulfilling a very large role. That is literally the only thing KW is lacking in right now.
I enjoyed watching last night. This team is going to be a lot of fun to watch. I don’t see many serious issues besides the young bigs. It’s all good!
Watch the way Roy develops his team compared to the way Fed develops his. Roy's team will become more and more fundamentally sound as the season progresses. Fed's team won't. One is a great coach and one is very average.
All the guys you mentioned were good at making their own shots or sprinting to their spots or had a quick release. And sometimes more than one of those skills.
Think of Harrison's killer make-it-look-easy stepback. Danny sprinting to the corner on the break. Wayne's quick release and sweet stroke from the wing. Justin moving all the time without the ball. Harrison, Danny and Justin could also kill you with different kinds of shots, making them hard to defend. They all also played with other guys the opposing D couldn't afford to leave alone.
I could see Cam and maybe Kenny being sprint-to-your-spot kind of guys. And I think Cam has a more versatile arsenal than he has shown.
Of course if you are a sprint-to-your-spot guy, you need to be playing with a PG who can deliver the ball to your spot before the D gets there. No offense to Joel but he's only OK at that. Or does it just seem that way because he isn't playing with those kinds of sprinters? Maybe Jalek is that guy. Theo can be that guy, but he won't usually have the ball in his hands at the beginning of a break.
I am going to critique a player based on what I see and if a kid is struggling I and most of this board are going to talk about it, kinda what this is for isn't it? What does rub me raw at times is that some look at games with predetermined conclusions of how a kid plays even before the game has tipped off. Couple examples, Joel will do no wrong and yeah, some are a little to hard on Kenny and I guarantee ya 7th had a awful game even before last night tipped off. I was always hard on Nate but I was because Nate did things that drove me absolutely nutzs but when the kid did good things I talked about his positives as well. There is not a perfect player on our team as hard as that is to believe but every kid on our team can play at a very high level, most of them this season just need to learn and build that confidence.
I said, Kenny didn't have a great game last night, he didn't even defensively. But it is vital that folks realize, Kenny has been on the shelf since what, Jan? 2 separate procedures on his knee, no off season work he should look damn rusty.
Now I agree, so far the title knock down jump shooter does not apply to Kenny and really that is not deniable. Now I have been told, based on what I saw I believe this, Kenny struggled with his knee most of last season but as the season wore on it bothered him more and more. That darn sure explains why his lift was off balance the later the season got and it explains why he was getting lost off hard V cuts more as the season wore on. That explains to me exactly what I saw and all that means is the book should not close on can he be a knock down jump shooter but as I said that title does not apply to him so far. BTW, his PT was so little as a frosh that there is no way to really fairly critique him as a shooter.
My take on the game.
We could have beaten Barton by 25-30, even without Joel, had Roy thought that was important. He played a ton of different lineups and many guys played significantly more minutes than they will later on. This was a glorified scrimmage.
I think we will shoot the three much better as the season progresses, Cam in particular. With Joel, Cam, and Luke we should be solid from downtown. I'm not including Kenny because he has yet to prove to me that he can hit consistently from long distance.
We have so many guys that are inexperienced, or relatively so, and it showed in players being out of position defensively, especially in our help defense. That will improve greatly and it must if we're to seriously compete for the ACC/NCAA titles.
For a first showing, I was pleased by what I saw of the big freshmen. We have some talent there, to go along with great size, that can be molded into very good players as they gain experience and strength. Brooks will most likely start most games and Huff will provide depth off the bench. Manley is behind in his development but shows flashes of potential too.
Jalek is the real deal. Yes he must learn to play defense with the same enthusiasm that he displays on offense. But his talent is apparent. I could easily see him starting alongside Joel by ACC time. He's going to be hard to keep off the court.
As far as I'm concerned, we're playing with house money this year. This team will improve drastically from now to March. It's going to be exasperating for some of our fans to watch but it's going to be a ton of fun.
We could have beaten Barton by 25-30, even without Joel, had Roy thought that was important. He played a ton of different lineups and many guys played significantly more minutes than they will later on. This was a glorified scrimmage.
I think we will shoot the three much better as the season progresses, Cam in particular. With Joel, Cam, and Luke we should be solid from downtown. I'm not including Kenny because he has yet to prove to me that he can hit consistently from long distance.
We have so many guys that are inexperienced, or relatively so, and it showed in players being out of position defensively, especially in our help defense. That will improve greatly and it must if we're to seriously compete for the ACC/NCAA titles.
For a first showing, I was pleased by what I saw of the big freshmen. We have some talent there, to go along with great size, that can be molded into very good players as they gain experience and strength. Brooks will most likely start most games and Huff will provide depth off the bench. Manley is behind in his development but shows flashes of potential too.
Jalek is the real deal. Yes he must learn to play defense with the same enthusiasm that he displays on offense. But his talent is apparent. I could easily see him starting alongside Joel by ACC time. He's going to be hard to keep off the court.
As far as I'm concerned, we're playing with house money this year. This team will improve drastically from now to March. It's going to be exasperating for some of our fans to watch but it's going to be a ton of fun.
Guys, it was the first exhibition game. We've seen all of 20 minutes of any of these players. Let's give them a bit more time before final judgement. If Kenny had hit two three's yesterday everybody would be excited about his future.
I think anybody who has watched Carolina hoops knows and understands that Roy's team don't always start the strongest....BUT...they always get better as the year progresses.......judging from the reaction after an exhibition game.....hahaha it is going to be a long Nov/Dec
I get it. I also get the other side. We really should be able to handle a division two team by more than 11 even if Roy is totally playing to lose.. I think there's nothing wrong with pointing out that we don't see these types of teams stay that close really ever.
But also no reason to panic.
We need a hand wringing & second guessing thread, so the rest of us could enjoy the other threads.
Arch with the PR release 
. Seriously, nothing out of line at all with that. I tried to be even handed in my OP but you're right that there's no need to wring hands just yet. You stated the positive aspects well. With Roy's direction and Dog back at the helm we'll be something to reckon with.
. Seriously, nothing out of line at all with that. I tried to be even handed in my OP but you're right that there's no need to wring hands just yet. You stated the positive aspects well. With Roy's direction and Dog back at the helm we'll be something to reckon with.
After watching The highlights it reiterated what I saw in person. Going to be hard to keep Jalek off the floor. Kid has that “it” factor and will likely take more and more of Seventh Woods minutes as year goes on. Seventh reminds me of a mix between Larry Drew and Dexter Strickland. He had Dex like athleticism but spends way too much time dribbling laterally and always seems a second behind in terms of getting a pass to a teammate a la Larry Drew.
One thing liked seeing was Maye choosing to dunk the ball instead of settling for the layup like Meeks would always do.
The jury is still out on Kenny, but at this stage of his career he should not be shooting 15 ft air balls, especially a wide open shot. He had one of those Friday night. He is a very nervous player and that is not a good sign.
He only played one minute.
Another impressive thing about this team is that we have several guys that are willing and able passers(8 guys with at least 2 assists). That will make us hard to guard.
The three pointer is what kept Barton in the game, they shot 12-30 from long distance(40%). They were only 17-46(36%) from two point range. Meanwhile, we shot a mere 20% from downtown, something I think will prove to be an aberration statistically as the season progresses.
Obviously, we miss our leader Joel. The extra minutes afforded to Seventh and Jalek should pay dividends down the road. But there is no doubt Joel makes us a lot better.
I was pleasantly surprised by Platek. Based on that small sample, the only thing keeping him from more PT this year is that we have a logjam of players for the same position(s). If he needed to play a lot of minutes for us, he looks like he would handle it quite well.
I've always liked the LMac comparison with Kenny. Both very smooth players. Kenny is better on D, LMac was stronger on offense. No comparison is perfect, of course. Leslie's extra size helped him on drives and guarding bigger guys, while Kenny is a bit quicker - which helps on D but not (so far) on drives. Both were outside threats but never quite as good from deep as we wanted them to be. I hope Kenny can fix that part.
I expressed the sentiment a while back (and got beat up for it) that even if Kenny was physically sound, he was bound to be behind his teammates because of all the restrictions and missed practices. I worried that he might never catch up because (I thought) Seventh and BRob had been able to work on their games all that time, and reports suggested that they were improving a good bit . . . while Kenny was forced to stand still.
Now I don't want to read too much into this exhibition game. But since it's all we have, I will anyway.
What I read into it are these things:
Yes, Kenny is really rusty
But, he moved pretty well, and looked physically sound
And Roy had confidence to play him good minutes (18)
Both Seventh and BRob looked better
But not as much better as I expected
So, while Kenny is behind, he may be able to catch up
Jalek looked good enough that all of those guys need to watch their six
Tell ya what, Platek is ready to play at this level right now. For those of us who saw him in EYBL that comes as no surprise. As you said, there are guys ahead of him in the pecking order but that's about it. He's sharp, skilled and smoothly athletic. He's also a full class older than his freshman compatriots, which shows.
When I watched this exhibition I specifically focused on how guys were meshing/understanding the offensive and defensive scheme. Probably 80%+ of our system requires thinking and feel on the fly, as opposed to going to pre-set assignments. Watching Andrew do virtually everything right on both ends --- while in contrast, a highly intelligent guy like Cam was still balky with some of it --- was quite impressive.
As Platek's confidence in using his scoring chops grows, he will be hard to keep off the floor.
I'll give ya one more positive, Arch --- with the caveat again that Barton was a smallish D2 team --- our four freshman Bigs combined for 29 pts and 26 rebounds. So there's that...
I'm on record as saying I believe a lot of things must go right for us this year in order for us to make a deep run(G8 or better). We lost soooo much from last year's team, in terms of both talent and experience. Having Joel, Theo, and Luke makes for a nice core but we have many questions to answer, especially on the interior. Can our bigs defend, score, and especially rebound at a high enough level to enable us to contend?
Only time will tell. But we have one of the best developers of talent in the country on our bench. And make no mistake about it, Roy will be doing more teaching of fundamentals than he's had to do in quite a few years, due to the number of minimally experienced players that will have to play out of necessity. As such, we will look downright ugly and disjointed at times. But we should also see a great deal of improvement by the end of the season. Will it be enough to earn a decent seed and make a deep run? Again, only time will tell.
Only time will tell. But we have one of the best developers of talent in the country on our bench. And make no mistake about it, Roy will be doing more teaching of fundamentals than he's had to do in quite a few years, due to the number of minimally experienced players that will have to play out of necessity. As such, we will look downright ugly and disjointed at times. But we should also see a great deal of improvement by the end of the season. Will it be enough to earn a decent seed and make a deep run? Again, only time will tell.
I saw the exhibition and practice the next day as part of the Coaching Clinic. Here are my player by player observations:
Theo: Theo was Theo. If he can shoot the ball consistently, I honestly think he could be the ACC POY. He does so much on the floor, which we all knew, but he's even taken that to another level. He's so good with the young guys trying to teach them. I don't know if anyone has ever averaged 15/5/5 in the ACC, but Theo could make it happen.
Luke: He just looks so much more confident, as if that shot against UK wouldn't give EVERYONE more confidence. He's vocal, he was joking around. He didn't have a good practice Saturday, but he was really good in the exhibition. He does all the intangible stuff, not to mention his offensive game and rebounding. He's going to play a ton of minutes. Still has to get better at sliding his feet on the perimeter and guarding smaller 4s.
Jalek: Once he learns the system and what Roy wants from his PGs, he's going to be hard to keep off the floor. He was good at practice and in the exhibition. I know JB is one of the best, if not the best, PGs in the country, but I can see Jalek and JB playing some together with JB at the 2. No knock on JBs PG skills, he'd just be a better fit at the 2, than JF would be if they were playing together.
Brooks: He's going to be very, very good. Reminds me a lot of Brice as a freshman (minus just raw athletic ability). If he can get 11/7 this season, it would be HUGE for us. He will be All-ACC before he leaves the Hill. Can't wait to see his development.
Cam: Struggled in the scrimmage, but shot it well in practice. You can tell he's still thinking too much. Once he learns the system, I think he can make up for all the offensive production we lost with JJ. I don't think he'll be as good a defender as JJ. As lost as he looked on O at times, he was exponentially more lost on the defensive end, both in the exhibition and in practice.
KW: He didn't shoot it well, but he looks healthy. Didn't shoot it great in practice either, but he was awesome defensively both days. I know he didn't start the exhibition, but I don't see him coming out of the starting lineup. He's so vocal and also great with the freshmen.
7th: Same stuff, different day. Bad passes, spotty defense, no shot. He just leaves you wanting more. You see flashes, but the good doesn't outweigh the bad right now. Over the next 10 days, or whatever they have before the 1st game, I just can't see Jalek not beating him out. If JF can't, I can see Roy starting Theo at the 1
Manley: He is HUGE. Soft touch. He needs to get MEAN. It would have been really nice to let him sit behind Bradley and Brooks, but he's going to be forced into action early. He has a chance to be good, but it's going to take some time. I think he'll give us more than Joel James, but he has a ways to go.
Huff: Also HUGE. Awkward with bad footwork, but he tries. Inside 5 feet, he's unstoppable. Outside of that, it's bad. Shot block timing is really good. He's got the tools to spend time on as a project, but I can't see him contributing a lot this season.
Platek: I was probably the most disappointed in him. You can tell he can really shoot, but he looked overwhelmed, both in the game and in practice. He struggled with the pace of the game, and on the defensive end of the floor. I think he's going to be a great player for us eventually, I just don't know if he'll get the reps this year.
Miller: Has some game, but is so thin and weak right now. Jonas should be his new best friend. He'll be a good practice player.
B-Rob: It's like he just tries to hard when he gets his chance. A lot of dribbling without a purpose. I know he gained a little weight, but he still struggles with the physicality of the game. I think he's one more year away from really being a big-time contributor.
Shea: Really no different from a year ago
KJ: He's a nice addition as a practice player. Think a more athletic Stillman.
Just my 2 cents. I'd love to hear anyone else's thoughts on my breakdown or what they saw.
Theo: Theo was Theo. If he can shoot the ball consistently, I honestly think he could be the ACC POY. He does so much on the floor, which we all knew, but he's even taken that to another level. He's so good with the young guys trying to teach them. I don't know if anyone has ever averaged 15/5/5 in the ACC, but Theo could make it happen.
Luke: He just looks so much more confident, as if that shot against UK wouldn't give EVERYONE more confidence. He's vocal, he was joking around. He didn't have a good practice Saturday, but he was really good in the exhibition. He does all the intangible stuff, not to mention his offensive game and rebounding. He's going to play a ton of minutes. Still has to get better at sliding his feet on the perimeter and guarding smaller 4s.
Jalek: Once he learns the system and what Roy wants from his PGs, he's going to be hard to keep off the floor. He was good at practice and in the exhibition. I know JB is one of the best, if not the best, PGs in the country, but I can see Jalek and JB playing some together with JB at the 2. No knock on JBs PG skills, he'd just be a better fit at the 2, than JF would be if they were playing together.
Brooks: He's going to be very, very good. Reminds me a lot of Brice as a freshman (minus just raw athletic ability). If he can get 11/7 this season, it would be HUGE for us. He will be All-ACC before he leaves the Hill. Can't wait to see his development.
Cam: Struggled in the scrimmage, but shot it well in practice. You can tell he's still thinking too much. Once he learns the system, I think he can make up for all the offensive production we lost with JJ. I don't think he'll be as good a defender as JJ. As lost as he looked on O at times, he was exponentially more lost on the defensive end, both in the exhibition and in practice.
KW: He didn't shoot it well, but he looks healthy. Didn't shoot it great in practice either, but he was awesome defensively both days. I know he didn't start the exhibition, but I don't see him coming out of the starting lineup. He's so vocal and also great with the freshmen.
7th: Same stuff, different day. Bad passes, spotty defense, no shot. He just leaves you wanting more. You see flashes, but the good doesn't outweigh the bad right now. Over the next 10 days, or whatever they have before the 1st game, I just can't see Jalek not beating him out. If JF can't, I can see Roy starting Theo at the 1
Manley: He is HUGE. Soft touch. He needs to get MEAN. It would have been really nice to let him sit behind Bradley and Brooks, but he's going to be forced into action early. He has a chance to be good, but it's going to take some time. I think he'll give us more than Joel James, but he has a ways to go.
Huff: Also HUGE. Awkward with bad footwork, but he tries. Inside 5 feet, he's unstoppable. Outside of that, it's bad. Shot block timing is really good. He's got the tools to spend time on as a project, but I can't see him contributing a lot this season.
Platek: I was probably the most disappointed in him. You can tell he can really shoot, but he looked overwhelmed, both in the game and in practice. He struggled with the pace of the game, and on the defensive end of the floor. I think he's going to be a great player for us eventually, I just don't know if he'll get the reps this year.
Miller: Has some game, but is so thin and weak right now. Jonas should be his new best friend. He'll be a good practice player.
B-Rob: It's like he just tries to hard when he gets his chance. A lot of dribbling without a purpose. I know he gained a little weight, but he still struggles with the physicality of the game. I think he's one more year away from really being a big-time contributor.
Shea: Really no different from a year ago
KJ: He's a nice addition as a practice player. Think a more athletic Stillman.
Just my 2 cents. I'd love to hear anyone else's thoughts on my breakdown or what they saw.
Nice breakdown! My thoughts:
I also see Jalek beating out Seventh on day 1, unless Roy just wants to start with the more experienced player. I really like Seventh, but Jalek looked much better in the one exhibition game I'm going off of so far.
I'm curious on the wings, how would you (or anyone else) rank JJ, Theo and Kenny defensively? All draw a lot of praise, and I'm no expert at evaluating defense so it's hard for me to tell. I can see Kenny is a better defender (and rebounder?) than Cam, but unless he's made big strides Cam is going to have a big offensive advantage over Kenny.
I am super excited to see the jamboree games on Sunday, partly because I get to watch 80 minutes of basketball but also to see how our freshman do against decent competition. Both ECU and UNC-G have multiple upperclassmen bigs that are 6'10 or taller, and UNC-W has a junior center that is 7'0 and 265 lbs. It'll be a real opportunity to evaluate our big guys, as Barton was just so undersized. I'll reserve any more comments until then, but i was mildly impressed by our bigs in the first game.
Coach, I'm with you on almost all of that. I'm sure you read my OP and we're seeing most of the same stuff... and we're on the exact same page with Cam and 7th.
As we both said, Cam is still lost on both ends, and yes, probably thinking too much. The good news though is that's something that is sure to improve (although that D has a lonnggg way to go). 7th on the other hand, what we see is not fixable until he moves off the ball --- that is literally the only potential cure.
As for Kenny, BRob, Theo, Luke and the Bigs again we're on the same page.
I'll differ however on two points.
First, I didn't see any struggle at all from Platek in the game other than offensive confidence. You got to see practice so I'll defer to what you saw there, but what I've been told is that Andrew has mostly been turning heads in a good way in previous practices.
And second, while I can definitely see JB and Jalek logging a lot of court time together I'm not sure it will be JB moving to the 2 as much as interchanges on the fly (like he and Marcus did) and short sequences (like we saw at Late Night when JB was in with KJ). That being said, Roy could decide to work Jalek exclusively at the 1 to lessen the learning curve. That one will be interesting to watch develop either way!
1)My sample size with Platek was very small, so you could be right. But he looked worse in practice than he did in the game.
2) I'm totally with you on JB and JF interchanging on the fly. At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter. They will both have the ball in their hands a lot. But in crunch time, we all know JBII is getting the rock.
Yeah, good stuff, agree with most of this, maybe differ on some.
Theo is Theo, not gong to be a knock down shooter for us but he will drain some on pure confidence alone! Seems a lil stronger and maybe puts the ball on the floor a lil better than last year. Passed really well vs Barton. Luke was solid really worked 2 aspects, first the pick roll action and then running the floor being ready to take the feed on the fly and finish.
Jalek, really seemed to focus on good passing as in more pass first that I expected, a good thing IMO. I like the notion of Jalek at the point with a more PG experienced guy next to him aka Marcus/Dex, Nate/Marcus, Joel/Marcus. When Joel gets back I want to see Jalek at the point and Joel slide to the 2, Jalek can and will score but seems willing to be pass first where as Joel seems more shoot first and we do need willing shot taking and making from the 2. No offense to Kenny but when you have he and Theo in together you are going to see defenses make it ultra hard to get the interior pass with your only true outside shooter being Joel. Makes it easy to exchange PGs as the more experienced guy can get us in to position while the lesser experienced guy is able to focus on getting the ball up court. 2 real keys for me, first scoring production from the 2 guard spot and second increased assist numbers from the point.
Cam I think really is feeling a bit of the weight on him right now, trying to replace Justin, trying to live up to expectations as a great shooter as opposed to playing relaxed and confident, that will come, he will mentally settle in and be fine. Brob, yeah, he is pressing a bit to much right now, really trying to earn PT after so much time on the bench last season. I really think he is more of a long 2 than a wing and I do think he can give us some solid scoring out of the 2 spot where he would have a length advantage most nights.
7th, is still rushing a bit to much, see that with his shooting, see that at times catching a pass, it isn't IMO as much as his not seeing or understanding but more wanting to create something at times before he secures the pass, a but like a WR trying to run before he actually has caught the ball. I noticed 2 or 3 times (at least) in the 1st half vs Barton he fumbles the pass catch and in doing so everything is at that point out of sync and forces everything to be reset. It is that split second of timing difference, that can happen from a lack of PT, can happen from so many different rotations (having a really good feel for the guys on the court in both their movements as well as those passing the ball to him). Those are aspects that playing time irons out in most cases, we saw it work out with Dex, it never really did for Nate. The difference in those 2 IMO was Dex had the more attacking mindset, I think 7th has that similar mind set. On a break, you are not going to see 7th pull up real often when he has a path to the basket because he is concerned with either his shot being blocked or the physical contact. He is going to attack and either slip the pass or try to finish and yeah, at times will when maybe he should have pulled it back but that is a error more of commission than anything else and I will take those. Problem 7th has is he is not enough of a jump shooter to not be played for the drive or pass, right now you play him to drive or pass and let him jump shoot. Same with Kenny IMO but Kenny is not the driver or passer a PG typically is, to an extent same with Theo..
On Manley, watching him in practice can you share your thoughts on his fitness/stamina? From what I have seen seems to be OK for short stretches but struggles when he gets winded, a bit like Tony was. Totally agree he would be well served to have more of a mean streak, don't see that develop often if it is not there early on? I do think Huffman can help us more earlier, agree it is not pretty away from the basket but this season not a lot of reason for him to get far from the basket. Brooks is really smooth, agree he has a chance to be really good, I may be a bit more muted on him for now so I am not ready just yet to say his future is a ACC 1st teamer in a couple years but sure don't rule that out either.
Miller is not going to be ready for us this season but I think he will be a very solid role players for us down the road just needs to fill out his frame with the S/C program. Platek, if he gets solid PT this season it will be because some of the kids ahead of him on the depth chart are either not playing well at all or get hurt, neither being situations I want to see occur this season.
I guess now hitting the side of the backboard on a wide open 3 and generally being invisible on the court is considered a good "floor game". But I suppose if one has a preconcieved notion about a player then its hard to be flexible.
But at the same time Cam..."struggled".. Cant make this stuff up.
But at the same time Cam..."struggled".. Cant make this stuff up.
ACarter with a good synopsis of what a lot of us are seeing. I’ll be a little more frank, unless Seventh and Kenny Williams transform into consistent offensive threats, their minutes should be limited. Jalek and Cam command major minutes with Joel and Theo. We NEED scoring this year in a big way.
Manley's conditioning was better than I thought, but definitely not where it needs to be. There's a big gap between Brooks and Manley/Huff. Manley is ahead of Huff IMO. Honestly, I could see Brooks about 20 mpg, Manley/Huff, 5 mpg each, and 10 mpg with us small and Luke at the 5.
Yeah, again I'm mostly ditto on all that.
I think some folks forgot that Sterling got off to a nice start Friday before he got in the doghouse in the second half for a lazy pass and a defensive lapse. Again, he is highly skilled in hand-eye coordination for a young Big --- his body just needs to "catch up". That HS injury was a big setback that moved back his timetable.
Huff I think is a wildcard as far as PT. Yes, he is the least skilled of the four Frosh Bigs --- he's basically a one-handed player right now and it's mostly dunk-or-nothing (although the one jump-hook was encouraging) --- but his raw athleticism and motor can come in handy when things get physical. He has some fouls to use at the very least and he'll do his best to protect the rim --- and rim-protection is where he and Manley could be a boost off the bench.
