Ok, THAT I will agree with. The coaching staff has not shown the ability to develop players on a consistent level. They have had A LOT of swings and misses on recruits and transfers. Based on that track record, I’m not near as bullish on this roster as some seem to be. We hear every off-season about how much better a player will be than they were the year before. Yet, I haven’t seen it. Nor do I expect to see it this year. I very much hope that I am pleasantly surprised, but I’m not counting on it.
Is that Steel’s fault? Absolutely, if not 100% it’s at least a 50-50 proposition between the players and the coaches. But I do place at least SOME of the blame on the players themselves. It not only takes the players being willing to work on their own to develop an all round good game, though. It takes good coaching, too. It is a partnership between the player and the coaches. The coaches can’t MAKE the players better, they can only point the way. It’s then on the players to go down the correct path and to put in the extra work needed. Every team practices 2 hours a day. If all a player does is come to practice and work hard they are only doing what every other player is doing. The players that want to really improve and want to be better than the other players have to put in the EXTRA work, often on their own. It’s up to the coaches to give them the correct instruction, the opportunity to put in the work to get better, and then to put them in a position where they can succeed.
Results 61 to 70 of 248
Thread: Season at a Glance
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10-15-2021, 01:01 PM #61
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10-15-2021, 01:04 PM #62
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10-15-2021, 01:14 PM #63
[QUOTE=Xer4ever;709459]This is PART of the story, for sure....but not the whole story.
The 3Pt accuracy has been bad. I have 32 years of team data, and in the last 3 seasons the 3PT shooting percentage has ranked #28, #31, and #30. So, you would have to assume that because you are a poor shooting team, you might be inclined to take less threes.....yes?
NO! Again in a 32 year period, our 3PT attempts per game rankings were #3, #5, & #1. We took the most amount of 3's per game in 32 years last year while being the #30 ranked most accurate team.
But, maybe that's pace, right? If you play with a faster pace, you take more shots in general....right?
YES, that is right, but it's not what happened. If you think about scoring from 2, scoring from3, or scoring from the FT line, you can determine the ratio of each...
And of course, in the last 3 years, our ratio of points scored from 3 ranks #7, #13, and #4 in the last 32 years. sigh. "if at first you dont succeed, keep jacking up bad threes until you CONVINCE yourself that you have succeeded"
But, uhh, maybe we took alot of threes because we weren't good at 2's???? maybe?
MAYBE NOT! Our 2PT shooting percentage ranked #3, #20, and #2 out of 32 over the last 3 years.
Rule #1 in the Travis Steele handbook: "dont take advantage of your advantage"
Lets discuss the other way to score: FREE THROWS (they are fucking free for a reason). Maybe we should rename them to "Not as Free as you Might Think Throws"
FT attempts per Game rank for the last 3 years: #31, #30, #32. YEAH.
In terms of FT% we were: #27, #31, #21.
Break down the FT attempts a little more: 3 years under Steele, and we taken 17.6 FTs per game. In the 29 PRIOR YEARS, we average 24.2. That 6.6 less FT attempts per game. Lets just assume we shoot 71% from the line (our 32 year average) and that would translate to 4.7 points more PER GAME if we just took an AVERAGE amount of FTs.
I know this discussion started off about 3PT shooting %. But take this in.
ASSUME for a moment that last year, instead of shooting 32.5% (ranked #30), we shoot as well as we ever have (1993) and hit 40% of those shots. Well, we took 23.7 per game so instead of making 32.5% of them (7.7) we would have made 40% of them (9.5). Do the math that 1.8*3= 5.4 Points per Game. What if we just shot at our 32 year average (35.5%)...well thats good for only .7 more 3s. that's just 2 points per game.
So, we'd have to shoot out of our ass to make up that difference in points scored from 3, but we left almost that same amount of points at the FT line.
Here is the reality: We don't have a problem with players playing poorly. We have a problem with our offensive scheme that is designed around principles that don't result in offensive EFFICIENCY. Travis needs to have a "Moneyball Moment" and realize that his scheme sucks and he needs to play into our strengths. Use the 3 to keep the defense honest and focus on getting the ball inside where a) You score at a much higher rate, b) increase your chances of getting fouled and c) have a higher chance of grabbing an OREB off the miss.
The first few games are going to tell me everything I need know when it comes to Travis and his ability to continue to improve as a coach.
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10-15-2021, 02:16 PM #64
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10-15-2021, 02:23 PM #65
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- Dec 2010
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Stainbrook and Hankins were above average transfers. X ,in the past, has had some good role players that usually play defense and rebound.
Nunge and Hunter are not expected to average double figures. They should get to the line, rebound , score when open ,and play strong defense
Anything more offensively is fantastic. Unlike past Steele teams, this team is much longer and taller at every position. They should greatly help defense.
On paper, longer, taller players should disrupt passing lanes and increase turnovers.
They should greatly help defense.
I imagine the bulk of the scoring will be shared by Scruggs, Freemantle, Johnson, Jones, and Hunter/Kunkel.
Last season Carter played defense and rebounded. He was not much of an offensive threat(we all know that). He is now replaced by a combo of Nunge/Hunter/Edwards/ Miles/Stanley. Will they all play? Probably not. Are they better than past big men? Under Steele, yes.
Those 5 can contribute and not be a detriment to some mild efficiency .
I am not putting a lot of money betting on transfers. We hit the transfer lottery with Johnson but he is the exception.Last edited by xukeith; 10-15-2021 at 02:43 PM.
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10-15-2021, 02:27 PM #66
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10-15-2021, 02:57 PM #67
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- Jan 2012
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- 15,087
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10-15-2021, 03:14 PM #68
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10-15-2021, 03:31 PM #69
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
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10-15-2021, 04:22 PM #70
Look at the bright side; we won't have long in-game threads devoted to wondering why Carter is in the lineup.
...he went up late, and I was already up there.
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