How to get better play out of Boothe?

I thought Boothe played very well at Duke. He played very much within himself and made very good decisions with the ball. This hasn't been the case all season though and eventually its going to catch up to the team when we start facing better competition.

We all know that Boothe is limited in terms of what he can offer offensively but what would you do as a coach to get him to play more efficiently?

Is it confidence issue? lackadaisical? less playing time? motivational benching? start him but pull him early?

We can all sit here and say Boothe stinks blah blah blah or we can figure out ways to help improve his play. I've seen flashes of better basketball from him but it just isn't consistent enough right now.

who knows exactly what it is...maybe hes just not a good decision maker...you cant really teach court vision or basketball IQ...coaches of course try, but the true point guards just see the floor and make good decisions...and the player boothe is by his junior year of college probably isnt going to change much, and if it does i doubt it will be in the ways that we want...he might improve his jumper or his handle from year to year, or even in season, but as far as what we're looking for, he is who he is, and if he doesnt change, then either give stith more playing time till we can figure out if he can get major minutes, or just put in hardy and horne at the same time and let dj handle the ball, as kind of a point forward...i wouldnt mind a lineup of coker, evans, dj, horne, hardy

I thought Boothe played very well at Duke. He played very much within himself and made very good decisions with the ball. This hasn't been the case all season though and eventually its going to catch up to the team when we start facing better competition.

We all know that Boothe is limited in terms of what he can offer offensively but what would you do as a coach to get him to play more efficiently?

Is it confidence issue? lackadaisical? less playing time? motivational benching? start him but pull him early?

We can all sit here and say Boothe stinks blah blah blah or we can figure out ways to help improve his play. I've seen flashes of better basketball from him but it just isn't consistent enough right now.

Bench him.

Starting him and playing him a lot of minutes gives him confidence.  He is obviously not reprimanded for wild drives and jumps in the air not knowing what he will do with the ball, 1 on 4s, or not penetrating much on offense.  He needs to be shown he is not playing well via minutes.

Let him play well in short 5 minute spurts.  If he started being humbled and plays within himself as you say, then play him more.

He hurts more than helps out there right now.

DJ, Hardy, Horne, Brownlie, Coker.

Boothe isn't playing well enough to start right now.
I wouldn't sit him, but we need to go with our 5 best players.

I thought Boothe played very well at Duke. He played very much within himself and made very good decisions with the ball. This hasn't been the case all season though and eventually its going to catch up to the team when we start facing better competition.

We all know that Boothe is limited in terms of what he can offer offensively but what would you do as a coach to get him to play more efficiently?

Is it confidence issue? lackadaisical? less playing time? motivational benching? start him but pull him early?

We can all sit here and say Boothe stinks blah blah blah or we can figure out ways to help improve his play. I've seen flashes of better basketball from him but it just isn't consistent enough right now.

Dave as far as I know only one person has ever turned water into wine!

he's very limited.  but regardless of what we think, we need him.  just like we need mase.  they both have their limitations but are athletic and when they're on, they help us win games.

as far as what i would do, i would definitely not start him anymore, and when he does play in the half court offense, i would mandate that he stays above the foul line.  he's at his worst when he tries to get creative below the basket. if he dribbles to the foul line possibilities open up:  dish to the wings or corner for a jumper; lob for an alley up; or shoot the short jumper, which he can hit.  but beyond that he needs stop over penetrating. 

I'm just amazed that there are so many people complaining about Boothe taking it to the basket when NOBODY tried to take it to the basket last year for this team.

I honestly like when Boothe tries to get to the rim, and more often than not it is a good take.  I actually would like to see him do it more often. 

His shot is awful, and he doesn't really stuff the stats, but I think the team looks really sloppy in long stretches without him.  But whatever, you've all found you 2009-2010 whipping boy, so have at it.

Quote from: Dave on December 11, 2009, 02:06:53 PM

I thought Boothe played very well at Duke. He played very much within himself and made very good decisions with the ball. This hasn't been the case all season though and eventually its going to catch up to the team when we start facing better competition.

We all know that Boothe is limited in terms of what he can offer offensively but what would you do as a coach to get him to play more efficiently?

Is it confidence issue? lackadaisical? less playing time? motivational benching? start him but pull him early?

We can all sit here and say Boothe stinks blah blah blah or we can figure out ways to help improve his play. I've seen flashes of better basketball from him but it just isn't consistent enough right now.

Dave as far as I know only one person has ever turned water into wine!

  Seriously what do you think you could do to get more out of him consistently?

In the past three games he is 1-2 shooting from 3 point land. His FT percentage is also very much improved from last season. In 4 games this season he has gone perfect from the FT line (2-2, 4-4, 4-4, 2-2). I like those trends.

What I don't like is his assists are being matched or exceeded by his turnovers. The number of steals have decreased as well. It's really his decision making that bugs me sometimes. He makes some really nice passes from time to time but then he'll make some real bonehead passes that result in turnovers.

I'm just amazed that there are so many people complaining about Boothe taking it to the basket when NOBODY tried to take it to the basket last year for this team.

I honestly like when Boothe tries to get to the rim, and more often than not it is a good take.  I actually would like to see him do it more often. 

His shot is awful, and he doesn't really stuff the stats, but I think the team looks really sloppy in long stretches without him.  But whatever, you've all found you 2009-2010 whipping boy, so have at it.

  He can get to the lane,  then it gets ugly.  He's not a very good passer, especially in the interior.  If your pg can't pass, well...  Thankfully it hasn't mattered in the first bunch of games. Once BE play begins, these deficiencies will be magnified.  They don't call ticky-tac fouls in the BE on 5' 7" pgs taking in the paint.
   As far as what he can do to improve.  Thats Norms job.  He gets paid a lot of money to get the most out of players.

I don't mind him taking it to the basket but it should be with the plan that a big will be there for the pass if the defender rotates.  If Boothe doesn't beat his man, and he goes in for the layup, it will be blocked.  He can only score if he gets by his man and there is no other defender there.  If they rotate, he has to pass it.

I actually think that interior passing has improved greatly over last year, not just by Boothe, but the entire team.

I'm just amazed that there are so many people complaining about Boothe taking it to the basket when NOBODY tried to take it to the basket last year for this team.

I honestly like when Boothe tries to get to the rim, and more often than not it is a good take.  I actually would like to see him do it more often. 

His shot is awful, and he doesn't really stuff the stats, but I think the team looks really sloppy in long stretches without him.  But whatever, you've all found you 2009-2010 whipping boy, so have at it.

I agree with you about him getting to the basket, Marillac. What he does with the ball when he gets there is what I personally have had some issues with. If the defense backs off of him then he needs to take the layup, if they challenge he needs to dump it off, and if there is nothing there circle back out Steve Nash style.

All of this doesn't fall on Boothe's shoulders either. His teammates need to move without the ball and sometimes all that requires is a step or two left or right to create a passing lane. They can't just be stagnant and wait for Boothe to make something happen.

I don't think Boothe is a lost cause but I do think he needs to play better.

 maybe boothe is doing the right thing, and the others are not in the proper position?? quite a few times I have seen him drive, and try to dish, but the forward slides the wrong way forcing boothe to either make an errant pass, or get the ball swatted away..
  I think the guys dont expect him to drive in traffic as he didnt do much of it last season.more practice on this...Boothe is light years a better passer and handler than Eugene the turnover machine...
   Our turnovers overall are down from the past few seasons i believe..

Run! Not only do I feel that with our depth we should be runnin teams out of the gym but could really help our pg play..imo we look lost in our half court sets..wich only leads to a sloppy drive that leads to nothing(in boothes case)..watching the georgia game we can't put all the blame on him..on offense we don't move at all!!..it looked like we had two down low setting ball screans 2 on the wings then a pg at the top..that's all we did..the 2cd half we started off a lot better and it was when we were running..if we run we don't have do worry about malik1s drives and would cut down on the bad decisions for the most part

I'd rather an aggressive drive to the rim than a few passes and a settled for outside shot any possession.  If you take it to the rim, you keep a defense honest and you can force fouls.

Tru he just needs to learn when to drive..I love his no fear mentality when driving to the hoop but don't drive on a collapsing zone..all that's gunna happen is the ball is gunna get ripped or most likely a offensive foul..if man d I say drive all day because with his size he'd probly get a ton of fouls called