Dom summed up in one video

This video was playing in the corner of the SJU page on ESPN:

"No. 2 Syracuse Edges St. John's"
espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team....-john%27s-red-storm

The video sums up Pointer pretty damn well.  He only makes a handful of appearances but:

@15 seconds Dom has a nice outlet pass that starts a good break after Jordan stripped Ennis in the lane.
@42 seconds Dom fails to move more than a single step as Ennis takes a ball screen on the opposite side of the court,slowly gets around Jordan,  and drives it right at Dom for the go-ahead basket to make it 62-60 with 4:00 left.
@49 seconds into the video,  SJU desperately looking for a stop down 64-61, Dom gets incredibly lost in a baseline screen (as usual) that results in CJ Fair taking a wide open corner jumper with 8-10 feet of wide open space with 1:39 to go in the game.
@55 seconds you see Dom stumbling and bumbling with a wild dribble that results in a nice drop off to Pointer who proceeds to get posterized by a two-handed block by Grant.

The most telling, though, was at 29 seconds.  Jordan sends an excellent inbound pass  across the court and over the sucked in  Syrcacuse zone from the baseline.  Harrison catches the pass at the three point line, gives a head fake to a defender closing out recklessly, drives by him slowly, dribbles to inside ten feet and hits a fall-away bank shot.  It took a while for the play to unfold, but the entire time Dom Pointer stood 2-3 feet behind the NBA three point line with his hands in the air like he was a three point specialist calling for a look.  The defense gave him a wide open lane to slash to for either a wide open dunk if Harrison saw him or an offensive rebound if the shot was missed. 

It takes Dom Pointer,  on average, two games to get a single offensive rebound.  It's clearly not because of athletic ability, and we know the kid hustles and plays hard.  Pause any video of SJU in the half court when the ball is not in Dom's hands and you will see him 15-25 feet away from the basket. 

I watched some of the SJU-Duke game from 98-99.  01/24/1999: #2 Duke Blue Devils at #8 St. John's (NYC) Red Storm

The difference is pretty crazy.  Those guys were monsters on the offensive glass...they crashed nearly every shot.  Postell, at 6-5 just like Dom, averaged FIVE TIMES as many offensive rebounds in 98-99 than Dom is averaging right now at 2.9 per game.  In fact, eight out of nine players that played more than eight minutes per game averaged more offensive rebounds than Dom is averaging through 15 games this season at over 24 mpg.   The ninth, Chudney, was tied with Pointer's 13-14 average in just 10.6 mpg.   

SJU offensive rebounds per game in 98-99:
Postell - 2.9
Ty grant - 2.8  (3.2 the next year)
Bootsy - 2.4
Artest - 1.6 (2.5 as a frosh)
Reggie Jesse - 1.3
Richardson - 1.1
Emanuel - 1.0
Barkley - .9
Chudney -.6

What good does it serve to have Dom Pointer as a fixture on the perimeter?  We can't properly space, because nobody in their right mind would defend him out there.  Don't we have better personnel that can actually be a threat out there?  This is a big problem, because all of our forwards drift and want to play like guards--none worse than Dom.  It seems like Sampson finally gets it.  This team cannot succeed if it doesn't own the offensive glass.  Dom needs to be going after every shot before it leaves the shooters hand.

He is just not that good

He is just not that good

I don't think that's the case.  He is just not used correctly.  If we are going to rely on this kid to make plays, it's over. 

0.5 offensive rebounds per game and finding him standing on the perimeter whenever you pause the game is cause for concern.  He is not a skilled basketball player and we need him to be cleaning the glass and doing the dirty work, not facilitating our offense.  Get out of the way of Jordan and Harrison and get off the perimeter. 

Quote from: pmg911 on January 12, 2014, 08:14:18 AM

He is just not that good

I don't think that's the case.  He is just not used correctly.  If we are going to rely on this kid to make plays, it's over. 

0.5 offensive rebounds per game and finding him standing on the perimeter whenever you pause the game is cause for concern.  He is not a skilled basketball player and we need him to be cleaning the glass and doing the dirty work, not facilitating our offense.  Get out of the way of Jordan and Harrison and get off the perimeter. 

Agreed. But Lavin somehow thinks Dom can and should be more of a creator on offense. It's really mindboggling to me. He is in desperate need of a coach to pull him aside and focus him on being a vacuum under the glass, a tough man d defender and being the guy that moves well away from the ball on offense to cut to the basket without putting the ball on the floor too often.

 Where are you going to stick a 6'5 player who can't shoot and has no low post game?  You can't hide him.  Only think I would instruct him to do, is crash the boards on every single shot.  That's your job offensive and defensive rebounds, as well as hound the oppositions best wing. 

 Have no problem cutting his minutes in favor of Hooper or anyone for that matter.

 Not just Dom, but this goes for everyone on this team...... can someone get on the floor and hustle for loose balls?  Dive to save a ball from going OOB!  Anything to show the fan base their is a pulse or a heartbeat.  I missed a lot of the 2nd half on tv Sat, so maybe I missed some, but this aspect of the game has been sorely missed.    Show some freaking HEART

Every day in practice dom goes against max . I think dom kills him. I think if one of the coaches would say who ever plays better this week in practice plays against DePaul and providence. I think dom would dunk all over max . I think max would never get a shot off.  I don't hate max . Just don't understand the love for max.  Max played plenty yesterday. Don't think he was terrible . Does anyone think he was good?

 Just using Hooper as an example more than anything.   It can't hurt our offense more to have him play a few more minutes however.  I agree with PMG that his presence does stretch the D.  He just needs to make the shots....which he hasn't when given the opportunity ( which hasn't  been very often).   

 Shit, I'm desperate enough to give Marco a try again.  He looked good against that bad team we beat.( doesn't really narrow it down, does it?)

Every day in practice dom goes against max . I think dom kills him. I think if one of the coaches would say who ever plays better this week in practice plays against DePaul and providence. I think dom would dunk all over max . I think max would never get a shot off.  I don't hate max . Just don't understand the love for max.  Max played plenty yesterday. Don't think he was terrible . Does anyone think he was good?

First, Dom would have to dribble to dunk against Max, and he doesn't have the skill to do that from the perimeter while avoiding the help defense and the called charge/blocked shot from the big waiting for him.  If that was the game plan, Max's team has already won.  Max could play 5+ feet off him when he had the ball, because Dom can't shoot.

Secondly, Dom has been losing shooters for three years.  Give him a ball screen  or, better yet, a double screen and he's gone for 10 seconds.  Automatic.  He strays far to help and he jumps passing lanes.  Whenever he's wrong, 3 points Max.

Quote from: TONYD3 on January 12, 2014, 10:18:20 PM

Every day in practice dom goes against max . I think dom kills him. I think if one of the coaches would say who ever plays better this week in practice plays against DePaul and providence. I think dom would dunk all over max . I think max would never get a shot off.  I don't hate max . Just don't understand the love for max.  Max played plenty yesterday. Don't think he was terrible . Does anyone think he was good?

First, Dom would have to dribble to dunk against Max, and he doesn't have the skill to do that from the perimeter while avoiding the help defense and the called charge/blocked shot from the big waiting for him.  If that was the game plan, Max's team has already won.  Max could play 5+ feet off him when he had the ball, because Dom can't shoot.

Secondly, Dom has been losing shooters for three years.  Give him a ball screen  or, better yet, a double screen and he's gone for 10 seconds.  Automatic.  He strays far to help and he jumps passing lanes.  Whenever he's wrong, 3 points Max.

Really?  Whenever Max has a few feet he hits his shot??   Are you sure about that?

Dom hasn't played well, that is undisputed.   But the notion that Hooper should be getting the majority of his minutes is misguided.   Dom does enough well on the basketball court that he would play big minutes for almost any high major team.     He has plenty of skills he needs to refine, but don't discount what he brings to the table. 

Really?  Whenever Max has a few feet he hits his shot??   Are you sure about that?

Dom hasn't played well, that is undisputed.   But the notion that Hooper should be getting the majority of his minutes is misguided.   Dom does enough well on the basketball court that he would play big minutes for almost any high major team.     He has plenty of skills he needs to refine, but don't discount what he brings to the table. 

You're forgetting it's practice: Hooper makes all his shots in practice.

 

Where are you going to stick a 6'5 player who can't shoot and has no low post game?  You can't hide him.  Only think I would instruct him to do, is crash the boards on every single shot.  That's your job offensive and defensive rebounds, as well as hound the oppositions best wing. 

 Have no problem cutting his minutes in favor of Hooper or anyone for that matter.

 Not just Dom, but this goes for everyone on this team...... can someone get on the floor and hustle for loose balls?  Dive to save a ball from going OOB!  Anything to show the fan base their is a pulse or a heartbeat.  I missed a lot of the 2nd half on tv Sat, so maybe I missed some, but this aspect of the game has been sorely missed.    Show some freaking HEART

You've got it boo.  The diving for loose balls, guards/SFs swooping in for team rebounds after we box out fairly good, are mainly predicated by desire to get to the ball first. 

Hank Gathers - "Rebounding is special because it comes from the heart."  Heart of a Lion - RIP Hank