3 guard lineup

As I said in another thread, we need to have Harrison and  Jordan taking the majority of the shots. By majority, I mean 75%.  Branch needs to step up, get the ball to these guys in the right spots. I think we need to run the ball as much as possible, can't remember the last time I saw a play ran

Agreed. Like many others I've been screaming for that lineup to be player more. The thing is if we want to run we need to be able to rebound. That's where our two bigs will have to step up. In confident in both Harrison and Jordan helping out on the boards.

 Harrison has proven he can contribute on the boards.. Hopefully this Thomas kid is board machine and a good passer..( and we land him, first and foremost)

It's one thing to grab rebounds, it's another to have to awareness and ability to fire outlet passes to start breaks...

 Sanchez would drive me nuts because he would try and dribble it up instead of passing to a guard who was open..

 So we are playing Duke and Cuse OC next season?

We need to have 3 guards on the court at all times. And under no circumstance can both Jordan and Harrison both be on the bench on the same time unless they have both fouled out. Lavin did that way too much this past season and the offense was horrendous with just Branch and Phil in the backcourt

Harrison has proven he can contribute on the boards.. Hopefully this Thomas kid is board machine and a good passer..( and we land him, first and foremost)

It's one thing to grab rebounds, it's another to have to awareness and ability to fire outlet passes to start breaks...

 Sanchez would drive me nuts because he would try and dribble it up instead of passing to a guard who was open..

 So we are playing Duke and Cuse OC next season?

I think that comes from the top down boo.   
Maybe someone else can verify this, but I remember coach saying that he encourages his athletic forwards to lead the break after they grab a rebound.  Sees it as an asset because it'll create numbers in our favor on the break.


In theory that sounds good, but in practice I saw too many situations where Jakarr or Orlando made a poor decision with the ball, regardless of if they had numbers in their favor. 
But I do think this is something the coaches encouraged.   

 Well, I find that hard to believe that forwards were encouraged to start the break via dribble..

You are taught in CYO that the ball moves faster when passed as opposed to dribbling..

Having your head up and moving the ball ahead via pass, as a forward is the way to go.. Perhaps it was encouraged if that is what the defense is giving you, only.. Meaning there isn't anyone open in front  and no one is guarding the forward in question.. I would like to see that quote..

Well, I find that hard to believe that forwards were encouraged to start the break via dribble..

You are taught in CYO that the ball moves faster when passed as opposed to dribbling..

Having your head up and moving the ball ahead via pass, as a forward is the way to go.. Perhaps it was encouraged if that is what the defense is giving you, only.. Meaning there isn't anyone open in front  and no one is guarding the forward in question.. I would like to see that quote..

Tell that to Dr J. But agree especially with Karr who would dribble toward the baseline at 90 mph (sorry for the exaggeration) and run out of room with no play to make and eat the ball. At least Orlando kept the ball in the middle of the court and his coast to coast ending in a dunk over people in traffic was the play of the year for us IMO (forget which game-fairly late in the season).

Our front court play this past season was disgusting on both ends. 
I would love to see a three guard lineup...anything that puts Dom's rear on the bench.  Let Thomas and Obekpa screen, rebound, and just stay out of the way of our the guards.  It should be fun.  I really hope we land Thomas.

Quote from: boo3 on April 20, 2014, 09:24:08 PM

Harrison has proven he can contribute on the boards.. Hopefully this Thomas kid is board machine and a good passer..( and we land him, first and foremost)

It's one thing to grab rebounds, it's another to have to awareness and ability to fire outlet passes to start breaks...

 Sanchez would drive me nuts because he would try and dribble it up instead of passing to a guard who was open..

 So we are playing Duke and Cuse OC next season?

I think that comes from the top down boo.   
Maybe someone else can verify this, but I remember coach saying that he encourages his athletic forwards to lead the break after they grab a rebound.  Sees it as an asset because it'll create numbers in our favor on the break.


In theory that sounds good, but in practice I saw too many situations where Jakarr or Orlando made a poor decision with the ball, regardless of if they had numbers in their favor. 
But I do think this is something the coaches encouraged.

It was far from an asset because none of those guys had the ability to push the ball upcourt quicker then the defense got back which negated any potential advantage. The bigs also didn't know how to get rid of the ball and overdribbled letting the defense setup.

And if Lavin ever has Pointer bring the ball up the court again he should be fired. That was the dumbest strategy I've ever seen employed to have a guy who has some of the worst handle skills and ball control bringing the ball up the court. And it happened more than a few times over the past two seasons.

Our front court play this past season was disgusting on both ends. 
I would love to see a three guard lineup...anything that puts Dom's rear on the bench.  Let Thomas and Obekpa screen, rebound, and just stay out of the way of our the guards.  It should be fun.  I really hope we land Thomas.

Serious question.  What if Dom's poor performance is not an attitude problem but a skill deficit or physical weakness?  Are there ways to coach around them?  Fifty years ago I watched Barry Kramer make first team AA at NYU as a small forward despite his small hands (cradled the ball and jumped so well he had time to get it to his fingertips for high percentage shots, many of them bank shots).  I watched Postell develop a whole array of turn around moves, I presume with help.  Sometimes performance breakdowns are not attitude based but skill based or even learning based.  How does a coach get past the skill based deficits?

Whoever starts it is very important that the team gets off to a good start next year. If any of the rumors of kids contemplating leaving are true, if team gets off to bad start Lavin will lose team.

Quote from: Marillac on April 21, 2014, 12:22:08 AM

Our front court play this past season was disgusting on both ends. 
I would love to see a three guard lineup...anything that puts Dom's rear on the bench.  Let Thomas and Obekpa screen, rebound, and just stay out of the way of our the guards.  It should be fun.  I really hope we land Thomas.

Serious question.  What if Dom's poor performance is not an attitude problem but a skill deficit or physical weakness?  Are there ways to coach around them?  Fifty years ago I watched Barry Kramer make first team AA at NYU as a small forward despite his small hands (cradled the ball and jumped so well he had time to get it to his fingertips for high percentage shots, many of them bank shots).  I watched Postell develop a whole array of turn around moves, I presume with help.  Sometimes performance breakdowns are not attitude based but skill based or even learning based.  How does a coach get past the skill based deficits?

Pointer needs to grow up. Put the work in, and there will be results. He's very athletic, but he usually doesn't play a very smart brand of ball. Granted, when you've got Sampson and Sanchez bringing it up, smart is kinda out the window. If Pointer is smart, he'll see a prime opportunity to start at the 3, and he'll work on his game, his self control and his overall focus.

If he's reduced to a minor role, because one of these new kids comes and plays better than him, that would be a real shame.
There were high hopes for Dom Pointer. I think he's got one summer to realize them.

Whether or not the team plays extended minutes with three guards is not as important as the need for either Jordan or Branch to be on the court at all times. The offense was horrible last year without one of them on the floor to facilitate.

I would play Jordan and harrision 35 minutes plus. I would also start Branch and play the other 2 on the wings. Think D'lo can guard the other teams 3. I think Dom can also play some four. 3 guards and Dom would be short but really fast.

Quote from: Marillac on April 21, 2014, 12:22:08 AM

Our front court play this past season was disgusting on both ends. 
I would love to see a three guard lineup...anything that puts Dom's rear on the bench.  Let Thomas and Obekpa screen, rebound, and just stay out of the way of our the guards.  It should be fun.  I really hope we land Thomas.

Serious question.  What if Dom's poor performance is not an attitude problem but a skill deficit or physical weakness?  Are there ways to coach around them?  Fifty years ago I watched Barry Kramer make first team AA at NYU as a small forward despite his small hands (cradled the ball and jumped so well he had time to get it to his fingertips for high percentage shots, many of them bank shots).  I watched Postell develop a whole array of turn around moves, I presume with help.  Sometimes performance breakdowns are not attitude based but skill based or even learning based.  How does a coach get past the skill based deficits?

Dom's poor performance is very much due to his disgusting lack of skill and physical weakness.  The biggest problem is that he didn't understand his strenghts and weaknesses.  He can be succesfful due to his athletic abililty if he had the rigiht mindset.  Instead, after hitting the game-winner against St. Joe's and being touted as Costco by Lavin, he came into this past season thinking he was something he wasn't...and soething he will likely never be. 

He needs to dominate the things he can do well..rebounding, defense, screening,  and fast breaks.

Would like to see

Sheed, Branch
D'Lo
Cunningham (Jones ) or Greene, or Balamou
Thomas, Jones
Obekpa, DLR

The small forward spot determines how the lineup will be shuffled. Dom has to show a big improvement otherwise he'll be riding the pines.

Quote from: fuchsia on April 21, 2014, 07:34:50 AM

Quote from: Marillac on April 21, 2014, 12:22:08 AM

Our front court play this past season was disgusting on both ends. 
I would love to see a three guard lineup...anything that puts Dom's rear on the bench.  Let Thomas and Obekpa screen, rebound, and just stay out of the way of our the guards.  It should be fun.  I really hope we land Thomas.

Serious question.  What if Dom's poor performance is not an attitude problem but a skill deficit or physical weakness?  Are there ways to coach around them?  Fifty years ago I watched Barry Kramer make first team AA at NYU as a small forward despite his small hands (cradled the ball and jumped so well he had time to get it to his fingertips for high percentage shots, many of them bank shots).  I watched Postell develop a whole array of turn around moves, I presume with help.  Sometimes performance breakdowns are not attitude based but skill based or even learning based.  How does a coach get past the skill based deficits?

Dom's poor performance is very much due to his disgusting lack of skill and physical weakness.  The biggest problem is that he didn't understand his strenghts and weaknesses.  He can be succesfful due to his athletic abililty if he had the rigiht mindset.  Instead, after hitting the game-winner against St. Joe's and being touted as Costco by Lavin, he came into this past season thinking he was something he wasn't...and soething he will likely never be. 

He needs to dominate the things he can do well..rebounding, defense, screening,  and fast breaks.

I got the sense that he sometimes had no feel for the ball on fast breaks, lacking fundamental technique on layups and backboard spin, including occasional excess force instead of completion on dunks.   A player not understanding his strengths and weaknesses can come from many different sources, lack of smarts, dominating weaker competition, poor coaching, bad attitude, and probably many more.  Given your statement that there are some strengths there, how does one get them to emerge and play away from weaknesses?

I'd much rather bring in Cunningham,  Thomas etc and not have to worry about having no forwards.  I don't want to see us rely on all guards to win it for us. 

I'd much rather bring in Cunningham,  Thomas etc and not have to worry about having no forwards.  I don't want to see us rely on all guards to win it for us. 

Exactly.  It screwed up UConn this year. 

I am well a

Would like to see

Sheed, Branch
D'Lo
Cunningham (Jones ) or Greene, or Balamou
Thomas, Jones
Obekpa, DLR

The small forward spot determines how the lineup will be shuffled. Dom has to show a big improvement otherwise he'll be riding the pines.

I am well aware of Dom's deficiencies. But what makes Chrstian Jones and felix better? These 3 have practiced together for 3 years. I have to think Dom gets the better of them during practice. Thats why he plays and they don't. Felix and Christian are good athletes . Dom is an amazing athlete.
We have more of a need for a forward so I think Jones will get a chance. Why should and who should felix play over?