Chaminade

[sedziobs]

Damn, my wish was granted right out of the timeout. Phinisee the only guard on the floor and then an outlet pass from Ezikpe to Nolley. More of that please.

[waterhead]

Originally Posted by sedziobs

We're pushing the ball a lot in the second half. Nolley is great in transition. Watching this confirms my desire to see a lineup with him as a point forward and only one of DDJ, MAW, Phinisee on the floor.

Putting the ball in Nolleys hands seems like a good idea!

[skyblade]

Didn't watch live, but quickly watching the replay. It's hard to read a lot into this sort of game, Chaminade was outmatched on all ends. We've seen plenty of times in the past where we back-off pressing once we face good teams. Will we continue this year? Some observations.

Hensley was our only player who played as a backup 4 and seemed to be in mostly when Kalu was at the 5. It looks like Kalu is our weakest defender (and possibly rebounder) at the 5, so it makes sense to pair him with Hensley.

Lakhin started and looks like our best 5. Kalu getting the majority of backup minutes and Ody whatever it left.

Passing was very good from all positions, but also a lot of high risk passes that might be TO's against better teams. It's a thin line to walk between great passes and TO's.

Skillings has a ton of potential and seems like he rebounds well, but needs to clean up his defense.

What's up with Josh Reed? Injury? I figured he'd see at least a few minutes.

MAW finished at the rim, hope that continues against tougher competition.

Not much effort to get offensive rebounds by a lot of our players. We only sent one to the boards a lot of the time. Skillings and Hensley were the only guys besides our centers who seemed to consistently fight on the offensive glass.

Nolley's offensive game seems to be as diverse, skilled as advertised. I'm still a little doubtful of his shooting based on his past history.

[Queens_NYC]

Originally Posted by skyblade

Didn't watch live, but quickly watching the replay. It's hard to read a lot into this sort of game, Chaminade was outmatched on all ends. We've seen plenty of times in the past where we back-off pressing once we face good teams. Will we continue this year? Some observations.

Hensley was our only player who played as a backup 4 and seemed to be in mostly when Kalu was at the 5. It looks like Kalu is our weakest defender (and possibly rebounder) at the 5, so it makes sense to pair him with Hensley.

Lakhin started and looks like our best 5. Kalu getting the majority of backup minutes and Ody whatever it left.

Passing was very good from all positions, but also a lot of high risk passes that might be TO's against better teams. It's a thin line to walk between great passes and TO's.

Skillings has a ton of potential and seems like he rebounds well, but needs to clean up his defense.

What's up with Josh Reed? Injury? I figured he'd see at least a few minutes.

MAW finished at the rim, hope that continues against tougher competition.

Not much effort to get offensive rebounds by a lot of our players. We only sent one to the boards a lot of the time. Skillings and Hensley were the only guys besides our centers who seemed to consistently fight on the offensive glass.

Nolley's offensive game seems to be as diverse, skilled as advertised. I'm still a little doubtful of his shooting based on his past history.

Didn't notice this during the game, but after looking at the box score, the minutes were indeed perfectly split between JD and Hensley.

Vik (17), Kalu (13), and Ody (10) also perfectly split minutes at the 5.

I was surprised that Newman (11) got so few minutes himself - especially compared to someone like Skillings (15). The difference in production between the two was quite vast, however.

[skyblade]

Originally Posted by Queens_NYC

Didn't notice this during the game, but after looking at the box score, the minutes were indeed perfectly split between JD and Hensley.

Vik (17), Kalu (13), and Ody (10) also perfectly split minutes at the 5.

I was surprised that Newman (11) got so few minutes himself - especially compared to someone like Skillings (15). The difference in production between the two was quite vast, however.

I suspect there is a bit of a "we know what we've got" with Newman, so Skillings will get early minutes to see what he can bring and get him experience.

Skillings looks like he can be a better rebounder than Newman as well, just with his size/length/athleticism. But defensively he still has work to do, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Newman end up with more minutes in big games.

[TheLivingLegend]

Team was fun to watch. Long. Athletic. And deep. Will probably struggle to shoot, but should be able to press and defend.

Nolley hopefully is that guy, he looked good.

[waterhead]

Originally Posted by skyblade

Didn't watch live, but quickly watching the replay. It's hard to read a lot into this sort of game, Chaminade was outmatched on all ends. We've seen plenty of times in the past where we back-off pressing once we face good teams. Will we continue this year? Some observations.

Hensley was our only player who played as a backup 4 and seemed to be in mostly when Kalu was at the 5. It looks like Kalu is our weakest defender (and possibly rebounder) at the 5, so it makes sense to pair him with Hensley.

Lakhin started and looks like our best 5. Kalu getting the majority of backup minutes and Ody whatever it left.

Passing was very good from all positions, but also a lot of high risk passes that might be TO's against better teams. It's a thin line to walk between great passes and TO's.

Skillings has a ton of potential and seems like he rebounds well, but needs to clean up his defense.

What's up with Josh Reed? Injury? I figured he'd see at least a few minutes.

MAW finished at the rim, hope that continues against tougher competition.

Not much effort to get offensive rebounds by a lot of our players. We only sent one to the boards a lot of the time. Skillings and Hensley were the only guys besides our centers who seemed to consistently fight on the offensive glass.

Nolley's offensive game seems to be as diverse, skilled as advertised. I'm still a little doubtful of his shooting based on his past history.

Hard to take a lot out of the game but there are some eye test things that I liked. Yes they were a horrible team so I have no idea how UL was tied with them with 5 minutes to go. Back to eye test for new guys

Nolley seems so smooth and poised and can be effective in many different ways for the team. 3 ball, driving, passing, post ups etc. Some of his passes were beautiful to watch considering for a long time our passing sucked.

Skillings is more talented than I thought. Not because he was playing against Chaminade. But when he has the ball he has that "it factor" and he has the length and athleticism to improve on D.

Watching one play by Kalu going coast to coast showed a lot of his skill set. He can handle the rock very well for a 4/5. And I hear he can shoot a little. defense and rebounding needs some focus. He also looked a bit dejected on the bench which is not good.

Rob had a quiet night with 8 assists and 3 steals!

I think we know about what we have with the rest of the team for the most part (other than Reed and Sage of course).

[skyblade]

Originally Posted by waterhead

Hard to take a lot out of the game but there are some eye test things that I liked. Yes they were a horrible team so I have no idea how UL was tied with them with 5 minutes to go. Back to eye test for new guys

Nolley seems so smooth and poised and can be effective in many different ways for the team. 3 ball, driving, passing, post ups etc. Some of his passes were beautiful to watch considering for a long time our passing sucked.

Skillings is more talented than I thought. Not because he was playing against Chaminade. But when he has the ball he has that "it factor" and he has the length and athleticism to improve on D.

Watching one play by Kalu going coast to coast showed a lot of his skill set. He can handle the rock very well for a 4/5. And I hear he can shoot a little. defense and rebounding needs some focus. He also looked a bit dejected on the bench which is not good.

Rob had a quiet night with 8 assists and 3 steals!

I think we know about what we have with the rest of the team for the most part (other than Reed and Sage of course).

It seems like if there are going to be any locker room issues it will be Kalu or Ody. I know Wes says he doesn't promise minutes, but those two might not have imagined spending most of their final season on the bench. Wes said post-game that Vik has been our best big man on both ends in practice. Meanwhile on the radio show he said Kalu needs to improve at defense/rebounding. It doesn't sound like Kalu's going to be overtaking Vik as the starter.

I've said from the beginning that I don't think Kalu can play the 4 at this level and the one game sample seems like Wes agrees with me. Only JD and Hensley played the 4 last night.

Kalu can shoot, but not well enough that it's actually a good shot. But between that, his ability to pass and dribble he should help to open up the floor. It seems like Ody's game is not a great fit with this team. He's more of a traditional back to the basket big man, but our offense this year seems to rely more on motion, spreading the floor and quick passing. Vik/Kalu can pull their defender away from the basket and pass/dribble/shoot well enough to not be liabilities when they catch the ball on the perimeter.

Based on the one game sample, it seems like minutes will be something like.

5: Vik 20/Kalu 13/Ody 7
4: Davenport 25/Hensley 15
3: Nolley 25/Newman 8/Skillings 7
2: DDJ 25/Newman 8/Skillings 7
1: MAW 20/Phinisee 20

[waterhead]

Originally Posted by skyblade

It seems like if there are going to be any locker room issues it will be Kalu or Ody. I know Wes says he doesn't promise minutes, but those two might not have imagined spending most of their final season on the bench. Wes said post-game that Vik has been our best big man on both ends in practice. Meanwhile on the radio show he said Kalu needs to improve at defense/rebounding. It doesn't sound like Kalu's going to be overtaking Vik as the starter.

I've said from the beginning that I don't think Kalu can play the 4 at this level and the one game sample seems like Wes agrees with me. Only JD and Hensley played the 4 last night.

Kalu can shoot, but not well enough that it's actually a good shot. But between that, his ability to pass and dribble he should help to open up the floor. It seems like Ody's game is not a great fit with this team. He's more of a traditional back to the basket big man, but our offense this year seems to rely more on motion, spreading the floor and quick passing. Vik/Kalu can pull their defender away from the basket and pass/dribble/shoot well enough to not be liabilities when they catch the ball on the perimeter.

Based on the one game sample, it seems like minutes will be something like.

5: Vik 20/Kalu 13/Ody 7
4: Davenport 25/Hensley 15
3: Nolley 25/Newman 8/Skillings 7
2: DDJ 25/Newman 8/Skillings 7
1: MAW 20/Phinisee 20

I agree on most of that. Not sure I agree Kalu can't play the 4? I think in order to get Hensley some time on the court...Kalu was playing the 5. I do think that will be where he gets the most minutes (due to foul trouble)...but over time I think he's going to get 5 minutes or so at the 4 as well.

[skyblade]

Originally Posted by waterhead

I agree on most of that. Not sure I agree Kalu can't play the 4? I think in order to get Hensley some time on the court...Kalu was playing the 5. I do think that will be where he gets the most minutes (due to foul trouble)...but over time I think he's going to get 5 minutes or so at the 4 as well.

I just don't think Kalu is good enough on defense to play the 4. The sacrifice on defense wouldn't make up for the improvement on offense. Maybe you can have Lakhin (or Ody) at the 4, Kalu at the 5 though.

That said, I am curious who plays if/when Hensley or Davenport get into foul trouble. There will need to be a need for spot minutes at some point. It could be Ody, Kalu or Skillings.