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Time to play GW Basketball's favorite game show. I'll give my thoughts; feel free to provide yours.
Are you or are you not concerned about:
Jameer Nelson Jr.'s turnovers...I wasn't overly concerned at it's worst point so I'm certainly not going to be now. JNJ has 3 turnovers in his last 68 minutes over the past 2 games. 6 turnovers over 95 minutes in his last three games. Armel has emerged as the primary ball handler which allows Meer to focus on impacting games through his explosive drives, outside shooting, Joe McDonaldesque rebounding and otherwise electrifying plays. Already counting the days until the St. Joe's game.
The defense never plays zone....Not concerned. I understand the argument that in certain situations, like the Harvard game as a great example, a zone may very well be the better solution. However, zone defenses fly in the face of JC's coaching philosophy which is to guard along the perimeter and limit three point shots. It's hard for a coach to preach that his team must do one thing and then change this philosophy by 180 degrees to fit a different objective. Plus, playing great zone defense requires a great deal of practice time spent on this.
Maceo Jack is playing nearly 34 minutes per game....Concerned. The good Maceo hit some key 3's against Longwood and when that Maceo shows up, you can understand why JC does not want him on the bench. However, I think this team does give up an awful lot by playing Maceo as much as he's been playing. Not only is he not a good defender, I'm willing to suggest he's a poor defender. He is often getting beat off the dribble forcing him to rely upon help defense which often leads to fouls by his teammates. He's a great free throw shooter who does not do nearly enough to get to the line. He does not rebound or pass the ball particularly well. Maceo looks like a great teammate but at 34 minutes a game, he had better be close to 50% from 3 (he is just under 35%) or he had better be contributing in many other ways to warrant these minutes.
Amir Harris is not redshirting....Concerned but am likely in the minority here. It took one game to see the poise and smoothness that Amir takes the court with. His first significant on-court act was fouling a three point shooter (Welcome to GW) but about everything else he seemed to do was perfect. Even his 3 turnovers do not appear to be especially memorable. With little to any postseason expectation this season, I would much rather watch Amir for three full GW seasons playing (presumably) with better teammates than to watch him burn a year of eligibility by playing just a 1/2 season. At the end of the day, I do recognize that if Amir wants to be out there right now, he should be. But if I'm focused solely on what's best for the program, I'd be willing to wait.
That a player who began the season buried on the bench is now The Man? Look at all of the pieces on this team and ask yourself, Should Armel Potter be the leading scorer on this team? Should he lead the team in shot attempts? My answers are "probably not" but this is outweighed for now by the exceptional manner in which he is taking care of the ball and running the offense. So, let's say Not Concerned for the time being.
Arnaldo Toro? Concerned. Whether the concern is over a lingering injury that hasn't completely gone away, the mental impact this has had on his game, or both, the concern has to be justified at this point. Toro shot 1-7 against a less than formidable Longwood front line. He is 3-13 from the field in his last two games and 9-31 in his last 4 since coming back to the lineup. Many of these attempts are "little chippies" in the paint which he is taking without any confidence, often fading away from the basket. Whether it's a fear of contact or simply too much finesse and not enough power, this needs to be corrected quickly if this team is going to have any A10 success.
Stallings/Paar In, Mezie/Javier Out? Not Concerned. Mezie is a hard working young man whose game just doesn't seem to fit with what the coaching staff is looking for. Whatever Javier did last year, it was done out of necessity. Ace had a thunderous dunk, took two charges, had a block and a steal, and grabbed 4 rebounds in his best stint of the season on Saturday. Chase likely has better offensive instincts than Javier at this point. Plus, he can hit the 3.
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1. Not concerned. A lot of his turnovers have come with him either trying to drive to the basket or make crazy passes. That should get cleaned up with experience and hopefully with a more athletic supporting cast. I think it will be interesting to see how he handles more ball pressure from teams like VCU though.
2. Not concerned but it will be frustrating at times to see our team picked apart down low. As Bomani Jones likes to joke on Twitter "Zone is for Cowards" so I appreciate JC putting faith in his guys to stop the opponent man-to-man. Any issues with this would be solved by recruiting more physical big men. I hope the signing of Noel Brown for next year is the start of some solid recruiting of bigs. We've had too many stretch 4's recently and not enough bangers.
3. Concerned inasmuch as I think it has affected him as a shooter late in games. I think the addition of Amir Harris will be a good thing for both Jack and Battle to get more rest so their legs don't wear out in the back half of the 2nd half. Both of them will be needed to keep us in games / extend leads late.
4. Not concerned. As much as we as fans look out for our program, ultimately it is Amir's choice whether to play or not and I want what's best for him. Plus, I think even at 60-70% he is better than the alternative right now of more minutes for Juice/Mezie/Javy.
5. Not concerned but bummed. It is what it is. As you say, Armel should not be the leading scorer on an A-10 team, but that is more of an indictment of the lack of talent on the team right now. JNJ and Battle seem like our future leaders should they stay all for years, but still have to work out some Freshman kinks. Potter is our leading scorer and best player by default (kinda like DJ Williams last year).
6. Concerned. I don't know what else we can do as Toro is needed down low but he is not playing like he can play ever since he came back from those few games off. I guess try to get him more rest so more minutes for Stallings and Paar? I think Toro desperately WANTS to play, as I don't think he wants to take another year off, but he needs to quickly remember how to play down low because he is missing a lot of bunnies and we are not a team that can afford to give up those easy points.
7. Not concerned. The sooner the future starts playing the better. I still hold out hope for Mezie because physically he looks like he should be an A-10 regular, but he still hasn't slowed down and let the game come to him yet. He looks so good in Kenner but that does not translate to college.
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Quick comment on Amir - sometimes better to get a player ingrained in the system and excited about being a leader on the floor for the program. If not, the mind sometimes wanders and it makes it easier to leave the program. So not the end of the world to give up half his season if it means getting him pumped about this and the next two years!
Saw a freshman from univ of San Francisco do that, hence gave me that opinion.
Great overall write up!
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The thread is titled "concerned or not concerned", but I am reading it mostly as "agree or disagree". In terms of the players:
Jameer Nelson's turnovers: I am not concerned about his turnovers, given his style of play, but would like to see his "assists" numbers go up. I think the bigger question is whether Jameer is a point or a wing guard. From the first time I saw him at the Kenner, I was concerned that Jameer does not have point guard skills, but rather that of an undersized wing guard. Honing his point guard skills is a must, if that is where he future lies.
Defense Never Plays Zone: Concerned/disagree. There is no reason to take that off the table as an option. With an undersized front court,a back court that is not particularly skilled in denying penetration and lack of team speed, if we are truly trying to win games rather than build for the future, we must have that as an option. I think the players have the skills and stamina to learn how to play both, even if the zone is used only occasionally.
Maceo Jack: Concerned/disagree with his number of minutes. I have quoted ML on prior occasions in terms of his expecting his players to bring other skills to the game if the offensive game is off. When Maceo is no hitting his 3 point shots, I am not sure what he is bringing. Hopefully, we will see more of his driving to the basket, like he did vs. Longwood, I am not sure I want him on the court as much as he has been.
Amir Harris: Not sure how I feel here, as I still see arguments that could have been made both ways. If he had missed any more games, I would have said medical redshirt is a no brainer, but now he will have 20 games to play, plus the A-10 tournament, so lets see what he has.
Armel Porter: Saving our butts at point. Not sure who should play the point at this time, if not him. Likewise, the points are appreciated and the assist turnover ratio is excellent, Would like to see a 50% reduction in his dribbling, though.
Toro: concerned. I don't think he ever fully recovered from his injury. This is not the Toro who started the season.
Stallings/Paar over Mezzie/Javie? Agree. Lets use the frosh and see what they have, even though I am not sure that Mezzie has been given a sufficient chance. He has skills and some bulk, but for reasons which I don't know, he is not being played. Wondering if we are also seeing the easing out of Juice in favor of the new players.
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In today's NCAA, the Harris situation is a total non-concern. The days are long gone where it makes sense for a program without major pedigree to redshirt a player. Say Harris redshirted and graduated on time, he would be eligible to use his 5th year as a grad transfer elsewhere. If he's ready to play (which he is) and he wants to play (I can't see why he wouldn't want to right now), it would be dumb not to play him.
We should all be excited to see Amir playing, he could be an X Factor and help lead us to a successful first year of the JC era.
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Class of 13, not worth a big debate but just because Harris under your example would be eligible to become a graduate transfer does not mean this is what would happen. Particularly since he has already experienced being a smaller fish in the Big 10 pond. Like I said, Amir wants to play and I agree that the decision should be his to make.
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Torro always frustrated me even before the injury. The duds he throws up from under the rim that never seem to find their way to the bottom of the basket are painful to watch. Be more aggressive or just pass the rock to someone else.
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See both sides, but better for Amir to get experience playing with these guys.
And who wants to sit out when they can play?
A player like that we might not want.
Hope he can continue to hit 3 pointers because, at least against Longwood, small and not challenging
sample size, he looked pretty good comparatively, except for seeming rust. And his contributions came at key times.