This team can't shoot....
- Thread starter bamaEER
- Start date
7-1.......one loss and we are now saying we can't shoot....against one of the top 5 defensive teams in the country.....that's rational.
Virginia's defensive prowess is irrelevant. This team struggles with jump shooting. Everyone knows it. Bilas said it. Heck, Huggins said it at half...."not driving the ball enough." It has become a less than fortunate trademark of late. I find it frustrating that we can't hit shots. The press was invented to combat that. It has worked. How many games do you think last year's team would have won shooting 40.8% for the season while opponents shot 46.9%? Without the turnovers and extra possessions it's a deficit situation. This year's team is the same drill...it's manufacturing wins.
The game against UK last season should have alerted the coaching staff that shooting talent is desperately needed. Defense is great but only takes you so far when playing teams that also have good defense but can score too.
I think Meyers was the thought to fill this role, but so far he's been underwhelming. Hopefully he can hit his stride once the conference season starts.
I don't get it. I love the way Huggy molds our teams defensively. But every year we are a poor shooting team and 'manufacturing wins' always turns out to be our only path to winning. Maybe we'll see better offensive chemistry in the coming weeks.
Whether 7-1 or 1-7, a fact is a fact. The fact is that WVU does not shoot the ball well. The Mountaineers are dependent on the press to yield some easy break away baskets as well as increased possessions because in the half-court their shooting percentage isn't good enough to win many games. WVU did not shoot the ball well last year either and still had a good season. WVU can improve on that, but it needs 1-2 guys to more consistently create and MAKE shots in order to improve from last year's team.
Huggins has built a reputation with shooters apparently that isn't good. He needs to get people in their that can put up points from anywhere on the court and let them do what they can offensively.
It would seem to me that if I was very good shooter, and otherwise capable of playing Huggins' style, that I'd be very intrigued about playing for a team where I was going to get more than my share of shots out of necessity.
So far this year, Carter and Miles both average over nine shots and four 3 pointers a game, despite combining to shoot 42% from the field and 26% from 3. As a team, despite averaging only 27% from 3, we're averaging SEVENTEEN 3 pt. attempts a game.
If I was good enough otherwise to play 30 minutes a game and shot much better than anyone else, I'd probably be in line for 15-20 shots a night maybe half of them 3s.
So far this year, Carter and Miles both average over nine shots and four 3 pointers a game, despite combining to shoot 42% from the field and 26% from 3. As a team, despite averaging only 27% from 3, we're averaging SEVENTEEN 3 pt. attempts a game.
If I was good enough otherwise to play 30 minutes a game and shot much better than anyone else, I'd probably be in line for 15-20 shots a night maybe half of them 3s.
Well, we have a choice. It takes an amazing amount of energy to press like we do so guys running that hard are going to shoot poorly. very few players can do both well, even in the nba. When's the last time the defensive mvp was in the top 10 in scoring? Not many Jordan's out there.
Hard to figure why few consistent outside shooters have not been able to find their way to Motown and stay in Motown over the years, ( beside the couple we had 2 years ago ). Really puts a lot of pressure on the half court offense when everybody in building including the announcers know there is very little outside threat.
Fatigue will make people shoot below their peak level. On the other hand, players are not fatigued early in games or when they first come in off the bench. We also play a lot of people and divide the minutes so it's not as if we are only talking about a situation where good shooters are suffering declines late in games they have played a lot of minutes.
We don't shoot well at any time and if it is worse after fatigue sets in that just makes it worse; it doesn't explain why we shoot poorly. We shoot poorly because (a) we lack consistent, dependable shooters and (b) we don't do well in the halfcourt offense and don't set up enough open shots with our relatively better shooters in rhythm .
We don't shoot well at any time and if it is worse after fatigue sets in that just makes it worse; it doesn't explain why we shoot poorly. We shoot poorly because (a) we lack consistent, dependable shooters and (b) we don't do well in the halfcourt offense and don't set up enough open shots with our relatively better shooters in rhythm .
Paige shot the 3 at 40% last season and is doing the same thing this season
Daxter Miles finished last season (last 1/3 of schedule) shooting 50% from 3........ making his season average rise to a very respectable 36% (I believe)
Adrian is shooting 40% this year, though not shooting nearly enough. He's a career 30% shooter from deep after suffering through a had wrist all of last season, but was 36% as a healthy freshman in 13-14.
No doubt, guys like Dax and Jevon are slumping right now, but shots will fall. IMO, Myers needs more minutes and the ability/permission to let some shots fly. He's been tiptoeing through the offense so far this season and his hesitant nature has caused his % to suffer.
The Bolden injury is really hurting Jevon Carter, who shoots the ball well when not at PG. His need to play the PG spot now not only affects his % but he tends to take worse shots from the PG position, due to a feeling of pressure to "create" at that position.
Frankly ... it just sucks that Carter has been "forced" into the point.
And further ,,,, it sucks that it turns out we were so dependent on a freshman point guard.
And further ,,,, it sucks that it turns out we were so dependent on a freshman point guard.
No doubt, Adrian finding his freshman form (and confidence?) would help. Miles and Carter simply have not demonstrated they can be consistently dependable. Carter has a low % for someone who leads a team in attempts and is a liability (shooting, he's a good defender and unlike Harris did, doesn't seem to let poor shooting affect the rest of his game) when he is not one of his too occasional hot streaks. the stats on Miles could not better show how inconsistent and unreliable he is.
Logic tells us that if a person shoots 50% for 1/3 of a season and shoots 36% overall, the remainder of the season he did not shoot well. That he has shot below 22% for roughly the first 1/4 of this season, means that except for maybe 10 games out of 40+ he has been very unreliable.
Just saying the shots will begin to fall for people for people with no track record of being able to sustain consistent shooting does not make it true. A team where Miles and Carter account for nearly half of the 3 pt. attempts probably needs to accept that even with some improvement, outside shooting will remain a liability. It's probably smarter to work on being less reliant than think wishful thinking leads to a significant change.
Logic tells us that if a person shoots 50% for 1/3 of a season and shoots 36% overall, the remainder of the season he did not shoot well. That he has shot below 22% for roughly the first 1/4 of this season, means that except for maybe 10 games out of 40+ he has been very unreliable.
Just saying the shots will begin to fall for people for people with no track record of being able to sustain consistent shooting does not make it true. A team where Miles and Carter account for nearly half of the 3 pt. attempts probably needs to accept that even with some improvement, outside shooting will remain a liability. It's probably smarter to work on being less reliant than think wishful thinking leads to a significant change.
Miles limbo'd between 30% and 33% for the first 3/4 of last season, and then rocketed to 50% the last 1/4... I was incorrect about it being 1/3..... it was the last 9 games, so much closer to 1/4. At that point, even 50% was only enough to bring his overall average up from 33%ish to the 36% that he finished with.
Right now, we are missing Gary Browne, IMO. Consistency at the position, and a developed deep threat (36% last season). Of course we miss Staten, but that's obvious that we were going to anyways...regardless of how we shot.
IMO, you take Carter off the ball and run Dax as the backup PG, considering the non-traditional role that position has in Huggs' motion offense anyways. Take Carter away from Initiator to Recipient.
my starters would be:
Phillip
Carter
Miles
Holton
Williams
Paige's energy is perfect at the 2nd line, and Ahmad is struggling. However, bringing him, Adrian, and Macon in together in a 2nd line switch would cause our opponents to have to completely change gameplans away from defending the 3-guard sets to defending the rim when we go big.
Right now, we are missing Gary Browne, IMO. Consistency at the position, and a developed deep threat (36% last season). Of course we miss Staten, but that's obvious that we were going to anyways...regardless of how we shot.
IMO, you take Carter off the ball and run Dax as the backup PG, considering the non-traditional role that position has in Huggs' motion offense anyways. Take Carter away from Initiator to Recipient.
my starters would be:
Phillip
Carter
Miles
Holton
Williams
Paige's energy is perfect at the 2nd line, and Ahmad is struggling. However, bringing him, Adrian, and Macon in together in a 2nd line switch would cause our opponents to have to completely change gameplans away from defending the 3-guard sets to defending the rim when we go big.
No we won't. Huggs wouldn't have invested the last 13 minutes of the UVA game as a teaching point for Carter if he was simply going to take him away from PG....... It's what I would do, but it isn't what Huggs will do. Bob was showing Jevon just how rough things would look if the team couldn't depend on Carter to make smart, simple plays at the PG spot.
If attempts remained constant, a person who shot 50% for a 1/4 and finished at 36%, shot 31% for the remainder. 31% is not a good % for a designated shooter. The fact that he is shooting below 22% this year means that in the 34 games sandwiching his 9 game hot spell he has shot well below 30%. Again, this demonstrates the meanings of "inconsistent" and "unreliable."
Nothing is impossible, but to think the 50% shooting spell will prove to be anything near his future norm is wishful thinking. Optimistically, one might hope he moves closer to his career 32.6% by the end of the season. If Holton or Adrian shot that, that would be good enough to make them helpful given their position. A "shooting" guard with that % is a weakness.
One way we could improve percentages and improve the team is for people who are not particularly good at it to do it less frequently, and especially much less frequently when there enough time on the shot clock to get a better shot.
Nothing is impossible, but to think the 50% shooting spell will prove to be anything near his future norm is wishful thinking. Optimistically, one might hope he moves closer to his career 32.6% by the end of the season. If Holton or Adrian shot that, that would be good enough to make them helpful given their position. A "shooting" guard with that % is a weakness.
One way we could improve percentages and improve the team is for people who are not particularly good at it to do it less frequently, and especially much less frequently when there enough time on the shot clock to get a better shot.
In terms of playing time distribution, I'd like us to play:
Front court:
Williams and Holton, as much as wind and fouls, respectively, permit. 60 between them would be a lot better than the 45 or so we get, but probably isn't likely. Split the difference and get 53 combined
Ahmad/Adrian, Adrian to spell Holton. Ahmad starting but, we go 3 guard a lot minutes, around 30-35 minutes combined.
Macon/ Watkins split what Devin can't play and maybe a little of Watkins and Williams at the same time, say they combine for 15-18 minutes ideally.
At the high end that's 106 minutes for the front court, which leaves 94 minutes to split among the guards (again we run 3 guards a good bit). At the low end it's 98 minutes which leaves 102 minutes for the guards.
Right now, unless someone steps it up, I'd split the guard minutes pretty much equally among Carter Miles, Paige and Phillip, in the ballpark of 25 minutes apiece. That's actually just little less than Carter and Miles have been playing and a significant increase for only Paige. Myers has a few more games to show he should even be at the back of the rotation.
Front court:
Williams and Holton, as much as wind and fouls, respectively, permit. 60 between them would be a lot better than the 45 or so we get, but probably isn't likely. Split the difference and get 53 combined
Ahmad/Adrian, Adrian to spell Holton. Ahmad starting but, we go 3 guard a lot minutes, around 30-35 minutes combined.
Macon/ Watkins split what Devin can't play and maybe a little of Watkins and Williams at the same time, say they combine for 15-18 minutes ideally.
At the high end that's 106 minutes for the front court, which leaves 94 minutes to split among the guards (again we run 3 guards a good bit). At the low end it's 98 minutes which leaves 102 minutes for the guards.
Right now, unless someone steps it up, I'd split the guard minutes pretty much equally among Carter Miles, Paige and Phillip, in the ballpark of 25 minutes apiece. That's actually just little less than Carter and Miles have been playing and a significant increase for only Paige. Myers has a few more games to show he should even be at the back of the rotation.
It would help if our big guys kick the ball out on time when they get doubled. That would lead to better (open) shots no matter who is shooting them.
Lgm!
Lgm!
