Basketball 20-21

Somewhat concerned about too much success too early, but LSU was on fire tonight.

 

watching cam thomas play, it looks like he is taking terrible shots. but his shooting percentages are fine and acceptable for any player. but imagine if he only took normal shots. but i guess that isnt his game, its harder to find good shots. he would shoot less and score less if he waited for good shots.

i guess the relevant bit is that the player is making a good percentage, regardless of how bad the looks are.

 

i just listened to hoops with hunt, the daily LSU basketball podcast.

he mentioned a thing i noticed a well. you cant hurt LSU with a press because watford is so big and has good hands and passes well. he walks down the floor and people throw it back and forth to him and problem solved. the speedy guards trying to trap him are too short. being mostly invulnerable to press turnovers is a huge deal. the press is how athletic or deep teams can bury you with points off turnovers. most teams do not have a big that can handle the rock and break the press.

plus even if watford moseyed down the floor taking forever passing at around to beat the press, its not like the shot clock is gonna ever be a problem. once they get across half court they put up a shot in the 10 seconds. they dont run a fancy offense with movement that takes 22 seconds to create an open look. cam thomas dont give a shit if he is open.

 

not sure if due to tv angles, etc.or not, but last night it looked like smart was throwing the laziest passes cross court bringing up the ball

 

i wish cook and gaines had more experience. those guys appear to be more ball handling natural point guards.

wade gets angry when people say smart is not a point guard. he points out some assist ratio numbers and says smart is awesome. i think wade personally likes smart and his tough baton rouge ghetto competitive attitude so he advocates for him. and smart can score. he doesnt really run an offense though.

but an argument can be made that complex offenses are for low talent teams. yale needs a motion offense, the lakers dont.

there are two things LSU lacks for sure. a dominant rim defender, and a pure ball handler. but they have plenty of almost everything else.

 

Defense looked better as the game wore on.

 

talented recruit alex fudge is an early enrollee and wil be in classes in january (well to the extent classes exist). i wonder if he can play if he wanted, especially if he took the scholarship from bryan penn-johnson who has apparently left the team owing to having hands made of stone that cannot catch a pass or a rebound.

sucks for BPJ he is massive and athletic. just has hands crafted from pure granite

 

notes from will wade show currently airing on eagle 98.1

mwani wilkinson can hit 3s, he just has a slow delivery. given space, wade says he will hit em.

wade asked how many bad shots has thomas taken. . "'...mmmmm, its a little tough ..he is an artist you gotta let em go some. he hits hard ones in practice. he hits shots that stop the game and the other players run around celebratin. you havent seen anything, wait to you see the circus shots he is capable of"

he has the green light?

"thats not exactly true, its NEON green"

asked if the other players resent the ball hogging by thomas, he says no and notes how days enjoys giving him screens, and watford and smart like stuffing the stat box with assists given to thomas.

he says they have some plans for when the inevitable double teams and shutdown attempts come for thomas, have not needed to employ these techniques yet.

 

Refs friendly to FU early 21-21 12 minutes in the 1st

 

These refs are le suck.