If we continue the point differential and undefeated status in the SEC, I’d be fine. Point is I’m concerned that our level of competition is going up and we won’t be able to maintain what we’ve started. Our scoring is largely dependent on being more athletic than our opponents (see our three point shooting for how accurate we are on jump shots). I remember your argument being used all the time in the Miles days. And like I said, WW has similar concerns.
to continue the point differential, we dont need to score more. defense is actually more consistent than offense and does not slump the way shooting can. defense is based on effort and athleticism and that doesnt wax and wane the way shooting does. darius days gets red hot and ice cold from 3 but eric gaines is always red hot with steals. i dont think will wade has similar concerns as you. he says we have good shooters. the concerns he expressed were about, for example, allowing 3 late threes last game, and turnovers. i agree the compettition is going up and losses are coming. i dont agree that the offense is poor or that: "Per our standard. SEC is going to rip us" there is no team you should be more confident about in the SEC. or the nation really. i have no idea what you mean by "our standard". you mean sustained excellence?
[ for sure, and especially a three point shooter. if LSU had a few snipers they would be truly unstoppable. pinson shot triples at 34% as a freshman at mizzou. that would be useful. what i most want to see is reid becoming a reliable scorer, and one more person becoming a true 3 pt threat. i most want this to be gaines, because i love that guy, but i dont think its in the cards. he just cant shoot it yet. he is a wildman and has brilliant if a bit unorthodox court vision, but he cant shoot for shit. reid can shoot the 3, like his cousin naz (not related) and that is very exciting. wlkinson is very slowly proving he can hit the corner triple, but he is the most conservative high percentage efficient player that ever existed, so he isnt exactly throwing up 7 a game. murray can shoot for sure, and maybe more importantly, can create his own shots. i have my fingers crossed he will become the deadly outside threat they need. we know barius treys can go nuclear hot. be can also go arctic dead cold. need somebody that can be counted on to find and make a late 3. i think that person is mostly likely murray, in the long term. i read an article (linked below) about the shifting dynamics of NBA offense, specifically about stationing 2 dudes camped in the corners, waiting to bury triples, and when not doing that, pulling their defender out of the paint to open if up for pick and rolls. this is why i think we are moving from the small and power forward designation to "wings". those forwards have to threaten from the corners or the middle stays clogged. the NBA now has fewer tiny guys and purely monstrous guys than ever. a one dimensional player like dikembe mutombo, or kavell bigby-williams, they barely have a place now. only as the one guy on the team that cant shoot, surrounded by 4 guys who shoot a ton. now the NBA is a bunch of guys between 6-6 and 6-9 with deadly shooting skills and speed/athleticism. (5'9 tremont waters just signed a short contract as a replacement for covid players. he wont make it) i guess the exeption is a few big white slow euros that can pass like stockton (doncic and jokic), but those guys are rare, and they win and deserve MVPs. over the last few years i was upset about missing out on a couple big men, most notably moussa cisse (who left memphis for ok st). a couple others as well, khadim sy, who sucks for ole miss, and n'faly dante, who is decent for oregon. but i was wrong to worry as much, as those guys are pretty one-dimensional. i would vastly prefer a player like reid (either one). the game has very little space for pure shot blockers that cannot pull their man away from the basket. the kind of guy that stands of the top of the key with the ball, his defender happily waving at him from a distance in the paint, hoping he shoots. in todays game, big men are not what they used to be. you have to be shaq (meaning the biggest most athletic destroyer in humankind, that will literally jump over a person and tear the goal from its moorings at 7 feet and 300 pounds) to really dominate. being big and strong and athletic is not enough. ask granite hands bryan penn johnson. "the most important big man skill is catching the ball" - will wade. https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...d-role-hack-sticking-two-guys-in-the-corners/
Football is definitely more popular with me, but I'm looking more forward to bball on that particular day. I bet a lot of others are the same. I'm not saying it won't hurt attendance, it will be interesting to see how much.
thinking about big men makes me reflect on what a hilariously entertaining person shaq is. imagine what it would be like if he was raised in a brazilian striking/ju-jitsu academy. he would rip people into 7 parts. he would smash people into broken sacks of dead goo. or if shaq was an NFL TE. how many touchdowns would he score? every red zone, every two point conversion. there would a bunch of opposing safeties lying unconscious piling up on the sidelines. remember when shaq was on the fast break? he can really run! get out of the way or death. or shaq as an an edge-rushing DE. he would shatter every shoulder on every QB. big ben roethlisberger would try to stand in the pocket and be shattered into bits. if he got a grip on drew brees he could fling him to to saturn.
Put him at NG and tell him just to stand there and put his arms up, jump if you want. Be like building a 2 story building on the LOS!
Often thought when they were at LSU would a ridiculous pair of DT's Shaq and Stanley Roberts would have made. Both about 7 feet, 290 pounds at the time. No one was going to move them out of the middle on run plays, and no one was going to throw over them on passes.
