I think most everyone in here is a fan of Wayne Selden. I know I am.
Negative attention is creeping up more on Wayne as the season progresses. He received a temporary reprieve when he started lighting it up from 3 recently. But the attention to other parts of his game have become a glaring issue with this team.
The questions mount... how does an athletic 6'5" 230 lb player only get 2.7 rebounds per game, especially when averaging 30+ mpg?
That's a very good question. We are talking about less than one rebound every 10 minutes of action. If you apply some basic physics, along with the dimensions of a basketball court, you'll find that there is almost a natural occurrence that the ball will fall on a guy once every 10 minutes.
So why isn't a physically-built linebacker like Wayne Selden getting more rebounds? Does he lack hustle?
Maybe we can find some answers by looking at other parts of his game. Wayne only has 15 steals on the season. 15! He's played about 800 minutes. Do the math... that is around one steal every 52 minutes. Once again... you can explain that steal as a basic force of nature and physics.
In the blocked shots category he has 16 for the year... that's like one in every 50 minutes of action. Nothing to write home about.
His shooting, even though he has been hot recently, is still at a meager percentage... including at the FT line. That can easily be a side effect of his esteem level. His mom comes to town and he starts lighting it up!
What sticks out is his assists. Wayne does have 79 assists this season. That translates to 2.72 per game. A respectable amount, and it puts him only behind Frank in assists. What does that say? Well... it does say that he isn't mentally zoned out of games. And he does offer a certain degree of hustle. Guys that don't hustle aren't near the top of any player stat, except maybe in fouls. Ooops.... Wayne is second to top on fouling, just behind Perry. Does that indicate he isn't hustling? Or is he hustling enough to foul, but just getting himself in bad situations? Or is he hustling and bailing out other players?
What I'm wondering is if he is suffering with emotional injury scars. Wayne has been facing injuries at least going back to his junior year in HS, where he faced his first surgical repair. And last year he was in the doctor's office again.. this time for his knee.
Wayne is a tough guy. No one questions that. But might he be a victim of emotional injury scars? Might there be a little man in his head directing his play on the floor... instructing him to avoid plays that put him most at risk? I wonder.
I notice that he often shies away from contact. He does make a few nice hustle plays... but usually those seem like they are calculated as low-risk gambles. And then there are other times, when he seems to be frustrated in himself for not contributing enough in the physicality department and he over-compensates. Those plays usually don't pan out. He did have one masterful 94-foot drive in WV, all the way to the rim. A real beaut! Reminded me of what we thought we would be getting in Wayne 100% of the time.
Players can really lose the edge to their game when they get these emotional injury scars. Back in my day, I had to overcome it myself. It's hard to take the gambles again, and sometimes you just relive one of your injuries in your mind.
There has to be a reason why Wayne isn't producing like he should. Or could it be that he is carrying another actual injury?
A few games back, I thought he might be suffering from the same thing EJ suffered with.... just over-thinking during the game. This still may be part of it... and perhaps the over-thinking is focusing on some risk aversion from injury.
