HighEliteMajor said:
@BeddieKU23 As usual, you make very good points.
I am a big, big believer in playing the guy that will be the best player, letting the talent develop, and work towards having the better talent at the end of the season. My struggle with Grimes is that I'm just not seeing much and I seriously question his effort. That's a lot different than Cliff, or Diallo, or Releford, or Selby, or EJ.
To put this in context, I'd start Jamari Traylor over Grimes right now.
But your points are the pragmatic ones. I understand that may be more rational.
Good point on McCormack's PER in conference play. I think if he was able to play, get his legs under him some, we'd be satisfied with his play. Self seems married to the 4/1 now (which I just don't think matches this team very well).
I'm also a big believer in playing the better player. The effort thing you mentioned is my biggest issue with him as well. He is loafing on defense almost to the point you wonder if he's in "protect the goods" mode. Except he's no longer a first round pick so what's he protecting? I don't see any team drafting him after this season either. The tape will expose Grimes in a bad way. So his issue still seems to be mental. His recent interview talking about his struggles to do everything perfect reminds me of the last guy we had with that mentality- Perry Ellis. That was a big thing that held him back in his younger days and I see the similarities. If he sticks around past this season I think he'll be the player we recruited in time. The problem is we expected that player this year.
The last thing I want to mention in regards to Q is I think he's shown he's not an off-the-ball perimeter player. I know Self recruited the Dotson/Grimes duo to play together but I think what Self ended up with is two guards that are meant for the same position. If we throw in Garrett's lack of perimeter shot I think we have 3 guys for one spot on offense. We have Batman's but no Robins. That's where Malik Newman would have saved this team. The dominance Grimes showed in HS was primarily because his role never changed. He was the PG and primary scoring option at all 3 levels (Texas, AAU, Team USA). He was physically bigger then guys who guarded him and his skill level with the ball in his hands made him the player he was projected to be. At KU he's had to learn how to play without the ball for the first time and its showing. He looks slower, he looks disinterested in playing defense especially if a player gets a step on him. When he gets a rebound or an effort play you feel like that's the first time you've seen him do that ever in a KU uniform. I think a lot of the offensive fouls he's been called for this year have zapped his confidence in driving to the hoop. He's more of a straight line driver instead of having some wiggle. That probably is attributed to him being an average athlete at this level which wasn't his problem in HS. His streaky outside shot has also been a disappointment. I have mentioned several times he rushes. He shot near 40% from 3 as a Senior on over 200 attempts so its interesting to see his struggles because a lot of his misses are often wide open.
I agree about Dave. I think he'd prove with the minutes to be valuable to this team. You don't have to teach effort with him like it seems with others. Self seems to have a big issue with his defensive positioning though. I remember him being out of position on his first defensive trip Tuesday where he was caught in front of his man who got a wide open layup. Those mistakes seem to be the kiss of death for a freshman big under Self. But those are ultimately mistakes I think Self should live with in order to build him up. He's going to need him the next 3 years and after all the injuries his lack of playing time just doesn't make much sense.