🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@JayHawkFanToo Phil Jackson inherited a team with the worst cap situation in the league. The Knicks are not a 1 year project to fix. Isiah Thomas and James Dolan completely screwed the franchise over. Without interference from Dolan, it's going to take another 2-3 years to clear out the terrible contracts the Knicks have on the books.

You cannot fairly judge the job Phil Jackson has done yet because it is still a work in progress that has multiple years left before we'll see what kind of team Phil can really assemble if he's even there long enough. Dumping Smith and Shumpert helps, but there's still a long ways to go in that rebuilding process.

@JayHawkFanToo LeBron can be listed at whatever position you wanna list him at. He is is a PG in a forward's body just like Magic. LeBron James is the best PG in the NBA today. LeBron has to have the ball in his hands because he runs the offense. That's why it took awhile for LeBron and Kyrie to figure out how to play with each other and finally figured it out after the all star break. Andrew Wiggins is a pure 2 guard whose game perfectly compliments LeBron's.

They can technically be listed at the same position all day long, but they do not play position on the court.

@JayHawkFanToo LeBron and Wiggins do not play the same position. LeBron is a better version of Magic Johnson. He is a PG with a PF's body. Andrew Wiggins is not a point forward like LBJ. Those two players would've complimented each other very well and AW's defense would've really helped Cleveland in the playoffs this year. It was a bad trade for Cleveland, but that's why Cleveland won't win a title.

If I still lived in KC, I would already be at his office packing his crap up for him.

Obviously this isn't a big deal to USA Basketball otherwise they wouldn't have let KU wear the uniforms they're wearing for the tournament. This is also a chance for KU to brand itself on an international level which is not a bad thing for the university.

@jaybate-1.0 Have you seen a Bo Ryan team play before JB?

As for your signature, I've never disagreed that shoe companies try to sway the elite HS recruits to certain schools to try and sign them to endorsement deals when they enter the NBA. Companies will always try to sway prodigies in a particular field to entice them to endorse or work for a certain company.

I just don't buy this particular theory playing any role in who Bill Self chose to replace Brannen Greene and Devonte Graham with.

@jaybate-1.0 Go back to the top of this thread. My initial comment was that I would not be opposed to Aaron Miles replacing Howard. That should imply that I believe Aaron Miles would be better overall at being an assistant coach than Snacks. There might individual skills that Howard is better at, but I believe Miles would be a better overall assistant coach than Howard.

I will fully admit that I do not have trust in Howard because of his failure to disclose his arrest. I will always wonder what else he hasn't told Self that could have an impact on his ability to recruit and do his job.

@jaybate-1.0 I would say Naadir Tharpe as a junior (Howard's first season), regressed quite a bit from his sophomore year. There were a lot of people clamoring for either Mason or Frankamp to replace Tharpe towards the end of the 2013-14 season and to replace Tharpe the following season before he was run from the program.

KU has also had arguably the worst 2 year stretch in 25 years the past 2 seasons and that has largely been because of lackluster PG play. I don't care that Mason is a score first PG, but he is a high volume shooter and he doesn't always look to pass when his shot isn't falling and KU lost quite a few games because of that.

Jerrance Howard has landed 1 recruit in 2 years and has been suspended from the staff for failing to disclose a misdemeanor drug conviction that also played a big role in derailing last season (KU was 20-4 pre suspension).

Recruiting is a big part of the job description for a collegiate coach and Bill Self has now implied he trusts Brennan Bechard over Jerrance Howard during the most important recruiting period of the year by leaving Bechard stateside with Townsend and Roberts. If Bechard does a good job, we may very well see Bechard replace Howard at the end of the season because not letting Howard recruit in July tells me that Howard is on a very hot seat right now.

@clevelandjayhawk I assume he's not ranked because he isn't as good as his dad or his uncles is/were.

@jaybate-1.0 That's a lot of what if's. I tend to believe in the Occum's Razor philosophy, the simplest answer is usually the right answer. PG play has declined quite a bit since Jerrance Howard came in and I just don't think that's a coincidence.

Just because someone played the position doesn't mean they know how to coach the position. Jerrance Howard's actual body of work doesn't come close to his reputation as a coach.

@jaybate-1.0 I think you're assumptions on this one are dead wrong. Nic Moore is the reigning POY in a conference that has produced 2 of the last 3 national champs, not exactly weak competition.

The shoe co. conspiracy holds zero weight here because SMU is a Nike school and no prominent Adidas school was volunteering players either. This was Bill Self asking the coaches he knew if they had anyone available. Larry Brown and Joe Dooley have pretty strong ties to Bill Self and both apparently were aware a situation like this could happen before a few weeks ago.

@HighEliteMajor I don't agree with putting full blame on Self in this case. If Danny Manning gets full credit for his work with the bigs while he was at KU, then the assistant that works closest with the PG's deserves the majority of the blame as well.

I really don't think it's a coincidence that the PG play of KU has fallen off significantly the past two years which also happens to be when Howard arrived. I'm not saying Self is blameless here, but he's busy coming up with the game plans and running the team which takes up the majority of his time, not coaching a specific position. That what the assistant coaches are there for and the PG position is one that hasn't seen significant growth over the past 2 years and the majority of the blame falls on the assistant coach whose job is to make the PG's better and hasn't.

@jaybate-1.0 said:

Jerrance was either a PG, or a combo, right?

Inference: Jerrance would not be let go for lack of point guard coach chops.

A big part of the PG's is to distribute the ball to his teammates. Last season, KU had the lowest team assist total in the Bill Self era by about 75 assists which is a significant number. If Howard is indeed the PG coach for this team, then he hasn't done a great job of making the PG play improve the overall team play. An overall lack of ball movement has been one of the more consistent complaints about KU the past two seasons has been the lack of ball movement and that falls squarely on the PG and PG coach.

@JayHawkFanToo The USA lettering may not be all over these, but there are enough stars and stripes on these uniforms to know they're also repping the USA.

I would love for him to replace Snacks.

@ralster Joe Dooley compared him to Travis Releford which I can see that as a poor man's version. He's not great at any one thing, but he's a solid low major player, but his skills just aren't on part with the scholarship players on the roster and we'll see that pretty quickly. I'm sure Self would've loved a better player, but there were major time constraints and Self basically needed the first player who was available.

@ajvan If we're comparing DeBose to Graham, Graham is miles ahead of DeBose. This is a net negative for the roster. DeBose is a below average shooter (43% overall and about 33% from deep), average at best defender, and a below average rebounder for his size. At the the end of the day though, Self needed a body and hopefully Julian overachieves from his body of work while playing with KU and Nic Moore.

I saw this kid play a couple of times while he was at Rice. There is a reason he's playing at the level he's at and not a major conference team. That said, since he's played a season under Dooley, he's at least familiar with the concepts Self will use. He'll likely be the 5th or 6th guard on this roster and should be able to help out the team.

@DoubleDD You're right that we don't definitively know. But history can be a pretty good predictor of the future actions. Perry Ellis is going to be a co-favorite to win Big 12 POY. Barring injury, he will play 30+ minutes per game.

Past action also says Bill Self is loyal to seniors who know his system over more talented freshmen. This is well documented and many discussions have been had about that philosophy. Past action also says Bill Self will not play a stretch 4 at the 3. This has also been discussed many times.

While it's possible Bill Self breaks habit, I wouldn't count on Bill Self going against his tendencies.

Some things that stood out to me in this thread.

Carlton Bragg I'd not being overlooked, he's just less likely to make a significant contribution to this team because Perry Ellis is in front of him and also likely Jamari Traylor. Cheick Diallo only has Landen Lucas and even if Landen starts, Diallo is going to play huge minutes this year. This is why there is more talk of Diallo's impact this year.

Another thing is Carlton Bragg is not a OAD player. He is the third stretch 4 Self has landed in the low 5 to high 4 star range (20ish-35ish) and one was a 3 year player and the other is a 4 year player. I think it's a reasonable assumption based on history that Bragg is a minimum 3 year player.

Lastly, I agree that there's a lot of similarities in Carlton and Perry's games because they are both stretch 4's, but I really hope Carlton plays more like Marcus Morris than Perry Ellis. This is not a knock on Perry's character, but I've always been a bigger Marcus Morris fan on the court.

Frank Mason's development as a PG will be the biggest determining factor in whether or not KU wins a national title this year. His court vision and leadership will drive KU this season. KU had the fewest assists last season of any Bill Self coached KU team. That has to change and KU needs to have at least 150 more assists on the season. KU also has not had a take charge leader at the point since Tyshawn. Frank needs to be the one to assume the vocal.leadership on this team and it sounds like he's trying to be a sponge with Nic Moore right now which is highly encouraging.

@Bwag LeBron didn't choose to have the 2nd and 3rd best players on that team injured for the Finals. Michael Jordan needed Scottie Pippin to get past Detroit and LeBron needs Love and Irving to get over the hump.

@wissoxfan83 Cal was at KU for 3 years I believe. I know he was hired by Ted Owens and left after 1985 to go to Pitt and was replaced by Bill Self.

@JayHawkFanToo I don't blame LeBron for being a ball hog right now. Nobody else on that team that is healthy is a competent offensive player. Lover and Irving were the only other offensive threats, but since they're injured, LeBron really is their only offensive threat and this isn't the time to be selfless.

@drgnslayr Middle man or supplier I would assume.

@drgnslayr I highly doubt that, Walmart doesn't sell anything worth $100. ;)

@jaybate-1.0 said:

What does it mean when a recruiting specialist in Chicago is not recruiting during the July window?

Kurtis Townsend is Self's Chicago specialist. I'm pretty sure Townsend has been the lead recruiter on the majority of KU's Chicago area recruits under Self.

@ParisHawk said:

@jaybate-1.0 So much depends on Svi because we're through depending on Selden. If Selden were what we hoped when he was recruited, we wouldn't be talking about 2 short guards.

Actually we would, because if Selden had played to his recruiting ranking from the beginning, he would've already been in the NBA and KU would've had 3 top 10 picks in the 2014 draft.

http://www2.kusports.com/news/2015/jun/13/smus-moore-arrives-takes-charge/ ↗

The roster isn't a surprise, it's the 12 players we've known for awhile now.

The coaching staff will be Self and his assistants will Snacks, Fred Quartlebaum, and James Cox.

Kurtis Townsend, Norm Roberts, and Brennan Bechard are going to stay in the US for the July recruiting period. It kinda confirms what we've suspected about Howard's recruiting ability if Self isn't leaving him behind.

@Lulufulu Self did have Miles and Langford for 2 years, but I don't ever remember Langford being a guy that handled the ball the way these secondary guys like Chalmers, Taylor, and Graham did, but I could be wrong about that.

@justanotherfan The thought process on not starting a foul prone player right away is that if you wait, they can see how the game is being officiated first and then determine how they can play from there..

@justanotherfan Here's why Self has always preferred experience over talent at least early in the season. His explanation for why Cliff didn't start sooner was basically because Cliff was foul prone and he rather have Cliff pick up 2 fouls later in the half than 2 minutes into the game and sit for 18. It was the same deal with Embiid as well. He didn't start until he could prove he could play more than a couple of minutes without picking up 2 quick fouls. It'll likely be the same deal with Lucas and Diallo this year. Landen knows how to play defense without fouling immediately and Diallo likely doesn't. We'll probably see Diallo move into the starting line up sometime around the 10 game mark this season and hopefully sooner.

I also wouldn't worry at all about the muscle Svi is putting on. He was listed at about 180 lbs. last year if I remember correctly, that's just skinny for anyone his size. A player his height should be in the 205-210 range at his age and position. He'll be stronger this year, but he's still got another year or two to go before he reaches his ideal playing weight and he has one of the best in the business at identifying an ideal playing weight that doesn't compromise ability. He'll be just fine in that department.

@drgnslayr Self has always preferred having 2 guys on the floor that can handle the ball. From Robinson, Chalmers, and Collins to Collins and Taylor to Taylor and Johnson, and now Mason and Graham. Those two will be on the court a lot together this season and I believe Graham was usually the one running the show last year when they were both on the floor together.

I wish KU had interchangeable pieces for the high-low and that's why Johnathan Williams III from Missouri was always my preference for the transfer big man because he had the range to play in the high post. But KU doesn't have interchangeable pieces like they did with the Morris twins so they just need somebody that can establish a low post presence which Diallo should be able to do.

@drgnslayr said:

Hard not to agree with this strategy.. the Self strategy. But.. I think sometimes we go too far over the edge with the team concept and need a leader... someone who can create on his own, to create. That doesn't mean hog the ball on shots, it means create holes in the defense by another means besides just quick passing. I'd like to see someone very good at penetration... penetrate and shoot or feed for assists.

Maybe my memory is slipping... but it seems like we often pushed the clock down too far before guys finally got serious about taking a shot.

I want to see our guards PUSH the ball up the court, and our team PUSH into a quick set offense. How about adding in more transition basketball? How about adding in secondary-break offense?

This first part is where Frank Mason has to get better. He can get whatever shot he wants and is great at drawing fouls, but too many times missed an open player either in the paint or on the perimeter and took a contested, low % shot instead of dishing to the guy the secondary defender came off of. If Mason improves his court vision and starts making these passes on a more regular basis, Mason could be a guy that averages 7 assists per game which is Aaron Miles territory.

I agree with this whole heartily. Too many times the past two seasons, we've seen the offense run the weave with no purpose and hand off to either Wiggins or Mason with 10-15 seconds left on the shot clock and ask them to make something happen. KU shoots to the ball too well for this to be an issue. Greene, Mason, and Graham were all at or over 40% from deep last year with Ellis at 39% and Selden at 37% also being above average shooters as well and there's no reason why KU shouldn't be running a lot more pick n roll and pick and pop to get these guys open looks behind the line. You also have to figure Svi will improve to at least 35% or better given his history as a shooter before coming to KU. Even if they miss, you get a lot of offensive rebounding opportunities which should equal some easy baskets for KU as well. Mix the high-low or weave with some pick n roll and pick and pop and that's a great offense.

I would also love to see KU get out and run more than they do under Bill Self. Not to the tempo that Roy played, but use their superior athleticism to tire other teams out. Play aggressive defense, especially when Diallo is in to protect the rim if a player gets burned. Even when running proper transition offense, there's plenty of assist opportunities when you have numbers. If you have numbers and the defender commits to the ball handler, dish it to the other guy for an easy dunk or lay up or kick it out to the open shooter if it's one of the 40% guys.

Last year was probably the worst the offense has looked under Bill Self partly because the primary PG gets tunnel vision sometimes and because KU didn't have a consistent low post presence to force teams to double team him. That should change this year with Diallo and if Landen gets strong enough to hold his ground on offense. Landen never had an issue getting to his spot on offense, he just never realized how far out of position he got pushed when he would take his shots. If Landen gets strong enough, big if considering where he's at after 3 years in that department, he could be a 60% shooter.

@drgnslayr http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/statistics/team/_/stat/free-throws/sort/freeThrowsAttempted ↗

This is a case where ESPN really does blow everyone out of the water when it comes to college basketball. Their archive that can be easily accessed on team stats goes back to the 2001-02 season and you can click on each category to see where teams rank. And you can click on any team and get their individual stats going back that far as well. It really is the best overall database for college basketball stats over the past 15 years. Fox Sports is probably the best for looking up individual player stats because they have some of the advanced stats.

@wrwlumpy Being 17 until this week probably had a lot to with it as well. Svi is still going to be one of the youngest players in D1 this season, but his body is now maturing to where he can add muscle and he's learning that adding muscle is only going to improve his game, not detract from it like conventional Euroball thinking goes.

@drgnslayr KU was 10th in total FT's attempted and 6th in FT's made last season. Getting to the line was not an issue last season. Assists are where KU struggled last year, KU only averaged 13 assists per game and had a 1.04 A/TO ratio which is terrible for a Bill Self team. Last season was the lowest assist total, and worst A/TO ratio in the Bill Self era and neither number is close to the second worst seasons in those categories. The total turnovers last season I believe was the lowest of the Bill Self era, but the assists were so low that it also created the worst A/TO ratio in the Bill Self era as well. KU was only +12 last season and the next worst number is somewhere around +60 for the season.

One of two things needs to happen to get that number back to the 1.3 A/TO range of a typical Bill Self team, either Frank Mason has to get better at sharing the ball, or Devonte Graham needs to be running the show a lot more for KU. I honestly think the most productive offensive line up KU will have next season will be Graham at point, Mason at the 2, Greene at the 3, and Ellis and Diallo in the post. Graham is a natural PG, Mason can get whatever shot he wants, Greene will punish teams that try and double the paint, and Ellis and Diallo are a perfect pair for the high-low.

@truehawk93 JR Giddens getting run was similar to Self running Tharpe a few years later. Giddens had become a total liability on the court and Self got the convenient excuse to boot him without looking bad. Once the ball got to Giddens, you knew he was jacking up a 3 and he was only a 33% 3 point shooter his sophomore year.

@drgnslayr said:

I've had a hard time accepting Snacks into the Jayhawk coaching family.

The old "do as I say, not what I do" phrase is past tense and doesn't work in today's society. Kids are cleaver and they see right through hypocrisy.

That's not new to this generation. Kids have always seen through frauds and will call BS when they see it. I know I got in trouble on more than one occasion for doing something and then asking, "If can do that, why can't I?" Adults don't like getting called out on their hypocrisy by kids very much.

@jaybate-1.0 Graham got a shot early on because he was only other option at PG. He kept and expanded his role because of how he performed when given the opportunity.

KU doesn't have the same depth issues in regards to Vick playing at the two. Selden, Mason, and Greene will likely see 95% of the available minutes at the 2 this year.

@elpoyo Neither of those links proves your point. Bragg had a slip of the tongue when announcing his decision. Everyone has them, his just happened to occur in front of a camera. The twitter link isn't dissing Kentucky, he just picked the school he had been committed to for several months at that point. It was a biased, homer pick

I would also like to know where there was any evidence ISU was ever in the lead for Diallo. Someone could probably convince me that St. John's was ahead at one point, but that's about it.

@truehawk93 Self plays at most 9 players in his rotation. Barring injury, Vick is likely to see minimal playing time this year and possibly next because of that depth you referred to.

Self typically plays 5 perimeter guys and 4 post guys in his rotation. Mason, Graham, Selden, Svi, and Greene figure to be the 5 perimeter players this year. Vick is depth and development for the future.

@approxinfinity Sasha would be competing with Mozgov for those minutes and Mozgov is a better player than Sasha. A front court with Love/Thompson at the 4 and Mozgov/Kaun at the 5 is not a bad front court.

@Statmachine We've cut way back on capitol punishment here, he'll just get life in prison without the possibility of parole.

@drgnslayr said:

@JayHawkFanToo

Kind of sounds like they left him out in the dark.

I wonder if he'd like an assistant coaching job at Kansas? :-)

I'd take him in a heartbeat over Howard right now.

@HighEliteMajor I haven't seen anyone use that specific phrase, but the way he's been talked about just gives me the impression that a lot people (especially on KUSports) think Chukwu will be an instant star once he's eligible just because he's 7-2. His numbers last year make me believe he is a massive project that has a decent chance of never panning out. His rebounding numbers were horrible for someone his size, his foul rate was really bad (7,5 per 40 min) and his shot blocking form is why his foul rate is so bad. He swings down on his blocks and makes a lot of contact with opposing players in the paint even when he makes a block.

Just like you're never going to be convinced to be a Jamari Traylor fan, I'm just not a Chukwu fan and there's nothing that can be said to turn me into one.

@JayHawkFanToo What does KU's recruiting pool have to do with point you're trying to refute?

You asked me how much HS basketball I watch and tried claiming 6-9 kids are not uncommon. If you're referring specifically to private and prep schools that focus on basketball, then you're right that 6-9 kids aren't that uncommon.

You did not make that specification however, and basketball focused private and prep schools in this country make up a very small percentage of the HS basketball in this country. That is not typical HS basketball across the country. I was 6-4 and grew to 6-5 in HS and played 3 years of varsity HS basketball at the 5A level in Texas which was the largest classification in the state at the time. In those 3 years, I can count on one hand the number of 6-9 or taller players I played against and that was in the state playoffs. 6-9 players are not common in HS basketball and you are deluding yourself if you think what you see on ESPN is typical of HS basketball in this country.

This class filled needs and that's what it's supposed to do. I would rate this class a solid 7 because there's other players I would've preferred to have landed, but I can't complain about who Self did land because they all filled a need.

Diallo filled the need of a rim protecting, post player that compliments Perry very well. Carlton Bragg fills the need of a future high post player after Perry and Jamari graduate this season. I don't expect big things out of Bragg this year because he has 2 guys ahead of him who will play the vast majority of the minutes at the 4 this year. Lagerald Vick adds depth to the backcourt which was needed and could allow Devonte Graham to slide into the starting line up. Dwight Coleby wasn't my preference as the transfer, but he is a big body that can likely back up Landen Lucas when becomes eligible.

Chukwu as a walk on would be nice, but I don't think he's the guaranteed star some think he will be. He's not a great scorer, or rebounder and he's foul ratio is really bad. Chukwu may turn inot the player some think he will, he may not develop. He is a project in every sense of the word and why I always preferred Johnathan Williams III over him because Williams is a proven scorer, rebounder, defender, and cold play either post spot in Self's offense.

I also believe Self backed off Jaylen Brown once he knew Svi and Greene were coming back because that took away the desperate need at the wing and allow Self ton focus on finding a transfer big to soften the blow of likely losing 4 bigs.

@JayHawkFanToo Do you realize how many high schools are in the US? There's somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000 HS in this country. Very few of them have anybody who is 6-9 or taller. The HS games that ESPN and other networks broadcast involve a fraction of the total number of HS and a lot of those are prep and private schools that recruit kids for the specific purpose of giving them a bigger platform and better competition to show off their skill.

During the past 10 years, the school district I played football and basketball in has gone from 8 to 11 HS, played in 3 state title games in football (5/6A in Texas), won multiple girls basketball state titles, yet I could count on one hand the number of 6-9 or taller players that have played boys basketball in the past 10 years.

It is not common to be that tall and if you are and have any skill, chances are you end up transferring to a private school that can travel and play in national tournaments to help with exposure to scouts during the winter.

@DoubleDD T-Rob wasn't a natural scorer either. All that means is that Diallo will have to get himself in proper position and be dependent on other players to get him the ball to score.

@DoubleDD It's not a hard skill to learn and master, but not everyone is capable of doing it either. Being able to seal a defender off under the basket requires the strength to be able to establish that position and to be able to hold that position. Not every player has the strength to do this. Landen Lucas and Hunter Mickelson both lacked the strength to hold their position under the basket and were regularly pushed out from the basket and had to take more difficult shots.