🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@drgnslayr Interesting discussion. I think it helps to break the season down into three segments, non-con, conference, and tournament. Each with specific goals and foes.

The 08 team had all these things happen to set a tone for each segment. In 06-07, we played and beat the defending champs early in the season. Then we stumble in the tournament only to see the team we beat earlier win it's back to back championship. That team learned that if it only had another chance at Florida, then they could've been champions. So in 07-08, the early non-con season was about fixing the weaknesses that were exposed in the tournament. By the time conference season rolled around, all anyone was talking about was Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant, DJ Augustine, DJ Augustine, Texas, Texas; and how they were the best in the Big 12. Thus giving them something to fight for and against. When the tournament started, we had to show toughness to advance to get that shot that missed out on the year before. Plus, it was the first time we got to play UNC since Roy left; again something to prove.

In 12, similar circumstances. Disappointment in the tournament the year before. Plus the whole "is this a rebuilding year at KU" questions. Conference season we saw a raise in the ranks of our biggest rival in their last year in the conference, and we wanted to spoil their plans for a big exit. By the time we got to the tournament, it was clear that we were on a crash course with a team that beat us earlier, and was the presumed best team in college basketball ever. In addition to the fact, that our All-American was putting up better stats and playing better than UK's All-American, but wasn't getting any love from the media.

In both instances we had a different goals and different foes for each segment of the season.

This season, we have the non-con goals of finding an identity and fixing the problems of last year. We have a game with the team that played in the title game last year, and will probably make another run this year. That game will expose us and hopefully fuel a fire inside to want to get another shot at them in the tournament (whether we win or lose the early game, it doesn't matter) In the conference season we should be reminded of the claims by OU and ISU, that they are going to unseat us in the Big 12. Plus, I'm sure Texas will get some hype from the media about Turner. The tournament should be about righting the wrongs of last years early exit, and being on a crash course with UK again.

Last years team was about living up to draft expectations. When we did face a tangible foe, we played pretty well. (the Duke game, Wiggs vs Parker, in the battle for number 1 draft pick)

JMHO

In regards to the early season Kentucky game, I think Self will put this teams best foot forward. But, I think he will have a few tricks up his sleeve that he will save incase we meet them in the dance later.

That game should give us a good look at our style of play, but IMO, I think Self will make sure we show some flaws that he can use for motivation for this team to improve, win or lose. I think we play it straight up (no tricks) and if someone gets hot then we will keep feeding him.

I know HCBS always has some tricks up his sleeve. I just don't know how long that sleeve is! ;) He will not show everything, and this will probably be the teams first experience at getting "geeked up" and "amped up" for an opponent. It should be a good learning experience for the team. Also, a good early test for the coaching staff at preparing the team. (scouting reports, special assignments, few in game adjustments, etc.)

One way or another, it will expose us to what we need to work on. I think that's a good thing.

Any news coming out of practices yet? Anybody? Please...? ;)

One thing to think about, is that these projections are made by people outside of the Big 12. The fact that KU is in the Big 12 is one of the major reasons that the Big 12 is the toughest conference.

Imagine that your another school looking to join a conference, and you want to be able to win the conference title. Would you pick the Big 12? With KU's dominance for the last decade, you would probably pick another conference to join. Plus, if you were worried about your regular season record to be good enough to get to dance in March, you wouldn't want to have to play a true round robin with any of the top 4 teams in the Big 12.

Honestly, the rest of the country should feel sorry for the lower half of our conference! Because after they go through the gauntlet of conference play, their records look pretty bad.

@HighEliteMajor Agreed. I think the reason goes back to the idea of a "combo" guard. It could be that he wants a player to be good at multiple things. So if a guy is an elite shooter, he doesn't want that player to rest on his laurels. Tear him down, or at least marginalize the elite skill, to build back a player with more elite skills instead of one elite and other just serviceable skills.

CF's case is interesting in that, as JB reminded me last week, CF had an injury within the first few games. Plus, I was reminded of this too, he got sick last summer here at KU and actually lost 15lbs that he had to gain it back just before late night last year! So with sickness and injury hindering his development anyway, maybe that's when Self decided to limit his minutes with unreal expectations and commenced to chip building. Building a chip on his shoulder to help him in the coming years. It paid off in one game last year and almost two, after giving the team the lead at half time against Stanford and then not seeing the floor in the second half until desperation time.

@jaybate-1.0 Yep! same conclusion I had earlier in the week. Self saying no redshirts threw me, but what you say makes sense. Either buy in and take a red shirt, or save that year for a transfer AWIII style. I guess it's up to him.

That tree has to be getting weak with all of us hanging onto thin limbs! :)

@jaybate-1.0 and @Statmachine Bingo!!! with you guys all the way on the bigs.

JB with you on all the masking and diversion techniques. I believe Self when he says that he doesn't really know yet what the lineups will be until he sees them in practice. But the groupings that he predicts for himself are being kept close to his vest. This is still a young team and I think he is giving them a chance to fly under radar, get some live fire thrown at them without being schemed against by opposing coaches. There are some soph. and Jrs. waiting to cross the channel while some freshman are inflating tanks on the other side of the island.

Are far as the DSC goes, a couple thoughts. One I don't think we sign PG next year. All the guards we seem to be in on are SG types. PG's are thin next year, which I believe IMO, was why we saw the full court press for Graham. So faced with the fact that we have what we have at pg for the next two seasons, Self needs to keep the rust knocked off all of them for injury insurance. Second thought is that we are loaded at the SF position and we seem to be in on some of those type guys for next year. I worry for Greene. Granted I haven't followed recruiting much so I could be wrong about a lot of this. If we land a high ranked pg for 2016, then one of our pgs it's safe.

This PG thing is so intriguing! After watching the player interviews, a couple thing stood out to me. One, Frank referred to the team as "my team". Maybe some politicking on his end, showing confidence, taking ownership, etc.. But very positive! Conner seems pretty comfortable talking about lineups and playing with other players. Graham didn't get many of those kind of questions. When coupled with the comments from Self about playing two ball handlers a lot and about taking away some of Franks aggressiveness, it made me think of this in a different way. When Frank is out there alone, scoring will be done by others with him setting them up. When Frank is out there with one of the other PG's, then Frank is to stop thinking and be a major scoring option. The other guards job is to be a safety release for Frank incase of trouble and be enough of a threat to keep a defender occupied and out of the play.

I don't know, just a thought. I could be way off!

@approxinfinity I know I'm getting in late on this, but if you guys do shirts I want in on it.

If any of us ever got together it would be cool to make t-shirts with our user names on the back. :) We could even make some with our popular acronyms on the back too for family members and what not. I would get a little one for my 3 year old with "MUA" on the back! It fits his personality! ;) (This is me thinking waayy outside the box)

@JayhawkRock78 It would be really cool to know if this site gets traffic from overseas because of Svi, or Sasha...or any of our other Jayhawks that play overseas.

@drgnslayr
"The key is the complexion of the game can change quickly if the coaching perspective changes."

This is exactly why I think the biggest key to a successful season rest on Self and the coaching staff. The game plan need to stay flexible and scouting needs to be detailed with an eye towards using any of the tools in the toolbox (players) when advantages present themselves. This team has many different weapons ready to use whenever needed. It's up to the coaching staff to develop them and have them ready to deploy. And it's up to Self to put the pieces together to get the most out of them. Better in game adjustments. Better scheming, offensively and defensively.

We have talked a lot about MUA's and for sure the one MUA we have every game is HCBS. Instead of thinking about an individual player being a MUA and putting the team on his back, I want to see a grouping of players together be a MUA! In 08, for sure Rush was a MUA but also were the groupings. Our bigs rotation was a MUA together but not individually and our 3 guards rotation was a MUA together and not individually. JMO! Good post!

@jaybate-1.0 Thanks for the inspiration! Definitely food for thought!

Man, I love this site!!!

@JayhawkRock78 Yeah, it's pretty cool. I've seen it a couple times. There was also a video on You Tube that was counting down KU's top 10 PGs that was pretty interesting. It's worth a look anyway.

@jaybate-1.0 Great story, great read!

"One must first understand how to learn, before they can learn"

This is what I love about your post, they make me think and evaluate my own preconceived notions before moving on. Every once in a while you drop a gem that really opens my eyes, and you did it twice today! Rock Chalk!

@jaybate-1.0 Thanks, I had forgotten about CF knee injury early in the season last year. And what the situation was when he was ready to come back (if he ever was 100%) and didn't get much of a chance. Interesting. Maybe that could have added to some of the chip building that I believe (IMHO) led to the confidence boost and cold shoulder routine at the end of the Stanford game.

Anyway, good post! You have a great way of pointing out what is going on in front of my face, when I can't see the forest for the trees. The similarities and differences between Miles, Mario, Sherron, and RussRob are very interesting. You are right about Miles, and Mario developed that same attitude/swagger here and it has served him well in the pros too. That was the "it" factor that made him the perfect pg to be able to play with Lebron and Co..

Your post got me to thinking (after the second read), and if I may, I would like to expand on that thought. Miles was in a league of his own in regards to mental toughness. The rest of the guys you mentioned seemed to respond and excel when there was another pg in the toughing box at the same time. Look at Tyshawn and EJ for example. Tyshawn by himself was different than when paired with EJ. And EJ was different by himself after Tyshawn had left. Then the other example of RussRob's play before and after Mario, and then Russ/Mario/Sherron playing together. Sherron's toughing box was having to play behind those guys for 2 years. It's like they all knew what the others had been through individually, and once they started playing together they joined forces to keep from cracking and to muster up enough "stuff" to stand up to the pressure of HCBS.

More interestingly, that group of Russ/Mario/Sherron were 3 small guards with no super "2 guard" on the team. Now we have a "super 2" on this team, but I wonder what the dynamic would be like next year or the year after if Self whiffs on a OAD/TAD "2 guard". Also makes me wonder just how close these 3 small guards are and if they will come together to help each other endure the dreaded "box".

It could be that the best way one can excel out of the toughing box, is to have a "buddy system" in place with others inside that box. And maybe, this is Self's way of getting them to play together as a unit because each has skills that the other needs. Tharpe didn't have a buddy and cracked. This will be interesting to see going forward.

Personally, I'm comfortable with all of them and however Self puts the pieces together this year and next. But the dynamic between these three will be intriguing over the next couple of seasons.

Please expand on this or tell me I'm way off. And thank you, it was a rough day today this made me think and took my mind off everything else! :)

@HighEliteMajor Thanks!

Here are my defensive evaluations, just MHO:

As far as length, there isn't a dimes worth of difference between the 3.

Frank I assume is a good defender. The times where he appeared out of position last year, I'm going to assume that he was asked to help out others.

Conner seemed to be good at keeping up with his man on the move through screens, and not get lost. I also think he picked up some dumb fouls while helping, because he was protecting bigs.

Graham, well we just don't know. So I'll assume that he is a good defender. What the heck!

You also have to think about team defense which may hinder Graham a little.

One thing that I'm going to keep an eye on, is that I think that CF is a late bloomer. Frank is more than a full year older than him and Graham is a few months older than him, having spent a year in prep school. I saw a video clip from a month or two ago, in which CF was goofing around with his brother. His brother threw the ball off the back board and CF went up behind him and dunked it without much effort in getting up. I've seen video of him dunking last year and he had a head of steam and really had to get into his jump to dunk in traffic. Now I know that will never be a part of his game, but I think it suggest that he has increase his athleticism a little bit. I don't know, maybe it's something, maybe nothing. It will be interesting to see if his overall explosiveness increases over the next couple years.

@Crimsonorblue22 and @jaybate-1.0

This group looks more likely to have a guy off the bench, have a moment like that compared to the last couple of seasons! :)

@globaljaybird Haha! I can see them singing on the way into practice; "hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go..."

@jaybate-1.0 I think you're right about what Self knows he needs. I also believe that he feels he needs two that can do all of that, to use in those games where we face extra pressure and still have a scoring threat in that "2" spot.

That ability to work the ball into the post on time and in the right spot will be key to our post players ability to finish. Our perimeter player last year struggled with that, and it was masked by Embiid's natural gifts. Also having a scoring threat on that wing to receive the ball on post double teams will be important. So...I don't know, but if Frank and Wayne are locks, then out of Oubre, Greene, CF, Graham two or three need to be able feed the post, be a scoring threat, and at least halfway dribble the ball reliably.

When you combine that with defensive matchup needs it's just a big jigsaw puzzle. It will be interesting to see all this shake out. Putting the pieces together for this season, scheming, and coaching them up will be huge for the direction this team goes in. And, that's not even assessing our post play which will be a puzzle in of itself. I expect a lot more coach speak and misdirection from Self to keep early season opponents off balance.

@Crimsonorblue22 I thought he showed better instincts than Tharpe. And that's a freshman compared to a junior. But like I said, both of them had better have gotten at least a little better over the off season or ride the pine.

Something else, we have not even seen Graham yet or even Frank and CF after the off season. So it's really hard to predict what skills someone has and how they translate in game situations and when the play gets more organized as a team. I think back to the "Landen is a load" comment last year and how that translated to minutes on the floor. Ha, maybe if HCBS doesn't mention you it's a good thing! :)

@KUSTEVE

I tend to agree with you on the idea of a "small lineup" or a "stretch 4" or whatever. But, the only consistent talk from HCBS since the end of last season has been about playing two ball handlers at the same time. And that talk started before we even signed Graham. So...will 2 of the 3 start? Probably not, but maybe. Will 2 of the 3 play significantly? I think so.

Defensively, they are all short, and they are all an improvement over Naa last year. And you got to believe that both Frank and CF had to get better over the off season. If one of them didn't work on that to be a little better, then they deserve to sit.

Offensively, like JB said, whoever can make the easy play and the wing entry pass to the post will probably be the most important. Secondly, whoever can shoot the 3 >40%, Third, whoever can develop team chemistry. Think about the lineup last year with Naa and Frank on the floor at the same time. Naa moved over and played the "2 guard spot". He could still run the offense and handle the ball, but also shoot and pass to the post. That is the spot and duties that are getting replaced. Those are the skills that will be needed to win that spot. So we'll see.

This is also the time of year that HCBS talks great about everyone. Some reasons for that include, pushing buttons of some players, confusing early season opponents, and creating a positive locker room. Honestly, I doubt HCBS even knows for sure who is going to step up and win minutes, until real practices start. Think about this, imagine you haven't even started practice with a ball and running plays with a team, and your head coach leaves you out of a conversation for playing time. Deflating!

So...a lot of coach speak, and probably button pushing.

I personally hope that out of our three short guards and three big wings, that we get a five man monster of interchangeable parts that can destroy anything an opponent throws at us. Also I want change of pace and different skills when the subs come in, to keep the opponents off balance, and to keep opposing coaches from using just one game plan against us. ("press their guards")

I can't wait for season to start!!! RCJH

@bskeet Hey! I mentioned the LAS a couple post back. I can't really remember it exactly, but I think it was long and strong, or long and skinny; I can't remember! lol :) JB will have to clear that one up for you.

@JayhawkRock78 Youtube is great for that. My boys are too young to remember the 08 champ game so I pulled it up a couple weeks ago for them. They have always heard me talk about those players, so it was pretty cool for them to see it.

@Crimsonorblue22 HAHA, I don't think he noticed it. My oldest two boys would run down stairs during commercials and play on the nerf goal. I'm not sure they watched a first half all season long. But by halftime they were tired and ready to sit down and watch. ;)

@JayhawkRock78 Great memory!

In 2012, when we lost to Michigan, my then 6 year old started crying because he was never going to watch Withey, Releford, and Young again. The next day my boys created characters on their wii sports game that looked like those players and named them Stankface, Rele, and Fro. Now those guys play forever on my kids wii! :)

@JayHawkFanToo Awesome game!! I watched it on TV of course, but last month I watched it again on Youtube.

@JayHawkFanToo Yeah, I can't wait for the opportunity to go check it out. Like a kid in a candy store!

@nuleafjhawk I remember reading that story before. Still a great story. I'll get there someday. I'll probably get there a couple hours before to go through the all the museum stuff before a game. (if they let you?) I can't wait!

@Wigs2 Dante Exum played overseas instead of college and so did Brandon Jennings, although Exum was a foreign player, I think.

Reed is a good example of a player who is getting a good value for his time here. I think he is at KU Med school right now. I'm sure others know more about that.

@wissoxfan83 It would be cool to know some of the demographics of this group. It would be interesting to know what different things we all have in common and not in common.

Something that may be surprising about me, is that I have never been to AFH or ever watched a game live! And I've spent the last 15 years within an hour and a half drive from Lawrence! (So...if anyone has some tickets they can't use hit me up! :))

@nuleafjhawk I'm with you man! I have a cell phone but it's a dumb phone. I had a month where I literally used 3 mins on it!

As for Facebook, when it became popular, I was working in a profession that doesn't lend itself to people knowing personal information about you. So I never bothered. Heck, I'm still trying to figure out all this site has to offer! Maybe I'll catch up someday.

@Crimsonorblue22 I can't take credit for any of those abbreviations. I think most are a product of JB gifted mind!

@KU-Flyer Don't worry about being qualified. If you read my first post, then you know the humble beginnings of my KU experience. Once I started following all the posters here on this site and the old one, it really opened my eye to what I was seeing on my TV. I got to the point where I wasn't going to learn more or be any more involved unless I started posting here. I throw out my ideas and if people agree then I know I'm on the right track, and when they prove me wrong then I know I'm on the wrong track. Honestly I learn more from being wrong and listening and taking in what these guy have to say.

But aside from that, there are great people on this site and they are fun to be around and have conversations about anything with online. So jump in and enjoy, it will expand your overall Jayhawk experience.

@Crimsonorblue22 Sorry, I thought you guys knew and were just messing with me!

@bskeet MUA=Match Up Advantage

Wiggs was a great example of a MUA. He was always bigger and more skilled than whoever was guarding him.

Releford's defense was a MUA. He could lock down almost anyone he guarded.

@globaljaybird Hey! I was wondering this weekend just what happened to Oakville? He was one of my favorites from the old site. Do you have any idea where he's at? Any way to send out a search party and coax him from wherever he is to here?

LMAO--what I'm dong tonight after reading this thread and @nuleafjhawk's thread about this site being his facebook! Check it out!

@jaybate-1.0 Bring them on, JB! They either offer great insight or a great laugh, and I like both! :)

@nuleafjhawk First of all, I can't hardy type from laughing so much! I'm wearing out the backspace button! Way to much funny stuff to quote! But MAN..."And God have mercy on the poor child who is born with no thumbs..." I'll be laughing about that tomorrow!

I'm with you and @RedRooster. I appreciate some other conversation as well. I'm always a little hesitant about what others might be interested in. Personally, I like reading about different stuff posted by all you guys even if it's something I have never shown interest in before.

@Crimsonorblue22 Yeah I knew, but I couldn't resist a chance at a joke. Funny or not. :)

I have to admit, last year the one JB threw out about long players that gave Perry trouble (LAS's...I think, can't remember exactly) had me head scratching for awhile! LOL

@bskeet Do I have to use "JB"? I like to use @jaybate-1.0 to try and bring him in the conversation. He has great insight and is much more pithy than I... well, at least with basketball stuff. :)

No malice intended!

@nuleafjhawk Look, all I know is that if MUA doesn't stand for "Mutated Underaged Athlete's", then all my post are shot to crap!!!! ;)

It is "Mutated Underaged Athlete's"....right??

On the OAD thing, I hear everybody's points but I'm ready to jump off the train. One or two to fill a need is fine, but man, it's going to make an old man out of me quick!

Maybe the biggest fear I have is that we lose all the great success stories that we get from players growing and then having a chance to make basketball their life. Guys like Releford and DJack are making a living with basketball because they weren't recruited over and were given a chance. Jamari may be the last one if we continue down this road, and that's just sad.

@JayHawkFanToo I don't believe we were whipped in that game either. However I do believe we played into their hands. At the time I was surrounded by UK fans, and while debating that game with them, I said that we should play Davis straight up (no double team), take away everyone else and make him beat us. The best part of his game was his passing so we should've taken that away. This was the thing that worried the UK fans the most leading up to the game. That strategy worked well for us twice against Durrant and Beasley here at AFH. I was really surprised and disappointed when that didn't happen. Wow, I wasn't posting here then; that sure felt good to get that off my chest! Sorry if this is all old news! :)

In regards to Davis and TRob stats, everybody had already crowned Davis National Player of the Year before the season had started. We could have held his stats to zero, had Releford lock him up with big D, and had TRob wear off that unibrow with the bottom of his shoe while hanging from the rim, and it wouldn't have mattered. ;)

Thanks everybody for letting me get that out. It's been two years coming!

@approxinfinity Judging by the kids shoes, he's an OSU fan. I hope Hunter goes all "Big Bore" and posterizes this kid!

(Just fun, no malice intended)

@bskeet First of all, I assume that when you say forwards you're talking about PF not SF.(I consider SF as guards under HCBS) I doubt that we will see Perry, Traylor, and Big Cliff on the floor at the same time, very often. Maybe not at all. To me, this lineup falls apart with Perry at the 3. Perry has a good shot from the top of the key, but I don't think we've seen him shoot from the wing. Also, I don't see him beating an opposing 3 off the dribble. He could post up an opposing 3, but with him, Traylor, and Big Cliff and all their defenders in the lane makes for a clogged lane. Plus I'm not sure Perry could defend on the perimeter. Another thing is all this talk about multiple ball handlers on the floor. This may even limit some of our more "SF" type guards. But who knows! Foul trouble could keep this lineup from ever happening as well.

I think well see more 3 guard, 2 forward lineups like we have traditionally. We will match up with most teams we face that way. My concern is when we face the few 7 footers this year. So, I hope that one of Mickelson or Lucas can defend such an opponent, and that they get enough PT to be ready for when we do.

I really question whether or not Perry and Traylor are really 6-8 and would have trouble scoring over the top of long players. One of our problems last year was the ability of our perimeter player to deliver an entry pass on time. These guys need to catch the ball on the move, or while their defender is out of position. So, our perimeter players can really help them if they can deliver the pass when needed.

The only way that I can think of to take full advantage of these three and the other position that we are so deep in, is to try to run everybody out of the gym. But I don't know how much of a likelihood that is. Plus I worry about everybody getting enough PT to develop chemistry with each other. This is one of the reasons why my biggest concern is with the coaching staff and putting these pieces together for this season.

(Interesting note: I admit I don't watch much NBA, but when I do, it seems many teams will play their starting 5 and a 6th most minutes, but at times will do a complete "line change" a couple times per game to give their main guys an extended blow between the 1st and 2nd quarters and again between the 3rd and 4th quarters. Now I know this is unlikely for HCBS, but if he was ever to do such a thing, this would be the team to do it with. It could also provide some interesting data for Hudy and her research. Just a thought.)

@DoubleDD Oh, he may have to lose the headband? :)

What is everyone's definition of an "elite PG"?

And do we even have one on this team, or one who could become "elite"?

Did we have an "elite PG" on the 08 and 12 teams?

Just curious!

@globaljaybird Amen! My dad's got like 3 Yankees that I got my eye on. They came in real handy a few times when I was a kid. He just won't turn loose of them yet! :)

@JayHawkFanToo I'll take a shot at your questions.

Unknown 1, I have no idea. When thinking about half court sets, a PG with "faster tempo" only works if we face an opponent's defense which is slower, AND if all the other players can play at this "fast tempo". If one player is out of control or causes others to be out of control, then the steadier PG may be the answer. Also if we face a really "in your face" aggressive defense, steadier play from all may be able to take advantage of a defense that is "over playing". I think, in this situation, the PG with the ability to change to what tempo is needed, makes the difference. And of course, I'm with you in that we don't know what Graham brings.

Unknown 2, I'm with you on this analysis. Matching up with a big big will be key. As will be foul trouble and keeping our scorers on the floor.

Bonus Question: I think your unknown 2 is the biggest concern of the two. I think we have the PG available to do whatever is needed for the team, which ever one it is. We will need one of Mickelson or Lucas to step up and take some defensive pressure and fouls for our other bigs, at least early in the season.

I think I may have a different take on this idea of the team "playing at a faster tempo" than what many on this site seem to. I think just because the PG is fast doesn't translate to the team playing fast. Tyshawn was probably the fastest guard we've had here, and the 2012 bunch didn't play "up tempo". The last team we had that could really turn up the tempo was the 08' bunch. The key to that was having 3 1/2 ball handlers in a 4 guard rotation. We always had 2 1/2 or 3 ball handlers on the floor at one time. If we rely on just Mason to push team tempo, then defenses can run a soft 3/4 press to slow him down and allow the defense to get set behind them then fall back to man in the half court. No, I think that we at least need 2 ball handlers on the floor to push team tempo. (hopefully 3 ball handlers) I haven't seen anything from the summer videos that proves that Seldon, Greene, or Oubre has the handles needed. I may be wrong about that though. So I think in order for the team to play at a faster tempo, we will need to see at least 2 of Mason, CF, Graham, or Svi on the floor at the same time. I guess the equation would look something like this:

Mason + CF, or Graham, or Svi + chemistry (with each other) + chemistry (with rest of the team) COULD = faster team tempo

I guess my point is that it isn't about which PG is fastest, it's about which big is slowest. (you don't want to out run your finishers) And it isn't about foot speed, it's about ball movement.

Ball movement= foot speed (with the ball) + passing + making the right decisions x 2 or better x 3

Just MHO!

@jaybate-1.0 Any post mentioning a Winchester Model 21 gets an upvote from me! The skin tight camouflage adidas body stocking was just an added bonus! ;)

Funny!

@Crimsonorblue22 Thanks for the link. Good read. And thanks to @bskeet for the edit.

@DoubleDD Wow nice jumper! Nice ball handling in the open court with that spin move. Seems like he has good court vision and IQ. He did shy away from contact on a couple drives. Seems a little more of a finesse player than T-Rob, but I don't remember much from T-Rob when he was in HS. Count me in too. Would love to see him play along side a footer. I'm not sure if the ship has sailed with Zimmerman or not. I hope Zimmerman would be a 2AD. If not, pass.