OldHoyafan
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Post by OldHoyafan on Dec 15, 2014 12:51:58 GMT -5
Hopkins ability to defend and rebound are why he is starting at power forward right now. As much as I love White's game, right now he is not rebounding with the authority that the team needs and he still gets cought out of position on help defense at times. I don't measure a players defense by the number of blocked shots he has. The three years prior to last year the HOYAS were in the top percentile on defense and yet I would wager were in the middle or lower in blocked shots. The Hoya defense is based on clogging the lane via "help defense" and still have the ability to get out on wings to prevent the 3pt shot. Hopkins has really improved on position defense this year. The majority of his fouls come from his help defense when DSR or Peak has allowed an offensive player to beat him off the dribble and he is trying to block the shot from behind, or trying to take the charge. There have not been a lot of reaching fouls by him this year. White has good defensive fundamentals too, but has not mastered the movements of the " help defender" to match Hopkins to this point. Though Smith has improved his defensive foot work greatly, his recovery from a hedge is still slower than most so the help defender to that particular side has no time for error ,he instinctively has to be there or there will be an open shot to the basket behind Smith. Both Copeland and White need more lower body strength to guard the big power forwards in the BE. Don't know if they will gain that by the end of the year, more like next year. Hopkins inability to score or finish around the basket is well documented. I have opined the cause from small hands to poor peripheral vision. There are fundamental offensive instincts you either have or you don't. Peak for instance, has uncanny instincts in knowing what his position is relative to the basket and what shot will be needed to get the ball to the basket without the defender blocking the shot. Hopkins does not have that instinct. It's like he played ball in HS with players who were all 6'5" or less. Some of the shots he tries with defenders 6'9" or larger right beside him is befuddling. If you have beat the 6'9" defender and he is right behind you then , basketball instincts tells you that you can't bring the ball over your head for a layup or dunk, but you have to go to the other side of the basket for a layup. That is second nature for Peak , but an apparent unknown for Hopkins.
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Post by dungeon ball on Dec 15, 2014 12:53:01 GMT -5
I feel like the key to Copeland taking off offensively is his ability to hit those midrange jumpers. I think he made one Saturday. If defenders have to respect that shot, Cope's got the athleticism to get past most 4's, either with the dribble or just cutting. I think he'll get there. Hitting 3's would be gravy.
But yeah, he's not where Hopkins is defensively. There was one possession against Kansas where Ellis owned Copeland. And Hopkins is starting to look like the best passer on the team.
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EtomicB
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Post by EtomicB on Dec 15, 2014 13:41:08 GMT -5
@sf Josh gets half his rebounds of his own misses, he’s not as good of a rebounder as Mike c’mon man.. lol.. And if you don’t think defensive rebounding is an important stat your pretty much at odds with every descent coach out there… Why should I care if he misses by 50 feet or it rims out? It’s still a miss, you keep bringing this up like it matters. Again he is basically last on the team in shots attempted and 3rd in assts. It’s not like he’s out there going for his. Where do they rank against him in Bloc Shots per 40 and in rebounding per 40? Aka the things Coach has emphasized Mike need to do? Don’t really know what you guys are arguing for but if Ike plays well he’ll get minutes he’s averaged 20 a game since Butler, but no reason to downplay Hopkins contributions. He’s been very good in his role this year. I'm not so sure about this Yaboy, I don't get into advanced stats but the basic stats tell me they're pretty equal Josh has 35 defensive rebounds and 24 offensive rebounds in 198 minutes this season.. Mikael has 38 defensive rebounds and 24 offensive rebounds in 212 minutes this season.. That's a dead heat in my eyes... I'm not trying to diminish Hopkins at all, has a big role on this team and he's played that role pretty well this year.. However if he's playing 25+ a game the team won't reach its potential imo I thought before the year started that Ike would be the key/best freshman, as of now he has been outplayed by White and peak but he's still the key.. If he continues to improve over the BE season, this team will be dangerous come March..
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2014 13:50:38 GMT -5
@sf Josh gets half his rebounds of his own misses, he’s not as good of a rebounder as Mike c’mon man.. lol.. And if you don’t think defensive rebounding is an important stat your pretty much at odds with every descent coach out there… Why should I care if he misses by 50 feet or it rims out? It’s still a miss, you keep bringing this up like it matters. Again he is basically last on the team in shots attempted and 3rd in assts. It’s not like he’s out there going for his. Where do they rank against him in Bloc Shots per 40 and in rebounding per 40? Aka the things Coach has emphasized Mike need to do? Don’t really know what you guys are arguing for but if Ike plays well he’ll get minutes he’s averaged 20 a game since Butler, but no reason to downplay Hopkins contributions. He’s been very good in his role this year. I'm not so sure about this Yaboy, I don't get into advanced stats but the basic stats tell me they're pretty equal Josh has 35 defensive rebounds and 24 offensive rebounds in 198 minutes this season.. Mikael has 38 defensive rebounds and 24 offensive rebounds in 212 minutes this season.. That's a dead heat in my eyes... I'm not trying to diminish Hopkins at all, has a big role on this team and he's played that role pretty well this year.. However if he's playing 25+ a game the team won't reach its potential imo I thought before the year started that Ike would be the key/best freshman, as of now he has been outplayed by White and peak but he's still the key.. If he continues to improve over the BE season, this team will be dangerous come March.. What do your eyes tell you? How many out of area rebounds does Josh get and how many are off his own misses? Josh has been much better about rebounding HIS area this year but if you need one rebound at the end of the game who are you going with? And then since this isn’t a Josh vs Mike argument, tell me where Ike fits on that list? Ikes my guy but he doesn’t have the physicality right now to give us what Mike gives us in those 2 key areas. Furthermore if he plays well 3 will give him minutes so I don’t really get the argument...
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Dec 15, 2014 14:17:21 GMT -5
Josh has been much better about rebounding HIS area this year but if you need one rebound at the end of the game who are you going with? D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera. If we need one rebound at the end of the game, I bet DSR gets it. DSR is far and away the best rebounder on the team. Hopkins would probably foul someone trying to get that board, and Smith would only get it if it was in his general vicinity. But DSR would get it, because he'd know where to be and would find a way to come down with it.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2014 14:38:22 GMT -5
Josh has been much better about rebounding HIS area this year but if you need one rebound at the end of the game who are you going with? D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera. If we need one rebound at the end of the game, I bet DSR gets it. DSR is far and away the best rebounder on the team. Hopkins would probably foul someone trying to get that board, and Smith would only get it if it was in his general vicinity. But DSR would get it, because he'd know where to be and would find a way to come down with it. And you would lose… Dsr’s rebounding rate is bout half of Hopkins, hate is a powerful emotion...
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 15, 2014 14:38:48 GMT -5
Item by Item:
Yes, that never happens with Hopkins. Never. Anyway, it's netted with missed shots, so it's okay when you rebound your own miss.
On a team level, it's an incredibly important stat. But there's a mountain of evidence that defensive rebounding is a team effort and a large portion of defensive rebounds are discretionary -- a ball falls and only defenders are there and the team lets the big man get it. Hopkins is a good rebounder, but Josh has gotten just as many defensive rebounds as Hopkins -- 19.9% Dreb Rate versus Hopkins at 20.1%.
Hopkins is improved as a rebounder and he's definitely better than White and Copeland, but I suspect that our rebounding simply doesn't drop off much because we're only talking about when Josh is on the floor.
It's not by how far his misses his shots. It's two distinct things:
1. He's terrible at the rim. He takes shots that another player would score 75% of the time -- the opportunities with no one between the rim and him; the missed dunks. We only generate so many easy opportunities and he takes easy points and turns them into 25% opportunities.
2. Many of his turnovers are plays that never had a chance of scoring. If DSR takes a jumper, even a contested one, there's probably a 40% chance it goes in, then there's a chance of an O rebound and putback, etc. So while a miss occurs sometimes, that's the cost of the possibility of it scoring. So many of Hopkins mistakes have about a 10% chance of going in. When you compare him to DSR shooting 2-9, there's a difference. Hopkins never had a chance to shoot well. Because most of his missed shots and turnovers have no shot of turning out well.
Why are we focusing on stats like these? Conveniently ignoring turnovers? His assist rate is not bad, but it's no better than Aaron Bowen or LJ Peak. And the cost is often costly turnovers.
I've highlighted rebounding above.
I think coach has emphasized defense and rebounding not because they are the only things important for Hopkins but because he knows he's not improving anywhere else. It's kind of my point. The upside of White and Copeland is so much higher than Hopkins because they will actually contribute across the board.
In my original post, which started this, I didn't talk about cutting minutes and I didn't say anyone is doing a bad job. I just think if this team is going to be very good, we're going to have to focus on the players that can make it very good. And I'd bet on the freshmen for that.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 15, 2014 14:40:40 GMT -5
Josh has been much better about rebounding HIS area this year but if you need one rebound at the end of the game who are you going with? D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera. If we need one rebound at the end of the game, I bet DSR gets it. DSR is far and away the best rebounder on the team. Hopkins would probably foul someone trying to get that board, and Smith would only get it if it was in his general vicinity. But DSR would get it, because he'd know where to be and would find a way to come down with it. That's immediately what came to mind for me, too.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 15, 2014 14:43:51 GMT -5
D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera. If we need one rebound at the end of the game, I bet DSR gets it. DSR is far and away the best rebounder on the team. Hopkins would probably foul someone trying to get that board, and Smith would only get it if it was in his general vicinity. But DSR would get it, because he'd know where to be and would find a way to come down with it. And you would lose… Dsr’s rebounding rate is bout half of Hopkins, hate is a powerful emotion... A key driver between their rebounding differential is where they are on the court at the end of possession.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2014 14:54:22 GMT -5
Item by Item: Yes, that never happens with Hopkins. Never. Anyway, it's netted with missed shots, so it's okay when you rebound your own miss. On a team level, it's an incredibly important stat. But there's a mountain of evidence that defensive rebounding is a team effort and a large portion of defensive rebounds are discretionary -- a ball falls and only defenders are there and the team lets the big man get it. Hopkins is a good rebounder, but Josh has gotten just as many defensive rebounds as Hopkins -- 19.9% Dreb Rate versus Hopkins at 20.1%. Hopkins is improved as a rebounder and he's definitely better than White and Copeland, but I suspect that our rebounding simply doesn't drop off much because we're only talking about when Josh is on the floor. It's not by how far his misses his shots. It's two distinct things: 1. He's terrible at the rim. He takes shots that another player would score 75% of the time -- the opportunities with no one between the rim and him; the missed dunks. We only generate so many easy opportunities and he takes easy points and turns them into 25% opportunities. 2. Many of his turnovers are plays that never had a chance of scoring. If DSR takes a jumper, even a contested one, there's probably a 40% chance it goes in, then there's a chance of an O rebound and putback, etc. So while a miss occurs sometimes, that's the cost of the possibility of it scoring. So many of Hopkins mistakes have about a 10% chance of going in. When you compare him to DSR shooting 2-9, there's a difference. Hopkins never had a chance to shoot well. Because most of his missed shots and turnovers have no shot of turning out well. Why are we focusing on stats like these? Conveniently ignoring turnovers? His assist rate is not bad, but it's no better than Aaron Bowen or LJ Peak. And the cost is often costly turnovers. I've highlighted rebounding above. I think coach has emphasized defense and rebounding not because they are the only things important for Hopkins but because he knows he's not improving anywhere else. It's kind of my point. The upside of White and Copeland is so much higher than Hopkins because they will actually contribute across the board. In my original post, which started this, I didn't talk about cutting minutes and I didn't say anyone is doing a bad job. I just think if this team is going to be very good, we're going to have to focus on the players that can make it very good. And I'd bet on the freshmen for that. Well His assist to TO ratio is actually better than Ike and Pauls.. If you miss by 50 or it’s a rim out it still counts for 0 points.. You get no points for looking good.. lol Maybe you don’t like seeing it but it’s still only one miss and he takes 4 Shots a game.. 4 Defensive rebounding is an important stat, individual and group. Doubtful you can convince me otherwise If were going to be very good every member of the team must play up to their level and fulfill their role. Hopkins role is rebounding, defending and Blocking shots. Again were to Paul and Ike rate vs Hopkins in those areas?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2014 14:57:28 GMT -5
And you would lose… Dsr’s rebounding rate is bout half of Hopkins, hate is a powerful emotion... A key driver between their rebounding differential is where they are on the court at the end of possession. Ok Put DSR at PF and see what his numbers look like...
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 15, 2014 15:03:57 GMT -5
This is going in circles. You're asking the same questions despite reasonable answers, so I'm out -- there's no point in pursuing this. Apparently, if Kevin Durant were on this team, we should play Hopkins over him because he's doing his role. That's the essential gap here -- if you want to say that Hopkins is a better player than White we could probably have a discussion, but we're not going to get past this idea that it doesn't matter how much better the alternatives are on offense because Hopkins' performance in his role is the only thing that matters.
I think we're at an impasse. I'm pretty confident that Copeland and White are going to develop more and we're going to see my scenario play out.
EDIT: I don't mean any of this as a dig at you, Yaboy, I think we just look at it in different ways.
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EtomicB
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Post by EtomicB on Dec 15, 2014 15:04:21 GMT -5
I'm not so sure about this Yaboy, I don't get into advanced stats but the basic stats tell me they're pretty equal Josh has 35 defensive rebounds and 24 offensive rebounds in 198 minutes this season.. Mikael has 38 defensive rebounds and 24 offensive rebounds in 212 minutes this season.. That's a dead heat in my eyes... I'm not trying to diminish Hopkins at all, has a big role on this team and he's played that role pretty well this year.. However if he's playing 25+ a game the team won't reach its potential imo I thought before the year started that Ike would be the key/best freshman, as of now he has been outplayed by White and peak but he's still the key.. If he continues to improve over the BE season, this team will be dangerous come March.. What do your eyes tell you? How many out of area rebounds does Josh get and how many are off his own misses? Josh has been much better about rebounding HIS area this year but if you need one rebound at the end of the game who are you going with? And then since this isn’t a Josh vs Mike argument, tell me where Ike fits on that list? Ikes my guy but he doesn’t have the physicality right now to give us what Mike gives us in those 2 key areas. Furthermore if he plays well 3 will give him minutes so I don’t really get the argument... Honestly, If I have to choose, I'd choose Mikael but neither are outstanding and that's the point I'm trying to make.. I get that Ike isn't ready today to take many of Hopkins minutes but my hope is he will get/be ready before too long.. Again Hopkins will still see a lot of time on the court.. Dungeon Ball made the comment that Hop is trending toward being the teams best passer, it has to be noted that most of these assists are coming when he's at the 5 and the lane is clear.. Which line-ups do you like best or better yet which has the most potential as a crunch time play.. Josh, Hop, Peak, Jabril & DSR Josh, White, Peak, Jabril & DSR Hop, Copeland, White, Peak &, DSR Josh, Copeland, White, Peak &DSR Josh, Hop, White, Peak DSR Personally gimme #4 .. I just think the ceiling for the team is higher if Ike can eat into some of Hopkins time..
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rockhoya
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Post by rockhoya on Dec 15, 2014 15:32:24 GMT -5
Item by Item: Yes, that never happens with Hopkins. Never. Anyway, it's netted with missed shots, so it's okay when you rebound your own miss. On a team level, it's an incredibly important stat. But there's a mountain of evidence that defensive rebounding is a team effort and a large portion of defensive rebounds are discretionary -- a ball falls and only defenders are there and the team lets the big man get it. Hopkins is a good rebounder, but Josh has gotten just as many defensive rebounds as Hopkins -- 19.9% Dreb Rate versus Hopkins at 20.1%. Hopkins is improved as a rebounder and he's definitely better than White and Copeland, but I suspect that our rebounding simply doesn't drop off much because we're only talking about when Josh is on the floor. It's not by how far his misses his shots. It's two distinct things: 1. He's terrible at the rim. He takes shots that another player would score 75% of the time -- the opportunities with no one between the rim and him; the missed dunks. We only generate so many easy opportunities and he takes easy points and turns them into 25% opportunities. 2. Many of his turnovers are plays that never had a chance of scoring. If DSR takes a jumper, even a contested one, there's probably a 40% chance it goes in, then there's a chance of an O rebound and putback, etc. So while a miss occurs sometimes, that's the cost of the possibility of it scoring. So many of Hopkins mistakes have about a 10% chance of going in. When you compare him to DSR shooting 2-9, there's a difference. Hopkins never had a chance to shoot well. Because most of his missed shots and turnovers have no shot of turning out well. Why are we focusing on stats like these? Conveniently ignoring turnovers? His assist rate is not bad, but it's no better than Aaron Bowen or LJ Peak. And the cost is often costly turnovers. I've highlighted rebounding above. I think coach has emphasized defense and rebounding not because they are the only things important for Hopkins but because he knows he's not improving anywhere else. It's kind of my point. The upside of White and Copeland is so much higher than Hopkins because they will actually contribute across the board. In my original post, which started this, I didn't talk about cutting minutes and I didn't say anyone is doing a bad job. I just think if this team is going to be very good, we're going to have to focus on the players that can make it very good. And I'd bet on the freshmen for that. Well His assist to TO ratio is actually better than Ike and Pauls.. If you miss by 50 or it’s a rim out it still counts for 0 points.. You get no points for looking good.. lol Maybe you don’t like seeing it but it’s still only one miss and he takes 4 Shots a game.. 4 Defensive rebounding is an important stat, individual and group. Doubtful you can convince me otherwise If were going to be very good every member of the team must play up to their level and fulfill their role. Hopkins role is rebounding, defending and Blocking shots. Again were to Paul and Ike rate vs Hopkins in those areas? There's no point yahoo. If someone doesn't see how valuable Hop has been this year no amount of appropriate justification or turning things around is going to change their mind. Some folks won't be happy until Hop is glued to the bench taking less than a shot a game while Ike adds 50 pounds to his squat every week so he can magically compete in the post.
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Post by dungeon ball on Dec 15, 2014 15:33:19 GMT -5
Which line-ups do you like best or better yet which has the most potential as a crunch time play.. Josh, Hop, Peak, Jabril & DSR Josh, White, Peak, Jabril & DSR Hop, Copeland, White, Peak &, DSR Josh, Copeland, White, Peak &DSR Josh, Hop, White, Peak DSR Personally gimme #4 .. I just think the ceiling for the team is higher if Ike can eat into some of Hopkins time.. I think I agree with you. What I like about that lineup is that if a play breaks down, they're the most likely to make something out of nothing which is crucial in tight games. But that said, having Hopkins out there makes me a little less nervous at just running the offense. He seems to be the best at finding cutters right now. With the #4 lineup, I think you'd find DSR pressing too hard and that is when he's at his worst offensively. One thing I've noticed about the freshmen, is that they're still getting used to each other on the court in terms of spacing. Simple passes seem to be off because they still don't really know where the other one is supposed to be. Honestly, its just refreshing to be having a sane conversation about lineups this season.
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rockhoya
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Post by rockhoya on Dec 15, 2014 15:38:45 GMT -5
This is going in circles. You're asking the same questions despite reasonable answers, so I'm out -- there's no point in pursuing this. Apparently, if Kevin Durant were on this team, we should play Hopkins over him because he's doing his role. That's the essential gap here -- if you want to say that Hopkins is a better player than White we could probably have a discussion, but we're not going to get past this idea that it doesn't matter how much better the alternatives are on offense because Hopkins' performance in his role is the only thing that matters. I think we're at an impasse. I'm pretty confident that Copeland and White are going to develop more and we're going to see my scenario play out. EDIT: I don't mean any of this as a dig at you, Yaboy, I think we just look at it in different ways. I think you're missing the point. There are no alternatives to Hop, he is the only rim protector, the best post defender, and the only person other than DSR that has proven to rebound outside of his area. You bench Hop for a much less mature frosh at this point and we get eaten up by most front courts and Josh fouls out of many games trying to overcompensate. I get what you're trying to say, in an ideal world our more talented players would be able to step in right away but unfortunately that is not the case. None of the freshman front court players are physical enough to play in the post at this point, and they don't seem to be mentally tough enough yet, that's just the reality. Bashing Hop in hopes that it accelerates the growth of the freshman to the point that they might be at at the end of the year is just silly.....
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gujake
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Post by gujake on Dec 15, 2014 15:46:46 GMT -5
You know that saying "he gives us 5 fouls to use"? In a way, that is how I look at Hopkins, plus some added benefits obviously. But, in my mind, Hop should play aggressive, if he gets some early fouls - so what. That is the opportunity for the frosh to get in. Really like you as a poster NCHoya, but I see this line of thinking a lot and I think it's way off base. The primary reason that fouling is bad is NOT that the person might foul out. It's that it sends the other team to the free throw line. Shooting fouls are especially bad of course, but regular fouls are bad too because they move the other team closer to the bonus and the double bonus. The average college team scores around 1.4 points when shooting two free throws (.7 + .7). Compare that to the current 0.93 that we give up on an average possession. But it's even worse than just that 0.47 point difference for a few reasons: 1) they could get an offensive rebound on a missed free throw, extending the possession 2) each foul makes it more likely that future fouls will result in free throws due to the bonus 3) it's much harder to score on offensive possessions that follow free throws because there's no chance for a fast break 4) the player might foul out or the coach might reduce his minutes due to fear of him fouling out
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2014 15:55:16 GMT -5
What do your eyes tell you? How many out of area rebounds does Josh get and how many are off his own misses? Josh has been much better about rebounding HIS area this year but if you need one rebound at the end of the game who are you going with? And then since this isn’t a Josh vs Mike argument, tell me where Ike fits on that list? Ikes my guy but he doesn’t have the physicality right now to give us what Mike gives us in those 2 key areas. Furthermore if he plays well 3 will give him minutes so I don’t really get the argument... Honestly, If I have to choose, I'd choose Mikael but neither are outstanding and that's the point I'm trying to make.. I get that Ike isn't ready today to take many of Hopkins minutes but my hope is he will get/be ready before too long.. Again Hopkins will still see a lot of time on the court.. Dungeon Ball made the comment that Hop is trending toward being the teams best passer, it has to be noted that most of these assists are coming when he's at the 5 and the lane is clear.. Which line-ups do you like best or better yet which has the most potential as a crunch time play.. Josh, Hop, Peak, Jabril & DSR Josh, White, Peak, Jabril & DSR Hop, Copeland, White, Peak &, DSR Josh, Copeland, White, Peak &DSR Josh, Hop, White, Peak DSR Personally gimme #4 .. I just think the ceiling for the team is higher if Ike can eat into some of Hopkins time.. On offense yes but It really depends on what has happened in the game up to that point. You can’t coach the game in a vacuum so I’m not really looking at it like that. 3 doesn’t usually have Hopkins in on offensive sets late though it’s usually been option #2 The ceiling for this team is highest if Ike and Mike both play up to their full potential and fill their roles. As a coach you have many ways you can make that work, go offense defense late etc..
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EtomicB
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Post by EtomicB on Dec 15, 2014 16:11:45 GMT -5
This is going in circles. You're asking the same questions despite reasonable answers, so I'm out -- there's no point in pursuing this. Apparently, if Kevin Durant were on this team, we should play Hopkins over him because he's doing his role. That's the essential gap here -- if you want to say that Hopkins is a better player than White we could probably have a discussion, but we're not going to get past this idea that it doesn't matter how much better the alternatives are on offense because Hopkins' performance in his role is the only thing that matters. I think we're at an impasse. I'm pretty confident that Copeland and White are going to develop more and we're going to see my scenario play out. EDIT: I don't mean any of this as a dig at you, Yaboy, I think we just look at it in different ways. I think you're missing the point. There are no alternatives to Hop, he is the only rim protector, the best post defender, and the only person other than DSR that has proven to rebound outside of his area. You bench Hop for a much less mature frosh at this point and we get eaten up by most front courts and Josh fouls out of many games trying to overcompensate. I get what you're trying to say, in an ideal world our more talented players would be able to step in right away but unfortunately that is not the case. None of the freshman front court players are physical enough to play in the post at this point, and they don't seem to be mentally tough enough yet, that's just the reality. Bashing Hop in hopes that it accelerates the growth of the freshman to the point that they might be at at the end of the year is just silly..... You're missing the point Rock.. Alternative doesn't equal fully replacing.. Nobody is calling for Hop to get benched in anyway.. Ike more than likely won't be a better rebounder/defender than Hop this season but it's possible he can close that gap while at the same time making the gap much bigger than it already is on the offensive side of the ball. If he were to do that, it would mean a higher ceiling for the team this season.. This thread was started to discuss what we think should/could/will happen to make this a dangerous squad.. Do you really think the team can reach it's potential if Ike doesn't develop?
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Post by boubacarlaw on Dec 15, 2014 16:22:35 GMT -5
Put me in the camp that thinks Hopkins' defensive/rebounding value FAR outweighs his offensive inefficiencies. When the Hoyas have played their best this season its not been because of beautiful half court sets, but rather defense leading to offense. Hopkins is our best low post defender on the block. Are best weak side helper. Our best rim protecter. Our best puck n roll hedge defender. And our best rebounder. None of these things can be understated. I personally think our best frontcourt lineup is White, Hopkins, Smith...and that's by a wide margin.
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