Games of Interest - The NCAAs Second Week
Mar 31, 2021 15:27:00 GMT -5
LCPolo18 and rhw485 like this
Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 31, 2021 15:27:00 GMT -5
Well does it necessarily have to be a center who defends against the center that shoots threes? I've seen centers successfully check point guards out on the perimeter to keep them from driving too far into the paint and cutting down passing angles. How about this for a switch. How about we have the point guard or shooting guard check the center when it is obvious that the center is running to the three point line to shoot the three?!!! Eureka!
Otherwise you're basically suggesting a zone, which could absolutely work, we just haven't seen Ewing do it.
A center being able defend his own position against an opposing stretch 5 on the perimeter is just step one of many in terms of being defensively versatile enough in today's game. If he can't even do that consistently, there is no way you can ask him to do the same against a guard.
None of the 3 centers we had on the roster this past year could effectively defend against a stretch 5. If any of them could, especially Tim or Malcom, then you would have seen them on the floor far more than you did. Ewing wasn't hiding some magical unicorn on the bench that could have prevented us from getting exposed by opposing stretch 5s.
Until the personnel available to us drastically changes, putting two centers on the floor at the same time and asking either of them to try to defend a likely more mobile stretch 4, much less a guard, is putting them in a position to fail. Which is why as much as some would like for it to happen, it's not going to.