jwp91
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by jwp91 on Jan 22, 2019 17:47:48 GMT -5
His pass to Mac for the corner three was beautiful. Also, some quick no look feeds to Jessie underneath. Oop to LaBlanc. Future is in good hands. Patience is hard. He also found Mourning in the corner for a wide open 3 in the closing segment of the game. This kick out to the open corner 3 shooter is the big play he has not been making often this season. It as encouraging to see James nail this pass twice last night. As others have said, he needs to shoot some pull-up jumpers and floaters. He is simply too small and somewhat ground-bound to finish against Big East level size consistently. With time, study, and practice - he could potentially develop his finishing ability. But at his size, it is that 5-10 foot lane game that is going to have to be his go-to stuff when he gets into the paint. Yes.....or he just needs to figure out what adjustment is necessary to start getting his shot of effectively. Other guards his size are able to do it....but his game will have to adapt. |
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jwp91
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,379
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Post by jwp91 on Jan 22, 2019 17:49:58 GMT -5
Let’s pause and celebrate what James did against Creighton. After disastrous decision making in the prior game that led to his benching, he played well with a 11 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. That is amazing. His shooting percentage was still poor, but there were many fewer poor decisions on shot selection. He made some of his best plays as a Hoya last night. It was phenomenal improvement.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2019 12:31:42 GMT -5
Akinjo is going to fine, he is the least of the problems with the Hoyas at this point. I think he may have become a little predictable and other teams scouted him and knew that when he beat his man and got into the paint that he wanted to score at the rim. A game like last night where he mixed it up with drop offs, kick outs and a few pull ups will make defenders hesitate before they leave their man to come try to block his shot. A natural learning curve for a player who probably could always finish at the rim in high school and AAU. The more he, and all the players, diversify their games the better the team will be. I agree it's not the biggest problem (defense is), but as someone above wrote, Akinjo is 1-28 from two without the Providence game, and even with it he's at 12%. Given that Akinjo takes so many twos each game, these missed shots are essentially turnovers to the opposition (unless there's an offensive rebound). That's a pretty big problem when you're trying to win close games. On the issue of Akinjo not getting foul calls it's because he's getting stuffed so far away from the rim. McClung gets more calls because he actually gets to the rim. Wait.. Bad shots are essentially turnovers? Welcome to the darkside my friend.  What is the alternative here? |
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sleepy
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by sleepy on Jan 23, 2019 12:51:31 GMT -5
I agree it's not the biggest problem (defense is), but as someone above wrote, Akinjo is 1-28 from two without the Providence game, and even with it he's at 12%. Given that Akinjo takes so many twos each game, these missed shots are essentially turnovers to the opposition (unless there's an offensive rebound). That's a pretty big problem when you're trying to win close games. On the issue of Akinjo not getting foul calls it's because he's getting stuffed so far away from the rim. McClung gets more calls because he actually gets to the rim. Wait.. Bad shots are essentially turnovers? Welcome to the darkside my friend. What is the alternative here? . Not so sure Akinjo will be fine. He has serious ball handling defeciencys that I pointed out back when he signed a very weak left hand and the in ability to break his man down caused by both right hand and get a movement of the defender I think scouting as we have moved into the season has totally taken away his penetration and his size and inability to get to the basket has. become a big negative not sure your going to solve this this year or make great progress next,still think he can and will be a big contributor this year just needs to figure out and address what the opposition is taking away |
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guru
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by guru on Jan 23, 2019 13:06:01 GMT -5
I agree it's not the biggest problem (defense is), but as someone above wrote, Akinjo is 1-28 from two without the Providence game, and even with it he's at 12%. Given that Akinjo takes so many twos each game, these missed shots are essentially turnovers to the opposition (unless there's an offensive rebound). That's a pretty big problem when you're trying to win close games. On the issue of Akinjo not getting foul calls it's because he's getting stuffed so far away from the rim. McClung gets more calls because he actually gets to the rim. Wait.. Bad shots are essentially turnovers? Welcome to the darkside my friend. What is the alternative here? Missed shots are essentially turnovers? LOL. The lack of understanding and application of data here is mind boggling. For starters, when you take a shot you have a chance of scoring. |
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Bigs"R"Us
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by Bigs"R"Us on Jan 23, 2019 13:19:00 GMT -5
Akinjo has a tight handle and moves to blow by most defenders. Needs to be more unselfish and selective when to go. He distributed well last game.
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SDHoya
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Post by SDHoya on Jan 23, 2019 13:37:58 GMT -5
With the exception of a poor drive deep in desperation time at the end of the game, it seemed to me that Akinjo generally took good shots against Creighton, they just weren't falling. And his distribution was tremendous--by far his best pure-PG performance of the season.
Right now, it seems Akinjo's biggest flaw is that while he seems to be able to get into the lane whenever he wants, he is not yet strong or crafty enough to finish through traffic--so he gets blocked or caught underneath too often. He is clearly smart and a hard worker, so I see no reason why he won't clean up this aspect (and maybe get some pointers from Mac who is as good a finisher as we have had in years).
Once he is able to finish drives consistently, and assuming he continues to dish like he did against Creighton, he will be very difficult to guard.
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sleepy
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by sleepy on Jan 23, 2019 13:47:16 GMT -5
Akinjo has a tight handle and moves to blow by most defenders. Needs to be more unselfish and selective when to go. He distributed well last game. Whose he blowing by can't get to the basket please observe his weak left hand I'm still waiting for him to use it on latyup attempt let alone make it under any kind of pressure.really not trying to be negative just pointing out a few obvious flaws |
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Post by professorhoya on Jan 23, 2019 13:56:00 GMT -5
Wait.. Bad shots are essentially turnovers? Welcome to the darkside my friend. What is the alternative here? . Not so sure Akinjo will be fine. He has serious ball handling defeciencys that I pointed out back when he signed a very weak left hand and the in ability to break his man down caused by both right hand and get a movement of the defender I think scouting as we have moved into the season has totally taken away his penetration and his size and inability to get to the basket has. become a big negative not sure your going to solve this this year or make great progress next,still think he can and will be a big contributor this year just needs to figure out and address what the opposition is taking away Very solid observation. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2019 14:03:18 GMT -5
Wait.. Bad shots are essentially turnovers? Welcome to the darkside my friend. What is the alternative here? . Not so sure Akinjo will be fine. He has serious ball handling defeciencys that I pointed out back when he signed a very weak left hand and the in ability to break his man down caused by both right hand and get a movement of the defender I think scouting as we have moved into the season has totally taken away his penetration and his size and inability to get to the basket has. become a big negative not sure your going to solve this this year or make great progress next,still think he can and will be a big contributor this year just needs to figure out and address what the opposition is taking away I don't see any left hand deficiencies. I think he's pretty good going left or right and I can't think of a Freshman Guard who has played better than him in this program in a long time. Markel Starks looked completely lost his Freshman season and he ended up being pretty good. There's always going to be an adjustment period for Freshman when it comes to figuring out what you can and can't do at this level and they're not immune to slumps either. |
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Post by bornhoya on Jan 23, 2019 15:21:15 GMT -5
Hitting his pull-up jumpers or using a floater would really help
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wnyhoya
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
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Post by wnyhoya on Jan 23, 2019 19:15:01 GMT -5
. Not so sure Akinjo will be fine. He has serious ball handling defeciencys that I pointed out back when he signed a very weak left hand and the in ability to break his man down caused by both right hand and get a movement of the defender I think scouting as we have moved into the season has totally taken away his penetration and his size and inability to get to the basket has. become a big negative not sure your going to solve this this year or make great progress next,still think he can and will be a big contributor this year just needs to figure out and address what the opposition is taking away I don't see any left hand deficiencies. I think he's pretty good going left or right and I can't think of a Freshman Guard who has played better than him in this program in a long time. Markel Starks looked completely lost his Freshman season and he ended up being pretty good. There's always going to be an adjustment period for Freshman when it comes to figuring out what you can and can't do at this level and they're not immune to slumps either. I don’t see any left hand deficiencies either. Heck, I’d actually go as far to say that he prefers the ball in his left hand. He loves the half crossover with his left. I think part of his issue is actually not attacking when he gets a step or half step on a defender off of a screen or with his half crossover. Oftentimes he has a step just inside the 3 point line and he jabs out of it. Sometimes making one good, decisive move is better than dancing back and forth |
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seaweed
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by seaweed on Jan 23, 2019 20:25:18 GMT -5
What don’t people understand about his inability to finish with his left being a deficiency?
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Post by cgallstar02 on Jan 23, 2019 22:10:53 GMT -5
I would say his biggest problem is a lack of size and athleticism. He is shifty and crafty, but lacks explosion and lift, and as a result is really struggling with the bigger more athletic players in the Big East. He can still be a great player, just needs to focus more on setting up his teammates and knocking down open jumpers instead of going one on one all the time. Look how easily Mac is able to block his jump shots is this game of one on one. The blocks on Akinjo start around 1 minute in.
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jester
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Post by jester on Jan 23, 2019 22:16:03 GMT -5
I also noticed on a lot of his drives HE initiates the contact by the hoop, is thrown off balance - thus his defender isnt called for a foul and he can't convert. Mac does a better job of hanging, putting his defender in a position, then deciding on a layup strategy/angle.
Not sure he will ever be a finisher much less the way Mac is, but he needs to get less predictable plus pick his spots/use a floater. Once he adjusts more he will be more effective.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Jan 24, 2019 10:38:01 GMT -5
Missed shots are essentially turnovers? LOL. The lack of understanding and application of data here is mind boggling. For starters, when you take a shot you have a chance of scoring. I think you're taking this too literally. Obviously, taking a shot is better than a turnover. But, in instances when your shooting is absolutely terrible, it's not as different as you might think. This was specifically in reference to Akinjo and his two point shooting. In the Big East he's shooting 5-39 (12.8%), or 1-28 (3.6%) if you take out the Providence game. So yes, a shot (any shot) is clearly better than a turnover. But when you are shooting 12.8% from two, it isn't as far off as you'd think. To show you what I mean: - If you turn the ball over, you score 0 on the possession. - If you shoot 12.8% on twos, you score 0.256 per possession. Or, if you want to use the 1/28 shooting excluding Providence, that's 0.07 points per possession. So sure. Shooting 12.8% is better than a turnover to some small degree, but when one of your highest usage players is missing a shot 87.2% of the time that's particularly bad. (And yes, I know some percentage of that 87.2% you get an offensive rebound, so the analysis above isn't exact. The point is that shooting this bad is really awful and kills us, particularly in close games.) But, I do not disagree with your general statement that a shot is better than a turnover. Of course it is. |
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s4hoyas
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by s4hoyas on Jan 24, 2019 11:26:30 GMT -5
I'd like to see Mac and James flip flop occasionally...give James a break and maybe his perimeter shooting will get better as a result...also,
most alleyoops (to LeBlanc, Pickett, Kaleb, Mourning, etc.) come from the opposite wing and James can make that pass as well as penetrate and dish from that spot...minor "tweak" that could refresh batteries...
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madgesiq92
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,426
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Post by madgesiq92 on Jan 24, 2019 11:44:32 GMT -5
Missed shots are essentially turnovers? LOL. The lack of understanding and application of data here is mind boggling. For starters, when you take a shot you have a chance of scoring. I think you're taking this too literally. Obviously, taking a shot is better than a turnover. But, in instances when your shooting is absolutely terrible, it's not as different as you might think. This was specifically in reference to Akinjo and his two point shooting. In the Big East he's shooting 5-39 (12.8%), or 1-28 (3.6%) if you take out the Providence game. So yes, a shot (any shot) is clearly better than a turnover. But when you are shooting 12.8% from two, it isn't as far off as you'd think. To show you what I mean: - If you turn the ball over, you score 0 on the possession. - If you shoot 12.8% on twos, you score 0.256 per possession. Or, if you want to use the 1/28 shooting excluding Providence, that's 0.07 points per possession. So sure. Shooting 12.8% is better than a turnover to some small degree, but when one of your highest usage players is missing a shot 87.2% of the time that's particularly bad. (And yes, I know some percentage of that 87.2% you get an offensive rebound, so the analysis above isn't exact. The point is that shooting this bad is really awful and kills us, particularly in close games.) But, I do not disagree with your general statement that a shot is better than a turnover. Of course it is. I think one of the issues is that sometimes when Akinjo drives into the lane and misses a 2 or has it rejected, no one rotates up top and it leads to runouts -- at least 2 examples in last game. Not his fault at all, just failure by team to maintain proper court balance, and effectively turns that kind of miss into a transition bucket. I like the aggressiveness and it led to some very nice assists last game. |
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Bigs"R"Us
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,656
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Post by Bigs"R"Us on Jan 24, 2019 13:38:25 GMT -5
He needs to drive and dish to a big or kick it out for a corner three on occasion, so the help defender thinks twice before rotating over for a block. His man is not the one to block his shot, it’s always the rotating big. A floater and pull up need to be in the tool kit.
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hoyazeke
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,839
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Post by hoyazeke on Jan 24, 2019 13:43:35 GMT -5
Missed shots are essentially turnovers? LOL. The lack of understanding and application of data here is mind boggling. For starters, when you take a shot you have a chance of scoring. I think you're taking this too literally. Obviously, taking a shot is better than a turnover. But, in instances when your shooting is absolutely terrible, it's not as different as you might think. This was specifically in reference to Akinjo and his two point shooting. In the Big East he's shooting 5-39 (12.8%), or 1-28 (3.6%) if you take out the Providence game. So yes, a shot (any shot) is clearly better than a turnover. But when you are shooting 12.8% from two, it isn't as far off as you'd think. To show you what I mean: - If you turn the ball over, you score 0 on the possession. - If you shoot 12.8% on twos, you score 0.256 per possession. Or, if you want to use the 1/28 shooting excluding Providence, that's 0.07 points per possession. So sure. Shooting 12.8% is better than a turnover to some small degree, but when one of your highest usage players is missing a shot 87.2% of the time that's particularly bad. (And yes, I know some percentage of that 87.2% you get an offensive rebound, so the analysis above isn't exact. The point is that shooting this bad is really awful and kills us, particularly in close games.) But, I do not disagree with your general statement that a shot is better than a turnover. Of course it is. HS2003 do you really think that Akinjo is a 13% shooter? That's the question. Do you think that he is Big Nate or even Trey as a shooter? Personally I think Akinjo is a decent/good shooter that's in a slump....so if you agree with me, how do you suggest that he gets out of the slump? If you disagree, do you want to bench him or play 4 on 5? Because I hope you agree that we are better with Akinjo on the court and when he's on the court he has to be a threat to open the court for his teammates... |
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