SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Mar 19, 2024 10:10:12 GMT -5
Someone did a great post on Fielder's defensive effectiveness in the post, and while he could get skewered when pulled out to the perimeter, his size clearly was more effective than Cook.
Pair that with a guy who is an outside threat, and I think his potential to play a stretch five (or four) is off the charts. You can absolutely see him being a real problem for teams -- both making them vacate the lane and then being able to punish them if they go small.
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hoyaboya
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Post by hoyaboya on Mar 19, 2024 10:17:36 GMT -5
Reminds me of a young Dirk Nowitzki - needs to get 25 minutes/game+ next season. Should be the highest paid NIL guy of our returnees.
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EtomicB
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Post by EtomicB on Mar 19, 2024 10:20:40 GMT -5
He's good for 2 threes every game right now. In the final 15 games, Fielder hit 8 3PFGs total. So, he's not there quite yet. He did shoot 40% for the year, so if he can get the volume up and maintain the same efficiency, it will really open up his game. Why go back 15 games? He hit six of those in the last 4 games in only 11 attempts.
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jwp91
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Post by jwp91 on Mar 19, 2024 10:21:46 GMT -5
Someone did a great post on Fielder's defensive effectiveness in the post, and while he could get skewered when pulled out to the perimeter, his size clearly was more effective than Cook. Pair that with a guy who is an outside threat, and I think his potential to play a stretch five (or four) is off the charts. You can absolutely see him being a real problem for teams -- both making them vacate the lane and then being able to punish them if they go small. Agree. He is a mis-match nightmare - that can either go for or against us. We need to game plan to figure out how to best hide his weakenesses and exploit his strengths.
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EtomicB
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Post by EtomicB on Mar 19, 2024 10:24:42 GMT -5
Someone did a great post on Fielder's defensive effectiveness in the post, and while he could get skewered when pulled out to the perimeter, his size clearly was more effective than Cook. Pair that with a guy who is an outside threat, and I think his potential to play a stretch five (or four) is off the charts. You can absolutely see him being a real problem for teams -- both making them vacate the lane and then being able to punish them if they go small. Agree. He is a mis-match nightmare - that can either go for or against us. We need to game plan to figure out how to best hide his weakenesses and exploit his strengths. Maybe all he needs is to get more reps, he was a true frosh this year. Experience is his biggest weakness right now
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Post by Ranch Dressing on Mar 19, 2024 10:27:38 GMT -5
In the final 15 games, Fielder hit 8 3PFGs total. So, he's not there quite yet. He did shoot 40% for the year, so if he can get the volume up and maintain the same efficiency, it will really open up his game. Why go back 15 games? He hit six of those in the last 4 games in only 11 attempts. Even if you cherry pick a very small sample size, that's still not 2 per game, which is what I am saying would be a great developmental step forward for next year.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Mar 19, 2024 10:28:15 GMT -5
Someone did a great post on Fielder's defensive effectiveness in the post, and while he could get skewered when pulled out to the perimeter, his size clearly was more effective than Cook. Pair that with a guy who is an outside threat, and I think his potential to play a stretch five (or four) is off the charts. You can absolutely see him being a real problem for teams -- both making them vacate the lane and then being able to punish them if they go small. Agree. He is a mis-match nightmare - that can either go for or against us. We need to game plan to figure out how to best hide his weakenesses and exploit his strengths. So much will depend on whether he can improve his defense when someone takes him to the perimeter. There's always going to be teams that can't exploit that at the five, but for the ones who can, it's tough if he doesn't take a step forward. And if he really improves it to where he can play the four reliably, that changes a TON of what we can do. If it was partially injury driven, then that's already a step forward with health. The other thing is just him really developing both sides of the offense. With him, being able to consistently punish the mismatch is huge. If they go small, he has to be able to just score at will on smaller guys. And big, just continuing at 40% will be pretty good -- enough to pull them out of the lane. But we see a lot of these stretch guys who can't do the former, and a talented, athletic smaller guy just nullifies them.
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EtomicB
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Post by EtomicB on Mar 19, 2024 10:55:51 GMT -5
Why go back 15 games? He hit six of those in the last 4 games in only 11 attempts. Even if you cherry pick a very small sample size, that's still not 2 per game, which is what I am saying would be a great developmental step forward for next year. But it's 1.5 which is closer than the .5 you referenced by going back 15 games. I'm definitely biased about him but I thought his end of then year performance was very encouraging.
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jwp91
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Post by jwp91 on Mar 19, 2024 10:59:49 GMT -5
Agree. He is a mis-match nightmare - that can either go for or against us. We need to game plan to figure out how to best hide his weakenesses and exploit his strengths. Maybe all he needs is to get more reps, he was a true frosh this year. Experience is his biggest weakness right now Reps will help, but the statement that "experience is his biggest weakness right now" does not ring true. Strength, lateral quickness and comfort/confidence with the ball around/under the rim are his biggest weaknesses. Regarding the last point, how many times did he get to the rim only to miss? Far too many. He needs to be automatic from there....but experience will certainly help. In my opinion, a lot of that rim work happens in practice. Hopefully, the lack of lateral quickness we observed was exacerbated by his knee tedonitus. With that resolved, hopefully, the quickness improves.
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Post by Ranch Dressing on Mar 19, 2024 11:31:17 GMT -5
Even if you cherry pick a very small sample size, that's still not 2 per game, which is what I am saying would be a great developmental step forward for next year. But it's 1.5 which is closer than the .5 you referenced by going back 15 games. I'm definitely biased about him but I thought his end of then year performance was very encouraging. Definitely encouraging. One thing we can agree on, we'll both be happy if he can average 2-5 3PFG per game next year. It will be a big step forward and do wonders for his game and our offense.
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Mar 19, 2024 11:36:55 GMT -5
Is there any other contender for most improved player? Unfortunately, a low bar, but he developed nicely.
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Post by professorhoya on Mar 19, 2024 11:42:34 GMT -5
He’s essentially a much more athletic and aggressive version of Karaban. But the key is he has to make the leap in 3pt shooting like Karaban has volume wise.
It also helps Karaban defensively that he has an elite rim protector like Kliganan. That’s what we really need an eraser at the 3 or 4 or 5. It’s what Benedict Akok would have provided from the 4-5 spot. M Diarra provides that same rim protection to complement the big boy DJ Burns at NC state.
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EtomicB
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Post by EtomicB on Mar 19, 2024 12:14:41 GMT -5
Maybe all he needs is to get more reps, he was a true frosh this year. Experience is his biggest weakness right now Reps will help, but the statement that "experience is his biggest weakness right now" does not ring true. Strength, lateral quickness and comfort/confidence with the ball around/under the rim are his biggest weaknesses. Regarding the last point, how many times did he get to the rim only to miss? Far too many. He needs to be automatic from there....but experience will certainly help. In my opinion, a lot of that rim work happens in practice. Hopefully, the lack of lateral quickness we observed was exacerbated by his knee tedonitus. With that resolved, hopefully, the quickness improves. I agree with you on the physical aspects but nothing beats game reps for bigs IMHO...
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DallasHoya
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Post by DallasHoya on Mar 19, 2024 14:12:13 GMT -5
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hoyas315
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Post by hoyas315 on Mar 19, 2024 14:17:03 GMT -5
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saxagael
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Post by saxagael on Mar 19, 2024 14:21:49 GMT -5
Someone did a great post on Fielder's defensive effectiveness in the post, and while he could get skewered when pulled out to the perimeter, his size clearly was more effective than Cook. Pair that with a guy who is an outside threat, and I think his potential to play a stretch five (or four) is off the charts. You can absolutely see him being a real problem for teams -- both making them vacate the lane and then being able to punish them if they go small. Agree. He is a mis-match nightmare - that can either go for or against us. We need to game plan to figure out how to best hide his weakenesses and exploit his strengths. Hopefully his knees are fully better next season. Cooley mentioned a few times the limitations his knee pain had, but said the last two games hiis knew were finally improving and lateral movement was clearly better. But, seeing Sorber's game, which is very similar and perhaps better in the middle and paired with solid outside shooting and sitting behind the 3 line and driving to the basket, now pairing Fielder and Sorber (a little taller) with solid stretch capability, things could be crazy fun. I'm really looking forward to Fielder's play next year. It was impressive to see his body defelopment this season during the season with a (guesing) easy 15 pounds of muscle and not messing up his shot (really hard to do that in general, let alone in season) and if he can add another 10 to 15 of good weight over summer on good knees. I can't wait.
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Mar 20, 2024 0:39:59 GMT -5
Small sample size or not he ended up shooting 40% from the three as a freshman. How many guys have done that as Hoyas in their first year?
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Mar 20, 2024 1:05:45 GMT -5
I hope this all happens. I am not a full believer. He needs to add a lot of strength to hold his position in the paint as of 5. He is going to mature as he ages so that could happen. He needs to add some lateral quickness to be effective as a 4. That could happen too with some work but he is pretty fit so it is not like he isn't already working. He is a tweener. I trust Cooley can deploy him successfully and hide his shortcomings. He shouldn’t be used as a five unless the Hoyas are going small or there is foul trouble. I have always seen him as a four, he came out of high school largely considered as a four by some sites. Going into this season he admitted that perimeter defense is where he had to make his most improvement so he knows the deal. But to be honest he is not going to be some lock down defender in college at the four spot when you consider that other teams will often have fours who stand 6’7 or less. But who cares? He will make up for it on offense. Guys that height who can shoot from the three like him don’t grow on trees. When you include his ability to put the ball on the floor and drive you have a future stud on that side of the ball. In high school he demonstrated fine footwork on post ups so I know he has that potential within him. It comes down to adding more strength as has been discussed, but also adding more confidence and experience. Guys like him used to be given time to develop into stars over years, now we want these dudes to be studs out of the gate. And anyone who had the courage to watch to the end of that debacle of a home game against Marquette would have seen an example of the explosiveness Fielder possesses. That bodes well for his future. My controversial take is that if I could only pick one Hoya who played this season (so McKenna doesn’t count) to return to suit up alongside a completely different roster of players, I would probably have to go with Fielder. I like some of those other guys but Fielder’s upside is just too good to pass up imo.
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on Mar 20, 2024 5:32:31 GMT -5
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Mar 20, 2024 7:43:56 GMT -5
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