Rotation going forward.
- Thread starter DBM0828
- Start date
Its a bit alarming that a program of our stature does not have a serviceable second choice point guard. Given the importance of the position it would seem logical that a minimum of 2 options on the roster would be the objective at all times. Teams we have had in the past that lacked a true PG have shown how important that role is when they struggled against true PGs...arguably PG is THE most important role on the team. Putting RJ at PG will affect his game and I dont think that is the solution. As to how we adjust, remains to be seen. Conjecture is great for conversation though!
Cam needs to be the point guard. Having him at point guard keeps the ship rolling. Putting RJ at point changes the entire offense. RJ is a scorer. Cam is known to be a playmaker. This is his opportunity to show his full arsenal
Definitely gives us options. Also will give Goldwire some exposure to what he will face come March.
Offensively, this team doesn’t need a “true PG.”. Tre’s biggest influence is on D. RJ could run the team fine. For goodness sake, we scored 91 against the so called zone that we can’t handle.
Defense is the first place K will start. Giving up 95 to Syracuse is much more alarming than going 9-43 on threes IMO.
We don't have any options. And Goldwire is transferring .......and
Our best defense is to miss the plane
Lot of work to do, and glad "K" has a few days to get the team ready. Defense will and should be the main focus, and I will just take a stab at a rotation: Cam (if healthy) @ PG, with RJ, Alex, Zion, and Bolden. Just an opinion, but Cam has experience and I like RJ playing off the ball, it gets him more involved. He is at his best when he has the freedom to get in and around the basket. Bolden is just flat out playing better than Jav (who seems to be lost for some reason). I also just feel like Jack might be better coming off the bench, he seems to be more relaxed when he shoots. Alex is a much better shooter (though Jack is the rebounder) and ball handler. Alex must value the ball more, which will come with confidence.
Understand folks, I am not disagreeing with any of your choices, and I really don't care what the rotation is, I just want to win.
If we are to win Saturday, it will be because we played great defense!
Go Duke!
OFC
Understand folks, I am not disagreeing with any of your choices, and I really don't care what the rotation is, I just want to win.
If we are to win Saturday, it will be because we played great defense!
Go Duke!
OFC
No Tre had a big influence on both ends. He controlled the ball and hardly ever made mistakes. You’ll see how much closer games are when his 1 turnover a game turns into 6 extra turnovers. Scoring wise he didn’t make a big difference but he calmed us down and made the best decision almost every time. A true point guard is what Coach K loves to have. But I wasn’t saying Cam needs to be a true point guard. I’m saying cam needs to be the primary ball handler so everyone else can keep their same role. He is most comfortable with the ball in his hands. Bring in Alex and we add more shooting.
Defensively we will take a step back but I think Cam can guard point guards. His length will disrupt them a little. He won’t put as much pressure on the ball handler but they won’t just get passes off easily. Cam is the key right now.
I might be wrong because I don’t follow recruiting as closely as some others on the board and someone can correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t I hear/read somewhere that Cam played some point guard in high school? Like others have mentioned, he’s a good ball handler and he could be serviceable at point guard until Tre is able to return and like has also been mentioned, Cam at point guard would keep everyone in their natural positions/roles.
According to all of the scout takes they said his strength was his playmaking and on-ball ability. I saw a lot of T-Mac comps so I guess he has shown the ability to be a primary ball handler throughout the years
I do agree with Cam being the key.
Sure a true PG like Tre makes your team better. I think we all know that. Games may be closer but it won’t be turnovers. I’d bet it’ll be because we don’t have that defensive presence up front. We already saw it with Syracuse in a tiny sample size. The least efficient offense in the ACC put up 95. That’s a problem. The team only had 11 turnovers, below the season average of 13.6. That’s against the second best team in ACC play in turnover creation. We’ll see man.
There will be more turnovers for sure, but not enough to cost the team games.
Syracuse was throwing up crazy shots and making them. Plus Alex was continuously attacked by their guards. I still don’t know why we took 43 threes when Zion was unstoppable in the middle. He should’ve had 50 points.
Give Zion 5-10 more shots and we win easily. This team should never shoot more than 20 threes in a game. 43 threes is a head scratcher.
It was mind boggling how many threes we took. Mind boggling! Zion needs to touch the ball at the minimum once EVERYSINGLE PLAY in a tight game. I cannot believe we would go 4-5 possessions at a crack without him getting a look. Unreal.
Off I topic I realize- moving on
Off I topic I realize- moving on
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It felt like we took at least 15 of those 3’s in the last 2-3 minutes of regulation
Regarding sharing PG duty’s, I’m thinking you go with Cam and RJ as well. Cam played PG for most of HS and RJ has a really good handle with the ball. I think if Cam is shooting well, him playing PG could really get him a ton of open looks, as Tre had wide open 3s all the time that he passed on. Regarding going big, filling out our starting 5 with Zion, Jav, and Bolden is awfully big with our size at PG/SG.
I still would give White a shot at either starting or being the 6th man. Also think you have to seriously consider using Baker for his outside shooting if White continues to struggle as we need that stretch 4 to make our offense go.
Its not the 1st time not having to PG's has bitten us in the butt. Some times beyond K's control though.
Teams will let us shoot at will from 3 if we only convert 20% of the shots. we need to make more of those shots.
K has a lot of options and the team will grow as a result of the injury. So it could be a long term positive.
K has a lot of options and the team will grow as a result of the injury. So it could be a long term positive.
The defense will be better than against Syracuse just getting Cam back. Losing him and Tre was just too much on defense. As far as the threes, I think we just ran out of gas in the second half. There was no movement on offense. We would just pass around the perimeter and then shoot a three because it was easy and we were tired. That also probably contributed to missing so many as well.
He probably should have had 60. They could do nothing with him, he would’ve fouled out half of their interior and Duke would’ve put up 100 easily. Would’ve taken pressure off of the shooters too.
We really need Goldwire to be more at this time to be just adequate. It's a great opportunityfor him. I know it's asking a lot bit Coach saw something in as a high scool players that caused Duke to recruit him. I don't think Coach K recruits to be roster stuffers. And that includes Robinson. He can get walk ons for that. He wants all recruits to contribute. The whole team needs to step it up a notch or two. OFC
Honestly I would start Goldwire at PG. We still have Cam, RJ, and Zion out there to do the scoring the first 4 minutes of the game. We don't need Alex's scoring. I like Goldwire's on-ball defense more than any of the other options.
I also like being able to bring Jack and Alex off the bench. Jack for toughness and rebounding, Alex for scoring.
I also like being able to bring Jack and Alex off the bench. Jack for toughness and rebounding, Alex for scoring.
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I would like to see how he could do. It's not like the other starters are just average. 3 of them are going to be lottery picks. The thing we need to do is make UVA play our game. Easier said than done because it seems everyone still gets caught in the trap except the team that figured it out to take them out in round one of the 2018 tourney. You think Coach K and staff have reviewed that game, saw what happened and shared with team. I do know UVA has looked at the tape and saw what went on or maybe Coach K has already figured it out. The key is going to be execute the plan.OFC
Alex O'Connell/Kyle Guy
Cam Reddish/Ty Jerome
RJ Barrett/ De'Andre Hunter
Zion Williamson/ Mamadi Diakite
Marques Bolden/Jack Salt
That will be the starters and match ups on Saturday. At any point AOC or Goldwire start to guard Ty Jerome, we will be in trouble. He is their "Tre Jones". Minus foul trouble etc... there is not a match up i'd give to UVA.
Oh and a floor slap by AOC!
Cam Reddish/Ty Jerome
RJ Barrett/ De'Andre Hunter
Zion Williamson/ Mamadi Diakite
Marques Bolden/Jack Salt
That will be the starters and match ups on Saturday. At any point AOC or Goldwire start to guard Ty Jerome, we will be in trouble. He is their "Tre Jones". Minus foul trouble etc... there is not a match up i'd give to UVA.
Oh and a floor slap by AOC!
I don't think Goldwire is good enough on D to make up for his complete lack of O at the moment. He can steal 5-7 minutes. If we need him longer than that, we're probably in trouble. AOC isn't great on D, but hopefully he can at least make UVA guard him to create some space for the drivers.
But that’s just it, we don’t need him for anything other than a breather and if we are in dire foul trouble, to me nothing changes. I think some see the PG next to his name on the roster and assume he has to automatically play more. To me his position wouldn’t change at all, it’s the other 7 guys that have to step up. And K has to decide how he wants to structure his game plan- will it be RJ or Cam facilitating? Is it going to be Zion even?
Totally agree. I was responding to people who think Goldwire will get the bulk of Tre's minutes. I think we'll most likely see Cam/RJ/Zion get a little less bench time and the extra minutes go to whoever is playing better out of White/AOC. We need one of those guys to make some shots against UVA's D. I'm also interested to see if we try to steal a few minutes before TV timeouts or the half with both bigs on the floor and some zone although the offense would really suffer here, especially against UVA unless we get some offensive boards.
We have got to clean up the defensive glass and Jav and Bolden have to stop fouling (Jav more so).
Both Javin and Jack have not been good the last two games. Without either of them playing better this weekend we’ll be in trouble.
We can't play the same style of defense without Tre. Frankly, I have no idea why we had AOC trying to pressure the ball 30 feet away from the basket against Syracuse.
UVA doesn't turn the ball over anyway, so I really hope we scale the defensive pressure back some. Keep them in front of us and force them to make contested jumpers.
UVA doesn't turn the ball over anyway, so I really hope we scale the defensive pressure back some. Keep them in front of us and force them to make contested jumpers.
Agree. Maybe more like we played 2015 during the tournament. We will get abused playing d too far out