So, off season topic.. I thought it would be interesting to talk about the key guys on the roster, where you hope to see them improve in the offseason, and how optimistic you are about that.
So, I will put out Tyler Davis to start.
1. Continue conditioning improvement/ athletic development. We shouldn't underestimate how far guys can come physically during their college careers. Even a guy like Jalen Jones said he increased his vertical leap by 6 inches during his time at A&M. Tyler is never going to jump out of the gym, but every extra inch he adds to his vertical makes a big difference for defensive rebounding and for finishing at the rim when he doesn't have great position. Also his conditioning needs to continue to improve and he is a very hard worker so I am sure it will.
2. Free throw shooting. Tyler has the stroke to be a very good free throw shooter and obviously he gets to the line a lot so this is very important. He improved from 63% to 69% last year. I think he can get up to 75% this year. That is worth half a point per game, which is a lot.
3. Three point shooting- Okay, I know a lot of you are going to disagree with this. But I think Tyler can become a solid three point shooter and he needs to be able to shoot the three if he is ever going to make lots of money playing basketball. What I have in mind here are guys like Al Horford and Boogie Cousins. Horford didn't make a single three pointer his entire career at Florida. Now he shoots 3.6 per game at a decent rate. Boogie Cousins basically didn't shoot any threes his first four years in the league now shoots over 5 per game.
Obviously we don't need or want Tyler shooting that many. But I think he is capable. Those guys had the luxury of developing that shot 4+ years into the pro careers, but it will add 5 years to the end of their careers (think Sam Perkins). Tyler will need to develop that shot earlier in his career if he is going to break through.
What does it mean for the team? I don't want him shooting more than 1-2 max per game and certainly only when he has wide open, straight away looks. But when he can do that we can space the floor better and make better use of Robert Williams. They put their biggest guy on Tyler, so bring him to the top of the key and let him make the entry pass to Robert against an undersized and over matched defender. Also you can do pick and pop with JJ or Admon with a lob option to Robert Williams. Imagine how beautiful that could be if executed properly.
He started taking a few more mid range jumpers late in the season and looked pretty good on them. Hit a couple of 17 footers or so. If you can make a 17 footer, you should be taking a step back and shooting the three.
What do you think?
So, I will put out Tyler Davis to start.
1. Continue conditioning improvement/ athletic development. We shouldn't underestimate how far guys can come physically during their college careers. Even a guy like Jalen Jones said he increased his vertical leap by 6 inches during his time at A&M. Tyler is never going to jump out of the gym, but every extra inch he adds to his vertical makes a big difference for defensive rebounding and for finishing at the rim when he doesn't have great position. Also his conditioning needs to continue to improve and he is a very hard worker so I am sure it will.
2. Free throw shooting. Tyler has the stroke to be a very good free throw shooter and obviously he gets to the line a lot so this is very important. He improved from 63% to 69% last year. I think he can get up to 75% this year. That is worth half a point per game, which is a lot.
3. Three point shooting- Okay, I know a lot of you are going to disagree with this. But I think Tyler can become a solid three point shooter and he needs to be able to shoot the three if he is ever going to make lots of money playing basketball. What I have in mind here are guys like Al Horford and Boogie Cousins. Horford didn't make a single three pointer his entire career at Florida. Now he shoots 3.6 per game at a decent rate. Boogie Cousins basically didn't shoot any threes his first four years in the league now shoots over 5 per game.
Obviously we don't need or want Tyler shooting that many. But I think he is capable. Those guys had the luxury of developing that shot 4+ years into the pro careers, but it will add 5 years to the end of their careers (think Sam Perkins). Tyler will need to develop that shot earlier in his career if he is going to break through.
What does it mean for the team? I don't want him shooting more than 1-2 max per game and certainly only when he has wide open, straight away looks. But when he can do that we can space the floor better and make better use of Robert Williams. They put their biggest guy on Tyler, so bring him to the top of the key and let him make the entry pass to Robert against an undersized and over matched defender. Also you can do pick and pop with JJ or Admon with a lob option to Robert Williams. Imagine how beautiful that could be if executed properly.
He started taking a few more mid range jumpers late in the season and looked pretty good on them. Hit a couple of 17 footers or so. If you can make a 17 footer, you should be taking a step back and shooting the three.
What do you think?