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Friday, February 17, 2006
Problems at point linger
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just finished looking at some numbers, and I’ve come up with these conclusions:
Tech’s two biggest problems are turnovers by players other than point guards, and the failure of point guards to get the Jackets efficiently into their offense or extract them from trouble when other teams’ pressure.
Point guards Zam Fredrick (89 assists, 80 turnovers) and Mario West (39 assists, 32 turnovers), and freshman reserve D’Andre Bell (30 assists, 29 turnovers) are the only players among the top nine with more assists than turnovers.
The other six have 155 assists and 247 turnovers.
That’s scary, although I’m not saying Fredrick and West are wizards at taking care of the ball.
As for getting into the offense, Tech has players who can score, but they have to get the ball in their spots. Morrow can obviously shoot, and so can Clinch. Dickey’s very good in the paint, and Jeremis Smith is the requisite garbage man.
As Paul Hewitt said after losing 80-79 to Florida State:
“I keep kicking myself, saying, ‘What am I not doing to get these guys to understand how talented they are?’ What you saw tonight in stretches was what this team is capable of. We got guys who can shoot it, guys who can post it. Look at rebounds; we out-rebounded them 37-28. This is the best rebounding team I’ve coached since coming to Georgia Tech.
“This team is diverse offensively. Lewis Clinch is a good freshman who can score. Morrow may be the best shooter we ever had. Ra’Sean’s the best back-to-the-basket scorer with the exception of Chris Bosh. But again, that’s why I keep coming back to myself … I’m not being phony … we have not done a good job with this team. We have not gotten them to understand to be fundamentally sound every possession of the game.”
And as Hewitt said to me yesterday about point guards:
“There are times when point guards are off the ball, and [the defense] sets up a trap, they’ve got to go back and get it instead of running away from it. That’s something an experienced point guard understands.
“He’s not like, ‘OK, we’ve broken the pressure, I’m not going to leave it to my power forward, or leave it to our two guard to get us into the offense. I’m going to go get the ball back, and set it up … ’ as opposed to standing and watching. You’ve got to be traffic cop.”
Maryland’s lost five of six since beating Tech in Atlanta Jan. 25. Who knows?
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