Bo is just jealous. Besides Bo would look ridiculous in braids and extensions.
3 Likes
Dee Brown was my favorite Big 10 player of all time. I can 100% get behind the headband and braids look
Juwanās kept in shape. Remember Duncan talking about seeing him in the gym every day while the coaching search was going on.
I obviously have no idea what impresses a recruit but seems like heāll be much more hands-on and active during practices than your typical college basketball coach.
3 Likes
Iām intrigued by the defensive drill technique of having the defender grasp their own shirt with their inside arm while guarding. The idea is probably to drill into the player to keep that inside arm off of the ballhandler, so as to not pick up a cheap foul.
4 Likes
I saw that too. Iām wondering if itās easier to move when more weight is kept closer to the center of the body. Also, would it be easier to switch direction if you are able to shoot the close arm out in the new direction youāre moving to? (I havenāt tried it yet, but am looking forward to giving it a shot myself!)
Good catch!
Btw, a little bit of inside info here. Been told that the offense has not looked good so far. Theyāre trying to run a āNBA motion offenseā and the players donāt have the talent to execute it. Not as much ball screens as last year.
Thatās all I know.
2 Likes
I imagine the ball screens will come. The Heat used it a lot during games I watched.
Swear to god Brendan Quinn and Dylan just discusses yesterday that the team had literally not yet practiced offense, but devoted their first workouts to defense (could be why the ball-handlers in all those photos are walk-ons or Eli Brooks.
2 Likes
I wonāt lie the only practicing defense in the first 2 practices comment by Martelli was a bit eye brow raising to me. I understand you want to instill toughness but this team is going need a lot more work on offense.
Hard to imagine the offense improving from their first week of practice
3 Likes
I would expect any changes to offense or defense would look ugly in the first week. Shoot, sometimes Beileins teams looked rough for the first month or two of the season.
I very much look forward to the first offensive breakdowns by Dylan. Iām having a hard time thinking of NBA actions that are dependent on elite talent and couldnāt be run by a D1 team.
Possibly certain reads are not able to be made in time? In which case that could be as much a talent issue as a familiarity issue.
3 Likes
With a new coaching staff and different philosophy I expect some growing pains in the beginning. We will see how Juwan adjust game to game especially as the season unfolds. I just researched motion offense at the college level and the first team to pop up was Villanova.
Weāre talking about a team that had offensive issues last year and lost its top three scorers and is replacing a nationally renowned offensive guru with a first-year head coach. In the first week of practice.
Iād expect offensive struggles early on for this team regardless of what offense they run.
8 Likes
Exactly. Iād expect initial offensive struggles even with Beilein here. There are a lot of new players and new roles after losing the three leading scorers. They have time to learn and develop. Itās not even October yet.
We all watched the video from Spain last year 
Wasnāt pretty.
6 Likes
I am just curious how Juwan adjusts as the year goes on. Doesnāt seem like heās recruiting to a specific system from what I can tell. Other than going after more athletic, traditional 4s as opposed to strictly stretch 4s like JB did. And if heās not going to be recruiting to a specific system, heās gonna have to be able to adjust year to year depending on where the team strengths and weaknesses are. Not that every coach doesnāt have to do the same thing but coaches like JB recruited very closely to what aligned with the system.
Yeah, I brought that up when it was mentioned to me. Iām guessing it must have been day 3 of practice? Supremely confident in what Iāve been told though.
But yeah, not exactly shocking that the offense is bad to start. Less of an emphasis on PnR does concern me though. As Dylan has mentioned, the entire offense needs to be X 1/5 ball screens to be at itās most effective.
1 Like
Would you expect the offense to look good in Sept? Oct? Nov? I wouldnāt really, especially the first week of practice with a new system. What it looks like at this point is anyoneās guess. Just doesnāt seem very surprising to me.
1 Like