I think it’s pretty weird to paint Rocket as acknowledging he’s not good at something as “selfish”. If he said “I’m not doing well at point guard”, who here would argue with him?
I don’t know him, I don’t know anything about him other than how he plays, but I get really queasy seeing people casually insult amateur athletes who are teens, especially in terms of their character.
How about the fact that he wanted to play the position because his dad said it would make him a pro, rather than the team needed it? 
Hey, I have a son who plays travel hoops and a son that plays travel baseball (and dabbles in hoops). I am not a stranger to parents micro-managing to their kid’s detriment.
I’d also just note that whether Rocket wanted to play point a few months ago or not, all evidence at his or our disposal suggests its not going well and I have a hard time with criticizing people for changing their mind in the face of new evidence. I also sense, Izzo wouldn’t be taking him off ball just because he wants to be taken off ball.
Yeah, I wouldn’t get too much on Rocket for wanting to play point. There’s maybe a theoretical world where Rocket pulled a Poole (in which case I’m fine with message board posters lightly criticizing him), but in this world, MSU has no guards and he needed to play point guard for the team be successful no matter how he felt.
I’m just kidding mostly. I just found that story hilarious when people told it. Rocket isn’t good at PG but MSU doesn’t have another PG who is any good. The situation isn’t great.
Yeah I think it’s fine if he wants to play off ball and makes that request. But not in the context of this team where they have no other viable PG subjects.
You know, it’s interesting: Although you make a good point about Watts and Henry, I’d say the root issue is Loyer and Bingham. When they were recruited, they were supposed to be the primary 1 and 5 by now. Since they aren’t, a bunch of guys are being asked to take on roles/burdens they’re ill-suited for.
Incidentally, in this light, it’s impressive what U-M has done to date (although we’ll see how things hold up as the schedule stiffens). Despite losing Simpson (by far the key distributor) and DDJ (the guy lined up to replace him) in one offseason, they still have a functional offense.
I think it’s funny to think that Tom f’ing Izzo is cow-toeing to the whims of a sophomore kid to what he thinks would be the detriment of his team. If Watts isn’t playing the point, whether its his desire or not, then Izzo wants to look at other options.
As we’ve said a ton here - this team doesn’t fit well. If Watts can’t play point, they can’t get their best 5 on the floor (in my mind - Watts, Henry, Brown, Hall, Hauser). Part of that is Watts’ failure, part of it is Henry’s struggles to both shoot (a team-wide epidemic seemingly) and take ball-handling pressure off him. Izzo also seems hell-bent upon tying Thomas Kithier to his ankles and allowing himself to be dragged underwater.
Henry by all accounts is a good kid, and is extremely physically talented. What’s clear is that this staff cannot get him to play successfully the way they want to play. I made the comment last night “if yelling at or symbolically punishing Aaron Henry was going to make him a start, he’d be one by now”. He really seems like a kid who just needs a different voice.
Kowtowing? Who knows.
I made the “selfish” joke because I heard some stories from folks inside the walls at MSU that he openly complained about his role and not getting shots early in the season last year. Those could be lies for all I know, but I believe them.
“Nebraska is a huge game for them”
That says everything.
I just took that as the usual Izzo blaming his players shtick,
I like bagging on MSU as much as the next guy, and I’ve definitely done it a few times during this recent stretch. I think we should consider this is a strange year with a whole other set of circumstances and stresses than your typical year. Some of these kids may not handles these stresses as well as others. Does that explain them getting blown out by NW and Minnesota? Probably not, but maybe it adds to it. Probably doesn’t help if Izzo’s locker room and film sessions are a “bloodbath” as Quinn put it after losses. Maybe Izzo’s hard coaching style doesn’t translate when these kids have all these other stresses. We’ll see if the team and Izzo respond in the coming weeks.
I like Akins a lot as a player and it sucks that he got spit out by the Emoni Bates hype machine…but he’s not really a true PG either. I do agree he’s in line for immediate playing time and I think a backcourt of Akins/Watts makes more sense than anything they can put together this year…but still not a definite solution.
Izzo has been aware of the shortcomings of this team from the jump; doesn’t mean he can fix them. His Centers aren’t good and neither is his 5’10” point guard. Watts is his best off guard. Henry is the nearest thing they have to a point anything. Not a good roster. They are a decent team. They need a couple good transfers in, coupled with a few transfers out
Izzo accommodated him, at least he did in his own account of how last night’s lineup materialized.
The interesting thing is that Izzo has probably had fewer transfers out of his program than just about any major coach/team out there. Watts and Henry were both thinking they were headed to the NBA after this season and clearly they have a long way to go. There is a TON of season left and I’m not counting out Izzo at all for turning this around or for some of the individual players to break out of their slumps. But you wonder what happens if their struggles as individuals and a team continue. Will they transfer? Go “pro” even if that means a 2nd round pick at best? Stick it out and hope things are better next year with the incoming talent?
Obviously Wagner hasn’t shown he’s a first round pick who is ready to leave early either, but at least he’s contributing in a lot of other ways. What amazes me about Watts and Henry isn’t that they are struggling with their new roles on offense - that was somewhat predictable based on losing Winston and not having an obvious replacement. I’m amazed that they look lost on defense. Tillman deserves to have his jersey put in the rafters right now for holding that defense together the last two seasons given how bad they look right now despite losing Winston (a bad defender) and having plenty of top-100 talent.
You do wonder what happens with all of their centers who are struggling to see playing time and then struggling when they do. How long are all of them going to stick around and how long does Izzo want them to?
When we getting the pod Dylan? I’m waiting to workout so I can listen to it lol
Not until later today hopefully.
To be fair Izzo is known to say all sorts of self-serving blame-deflecting things after losses.