Looking at 13/14 stats you had 4 players shoot over 40% from 3. Walton, Lavert, Stauskas and Irvin according to ESPN stats. It shows Spike at just under 39%
Is it any wonder that many of those parts were interchangeable?
I wish the Pooleās would have been a bit more patient. Poole has it in him but I donāt think he was quite ready to play a Stauskas type role. X played well. X was probably the best option. I do suspect some of the tension between Poole and X would be more apparent next year if Poole had stayed. The dynamic created with the combo of X/ Poole seemed to be setting up for a future dillemma, if not already, then the dilemma would have manifested itself next year, as outlined by quite a few posters here. Part of me understands where the Pooleās are coming from. In the end though I trust Beileinās final judgment.
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Sure, from a fanās perspective. From a playerās perspective (and NBA GM) youāre looking to develop and expand your game.
With that being said, Jordan clearly struggled with shooting the ball in the 2nd half of the year (in open, step back, deep). But I think we all know he can shoot them.
In the end it seems to be a mutually beneficial decision between the team and the player. I doubt we will ever hear Beileinās true feelings or know the inside information, but at least we have some understanding of Pooleās thoughts (plus, if his dad isnāt just blowing smoke and some teams gave him a first round grade, then he should go!).
At first that was my conclusion, but then I thought more and realized that if X was off the floor and Poole was on, it probably meant Eli or DDJ were on too and they both shot even worse from three on the season than X did.
We knew shooting was a problem all season, but Iām only now seeing it from Poole and his dadās perspective of how much the lack of shooting ability from the entire roster outside of Iggy and Livers truly affected the team and JPās personal struggles with his role. There has never been a JB offense with so many non-shooters, and when he committed to Michigan, the Poole family probably expected him to have a multitude of opportunities to create as a playmaker surrounded by great shooting like Michigan teams of the past decade. I still think itās crazy to say āhe couldnāt improveā next season and I still believe he could have shot better from three overall tooā¦but it never made sense for this roster to fully unleash Poole in the āwolfā role, and I donāt blame him or his dad for wanting more and realizing he isnāt going to get that next year either.
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No doubt that team had much better shooters and spacing. There is legitimacy to the comments, I just think everything geared toward X is a bit unfounded.
If Stauskas-Levert-Walton-GRIII-Morgan are on the floor, then Stauskas presumably has Walton (41%) and GRIII (30.6%) in the corners. Poole would have X (30.8%) and Iggy (39%). Again, not much difference in your spacing in the corners between what Stauskas had and Poole had. The difference there is Charles vs Levert on the floor. So, not necessarily an X problem holding him back.
I guess does anyone see Xavier playing less minutes next year? He wonāt want to, but if DDJ improves and gives you a different spacing, do you explore it? or do you put your head down and play your captain 37 minutes a night
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No, I do not.
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I think the problem is, you donāt have to put a 30% shooter in the corner if heās a point guard. And that took ball screen creator reps away from Poole.
Youāre not taking GRIII out of the corner to have him run pick and roll, so the Walton vs. Stauskas decision was one of: ātheyāre both great shooters, letās put the more dynamic playmaker in ball screens and let him workā.
This year, Iggy was guaranteed to be a floor spacer for these situations, and the decision was: Well X canāt shoot and Poole can, so it makes more sense to have X on ball the majority of the game with two 40% shooters in the corner than it does Poole on ball with only one.
And all this is not to say I would have done anything differently than JBā¦but does Poole have more potential as a dynamic ball screen scorer than Simpson? I think yes, and I think itās fair to say he was never going to get handed the keys to that role next to X
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We all know Poole has a very high ceiling. Simply put, at Michigan he did not come close to that ceiling. That is not X or JBās fault. He simply didnāt produce at the level he was capable, and in the process hurt team chemistry and had a negative attitude. His family didnāt help the situation either.
Great kid. Gave Michigan basketball a great moment in NCAA Tourny history. Hope he matures in time to make it big and have a great NBA career!
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Thereās not really actually much evidence of that. At least the negative attitude. Chemistry was hurt just because he thought he should have a different role, which is common in basketball.
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The weirdest thing here is his Dad basically going public that he didnāt have the confidence that his son could figure out how to improve his offensive stats next season. Poole would be 20 years old going into the draft if he were to stay for his Junior season. Age matters, not the class youāre coming from.
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While I agree with Pooleās dad that Xās skill set and limitations lends itself to using him as the ball dominant player, he (Pooleās dad) is wrong in at least two material respects. First, Jordan was not an effective pick and roll player when we used him in that fashionāin the game at Wisconsin, for example, we handed him the keys to the offense (including the pick and roll aspect), and after a fast start (4-5 from the field), he was really bad (2-10 in the last 27 minutes, including 1-6 in the second half, taking terrible shots and grinding our offense to a halt). That wasnāt on X or Beileināindeed, Beilein encouraged guys to get the ball to X when he was open in the corner, and X to shoot itāit was on Jordan.Second, the notion that Jordanās effectiveness went down because he was getting double teamed is crazyāJordanās effectiveness went down because he took bad shots against his man, and because he didnāt take good advantage of the isolation opportunities he got in the offense, the same isolation opportunities heās going to get he makes the League, since no NBA team is going to make Jordan its primary, or even secondary, pick and roll guy.
Jordan can be a terrific player when he accepts his role and doesnāt force things. In his last AAU season, he was ball dominant with Mac Irvin Fire and he was terrible (27% from 3 over a 16 game AAU stretch). Thereafter, he went to La Lu, where he was a secondary guy, and was great. Hopefully, he (and his dad) ultimately recognize this and play accordingly. I wish him the bestāhe gave Michigan fans a lot of thrills, and a National championship game appearance while he was in Ann Arbor.
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To your point the best way to have Poole run the high PNR would have been to have Livers and Iggy in the corners. Not sure I saw much of that action.
I donāt disagree with any of your points. All aligned there for sure.
My train of thought is more in the opportunities Poole had, I donāt think he showed enough consistency. I donāt think it was because X couldnāt shoot at a high clip from 3 keeping Poole from flourishing.
In the more limited opportunities he did have in the ball screen game, (given as you called out, X dominated the ball more since it made sense) he was in similar circumstances as Stauskas, he just didnāt consistently make the right play. I think thatās part of why he didnāt get dialed up more, to which, is also why heās probably a second rounder.
All in all, I donāt think itās the offense or X dominating the ball that is keeping him from being a first rounder. I would assume the scouts see heās limited with the pieces and the offense. I think he would need to prove he can be consistent to bump into first round territory.
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Agreed re: the lack of patience shown by the Poole camp. As easily as you can imagine that future dilemma, I can imagine a scenario where X improves his jumper to the point where he has to be taken seriously by the defence, Poole improves his ballhandling and jumper to the point where more initial offence can be run through him, Poole becomes a much more connected defender, Michigan wins a B1G championship, and Poole is an easy 1st round pick. Thatās all based on years of watching players improve significantly under Beilein. Pretty easy to envision, really.
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I think that Cole bajema will have to step up from day one. I actually think thatās heās a 2 in our system and he has those skills for his size. I think we may lose all three. Iām hoping for peirce , Franz or Lester to be the replacement. I actually think we will be fine but itāll be a challenge to msu this year. On paper we still have a decent recordā¦ Letās hope Brooks, johns and castleton can make that leapā¦ NUNEZ is also key. Letās hope that Beilien can work his magic.
ya if you think you need more touches to be more productive as opposed to becoming more efficient and having slightly more touches that says a bit about confidence/mind set
consistency is a skill too, as much mental as physical
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Nunez will not excel in PnR game unless his handle/game has changed quite a bit from high school. Seems like a pure catch n shoot guy
Doesnāt Nunez seem like a 3? Maybe he can develop into a 2, but I think the main reason heās been looked upon as one is the composition of the rest of his freshman class.