I know it’s been tough going , but I’m going to make the prediction he turns the corner soon. He’s not missing badly. Dusty needs to draw something up to get him to the line somehow. Or some type of easy looks so be finds his offense.
I noticed on a few replays of games that he has a chances to create on the second unit. He gets a defender off balance and he’s not pulling the trigger or following through to make them pay or get the defense rotating.
I think he is going to be a huge swing player here. If he gets his confidence and starts to find his rhythm I think our concerns when Tre is out go down significantly. He has the ability to create shots off the bounce.
I think you call his number a lot after the Oklahoma game and before big ten play starts in those two games. Get him seeing the ball go through the net and looking to score on that second unit.
I get that vibe on his passing more so than his three balls. With his dribbling it’s tough to say. He’s had a handful of good takes to the rim the last 5 games and he got blocked twice on good d and had a few just not go down. I was pleased to see that nice finish yesterday.
He also seems like he could draw contact and get to the line more. He has decent body control, handle, quickness, and he has some shake and bake too. He appears to understand how to change speeds too , which can help him create down the line.
He needs to see a couple go in. I feel like when that happens he’s going to flip quick. I also feel like teams at this point dont respect his offense, so his ability to create for others isn’t really there since they aren’t helping off . If he can show he’s a threat , it will be a huge boost to spacing and you’ll start to see him get 3-4 dimes a game like at North Texas. Guys cutting off him once he gets in the lane etc ,
Long story short, I think Sam and him are going to come on strong in Big ten play at some point and give us a reliable top 8
I’m less sanguine about his handle, but I think he’ll improve through acclimation and hard work. He was hitting threes in earlier games so it’s in there, and he has had some decent takes in the paint.
I’m betting the staff is working on him in practice, knowing that the team needs all the scoring it can get. The guy I keep thinking of is DeVante’ and the runway he needed to get up to speed. Once he took flight it was pretty great…
Defense certainly is his strength but he’s still way better offense than we’ve seen.
He’s was a pretty decent creator at NTU whenever I saw them. He could create nice shots and angles for others and get in the lane. His handle, shooting, and vision is far better than we’ve seen.
Idk, I’m not giving up on him being a great defender and solid offensive contributor going forward. He should be a nice six man. No reason he can’t play great d and avg 8 and 3.5 dimes or so off the bench.
FWIW, 3.5 assists per game for a season would place him 53rd in Michigan history, according to the Bentley. Tied with Demetrius Calip, Dion Harris, and: Danny Wolf.
I had a lengthy rebuttal, but part of it was based on the fact that I thought i read he averaged 4.9 assists a game last year so I deleted it all and will promptly take back that prediction.
With the pace they play it could skew things in his favor to surpass what he’s produced so far (if he turns the corner on his shot making and confidence on offense) but I doubt he’s matching what he pretty much did last year off the bench here , I agree.
I was pretty certain he averaged 12.5ish and 4.9. I stand corrected. I still liked some of his passing ability at NTU though and expect him to be useful at some point here on offense giving our bench some more oomph.
yeah, I meant to look up what he averaged last year because I figured it must’ve been a high number for you to say that, but then the meeting I’d been 100% ignoring to gather the data ended and I had to shut my computer
Yea it was 3.7 last year. Not sure why I keep thinking he averaged 4.9 , cause I think I did this a few months back when he first signed too while I was posting and caught myself and deleted it.