Jon Brockman, Washington backcourt, Memphis
1. Wow, Jonathan Brockman. I came in late last night from a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with friends, and had Nets-Celtics and Carolina-Davidson ahead of Utah-Washington. I made it through two games before crashing, and watched the Utes and Huskies tonight.
Brockman's 31 points and 18 were impressive, but what really caught my eye was the way UW's junior power forward got them. I hadn't seen too much of Brockman in his first two years, but had heard and read that he was a scrappy bruiser who got his points through effort. In fact, during the game, ESPN's Doug Gottlieb referred to Brockman as "the West Coast version of Tyler Hansbrough."
Brockman showed a lot more offensive polish and versatility against Utah than I've ever seen from Hansbrough. True, he was being guarded by Luke Nevill, Utah's 7'1" center, so you'd expect him to be able to drive and spin to the basket, as he did on a number of occasions. But he also showed a willingness and a penchant for going right at Nevill and scoring over him -- despite giving up half a foot in height.
Brockman also showed range out to 17 feet, and not the kind of range we ascribe to all big men who can make a perimeter shot. Where most big guys basically take set shots from outside the key, Brockman has a legitimate jumper. He has good form, and he releases the ball at the top of this jump.
Why do I bring it up? Because right now he's a "tweener," a post player who will be undersized at the next level. If he can score over people half a foot taller than him -- both at the rim and from the perimeter -- he has a chance at the NBA.
2. Justin Demtmon isn't a point guard. He's been playing that role for two years at Washington, but it doesn't suit him. He's a shoot-first guard, and he doesn't appear to understand how to set up his teammates.
Case in point was a three-on-two break Wednesday night vs. Utah. It was a standard break, the kind that high school teams practice in drills every day. Instead of staying in the middle of the court, stopping near the foul line, and distributing to either side, Demtmon drove left -- into the cutting lane. The Utah defender was able to guard both Demtmon and the other UW player, negating the numbers advantage the Huskies had. Demtmon ended up throwing a two-foot pass to a suddenly trailing teammate, who had no time to stop or change directions and ended up crashing into the defender, getting called for the charge.
Fortunately for Washington, the player to whom Demtmon handed the ball off on that play was freshman Venoy Overton, a local product from Seattle brought in to run the point. Overton displayed a natural "feel" for the game that I've never seen from Demtmon, and being able to slide over to the 2 will allow Demtmon to make use of his considerable scoring talents. Once sharpshooter Ryan Appleby returns from a broken thumb minutes in the Washington backcourt will be harder to come by, but I think coach Lorenzo Romar would do well to use Overton at the point all year.
3. It's been one game, and I'm already sick of watching Memphis stand around and casually toss up three-pointers.
Early on in the Tigers' sluggish win over Oklahoma Thursday night, ESPN's Doris Burke relayed a conversation she'd had with coach John Calipari. The basic gist was that coach Cal had instructed his players -- if they found themselves up in the air without a good shot -- to simply throw the ball up on the glass and let Joey Dorsey and Memphis' bigs go and get it.
Could it be that that's his entire offensive strategy? Shoot early, shoot often, don't worry if you miss because we'll crash the offensive glass?
I don't think so, but I have to wonder what the point of having all these athletes -- and make no mistake, Memphis is stacked with them -- if they aren't ever going to go to the basket. The Tigers have a chance to win the national championship, but not if their offense consists of chucking like they did tonight.
Brockman's 31 points and 18 were impressive, but what really caught my eye was the way UW's junior power forward got them. I hadn't seen too much of Brockman in his first two years, but had heard and read that he was a scrappy bruiser who got his points through effort. In fact, during the game, ESPN's Doug Gottlieb referred to Brockman as "the West Coast version of Tyler Hansbrough."
Brockman showed a lot more offensive polish and versatility against Utah than I've ever seen from Hansbrough. True, he was being guarded by Luke Nevill, Utah's 7'1" center, so you'd expect him to be able to drive and spin to the basket, as he did on a number of occasions. But he also showed a willingness and a penchant for going right at Nevill and scoring over him -- despite giving up half a foot in height.
Brockman also showed range out to 17 feet, and not the kind of range we ascribe to all big men who can make a perimeter shot. Where most big guys basically take set shots from outside the key, Brockman has a legitimate jumper. He has good form, and he releases the ball at the top of this jump.
Why do I bring it up? Because right now he's a "tweener," a post player who will be undersized at the next level. If he can score over people half a foot taller than him -- both at the rim and from the perimeter -- he has a chance at the NBA.
2. Justin Demtmon isn't a point guard. He's been playing that role for two years at Washington, but it doesn't suit him. He's a shoot-first guard, and he doesn't appear to understand how to set up his teammates.
Case in point was a three-on-two break Wednesday night vs. Utah. It was a standard break, the kind that high school teams practice in drills every day. Instead of staying in the middle of the court, stopping near the foul line, and distributing to either side, Demtmon drove left -- into the cutting lane. The Utah defender was able to guard both Demtmon and the other UW player, negating the numbers advantage the Huskies had. Demtmon ended up throwing a two-foot pass to a suddenly trailing teammate, who had no time to stop or change directions and ended up crashing into the defender, getting called for the charge.
Fortunately for Washington, the player to whom Demtmon handed the ball off on that play was freshman Venoy Overton, a local product from Seattle brought in to run the point. Overton displayed a natural "feel" for the game that I've never seen from Demtmon, and being able to slide over to the 2 will allow Demtmon to make use of his considerable scoring talents. Once sharpshooter Ryan Appleby returns from a broken thumb minutes in the Washington backcourt will be harder to come by, but I think coach Lorenzo Romar would do well to use Overton at the point all year.
3. It's been one game, and I'm already sick of watching Memphis stand around and casually toss up three-pointers.
Early on in the Tigers' sluggish win over Oklahoma Thursday night, ESPN's Doris Burke relayed a conversation she'd had with coach John Calipari. The basic gist was that coach Cal had instructed his players -- if they found themselves up in the air without a good shot -- to simply throw the ball up on the glass and let Joey Dorsey and Memphis' bigs go and get it.
Could it be that that's his entire offensive strategy? Shoot early, shoot often, don't worry if you miss because we'll crash the offensive glass?
I don't think so, but I have to wonder what the point of having all these athletes -- and make no mistake, Memphis is stacked with them -- if they aren't ever going to go to the basket. The Tigers have a chance to win the national championship, but not if their offense consists of chucking like they did tonight.
posted by H.S. Slam, Ph.D at 12:21 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home