Stanimal and I were discussing yesterday what we think each returning player needs to work on over the summer (individually) in order for this team to improve. If I was CKS and could only tell each guy to work on ONE thing this summer here is what I would suggest (I'm going to assume everyone is back with the exception of Andre Walker and DMC, also I don't know what the red-shirt guys are good/bad at so I will leave them off the list).
*Also this is not a ranking from most important to least or the other way around.....
1) Kyle Fuller - needs to work on his outside shot. A LOT
2) Brad - also needs to work on his outside shot. Not as much but we need some other threats from the mid-range jumper on out to the 3 point line.
3) Jenkins - needs to work on his ball handling skills. They improved a lot this year but he started to get his pocket picked a little at the end of the year and in order for him to continue his growth from a jump shooter to an all around offensive weapon he needs to be able to drive to the hole and get to the basket. Would also be nice if he could create some more mid-range shots off the dribble.
4) Rod Odom - hit the weights.....hit them hard.
5) Jeff Taylor - needs to work on his mid-range and back to the basket game. Come up with some other moves than the spin-orama move.
6) Lance Gouldbourne - needs to work on his mid-range shot. Lance doesn't need to be shooting many three's, it takes him out of position to rebound and it just isn't effective. Hit some jumpers and if you miss well he has the athletic talent to follow his own miss with a thunderous dunk.
7) Steve Tchiengang - work on his back to the basket offensive moves. We need a power forward, someone to post up on guys when Festus is out of the game.
8) Festivus For the Rest of Us - Needs to work on his defensive positioning. Festus is great with getting blocks but if he doesn't get the block he ends up out of position and either misses an opportunity to get a rebound or fouls the other player. We need him on the court getting boards and putting in easy buckets.
You will notice that with the exception of Festus (and maybe alluded to the fact in Lance and Odom's summer assignment) that I didn't focus on rebounding or defense. That's because I don't believe those are individual issues generally. Those are team issues that CKS and his staff need to work on with the team as a whole. These assignments are for the guys to do when they are on their own trying to improve their individual game.
I think if everyone worked on those individual assignments (and made some decent progress) and the team worked on overall rebounding (especially defensive rebounding) and overall team defense, then this team can improve greatly from this past year.
Although I was disappointed how the year ended, pretty much the whole season I had one eye on next years squad. We will have a very good senior point guard, an excellent senior center, a decent senior power forward and a good senior small forward coming back no matter what and I hope we have a great junior shooting guard and a great senior small forward coming back to make this team even better. Add to it 2 sophomores who have gone through the rigors of the season but won't be depended on to play huge rolls, 2 red-shirt freshman who can come in and contribute (if only by eating up minutes and fouls) and 3 outstanding true freshman who can show us why they were so highly regarded, and we have a great nucleus to build an SEC championship and an Elite 8/Final Four type run.
I think writing this article has helped me finally get over the massive depression that hit last Thursday. Hopefully reading it has done the same for you.
Disagree with these summer assignments? What would you have these 8 returning players work on if you were CKS?
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18 comments:
CKS is safe for this year; Bruce Pearl's demise has taken away the attention CKS might have been getting from the media for the late-season and tourney flops. I do think next year there will be tremendous pressure on CKS to take his team reasonably deep into postseason play. I think this program has spent the last of the fans' patience for the notion of "maybe next year".
I really hope this staff does some self-reflection on coaching approaches and techniques for next year. The coaching staff needs to work on how to light the motivational fire under these players, especially when the spotlight is on.
Maybe Odom and Jenkins and Lance can start handling the rock without getting it stolen all the time.
Taylor needs to work on putting his dunk shots through the basket. If he gets within 10 feet of the rim I want him to either dunk or get fouled.
It would be nice if Lance and Steve T. learned how to pass effectively out of the post and would be REALLY nice if Festus learned how as well. For one, we would get Jenkins a heck of a lot of wide open looks, as well as Parker when he gets in. That's about the only thing I'd add that hasn't been mentioned.
I think Fes's passing skills will improve as his basketball IQ goes up which will happen as he gets more experience. Not sure that is something you can practice as much as it just happens through playing more games and working on film study.
Hearing on the radio, and have read some posts on the Georgia Tech Rivals site that GT might be interested in CKS. Has anyone heard anything about this? Does CKS have any ties to GT?
douglas..great advise for all the players, except do you really think Festus, Jenkins and Taylor will stay? Even if not top NBA picks, they may decide to play elsewhere and earn money....stupid in my opinion..They all have some things to work on and if they succeed could be not just NBA picks , but top NBA picks. However, back to my original point...some of the blogs have all 3 of them being chosen. What are the rules, if they declare themselves eligible and dont like how it goes can they return to Vandy? what are the key dates ?
Who are the current red shirt freshman?
Josh Henderson and James Siakam
do we think the redshirt senior in darshawn returns for another year or does he jet with andre?
Douglas James,
Great post. I agree with pretty much every bit of advice given.
I'd add the following assignments:
Brad: Work on his lateral quickness. This isn't something that's easy to improve, but there are things Brad can do to get quicker. We shouldn't have to go zone or have JT guard every time Brad can't hang with an opposing guard.
Jenkins: Ball-handling is absolutely priority number 1 for JJ. Right now the primary difference between JJ and Stephen Curry is Curry was actually handling the ball to prevent teams from playing a full deny. Beyond ball-handling, Jenkins, like Brad, needs to improve his lateral quickness (particularly on defense). JJ doesn't play great D. And, while JJ isn't likely to become as good an on the ball defender as Taylor, Jenkins can work harder on defense than he does. I notice JJ's defense is better when he's scoring points. When he's not getting enough touches, his defense tends to suffer. He needs to get more consistent on the defensive end, regardless of whether or not he's in the offensive zone.
Odom: Part and parcel of hitting the weights is Odom bodying up and crashing the offensive glass. Currently, Rod is good a grabbing long rebounds, but didn't do a good job finding a man, boxing him out, and grabbing the rebound. He needs to improve his rebounding technique. 30 pounds of muscle will certainly help.
Lance: Ball-handling. He gets stripped a lot because he's driving with his head down.
Odds JT stays? Are we thinking like 40%? Or more like 10-15%..?
I think the team should reevaluate how much it depends on the FT. Without having stats to back me up, I usually feel like the tourney refs call the game looser than regular season conference play. This group of players always looks like it is playing the foul, which shows in the stats: 24.6 FTA/game over the past 3 years vs 19 in 06-07 and 20 in 03-04. I don't know how others feel, but I never like depending on the ref to be our sixth man.
Yes, that was therapeutic and you guys do a great job! In the end the season was very enjoyable. Not having a vested interest in the remaining NCAA games it is fascinating to watch how teams respond to scoring runs by the other team. Some punch back and some fold (VU). Hopefully we can remedy this per some of the above recommendations.
Taylor needs to work on finishing in traffic - creating space with his body and shooting from places other than his typical shooting pocket (think baby hook). Also needs to work on getting his jumpshot released quicker - he didn't get the pop from being able to shoot it because his release was too slow. Slight refinements really. I just don't think he's played enough to develop instantaneous reactions like Brad has - who solves situations very quickly. Taylor is more of a choreographed athlete.
Do we have scholarship problems if 'dre returns and no one goes pro? Simple math of minus duffy, minus darshawn, plus three freshmen equals one too many from my count
I thought there was like a zero percent chance of Walker returning. There would be a better chance of american idol NOT sucking...and that will NEVER happen.
Excellent write-up. I hope CKS reviews the film of all the close losses we have had over the years to see what errors in calls, defenses, etc led to the L. This has been a problem for years. He is a good coach but I think he has neglected concentrating on closing strategies and maybe "fire them up" techniques.
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