BGleas

I didn’t see his comments Monday, but in watching the team I don’t see any way that a healthy Phinisee, Green and Durham don’t start. It’s just one game, but IU looked their best when they went small last night, when they pushed the ball and were athletic on defense. Those three guys are the guys that make everything happen, they’re the most experienced guys, etc. I see Brunk ultimately coming off the bench as the first big coming in with De’Ron getting situational minutes.

I agree with you that there is no way that Durham is coming off the bench, and that ultimately the lineup with be a smaller one with TJD and Smith at the forward spots, especially if De’Ron Davis can’t be counted on to play well, but where I’ll disagree is that there isn’t no way Phinisee is coming off the bench. Hes only coming off the bench now because he missed most of October. He’s arguably the most important player on the team.

My bad, your first post went right over my head.

Not necessarily. There are people that have played a lot longer in the NBA and made a lot more money doing it than Troy Williams has that are flat broke.

R.I.P. CCG! Absolutely one of the best we've had on these various forums, and definitely one of a kind!

I guess that sounds good in theory, but as a 4 you need guards that can and want to get you the ball. Howard is a lead guard and already has the ball in his hands a large percentage of the time, won't be the same for Garcia.

Did you look at Turgeon’s record? He’s got two second place finishes in the Big Ten and a 3rd, otherwise it’s a bunch of 5th-8th place finishes. I know Creanchad his issues, but at least to this point I’d take Crean’s Big Ten Titles, #1 ranking, wins of top 5-10 teams and the 3 Sweet Sixteens over Turgeon’s in a heartbeat.

I think Crean is the best of that group. He’s gone to a Final Four, won two Big Ten Titles, been to another 3 Sweet Sixteens, and put the most guys in the NBA out of the group.

Why are we talking about centers and forwards from 20-30 years ago? The game has evolved, it's a completely different game. Standing on the perimeter doesn't make you a wing in terms of your position. In basketball in 2019 you have guards, wings, and forwards, maybe a center too depending on your personnel. Last year IU didn't really have a center, this year we do with Brunk and Davis. Wings and guards are pretty interchangeable once you get into the halfcourt. The wings and the guards are the ones coming off ball screens, handling the ball, making decisions and creating offense. Answer this simple question. Do you want Justin Smith in that role? The forwards are the ones reversing the ball (wow yes, on the perimeter) after an action and then following it to set the ball screens. The forwards then either slash to the basket or flare, etc. This is the role Justin Smith should be in and has been in his entire career. The simple act of standing behind the 3pt line does not make you a wing or a '3'.

You’re still not understanding it. Yes, both the wings (2 and 3) and the forwards (4’s) are on the perimeter, but their roles on the perimeter are much different. They are not interchangeable. The 2/3’s are, the 4 plays a different role in the offense. The slasher role you’re describing is not a wing, it’s a forward. The wings are coming off ball screens, handling it in traffic, and either shooting, attacking the basket and/or delivering the ball to the slasher. That is not Justin Smith’s skillset. Smith is a forward. The forwards reverse the ball and then set ball screens for the wings and then either slash/roll to the basket or flare. That is Smith’s role and skillset.

There's no 3/4. The '3' is a wing spot, the '4' is a forward spot. They're different roles with different skill sets. Smith has the skill sets to play forward (4), not the wing (3). As mentioned, at the wing spot you're in a role where you're coming off ball screens handling the ball and creating. At the forward spot, where Smith played all of last season, like literally all of his minutes, you're on the perimeter but you're the one setting the ball screens and either diving to the basket to finish a play or fading for the perimeter shot. Smith is a forward in terms of skill set, not a wing. Your comments are Archie are just ridiculous.

His calling card is defense, but he can't play the 3 unless he's drastically improved at ball handling, decision making in traffic, being an offensive creator off of ball screens, passing, shooting etc. In the offense the guards and wings (1,2 & 3) are responsible for coming off ball screens and creating offense for themselves and others. They're responsible for handling the ball in traffic, attacking the basket and making decisions with the ball. I like aspects of Smith's game, and he can absolutely be a key, valuable player for IU, but not only has he not shown an ability to do those things, he's actually shown he's pretty bad at them. I'll be really surprised if Archie is playing three guys together for extended minutes that can't handle the ball and create offense off of ball screens.

Then unless he's improved drastically at the skills required to play the wing, this is going to be another painful season of offense.

Was it precautionary, or just more a scrimmages where you’re trying different things, giving different guys opportunities, etc?

You shouldn't really have to 'teach' free throw shooting by the time guys get to this level, more about the guys getting repetitions and working on it.

Yes, and Hunter had a strong line (minus the turnovers) in limited minutes, Brunk had a strong line, TJD is only going to get better all season long, and Franklin had a strong performance. Throw Phinisee and Green in and there's a lot to like. Free throw shooting is worrisome, worrisome that Smith only had 2 rebounds in 27 minutes and 3 turnovers, and worrisome the Damezi didn't seem to really do anything offensively in 27 minutes, but overall a pretty good result (at least by the final score) given the starting backcourt not playing.

I mean, they played without their starting backcourt. Seems they performed pretty well given they didn't have their point guard and their senior captain who is projected as the leading scorer.

Yeah, he’s not going to play behind anyone, he’d play alongside Phinisee.

Right, but he'll have the chance. Franklin will get an opportunity to carve out a role, just like Damezi did. His play will dictate what type of role he ends up with. But, he will get a chance.

Smith getting run at the 3 is terrifying. He's literally shown zero ability to this point to be a wing player. Franklin will get an opportunity to earn minutes. He'll play early in the season and his play will dictate how much of a role he grinds out. If he plays like Damezi last season, then he won't have much of a role. If he performs, plays good, hard D, hits open shots, finishes around the rim when he has chances and doesn't turn the ball over, then he'll carve out a role in the rotation.

Franklin will get an opportunity for an increased role, it will just be a matter of whether or not he takes advantage of it. Same as Anderson last year. You might take a look at the final stats and say Anderson couldn’t get minutes, but he was actually given some big opportunities, he just wasn’t ready for it yet. Franklin will get a chance to play early in the season, and probably in some big early games, it will be up to him how long those opportunities last.

In fairness, Phinisee was shooting right around 40% from 3 before his concussion.

Has there ever been a player that averaged 30 mpg off the bench? I don't even mean at IU, like ever in college basketball? There probably has been, but it's got to be extremely rare. If Green doesn't start it's because something went incredibly wrong for him this season.

Completely true. I worked for the Celtics PR Department in the early-to-mid 2000's when social media and fan sites/forums were really just starting out. I would monitor Celticsblog.com (which is a great site and I have a ton of respect for the guys who have built it into what it is) and literally just laugh at some of the posts/rumors in their forums by fans. I'd call co-workers over to read stuff and we would being laughing hysterically in the office. Crazy stuff that was being passed off as legit, sourced info, and the vast majority of it 100% wrong. I also can't ever remember a time that I read one of those crazy rumors and passed it on to my boss so that we could figure out a way to leak the correct info or dispel it. I'd pass it on to him to he could join in the laughing, but not for any strategic PR purposes. The only times anything would be passed on in a strategic PR way would be if there were legal or criminal rumors. Even then they were mostly garbage.

IU has also had a lot of “raw” guys develop into good to great players. Oladipo, Sheehey, Troy Williams, OG...