STrib: Gophers basketball summer series: Offseason surgery has slowed Charles Buggs

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per the STrib:

Buggs underwent a procedure in April to clear out cartilage that had been building up in his right knee. It was a minor operation, McHale said, but the rehabilitation has slowed down his summer workouts a bit.

"He's one guy that could have really benefitted from a full summer, but you can't control it," McHale said. "It's still early. He's still going to have July and August in getting ready for next year."

As of the end of last week, Buggs still hadn't been permitted to do anything that involves contact in practice. He's been doing some light shooting during his rehab, McHale said, along with lifting and riding the stationery bike.

"We've not going to rush him back," the assistant coach said. "We've just got to make sure his knee is 100 percent."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/267951501.html

Go Gophers!!
 

Finally they mention the possibility of making him a 3 instead of a 4. I think that has always been one thing Howie and I agreed on!
 

BleedGopher said:
He's still going to have July and August in getting ready for next year."

As of the end of last week, Buggs still hadn't been permitted to do anything that involves contact in practice.
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Not really.

BleedGopher said:
Buggs this summer was to add bulk and muscle. He's done that -- managing to add about 15 pounds despite the setback

"...if Buggs can improve his ball handling over the summer, the coaches might consider playing him some at small forward as well as power forward, which would give him more opportunities to get on the floor.
"He's an athletic combo forward,"
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I don't see his lateral movement or ball handling improving enough take minutes from guys like Squirl, McNeil, etc.
 

Lateral quickness can be a non-issue when we are in our 2-3 zone because the 3 and 4 both play the wing/corners in the 2-3. I think ball handling is the bigger issue. Buggs best case scenario is at the 3 because he seems to have the kind of body that just can't bulk up. He is also more of a finesse, jump shooting, type of player on offense. Regardless, I'm excited to see what he can do next year since he is our wildcard on the roster. If he could turn into a 6th, 7th or 8th man, we'll be looking very good. That's obviously a huge "if" though.
 



98VQueens said:
It's basketball, lateral quickness is never a non-factor.
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I'd take Buggs' lateral quickness over someone like King. It's not like the guy is slow as molasses. He's arguably our best athlete on the team, he just needs to learn how to play the game.
 


Who is a better athlete than Buggs? Martin and Mathieu are the only ones I see in the conversation. At least until we see more of Konate and Diedhiou.
 

MadtownGopher said:
Finally they mention the possibility of making him a 3 instead of a 4. I think that has always been one thing Howie and I agreed on!
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That was the most interesting snippet of the article, IYAM.

Also interesting that after gaining 15 Ibs they said his weight is where they want it. Seems to me that supports the idea of playing the 3 more than the 4, because he's still pretty thin.

I don't know ... he has a good outside shot, but other than that I haven't seen anything yet to indicate he can be effective playing wing on either offense or defense. Is his handle good enough, can he beat people off the dribble? On defense is he laterally quick enough to guard the other team's SF on the perimeter?
 



MadtownGopher said:
Who is a better athlete than Buggs? Martin and Mathieu are the only ones I see in the conversation. At least until we see more of Konate and Diedhiou.
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This is another definition, I don't think people agree upon.

Are you looking mostly at speed and leaping ability? If so, I must have missed when Buggs bolts past everyone down the court or go rip any rebounds out of the sky.

What characteristics make the best athlete?

great leaper
moves well laterally
speed
great hand-eye coordination
reaction time
visual acuity to speed
ability to execute a series of movements at optimum speed with precision
style and grace

Five bio-motor qualities: strength, speed, power, flexibility and endurance.
 


In basketball athleticism pretty much solely refers to leaping ability. Strength, speed, lateral quickness all go under the categories of well strength, speed, lateral quickness, not athleticism. I think it is safe to say Buggs is a slightly better leaper than martin and Diedhiou.

Also from the free portion of his ESPN scouting report

"Charles is an exceptionally live-bodied face up four man for the next level. He's a graceful athlete with very quick reflexes and he's an elite leaper. Two-hand dunks with ease while also showing good touch with his jumper and in the lane. He changes ends very well plus he's an …"
 

die hard gopher said:
In basketball athleticism pretty much solely refers to leaping ability. Strength, speed, lateral quickness all go under the categories of well strength, speed, lateral quickness, not athleticism. I think it is safe to say Buggs is a slightly better leaper than martin and Diedhiou.

Also from the free portion of his ESPN scouting report

"Charles is an exceptionally live-bodied face up four man for the next level. He's a graceful athlete with very quick reflexes and he's an elite leaper. Two-hand dunks with ease while also showing good touch with his jumper and in the lane. He changes ends very well plus he's an …"
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So per your definition of athleticism ESPN says

"he is a graceful leaper with very quick reflexes and he's an elite leaper?"

Come on, athleticism isn't just leaping ability. Its a catch all for does he look comfortable playing sports/competing in athletic events. Does he look like an athlete, its not that difficult.

And Madtown, he did not say Buggs is less of an athlete than EE, he just said he isn't the best athlete on the team, which I certainly agree with.
 



Eh... disagree. It is a lot more than just leaping ability. Athleticism comprises a lot of things, and leaping ability is certainly part of it, but personally, in terms of evaluating basketball players, I think lateral quickness is the most important thing. Leaping ability, end-to-end speed and strength are certainly big parts too... probably in that order.

That's why I was never a big fan of Ellenson... he was a great leaper, but his lateral quickness was mediocre, end-to-end speed was good but largely because he liked to leak out on defense. His strength was good and overall athleticism was good, I just never viewed him as having elite athleticism the way a lot of people do. Lateral quickness really determines so much on the basketball court. Everything from beating your man off the dribble, staying in front of your man, shifting your defense to ball swings, getting around bigs in the lane... it's just so critical in so many aspects.
 

Well when watching a basketball game if commentator says a certain player is athletic, 99% of the time they are referring solely on leaping ability and dunking. If a player is lightning quick or the strongest guy on the team they will call him fast or strong but usually not athletic if his leaping ability is average. Rodney was considered arguably the best athlete in the country because of his leaping ability. Deandre Mathieu is one of the fastest players on the country and Trevor's combo of leaping and strength was just as good as Rodney's leaping but you never here those guys begin talked about as some of the best athletes in the whole country simply because they aren't/weren't some of the best dunkers and leapers in the entire country. Its just basketball speak.
 


MadtownGopher said:
Mathieu and Trevor get/got plenty of love for athleticism.
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Yes but aren't/weren't considered top 1-2 athletes in the entire NCAA. Rodney was solely because of his leaping ability yet i believe that when you take in all aspects of athleticism Deandre and Trevor are just as impressive as Rodney but aren't considered on Rodney's level simply because most coaches, analysts and scouts refer to athleticism solely based on leaping ability and Deandre and Trevor are/were not the best/top 3 leapers in the entire country.
 





Speed and Agility

An athlete is an athlete, it's way more than leaping ability. When I think of the best athletes overall, Barry Sanders, Deon and Bo Jackson come to mind. All were tremendous leapers too, it's just part of the package.
 

98VQueens said:
An athlete is an athlete, it's way more than leaping ability. When I think of the best athletes overall, Barry Sanders, Deon and Bo Jackson come to mind. All were tremendous leapers too, it's just part of the package.
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Yes, Football coaches, players, scouts etc. refer to the whole package when calling a certain player athletic but basketball coaches, analysts, scouts etc. refer typically only refer to leaping ability when calling a certain player athletic.
 

I have to agree with this. When basketball people on tv talk about athletic ability, they're usually basing it off mostly jumping ability. I think it's kind of stupid that they do that, but they do.

I don't think it was ridiculous for Madtown to call Buggs ARGUABLY the best athlete on the team. Any time we hear about his ability, it's normally talking about how athletic he is or how much potential he has due to his athleticism/body. I think Madtown was talking more about how everyone on tv refers to basketball athleticism.

die hard gopher said:
Well when watching a basketball game if commentator says a certain player is athletic, 99% of the time they are referring solely on leaping ability and dunking. If a player is lightning quick or the strongest guy on the team they will call him fast or strong but usually not athletic if his leaping ability is average. Rodney was considered arguably the best athlete in the country because of his leaping ability. Deandre Mathieu is one of the fastest players on the country and Trevor's combo of leaping and strength was just as good as Rodney's leaping but you never here those guys begin talked about as some of the best athletes in the whole country simply because they aren't/weren't some of the best dunkers and leapers in the entire country. Its just basketball speak.
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Being a leaper doesn't carry the stigma it once did.
 

I'm a tremendous overall athlete. Except for the leaping, lateral quickness, strength, and speed part.
 

underground629 said:
everyone on tv refers to basketball athleticism.
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I guess I have ignored or don't care what commentators on tv consider to be a great athlete. On this site, perhaps we can talk like we are educated on what being an athlete really means.

J'son Stamper was a great athlete, said to be a very good baseball player, I think his dad was in the majors too? And a guy you could just tell could be good at whatever sport he plays, football, handball, whatever.

Cameron Rundles is a perfect example of a very good athlete without explosive leaping ability. McNeil seems like he might be in the same boat.
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pitino on the emergence of Charles Buggs: "It wasn't much of an emergence, he had one great game." <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gophers?src=hash">#Gophers</a></p>— Nadine Babu (@NadineBabu) <a href="https://twitter.com/NadineBabu/statuses/491657530934706176">July 22, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pitino on the emergence of Charles Buggs: "It wasn't much of an emergence, he had one great game." <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gophers?src=hash">#Gophers</a></p>— Nadine Babu (@NadineBabu) <a href="https://twitter.com/NadineBabu/statuses/491657530934706176">July 22, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Go Gophers!!
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Gut punch.
 

Perhaps we should also read posts more carefully on this site. I clearly agree with you when it comes to describing athleticism. I was simply pointing out that if you listen to anyone on tv talk about basketball athleticism, it's almost entirely related to jumping ability. Thus, it's not that strange to say Buggs is ARGUABLY the best athlete on the team. Tons of people think about basketball athletic ability in those terms. You and I both don't, but it's stupid to ignore other definitions or pretend they don't exist just because you don't agree with them.

98VQueens said:
I guess I have ignored or don't care what commentators on tv consider to be a great athlete. On this site, perhaps we can talk like we are educated on what being an athlete really means.
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