Pitino on sports huddle

cjbfbp said:

That's funny. If we had a Noah, Patric Young, or Dieng, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Let me know when Pitino recruits the next Joakim Noah.

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That's my point. Everyone is saying this rebounding defender has to be a PF. Simply saying you can get that same type of player at C and it accomplishes the same thing. Both of those areas (rebounding and defense) need improvement, no doubt, just a small point that it can come from either the PF or C spot and if Pitino wants to play a stretch 4, he needs a defensive/rebounding focussed C. If he believes Konate can be that guy, he may not recruit this bruiser PF so many are clamoring for. Unless he wants the paint so clogged we run the Tubby offense.

And I used those examples since they came from the schools that Pitino used to coach with. Their PF's? Erik Murphy, Chandler Parsons, and Luke Hancock. Not exactly rebounding/defensive specialists.

scher215 said:

That's my point. Everyone is saying this rebounding defender has to be a PF.

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No, no one is saying that. What they are saying is the following:

1) We desperately need better rebounding from somewhere;

2) We can't expect Joey King to transform into a very good rebounder and he is probably better utilized as a stretch forward (like the Chandler Parsons example you mentioned);

3) When we look at the center position we see Bakary and freshman Nwanko (and maybe even Gaston at times) and not much evidence that Pitino is recruiting another center.

Ergo, the desire for a power forward who actually can and wants to rebound.

Try not be so literal and to understand remarks within context.

And as if Grantland were reading my mind today, an article on the decline of the PF. This refers primarily to the NBA, using Kevin Love as an example, but I think applies just as well to what Pitino is trying to do at MN.

I think you are far more likely to see the Mbakwe type player at the 5 (which Tubby did as well) and a Joey King type player at the 4. Even Wisconsin plays a quality jump shooter in Nigel Hayes at the 4. You may see a better rebounding/defending version of a Joey King as Pitino brings in better and better players, but I would guess the ability to shoot is far more important for him there with the brute force coming at the 5.

The Cavalier in the Coal Mine: On Kevin Love and the Decline of the Power Forward
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/kevin-love-cleveland-cavaliers-anthony-davis-new-orleans-pelicans/

"As more teams take advantage of the 3-point line, a second low-post presence is now recognized as inefficient and anathema to spacing ... In concert with the move away from the hoop, Love’s offensive rebounding percentage has declined every year he’s been in the league ... The new “pace and space” era has produced some beautiful basketball, but those pleasing aesthetics come at a cost: The game’s most traditionally dominant players are being asked to kindly get out of the way and make room for the new breed of drive-and-kick attackers who now function as the engines of our contemporary scoring economies."

cjbfbp said:

No, no one is saying that. What they are saying is the following:

1) We desperately need better rebounding from somewhere;

2) We can't expect Joey King to transform into a very good rebounder and he is probably better utilized as a stretch forward (like the Chandler Parsons example you mentioned);

3) When we look at the center position we see Bakary and freshman Nwanko (and maybe even Gaston at times) and not much evidence that Pitino is recruiting another center.

Ergo, the desire for a power forward who actually can and wants to rebound.

Try not be so literal and to understand remarks within context.

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Not sure the need for the snark here, we are essentially making the same point. JK is better served as a stretch 4. The fact is we are extremely thin/young at the 4 and 5 so I certainly wonder if Pitino will recruit someone for those spots as a JR/SR or allow his young players to develop this year. My argument is simply going forward, we are far more likely to see Pitino go after a player who can/wants to rebound at the 5 than the 4. As I said, it is a small point and I am more arguing semantics.

I am then just wondering out loud does Pitino go after that player this recruiting cycle or wait a year and just let the guys he has develop this year.

bleedsmaroonandgold said:

It seems unusual to try to paint being left with an experienced veteran roster as a handicap.

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There's an old coaching joke that goes something like this:

Bad news: The starters are all graduating
Good news: The starters are all graduating

bleedsmaroonandgold said:

I'm not saying I think they were a good fit for Pitino's system. I am saying it is bizarre to act like them being juniors and seniors was a bad thing. If I were Pitino, I would absolutely want the core I inherited to be upper classmen. That way, they are at their best, they can offer experience and leadership even if their skillset wasn't exactly what he wants for his style, and he gets to replace them with the kind of players he wants quickly. He was put in a much better position than if the core he inherited were freshman and sophomores. If that were the case, he would still be staring down the barrel of two more years of square pegs and round holes. The players he got from Tubby weren't going to be right for his system no matter what, I think Pitino was lucky to at least get older guys rather than younger ones.

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I mostly disagree with this. In a way Clem Haskins, who took over a disaster, got the ideal situation. He was handed a terrible team with little upper class talent that nobody expected to win. But he was also handed a very nice final Dutcher recruiting class of Burton, Newbern and Schick who he could mold in his own way. That way after two years when people start to expect something, he wasn't starting over with his guys he was beginning to peak with guys he started fresh with.

cjbfbp said:

That's funny. If we had a Noah, Patric Young, or Dieng, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Let me know when Pitino recruits the next Joakim Noah.

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I'm sorry, are you implying that Jonathan Nwankwo is not the next Joakim Noah? Because, I will tell him and he will kick your ass