Big profile on Isaiah Washington: Jelly Fam: Welcome to the New Hoops Phenomenon

Did you watch the linked high school game on an indoor court?

His defensive effort is not where I would expect "everyone else's" to be.

I'm not saying he CANT play defense or that he is behind on anything. I'm simply stating the defense in the above video from a tactic and effort standard won't make it very far. I then stated I wouldn't be surprised if that's pretty consistent with top flight talent.

Your original post said he needed to learn defense and offensive team concepts which typically means 'doesnt know how to play the game'. Effort is a different issue entirely. To that point it doesnt worry me at all as that seems to be an issue with a ton of recruits. Guys that have been the focus of yheir teams offense for the majority of their lives are rarely hustle and effort guys as well in high school. If they are then great but its pretty common. Ive seen the same said on here about about 70% of local recruits. Either its lack of histle or effort or whatever. Ill take the guy that can score 40+ points in a game and trust that at the next level he'll figure out the required effort level quickly
 

Did you watch the linked high school game on an indoor court?

His defensive effort is not where I would expect "everyone else's" to be.

I'm not saying he CANT play defense or that he is behind on anything. I'm simply stating the defense in the above video from a tactic and effort standard won't make it very far. I then stated I wouldn't be surprised if that's pretty consistent with top flight talent.

I haven't watched the video and I know nothing about his team, but is it possible that, if he's scoring 40+ points, his coaches tell him to take it a bit easy on defense to avoid picking up fouls? Isn't that what BYU did with Jimmer Fredette?
 

Your original post said he needed to learn defense and offensive team concepts which typically means 'doesnt know how to play the game'. Effort is a different issue entirely. To that point it doesnt worry me at all as that seems to be an issue with a ton of recruits. Guys that have been the focus of yheir teams offense for the majority of their lives are rarely hustle and effort guys as well in high school. If they are then great but its pretty common. Ive seen the same said on here about about 70% of local recruits. Either its lack of histle or effort or whatever. Ill take the guy that can score 40+ points in a game and trust that at the next level he'll figure out the required effort level quickly

Did you watch the video?

For the record I'm not suggesting Isaiah is any less of a recruit.
 

Did you watch the video?

For the record I'm not suggesting Isaiah is any less of a recruit.

Winasota is one of the few opinions I listen to on here. His post didn't bash Washington in the least. I agree, his offensive game has a ton of upside and flair, which I love. When he is lathering the barn's backboards with jelly (see what I did there) he will bring a very new and exciting brand of ball here. But after watching several videos, I don't think his defense isn't at at D1, B10 level yet. That's not a knock on a kid who is still in high school. Concepts in college are much more intricate and complex. He will likely be facing bigger guards. He has huge upside and I'm super excited he is a gopher. Let's just be happy about that
 

I wouldn't worry about it. He will learn defense if he wants to play. He is quick and athletic, he can play defense.


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Winasota is one of the few opinions I listen to on here. His post didn't bash Washington in the least. I agree, his offensive game has a ton of upside and flair, which I love. When he is lathering the barn's backboards with jelly (see what I did there) he will bring a very new and exciting brand of ball here. But after watching several videos, I don't think his defense isn't at at D1, B10 level yet. That's not a knock on a kid who is still in high school. Concepts in college are much more intricate and complex. He will likely be facing bigger guards. He has huge upside and I'm super excited he is a gopher. Let's just be happy about that

I would say that the vast majority of D-1 basketball recruits have spent way more time working on offense than defense. A HS coach that has even decent athletes can win a lot of games with a team that really knows how to play spot on defense. I get it though as a kid I wanted to work on shooting and dribbling not defense. Our coach used to preach the Dick Bennett on the line up the line defense.
 

Don't know how many of you saw this, but Washington dropped 48 pts in his game on Saturday night.
 





Also, he seems like the type of player that thrives when matched up against higher level competition. I thought the defensive highlights against Travon Duval were impressive - there were times where you could tell Travon was really frustrated. So clearly he has the ability, and he seems ultra coach-able, so high intensity defense should just be the next step in his development and I would bet the staff is preparing him for that.
 

Not too worried about I remember thinking Coffey, looked pretty ordinary in the State Tournament on both sides of the ball. Easier to teach someone to defend than to play offense. defense in any sport is desire and if he desires to be the man, he will learn, but I imagine most frosh go through an adjustment to that part of the game
 

NBA is the ultimate goal. He'll learn defense, teamwork and everything else that goes with it. I'm not worried about it and I don't think he is either.
 




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