Official Isaiah Washington Overreaction Thread

The kid has 3 more years to show New York that he can run a B1G offense. This ain't New York playground ball.

Pretty harsh. Maybe he's also going through the stages of grief?
 

Pretty harsh. Maybe he's also going through the stages of grief?
You must have school off due to inclement weather. You should be out shoveling or finishing up your 8th grade algebra. [emoji41]
 

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All I can say about IW is this... good luck finding a PG with better handles, and who is quicker. You can't teach those skills. College players typically become better shooters (scorers) as their careers go on. Undoubtedly, he will be a better facilitator when there are better players around him.

Handle - Check
Quick - Check
Basketball IQ - No

That is the critical missing piece, he has zero feel for the game. That can grow, if he and Pitino are willing but are they?
 

In a season that is OVER, I find it odd that Pitino isn't giving IW more run, regardless of how bad IW has been. He's the only PG on the roster for 2019, end of story.

All I can say about IW is this... good luck finding a PG with better handles, and who is quicker. You can't teach those skills. College players typically become better shooters (scorers) as their careers go on. Undoubtedly, he will be a better facilitator when there are better players around him.

I'll never pretend to know what is going on in the locker room, in practice, and everything else within the program, but I hope there are a lot of good reasons for his lack of playing time in the past few games. To everyone who continues to write, "he's gotta earn it", what are your plans at PG for 2018-19? In some instances, you've gotta give a player playing time whether you like it or not.

Regardless, I hope Pitino has a backup plan in place for next season.

+1


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why would he transfer? He would not get a starting role in any other Top 5 conference program. MN is it.

It would be unwise to transfer.

Believe it or not, it is possible to have a successful and satisfying college basketball career outside of the power five. Many of those players actually manage to have some kind of career at the professional level as well. Now I'm not claiming with any certainty that IW will meet those outcomes.
 


In a season that is OVER, I find it odd that Pitino isn't giving IW more run, regardless of how bad IW has been. He's the only PG on the roster for 2019, end of story.

All I can say about IW is this... good luck finding a PG with better handles, and who is quicker. You can't teach those skills. College players typically become better shooters (scorers) as their careers go on. Undoubtedly, he will be a better facilitator when there are better players around him.

I'll never pretend to know what is going on in the locker room, in practice, and everything else within the program, but I hope there are a lot of good reasons for his lack of playing time in the past few games. To everyone who continues to write, "he's gotta earn it", what are your plans at PG for 2018-19? In some instances, you've gotta give a player playing time whether you like it or not.

Regardless, I hope Pitino has a backup plan in place for next season.

Plan A is for IW to play the point next year. The guy has jacked up so many bad shots this year that Pitino had little choice but to sit him down. Maybe his attitude is crap. Who knows?
 

Plan A is for IW to play the point next year. The guy has jacked up so many bad shots this year that Pitino had little choice but to sit him down. Maybe his attitude is crap. Who knows?

Maybe he makes those shots in practice, and the next one is DEFINITELY GOING IN - I CAN FEEL IT!
 

Washington can create his own shot. This is in short supply at Minnesota. However, at present, he cannot make the shot. I believe he will make the shots sooner than later. It's not like he has bad form like McBrayer and Coffey. It's too bad we didn't have a quality shooting coach. A guy like Beilein would make Washington shine.
 

Washington can create his own shot. This is in short supply at Minnesota. However, at present, he cannot make the shot. I believe he will make the shots sooner than later. It's not like he has bad form like McBrayer and Coffey. It's too bad we didn't have a quality shooting coach. A guy like Beilein would make Washington shine.

Beliein wouldn't recruit a kid like IW. Michigan's offense is pretty complex. Some of his best PGs in recent memory have been high BBall IQ coaches kids which was the case with Walton and Burke.
 



Beliein wouldn't recruit a kid like IW. Michigan's offense is pretty complex. Some of his best PGs in recent memory have been high BBall IQ coaches kids which was the case with Walton and Burke.
It's not terribly complex. A 4 out 1 in motion offense. What Beilein does is he recruits and teaches shooting extremely well. Washington has the tools to be a very good shooter.
 

It's not terribly complex. A 4 out 1 in motion offense. What Beilein does is he recruits and teaches shooting extremely well. Washington has the tools to be a very good shooter.

IW does have a nice stroke.
 

It's not terribly complex. A 4 out 1 in motion offense. What Beilein does is he recruits and teaches shooting extremely well. Washington has the tools to be a very good shooter.

Beilein's offense is unique to any other in the country which is why it's so effective but also difficult for younger players to pick up. Not just shooting but decision making is just as important in his offense. Everything is read and react. Plenty of teams run similar sets but different looks trigger different things within his offense. The mental capacity his players show in running it is what makes them so attractive to NBA teams. There's not a ton wrong with Washington's mechanics. His struggles are tied to his poor sporadic shot selection and that goes back to basketball IQ and bad practice habits in truth which is more a reflection on the coaching he's had. He has impressive raw tools but he's a build from the ground up project.
 

Beilein's offense is unique to any other in the country which is why it's so effective but also difficult for younger players to pick up. Not just shooting but decision making is just as important in his offense. Everything is read and react. Plenty of teams run similar sets but different looks trigger different things within his offense. The mental capacity his players show in running it is what makes them so attractive to NBA teams. There's not a ton wrong with Washington's mechanics. His struggles are tied to his poor sporadic shot selection and that goes back to basketball IQ and bad practice habits in truth which is more a reflection on the coaching he's had. He has impressive raw tools but he's a build from the ground up project.

Bad practice habits? Are you privy to watching practice where the common man is not?
A motion offense is a read and react offense. I didn't watch Washington in high school so I have no idea what offense was run. I cannot speak to whether Washington has a low basketball IQ, but wasn't he in the top of his class in GPA? Or am I thinking of Harris.
In any case, what is this about bad practice habits?
 




smh... This is not cool.
Washington was our bread and butter/ can't miss recruit.
Plenty of young recruits thriving elsewhere; we are giving him 6 minutes against Northwestern.

He's probably attempted 90-100 shots this season.
Take the leash off is the only hope retain him next year.
 


Bad practice habits? Are you privy to watching practice where the common man is not?
A motion offense is a read and react offense. I didn't watch Washington in high school so I have no idea what offense was run. I cannot speak to whether Washington has a low basketball IQ, but wasn't he in the top of his class in GPA? Or am I thinking of Harris.
In any case, what is this about bad practice habits?

All I can say is research Beilein's offense. It's not your typical motion offense. Jamir was the one with the high GPA and the great reputation off the court. Washington seems like a great kid and smart too. Not knocking his intelligence but basketball intelligence is completely different. There's kids in the Ivy that don't understand the ins and outs of basketball.

You play how you practice in sports. The best shooters or best players in general have hot spots and go to moves on the court. Mason's got his mid range pull up jumper and floater game, Murphy's got his running floater and post game from the left side, Dupree's money from the corners, Jamir's better shooting from the wing than the corners etc. You watch a guy play a dozen times and you pick these things up as the offense becomes built around getting players to their hot spots and in a rhythm. I haven't been in practice but the quality of preparation is shown in the game. When Mason started knocking down pull up shots in transition last year you can tell that's something he put a lot of work into because it looks comfortable and in rhythm. Now it's to a point where he almost looks more comfortable in transition than in the half court.

My issue with Washington's game is you could watch 5 games and you would have a hard time finding him taking the same shot from the same spot twice. Muscle memory is everything in shooting and if every shot is from a different spot and angle you won't have much success. That's not really his fault completely. As I said, some of that is on his coaches because they haven't wanted to take the flair from his game because of his raw tools. Pitino said as much in the summer. In recent weeks Pitino's said he's sat down with him and watched every shot Kyrie Irving's took in a game this season. That screams of mismanagement and trying to implement structure to his game halfway through the season. Fame at a young age and bad coaching has hampered his development. Can't deny that.
 

All I can say is research Beilein's offense. It's not your typical motion offense. Jamir was the one with the high GPA and the great reputation off the court. Washington seems like a great kid and smart too. Not knocking his intelligence but basketball intelligence is completely different. There's kids in the Ivy that don't understand the ins and outs of basketball.

You play how you practice in sports. The best shooters or best players in general have hot spots and go to moves on the court. Mason's got his mid range pull up jumper and floater game, Murphy's got his running floater and post game from the left side, Dupree's money from the corners, Jamir's better shooting from the wing than the corners etc. You watch a guy play a dozen times and you pick these things up as the offense becomes built around getting players to their hot spots and in a rhythm. I haven't been in practice but the quality of preparation is shown in the game. When Mason started knocking down pull up shots in transition last year you can tell that's something he put a lot of work into because it looks comfortable and in rhythm. Now it's to a point where he almost looks more comfortable in transition than in the half court.

My issue with Washington's game is you could watch 5 games and you would have a hard time finding him taking the same shot from the same spot twice. Muscle memory is everything in shooting and if every shot is from a different spot and angle you won't have much success. That's not really his fault completely. As I said, some of that is on his coaches because they haven't wanted to take the flair from his game because of his raw tools. Pitino said as much in the summer. In recent weeks Pitino's said he's sat down with him and watched every shot Kyrie Irving's took in a game this season. That screams of mismanagement and trying to implement structure to his game halfway through the season. Fame at a young age and bad coaching has hampered his development. Can't deny that.

All good points. His scouting reports all graded him as a poor outside shot. Tom Konchalski had him as a poor shooter period.
 

All good points. His scouting reports all graded him as a poor outside shot. Tom Konchalski had him as a poor shooter period.

Taking him on was an educated gamble. The program needed the buzz and if he hit the ground running it's all the better but what they are doing now is what the staff should have done from the start. It's fixable. All indications are that he works hard and is a willing learner so if he sticks around he could very well shine next year and beyond. There's just a lot of work to do.
 


You don't have to coach a player to evaluate their basketball IQ/decision making.

True. His decision making has been bad. Either he has a low basketball IQ or is very stubborn/selfish. I'm still hoping he will adjust. He's only a freshman and has likely been allowed to take whatever shot he wants for his entire life.
 

You don't have to coach a player to evaluate their basketball IQ/decision making.
You are guessing and providing an opinion, but not an evaluation. In your opinion, IW has a low BB-IQ. But, you don't really know.
 



Taking him on was an educated gamble. The program needed the buzz and if he hit the ground running it's all the better but what they are doing now is what the staff should have done from the start. It's fixable. All indications are that he works hard and is a willing learner so if he sticks around he could very well shine next year and beyond. There's just a lot of work to do.

I liked taking him on and still do. When he learns to play to his strength he can become a very good player.
 


Menno- In order to evaluate his in game decision making you don't have to be his buddy or coach.
Right, but it's merely your opinion about his basketball IQ.
His IQ may be great. He may simply be over confident or undisciplined in his play. That does not equate to basketball IQ.
In any case, we can both agree that he has room for improvement. It's how much we think he can improve where we differ.
 

Right, but it's merely your opinion about his basketball IQ.

It's my evaluation... Maybe we have a different definition of basketball IQ, because his in game decision making is very much a part of it. I'm not saying anything about his actual intelligence.

For example; If a ball-handler knows a player (like Konate) can't catch a pass, but throws him bullet after bullet, I'd question his basketball IQ/decision making.

This is just part some random persons definition;

Basketball IQ means your ability to process information at game speed, the understanding of the importance of time and score, reading the flow of the game and determine if it needs to be changed, understanding your teammates strength’s and weaknesses
 

It's my evaluation... Maybe we have a different definition of basketball IQ, because his in game decision making is very much a part of it. I'm not saying anything about his actual intelligence.

For example; If a ball-handler knows a player (like Konate) can't catch a pass, but throws him bullet after bullet, I'd question his basketball IQ/decision making.

This is just part some random persons definition;

Basketball IQ means your ability to process information at game speed, the understanding of the importance of time and score, reading the flow of the game and determine if it needs to be changed, understanding your teammates strength’s and weaknesses

Good points, but you're wasting your time using sound logic with Menno. He's proven that he can't comprehend such things.
 




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