Point Forward

[Phoenix]

There's an article in this week's SI issue that I thought was interesting enough to mention..it discusses the idea of a 'point forward' instead of a point guard..they focus on on Louisville's Terrence Williams, who plays the position under Pitino..now that we're in the off season and one of this board's leading questions has been our point guard for next year, I thought it was worth bringing up.

 

Louisville, Tennessee and LSU are all using a point forward this season..Don Nelson, who uses the position with his NBA teams, says that they have to "be a leader, rebound well, has to defend, has to have an assist-to-turnover ratio of at least 2 to 1 and has to be 6'5" or taller"..that sounds exactly like Brian Lillis when he played the point..perhaps that's a role a Billy Allen or a Ralph Watts could assume next year?..one of the advantages is that it allows guards who are natural scorers, not necessarily great ball-handlers, to take better advantage of their skills..sounds a bit like Raffa and Ambrose.

 

Article... http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...3057/index..htm

[Clickclack]

There's an article in this week's SI issue that I thought was interesting enough to mention..it discusses the idea of a 'point forward' instead of a point guard..they focus on on Louisville's Terrence Williams, who plays the position under Pitino..now that we're in the office season and one of this board's leading questions has been our point guard for next year, I thought it was worth bringing up.

 

Louisville, Tennessee and LSU all are using a point forward this season..Don Nelson, who uses the position with his NBA teams, says that they have to "be a leader, rebound well, has to defend, has to have an assist-to-turnover ratio of at least 2 to 1 and has to be 6'5" or taller"..that sounds exactly like Brian Lillis when he played the point..perhaps that's a role a Billy Allen or a Ralph Watts could assume next year?..one of the advantages is that it allows guards who are natural scorers, not necessarily great ball-handlers, to take better advantage of their skills..sounds a bit like Raffa and Ambrose.

 

Article... http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...3057/index..htm

 

What about Logan at the point? The on defense he can pickup the other teams 3 and have Raffa switch on the PG

[I rock(ed) the Cape]

Personally, I would rather see us with a good, traditional PG. I think Mike certainly showed flashes at points this year of being able to be that guy. With a whole offseason to work on his perimeter shooting, I see no reason why he can't start for us next year. As for the topic of being really small by playing Mike, Timmy and Raffa at the same time, I don't necessarily see it as being that much of an issue. St. Joe's made that big run a few years back with 3 guards, and Illinois and Villanova have both had very successful seasons running similar offenses. Just a thought...

[S-money]

There's an article in this week's SI issue that I thought was interesting enough to mention..it discusses the idea of a 'point forward' instead of a point guard..they focus on on Louisville's Terrence Williams, who plays the position under Pitino..now that we're in the off season and one of this board's leading questions has been our point guard for next year, I thought it was worth bringing up.

 

Louisville, Tennessee and LSU are all using a point forward this season..Don Nelson, who uses the position with his NBA teams, says that they have to "be a leader, rebound well, has to defend, has to have an assist-to-turnover ratio of at least 2 to 1 and has to be 6'5" or taller"..that sounds exactly like Brian Lillis when he played the point..perhaps that's a role a Billy Allen or a Ralph Watts could assume next year?..one of the advantages is that it allows guards who are natural scorers, not necessarily great ball-handlers, to take better advantage of their skills..sounds a bit like Raffa and Ambrose.

 

Article... http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...3057/index..htm

 

I assume that Nellie also requires a good ball-handler. I liked the Lillis idea in theory and usually in practice, but I recall on a couple of occasions where I thought it would have been better for Jamar to bring the ball up. Lillis was an okay ball-handler but tended to turn it over under high pressure. Again, that's my recollection; I have not and will not research all the stats. I'm all for trying it, but taking care of the ball is of high, if not highest, priority IMO, so if we try it out with a forward and the turnovers go up then I would favor a guard. I do think that if Johnson or Allen or even Raffa really works on it over the summer, they could be good at the point. I agree that Raffa and Ambrose are probably better off staying at the 2.

 

S$

[UA_MA_2000]

I thought Raffa did a fantastic job at PG against pressure in the UVM and Bingo games that we won. I think we have plenty of weapons for bringing the ball up---i.e., potentially a 3-guard lineup. My biggest concern is the loss of Jerel as a lock-down defender who had height and rebounding ability. He will really be missed. He could guard opposing PGs who were shorter than him but also taller SF guys too. A real loss for us I think.

[I rock(ed) the Cape]

I thought Raffa did a fantastic job at PG against pressure in the UVM and Bingo games that we won. I think we have plenty of weapons for bringing the ball up---i.e., potentially a 3-guard lineup. My biggest concern is the loss of Jerel as a lock-down defender who had height and rebounding ability. He will really be missed. He could guard opposing PGs who were shorter than him but also taller SF guys too. A real loss for us I think.

 

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see someone like Billy Allen take that role this year. Granted, Allen is not as athletic as Jerel was, but Billy has a real high basketball I.Q. and seems to be a good on ball defender

[Dane Pound]

Statefan and I were talking about this at the tourney.

 

I like it in theory.

 

I really like Billy Allen as a player but I don't see him pulling it off. He is what he played for us at the end of the year, a power forward. I just don't see him having the quickness to bring the ball up the court consistently.

 

I've never seen Watts play (OK, many times on YouTube) but I envision him to be more of a scoring guard or SF. What I really, really hope he turns out to be is a Jason Sigger-type player.

 

The other candidate is Aronhalt who seems to fit that bill. There's probably nothing more seductive in colllege basketball than a player you've heard a lot about but haven't seen play. I'd like to see the Raffa Ambrose backcourt again maybe with Aronhalt at SF. I thought when Raffa was healthy we were not bad. I think when we lost his scoring and shooting was when we suffered.

[Clickclack]

The other candidate is Aronhalt who seems to fit that bill. There's probably nothing more seductive in colllege basketball than a player you've heard a lot about but haven't seen play. I'd like to see the Raffa Ambrose backcourt again maybe with Aronhalt at SF. I thought when Raffa was healthy we were not bad. I think when we lost his scoring and shooting was when we suffered.

 

Yeh...tell me about it...I've seen that youtube clip of him way to many times....no biggy just gotta wait 6 more month's! And even then, he'll only be a freshman, so what can you really expect? It would be great though if he had the IQ and ball handling skills to run the point.