Suero Named Mid Major Player of the Week

[MRSGDG]

Suero named mid-major player of the week

http://nbadraft.net/mid-major-blog-5

 

Gerardo Suero Named Mid-Major Player of the Week

http://www.ualbanysports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&SPID=7999&SPSID=70287&ATCLID=205357526&DB_OEM_ID=15800

[Dane Pound]

A write-up on "G" from Basketball Prospectus who ranked the top 50 offensive players in the country.

 

PET No. 11. Gerardo Suero, Albany

Suero is the type of player that makes a stat like mine worth having. There are 345 Division I basketball teams, and nobody can watch all of them all the time. So when an unknown quantity is having a great year for a team with little national relevance, most of the time statistics are going to be the quickest way to recognize that. (Although John Templon of nycbuckets.com says that Suero was hyped in America East circles as the season began, and Templon should, without question, be trusted on that end over me.)

 

As a high schooler, the Dominican-born Suero's English was less than perfect and his game was out of control, but his talent was noted. His father, also named Gerardo (the younger Suero's birth name is Angel Gerardo) was a quarterfinalist in the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Despite being 6-4, Suero has certainly inherited some of the family speed.

 

A junior college transfer from Technical Career Institutes in New York City, Suero lost no time in asserting himself as the America East's dominant player. He's using a truly incredible 37 percent of the Great Danes' possessions, and he's maintaining admirable efficiency while doing so. Before Albany, Suero coupled scoring with impressive rebounding (including one year when he averaged 11.7 boards per game at TCI), but the scoring half has been so effective that his average rebounding is an afterthought. Suero is shooting percentages of 51/36/82 with frequent trips to the free throw line (he's leading the nation in free throws made) and an assist rate higher than his turnover rate. He's carrying a percentage of the offense that only Utah's Josh Watkins can top, and carrying it efficiently.

 

That said, his game is the type to make fans of both Albany and their opponents nervous. Suero is a championship bad shot-maker. He consistently fires up contested jumpers and off-balance floaters. His combination of size, quickness, and ballhandling ability means he makes it look easy to get wherever he wants on the court. He doesn't understand what, objectively, a smart shot looks like. It's entirely possible that he knows what, for Gerardo Suero, a good shot is, though, and it's probably too early to tell if his style is sustainable. Right now Suero is shooting constantly and making more than enough shots to deserve to continue. His turnover rate is a tad high, and that looks to be due to the same mentality -- trying to create something out of nothing offensively.

 

Albany's defense is bad, and Suero contributes to that. He has issues with communication -- switching and recognizing screens are both problematic at this stage in his development. But, as it was in high school, his talent is unmistakable. It'd be a mistake to assume he can continue to perform at this level of efficiency, but it'd be a larger mistake not to recognize the excellence of his performance thus far.