Buggs

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I saw the Gophers with my sons in Richmond last year. Our overall impression of Charles Buggs: "That guy could use a sandwich!"

If he could find some of the weight that Mo shed. I think he could be a real asset. Being able to jump over reams of paper is no use in the Big Ten is you are thinner than a single sheet. He has pheasant legs.
 

bga1 said:
That's the thing about Buggs- almost anything a person says about him negative or positive has truth to it. From a basketball sense standpoint- he's probably a coaches nightmare. But on the other hand he appears to have a great attitude to go along with his athletic ability and shooting ability. Unusual situation to be sure.
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Well said! If anyone had a reason to bolt, it was this guy, yet he stayed around and I'm glad he did.
 

tikited said:
Not a fan of the jump hook?
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A fan of the jump hook, just don't think its possible for Buggs to get position down low on anyone, nor do I think he has the back to the basket ability to be even a semblance of effective down there.

Lets work on him knowing how to pass the ball with two hands on the perimeter within the flow of the offense, teach him how to make 2 consecutive dribbles, laterally move on defense, take a charge, and find the correct spacing to be available for dribble drive kickouts.

IF we can get all that, I agree, he could have one hell of a jump hook!
 




bga1 said:
That's the thing about Buggs- almost anything a person says about him negative or positive has truth to it. From a basketball sense standpoint- he's probably a coaches nightmare. But on the other hand he appears to have a great attitude to go along with his athletic ability and shooting ability. Unusual situation to be sure.
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He'd be better served with a little more nasty & a little less great attitude. My .02
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
He'd be better served with a little more nasty & a little less great attitude. My .02
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+CRG

I will say, there was ONE possession on defense where he pressured the ball 5-10 feet beyond the 3 pt arc late in the last game. I hope Pitino highlights that in film session and says "This, EVERY DAMN TIME" as his length was a problem and for that brief moment, he had tenacity and a motor. Don't know if he was pissed about missing a gimme on the other end or what happened, but its part of that high ceiling that everyone talks about with him.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
+CRG

I will say, there was ONE possession on defense where he pressured the ball 5-10 feet beyond the 3 pt arc late in the last game. I hope Pitino highlights that in film session and says "This, EVERY DAMN TIME" as his length was a problem and for that brief moment, he had tenacity and a motor. Don't know if he was pissed about missing a gimme on the other end or what happened, but its part of that high ceiling that everyone talks about with him.
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That play really stuck out to me as well when watching the game; I think he even deflected the ball away from the ball handler too. It's brief moments like that where he looked like he could be the best on-ball defender on the team that spark all of this Buggs talk. He's such a polarizing player.
 



Winasota Gopher said:
It's really hard for me to bite my tounge in this thread.

Buggs is just a coaches nightmare.... He is very very talented, and can do some things very well, but its everything you hammer on everyone else to do that he absolutely fails at. Liability on defense, cannot run most of the offense... NIGHTMARE. I've been in this situation and it's very frustrating to play these types of players, as you want to, need to sometimes, but they drive you BONKERS.

That all said, I've seen SOME progress with Buggs and I hope to god I'm dead wrong on him, as his ceiling is very high, but the things he lacks, are not coach-able...
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I think nightmare is a bad choice of words. Players that pack up the suitcase and flee town after eight games - now they're nightmares. Players that beat up girlfriends - they're nightmares too. Players that can't even make it through a tiny fraction of a transfer season without getting canned are definitely nightmares. Charles Buggs may be frustrating, but he's certainly no nightmare.
 

Urbandale said:
I think nightmare is a bad choice of words. Players that pack up the suitcase and flee town after eight games - now they're nightmares. Players that beat up girlfriends - they're nightmares too. Players that can't even make it through a tiny fraction of a transfer season without getting canned are definitely nightmares. Charles Buggs may be frustrating, but he's certainly no nightmare.
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You can plan for those things after they happen, shorten your rotation, forget about them, move on etc. You cannot plan for what Charles Buggs is going to do. Trust me when I say it, they are nightmares, I've experienced it, especially if you're in a situation where you HAVE to play them because of youth (middle school coaching) or because of lack of depth, or in this case, because they could be a game changer if you can change them.

What do you have nightmares about at night? Dieing? Or someone popping out from behind a tree and whacking you over the head with a crowbar? Buggs is the crowbar behind the tree.

I get what you're saying though, I'd much rather have a Charles Buggs than a Josh Martin, but Josh Martins can be forgotten, Charles Buggs keep you up at night and make you question your ability as a coach. "He's sooo talented, but I can't get him to work hard" Or "What can I do to capitalize on his strengths and hide his weaknesses"

I'll repeat, he's a nightmare.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
I'll repeat, he's a nightmare.
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I think you have just had some bad experiences yourself.


Offensively Buggs is doing better than many bigs though the start of his sophomore year. When he improves his defense enough he'll be out on the floor long enough(up to ~20 mpg from the 11 he gets now) to bump his 4 pts and 2 rbs up to 8 pts and 4 rbs(which would be good not great for a sophomore post player) I wouldn't worry about it. He will get there.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
or how he stays out on the perimeter instead of rebounding, but just watch him on free throws. He just doesn't box out & it drives Pitino mad.
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This is true and I think a lot of it goes back to strength. I have seen him try to box out sometimes. Often he is literally just muscled out of the play, often easily. I remember one time against St. John's where he had the inside spot on a free throw and tried to box out, and the guy next to him just leaned into him and pushed him literally beyond the baseline and completely out of the play.

He does look like he's gained some muscle in his upper body, but lower body strength is so important in basketball, especially in the paint. He and Morris have such thin legs. Gotta get on that leg press and a major nutrition/calories plan.
 



Buggs and Squirrel have at least one thing in common: it is an adventure when they are on the court. I certainly don't want to change the channel even on a blowout when might miss something interesting from one of them.
 

Tim1406 said:
I think you have just had some bad experiences yourself.


Offensively Buggs is doing better than many bigs though the start of his sophomore year. When he improves his defense enough he'll be out on the floor long enough(up to ~20 mpg from the 11 he gets now) to bump his 4 pts and 2 rbs up to 8 pts and 4 rbs(which would be good not great for a sophomore post player) I wouldn't worry about it. He will get there.
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Read the rest of the post. I'm not using the word Nightmare in the sense that he's a terrible player. These types of players drive you bonkers as a coach as you want to tap that ability but sometimes its extremely difficult to find the right button to make it click or the right situation for him to be effective in.
 


Winasota Gopher said:
Read the rest of the post. I'm not using the word Nightmare in the sense that he's a terrible player. These types of players drive you bonkers as a coach as you want to tap that ability but sometimes its extremely difficult to find the right button to make it click or the right situation for him to be effective in.
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I think the word you are looking for is conundrum. Nightmare has negative connotations and I doubt you think that. As for the buttons to push he probably just needs to grow up and realize what he is capable of. Also he probably thinks too much on the court and when he does that I suspect the game is too fast for him.
 

Tim1406 said:
I think the word you are looking for is conundrum. Nightmare has negative connotations and I doubt you think that. As for the buttons to push he probably just needs to grow up and realize what he is capable of. Also he probably thinks too much on the court and when he does that I suspect the game is too fast for him.
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Kenny Smith once defined "playing hard" as playing without thinking about it too much.
 

Tim1406 said:
I think you have just had some bad experiences yourself.
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Yes, that combined with a heightened sense of drama. When I think of a nightmare in sports, I think of Joey Bosa rather than Charles Buggs.
 

Charles Buggs is the type of player that keeps a coach up at night. Call it whatever you want.
 



Winasota Gopher said:
It's A Buggs thread.
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You can only mention that he's a nightmare a certain amount of times before it gets old. I respect your opinion. Just don't shove it in everyone else's face, because others don't see it the same way you do.
 

GameDay said:
You can only mention that he's a nightmare a certain amount of times before it gets old. I respect your opinion. Just don't shove it in everyone else's face, because others don't see it the same way you do.
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Fair enough. However, i was trying to explain my choice of wording rather than convince others of what he is or isn't.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Fair enough. However, i was trying to explain my choice of wording rather than convince others of what he is or isn't.
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It's all good Winnesota! I sometimes catch myself doing the same thing with Joey King, but I try not to conciously call him out too much.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Charles Buggs is the type of player that keeps a coach up at night. Call it whatever you want.
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I seriously doubt that Pitino is lying awake at night, tossing and turning, drenched in nervous sweat, twitching in jittery fear because of the specter of Charles Buggs. He may, on the other hand, spend a few minutes of his awake time trying to think of ways to maximize Buggs' talent and abilities.
 

Urbandale said:
I seriously doubt that Pitino is lying awake at night, tossing and turning, drenched in nervous sweat, twitching in jittery fear because of the specter of Charles Buggs. He may, on the other hand, spend a few minutes of his awake time trying to think of ways to maximize Buggs' talent and abilities.
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+1 hahaha
 

Tim1406 said:
+1 hahaha
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Urbandale said:
I seriously doubt that Pitino is lying awake at night, tossing and turning, drenched in nervous sweat, twitching in jittery fear because of the specter of Charles Buggs. He may, on the other hand, spend a few minutes of his awake time trying to think of ways to maximize Buggs' talent and abilities.
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Cause that's what I meant. The literal sense of keeping someone up at night.
 


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