Well, I was there last night, and both games were pretty short on players. Rodney, Mav, Andre Hollins, Oto, Halverson, Austin, and Elliot all decided to sit out their games last night, which kind of took all the fun out of the games, especially as all we were left with (from a Gopher standpoint) was Joe Coleman. And, as I've said before, although you can't necessarily tell from a good Pulley performance how a kid will perform in the Big Ten, you sure can tell that any struggles a kid has in Pulley are unlikely to be a strength in the regular season. Last year, I was very concerned with Mav based on what I saw in Pulley, and I think my fears were borne out. This year, Joe's performance has been pretty troubling. I left after the first half, so anybody who hung around can let me know whether he picked his game up, but he looked horrible in the first half. He was about 4 of 17 from the floor, with some Austin Hollins-esque misses from 3, he can't make a jumper, he wasn't able to get to the rim and finish, so he was forced to jack up shots off balance hoping for a foul, he forced shots the entire game, and didn't pass the ball (granted, his teammates did not inspire much confidence), and although he worked hard at times guarding Blake (who still torched him on several of his classic dives to the basket), he also hung back a few times to get a head start on offense. Obviously, the guys he was playing against, who were playing Europe and elsewhere professionally (and Blake) are tough players. However, Joe's got a LOT of work to do on his game before he's going to be able to contribute for us as a scorer.
Pulley Day ?
- Thread starter jmag21
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Disagree. Coleman didn't look bad in the first game of Pulley that I watched (the first day). His jumper wasn't very solid, but he has a great pump fake for drawing fouls. Hit his free throws and got to the hoop.
He also seemed to be a VERY solid deffender. He was giving the other team fits and he appeared to take great pride in his deffense, something very rare with a lot of kids.
I disagree about Travis as well, he often looked lost, timid, and just not ready for the pace that Coleman, Hollins, and Oto were playing at.
I didn't see last nights game, so maybe Coleman just stunk it about, but there is more to a guy than his jump shot and for some reason that is all everyone cares about. Should a guy have a good J, absolutley. But you can't ignore what a guy does well just because their jumper needs work. Ask Rondo.
Gold Vision
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If you watched Coleman in High School with a structured offense, he didn't play at all like he does in Pulley. I remember watching those games and wishing he would be more aggressive to the hoop and in his midrange game. I don't think he'll be throwing up 20 contested jumpers with the Gophers. He'd be yanked after 3.
Let me be clear, I saw Coleman in the first game too, and he wasn't hitting shots in that game either. I understand that Pulley's a different game, and that one needn't hit jumpers to help out this team. However, if Coleman can't make jumpers in Pulley, it's tough to expect that he'll hit them in the regular season, without some major work. GV, it's encouraging to hear that his black-holeness didn't manifest itself in a more structured environment. And I'm definitely not saying that Joe will not be able to contribute this year. But I'm tempering my expectations big time.
I don't think he is a good jump shooter by any means after watching at Pulley anyways. In that first game he had guys biting at his J like crazy and just leaned into them or drove, Tubby would have had to love that. Him and Andre were also both solid on defense and in the press and were aggressive.
Joe is not a solid jump shooter (yet) but he has a lot of other very good qualities and confidence, which is very important in jump shooting.
He is going to improve, he seems to have a strong work ethic, I doubt he helps the team much next year but a couple of years down the line he could be very good.