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bomba$$_golf said:
Our Achilles heel all year was lack of depth. To sit JOJ for almost the entirety of the second half of the season suggests that was a coaching decision. I am not saying he should have started but this roster needed him to play. They chose not to. That is coaching malpractice. This staff loved to have scapegoats. Good staffs love to fnd solutions.
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Huh? As another poster stated, started 19 of 34 games, played in 29.
 

bomba$$_golf said:
Our Achilles heel all year was lack of depth. To sit JOJ for almost the entirety of the second half of the season suggests that was a coaching decision. I am not saying he should have started but this roster needed him to play. They chose not to. That is coaching malpractice. This staff loved to have scapegoats. Good staffs love to fnd solutions.
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The situation with JOJ was strange but it wasn't really until the final 9-10 games of the year that he saw a drastic reduction in playing time. We know he had a concussion during that time and everyone responds differently to those plus that stretch also coincides with Fox seeing his minutes go up a lot as well.

To play JOJ you have to sit one of Fox, Garcia or Payne who were all playing at a high level down the stretch. And when JOJ did get time during those games he did not look good while on the court (sloppy defense, ill advised 3s.....). Something was definitely off with him down the stretch but to go to coaching malpractice is a reach to me because if they believed he could help the team by being on the court he would have been out there.

As for next year, if Fox and/or Garcia are gone there is a large role available for him here. I don't think we know the full story about what was going on with JOJ over the second half of the season but it will all come down to whether he is on the same page as the coaching staff and the fact that he hasn't jumped into the portal yet might point to him planning to stick around.
 

bomba$$_golf said:
Our Achilles heel all year was lack of depth. To sit JOJ for almost the entirety of the second half of the season suggests that was a coaching decision. I am not saying he should have started but this roster needed him to play. They chose not to. That is coaching malpractice. This staff loved to have scapegoats. Good staffs love to fnd solutions.
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It's malpractice to sit a player that isn't performing up to expectations? JOJ has played plenty in the past couple of years. We have no idea what caused him to barely see the floor the second half of the season. Fox turning it on certainly had something to do with it. The poor defense definitely had something to do with it. Believe it was mentioned that he was dealing with concussion issues at one point in time.

Point is that we don't know why JOJ went from playing solid minutes/starting games to barely seeing the floor. Hopefully it's something that is being worked out and he stays with the team. It's all speculation.
 

There is a lot of discussion based on ??? nothing. JOJ knows exactly why he didn't get major minutes in the second half. CBJ wouldn't sit a guy for no reason. He, like Christie, doesn't defend at a high level. Christie has offensive punch, so he got more time, but he doesn't defend well, as witnessed by multiple instances in Ind. St. game. NBA is out of the question.
Garcia has much to develop, ball handling skills, shooting 3's, getting stronger to the rim... There is no reason to debate transfer portal issues because we don't know anything. Anybody can guess anything, and if it turns out that way they will act like a genius instead of the beneficiary of luck and coincidence.
 




60's Guy said:
Certainly seems logical about JOJ and Ihnen.....doesn't mean they'll automatically leave.
Same for Betts and Keinys who probably should realize the coach doesn't exactly see a future in them either.
But, if Garcia decides to do something else....that's a big hole.
If Christie leaves...so does hope. Retaining the core is the question at hand.
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Keinys Is getting a free education at a good US university - Gas and Bakary were smart not to leave, so I’m thinking unless he has a for sure connection to another school at a lower level for a scholarship via Ben or another means, that there’s no way he’s being pried off that bench. That degree could be truly life changing for him/his family.
 

howeda7 said:
He was far better last year. Doesn't look good on the staff that he regressed so much.
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I agree he had a better year last year but he seemed injured or just off this season. I hope he is back and takes DEFENSE seriously
 

Gopherbbdude said:
I agree he had a better year last year but he seemed injured or just off this season. I hope he is back and takes DEFENSE seriously
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Up until the end of January he was playing 20+ minutes a game and scoring in double figures most nights.

Something or a combination of somethings happened to see his minutes just crater down the stretch and have him go from a key part of the rotation to a bit player. We know he dealt with some injury issues and Parker Fox cut into his minutes but feels like there had to be more too it than that.

Could have been additional unreported injuries, something off the court (behavior, classroom), personal issue of some kind......something changed that took him out of the rotation and made him a bit player.

When he did get into games down the stretch he looked lost and was a liability. Hopefully they get it all sorted out and he sticks around because there is some definite ability there. The fact that he didn't jump in the portal right after the season ended makes me think there is a solid chance he is going to stick around.
 




PMWinSTP said:
I can't see any NBA team taking him in the first round in the upcoming draft, way too green and would get eaten alive. Nice outside shooter, but he needs to develop more of his game and put on some mass.
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The question that NBA teams would ask about him is not if he is ready this year, it is 'Will he be ready after next year?" If you believe he will be ready after another year (or 3) then why not take him now and continue to develop him yourself, in your own league, under your own coaches, and for much less money as a late first round or 2nd round pick?

All you need is one team.
 

CPTMidnight said:
The question that NBA teams would ask about him is not if he is ready this year, it is 'Will he be ready after next year?" If you believe he will be ready after another year (or 3) then why not take him now and continue to develop him yourself, in your own league, under your own coaches, and for much less money as a late first round or 2nd round pick?

All you need is one team.
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Was thinking the same thing....
 

CPTMidnight said:
The question that NBA teams would ask about him is not if he is ready this year, it is 'Will he be ready after next year?" If you believe he will be ready after another year (or 3) then why not take him now and continue to develop him yourself, in your own league, under your own coaches, and for much less money as a late first round or 2nd round pick?

All you need is one team.
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That's definitely a possible thought process. I've seen them draft young players before they were ready plenty enough times and some of them turned out well after a few years. 20 years ago they were drafting high school seniors and most of them weren't anything close to Lebron when he left HS.
 



bomba$$_golf said:
Lmao. Spoken like a true fan who cares more about their needs than the actual players.
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That's big of you to care so much about the players' needs.

bomba$$_golf said:
Our Achilles heel all year was lack of depth. To sit JOJ for almost the entirety of the second half of the season suggests that was a coaching decision. I am not saying he should have started but this roster needed him to play. They chose not to. That is coaching malpractice. This staff loved to have scapegoats. Good staffs love to fnd solutions.
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It's called program development...something many of you are too impatient for. You call it malpractice and sling mud if you don't get immediate wins.

howeda7 said:
He was far better last year. Doesn't look good on the staff that he regressed so much.
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As if you care about anything other than slinging mud lol.
 


EasyThere Pilgrim said:
That's big of you to care so much about the players' needs.


It's called program development...something many of you are too impatient for. You call it malpractice and sling mud if you don't get immediate wins.


As if you care about anything other than slinging mud lol.
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That’s even bigger for you not caring what’s best for Cam. Program development……um, yeah let’s call it that.
 

CPTMidnight said:
The question that NBA teams would ask about him is not if he is ready this year, it is 'Will he be ready after next year?" If you believe he will be ready after another year (or 3) then why not take him now and continue to develop him yourself, in your own league, under your own coaches, and for much less money as a late first round or 2nd round pick?

All you need is one team.
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Yeah, yeah, we know. He might be decent in 3 years. But we don't have to beg teams to draft him.

TwistingMyMelon said:
That's definitely a possible thought process. I've seen them draft young players before they were ready plenty enough times and some of them turned out well after a few years. 20 years ago they were drafting high school seniors and most of them weren't anything close to Lebron when he left HS.
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Yeah. And I've also seen them draft young players before they were ready...who turned out poorly.
 

Put it this way. If the team loses Cam, Garcia, JOJ + another player that sees minutes, Ben will flat out not last.
I don't think that will happen, but if it does, it's over for Ben.
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
Yeah, yeah, we know. He might be decent in 3 years. But we don't have to beg teams to draft him.
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It would just take one team to make a guarantee prior to the draft but I don't think anyone will do it quite yet. More likely next year would be the year.
 
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EasyThere Pilgrim said:
As if you care about anything other than slinging mud lol.
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Give me a break. I'm just as big a fan of this team as you are. You get so bent on defending Ben you become irrational.

If there's a reason for JOJ's drop in playing time (injuries before the concussion/discipline), it's not been shared. As it stands, it's very odd how how he went from starting to barely playing. But we're not allowed to question anything Ben does or you say it's mud slinging.
 

I assume GC is on GH somewhere. I asked him if he was speculating....
 

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bomba$$_golf said:
Ben’s reluctance to develop and play joj is probably the biggest headscratcher of this entire season. Joj has high major athleticism that needed to be taught how to play major basketball. The fact this staff chose not to is a travesty.
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Ben Johnson started JOJ more than 40 games in two years. But of course, Ben was just too dumb to try to "develop and play" him. Kind of like Fleck refusing to give Morgan a decent shot,
 






howeda7 said:
Give me a break. I'm just as big a fan of this team as you are. You get so bent on defending Ben you become irrational.

If there's a reason for JOJ's drop in playing time (injuries before the concussion/discipline), it's not been shared. As it stands, it's very odd how how he went from starting to barely playing. But we're not allowed to question anything Ben does or you say it's mud slinging.
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This 100%.
 


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