Rodney Williams

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rrjackIII

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He played 31 minutes. He had a smooth, quiet and productive night.

He played within the system and did not force the action.

Many have suggested there will be great improvement by Rodney this year.

I liked the way he played last night and I am beginning to see the possibilities that others have so confidently projected. Good start to the season.
 

rrjackIII said:
He played 31 minutes. He had a smooth, quiet and productive night.

He played within the system and did not force the action.

Many have suggested there will be great improvement by Rodney this year.

I liked the way he played last night and I am beginning to see the possibilities that others have so confidently projected. Good start to the season.
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I noticed Rodney in the same way, but also that he did not appear to even look for the shot from the arc at times. I'm not asking him to take it every time, but he has to at least look and grow into a threat from there. He had a lot of open looks out there that he passed on.
 

i was impressed with the fact that rodney was driving the lane and looking to finish. In the past, he hasn't used his quickness to get into the lane but tonight he did and had a couple of nice finishes off the glass.
 

Holy Man said:
I noticed Rodney in the same way, but also that he did not appear to even look for the shot from the arc at times. I'm not asking him to take it every time, but he has to at least look and grow into a threat from there. He had a lot of open looks out there that he passed on.
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The coaches may have stressed that they need to make 5 or 6 passes on the perimeter in the half-court before they put one up. Unless it's Blake.
 

With Devoe being out, is Ralph our second best 3-pt shooter?
 


I really liked how Rodney played at times (his drives and general aggressiveness), but I wouldn't say he didn't force it at times. He took a few really deep 2's that weren't really open. I don't think we want Rodney taking too many really deep 2s and step back jumpers. Again, I was happy with how he played but he did force it a little during stretches. If he wants to force drives and shots near the basketball that's completely fine though.
 

I disagree. I think Rodney still seems a bit lost out there. He took two horrible 3s and failed to beat his man off the dribble a few times as well. The only time he looks comfortable is when he is in the open court. I know it's still early, but I think people are trying to convince themselves that Rodney will be the man, when he is far from talking on that role.
 

burton34 said:
I disagree. I think Rodney still seems a bit lost out there. He took two horrible 3s and failed to beat his man off the dribble a few times as well. The only time he looks comfortable is when he is in the open court. I know it's still early, but I think people are trying to convince themselves that Rodney will be the man, when he is far from talking on that role.
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I agree with Burton34...I thought RW looked good on the defensive end and he is great in the open floor...but he doesn't take open shots...plus I think we need to get him down low with his back to the basket...he can get his shot over anybody that is covering him and with RSIII hitting outside...it keeps the big from doubling...move Mbakwe to the back side for a rebound and have Al and Blake above the arc...they ran that play once in preseason and it worked flawlessy but I haven't seen it since...RW could be a force in the half court if he could hit mid range two off the dribble and back his guy down.
 




mattw1067 said:
Al shot 39.3% last year from 3 point land, so I'd say no.
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Really? Could it be? Either the phrase "3 point land" is catching on or this must be Mr Nelson.

If I'm correct please reply with with the phrase "the painted area".


On the topic though, I thought Rodney had a nifty drive from the corner which I hope to see more of. I was impressed by how quick his first steps were. If he does that more often I can see a handy step fake clearing him for a 3.
 

burton34 said:
I disagree. I think Rodney still seems a bit lost out there. He took two horrible 3s and failed to beat his man off the dribble a few times as well. The only time he looks comfortable is when he is in the open court. I know it's still early, but I think people are trying to convince themselves that Rodney will be the man, when he is far from talking on that role.
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I agree too. Rodney has time to improve. He is not there yet. Being a great athlete does not always make a great basketball player.
 

I agree with the general assessment of Rodney's performance. I think the more minutes he racks up, the more confident he will be to drive the lane. He had one great drive (I think he just missed the basket) and drew the foul, you could see his potential in that one play. I'd expect to see improvement before the BT season, the additional minutes he is getting now are going to be huge. Once he realizes that he CAN get by his man and then go over the guys inside, he will be dangerous to either finish or kick if back out to an open perimeter.

He still looks way off balance and awkward when he takes the outside shot. It seems like he does that when he doesn't quite know what else to do with the ball. He had a couple awful bricks.

Nolen missed seeing an easy highlight reel pass to Rodney underneath in the first half. That seemed to be Rodney's trademark move last year, and it's another one that isn't going to be very effective in the Big Ten.
 

saw the game on big10network last nite..

i saw more out of rodney in the 1/2 court last night than all of last year combined.

last year he'd look low.. and pass back to the point. 98% of the time.
on Fri nite, he rarely just stood there..
as he learns he can drive whenever he wants, the 3's will stop.

also, he's now being pushed by two aggressive, talented freshman 3's (chip, hollins).
 



I wonder why Rodney isn't put in position to post-up his defender. He could jump over most and be shooting close to the basket. Many times he was being guarded by Rundles who was giving away about 5 inches.
 

Duker said:
I wonder why Rodney isn't put in position to post-up his defender. He could jump over most and be shooting close to the basket. Many times he was being guarded by Rundles who was giving away about 5 inches.
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That'd be interesting. Noticed that they were giving Rodney room, that's going to happen until Rodney can hit that shot. If he could hit that long 2-pt shot with at least enough consistency to bring out the defender, it'd be much easier to beat the guy off the dribble and Rodney's athleticism would be much more of an asset.

Edit to say: I did like the flashes of aggressiveness in the game. I didn't like him in our zone offense though, he was too slow passing the ball around the zone. That's something you can work out as the season progresses though.
 

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