Rodney

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Winasota Gopher said:
I dont recall his form changing extremely? Not saying it didn't, just saying I cannot recall his form from last year?

Still, one recent example doesn't make this a common or easy task.
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He changed his shot before this season and had one great game from the line. However, whether he improved his free throw shooting by the change in shot has not been proven. Mbakwe's free throw shooting is fine, though.
 


Bad Gopher said:
If he takes 5 million free throws using that awful free throw form, he'll just get really good at shooting free throws poorly. I can't believe the coaches haven't helped him improve his mechanical fundamentals. What do the assistant coaches do?!? Very frustrating and maddening.
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i dont think his form/release looks too bad..

whats odd to me is he doesn't dribble or at least toss the ball around a bit to get a 'feel' for it. Some guys do two 'sets' of dribbles, toss the ball in the air, go around the back with it, etc. Rodney: catch/shoot.
 


GophersOnTheRise said:
I would really like to see Rodney focus on his mid-range game and handles first and foremost. I'm a strong believer that you have to work your way from inside out. Gotta learn to crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run. Going straight to focusing on 3s is a lot harder if you aren't already a good mid-range shooter. The way he can elevate, if he can get the ball from the wing and do a 1-2 dribble pull up, who is going to stop that? If they play him too tight, he'll blow by them and make them one of his victims on SportsCenter. Looking forward to seeing him back next year and seeing what this team can do.
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he seems to like going left rather than right.. from the right wing he always went left... never to the baseline.. maybe it was setup that way.
but i don't think his 'handles' were too bad.. how many unforced turnovers did he have while dribbling? not many... but he was cautious so he never ventured too deep into traffic.

i would love to see him at the FT line against a zone. he's shown he's a good passer.. and one dribble either way and he's at the rim... add an 8ft pull-up, and he would be a terror to defend. i agree that the 3 should be way down the list for him. zero attempts next year is fine with me.. plenty of other guys to do that.
 

dboy said:
he seems to like going left rather than right.. from the right wing he always went left... never to the baseline.. maybe it was setup that way.
but i don't think his 'handles' were too bad.. how many unforced turnovers did he have while dribbling? not many... but he was cautious so he never ventured too deep into traffic.

i would love to see him at the FT line against a zone. he's shown he's a good passer.. and one dribble either way and he's at the rim... add an 8ft pull-up, and he would be a terror to defend. i agree that the 3 should be way down the list for him. zero attempts next year is fine with me.. plenty of other guys to do that.
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He hasn't had many turnovers while dribbling, but that's because he doesn't dribble much. I think the reason for that is because he has little confidence in his ability to break someone down and he's afraid he might lose control of the ball. I'm not saying he's a bad ball handler, I just think an improvement in that area would be beneficial as it would help him create of the dribble and either get a pull up jumper off or get all the way to the rim more often. The better you are at ball handling, the easier it is to beat someone off the dribble. I think everyone would like to see him be even more aggressive to the basket, and I think an improvement in ball handling will give him a boost of confidence and allow him to do that more often.
 

From the Barn said:
It ft% jumped from 63% to 73%. It happened.
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We'll disagree here. He also shot 69% from the line in the Big Ten last season. 73% in 7 games, up from 69% in the 18 regular conference season games after changing your shot offers zero proof that your free throw shooting has improved due to a change in mechanics.

There are plenty of free throw statistics out there... take a quick look at trends (and lack thereof).
 

Ridiculous to say.........

that Rodney can't/won't improve foul shooting or anything else he sets his mind to.

A quick glance at the teams birthdays reveals this birth order from youngest to oldest...


Joe Coleman, Andre Hollins, Elliot Elisason, Mo Walker, Austin Hollins, RODNEY WILLIAMS.

I will take those 6....and play 10 games against the rest of the roster and win 10 times......and they can have Mbakwe.

Rodney is not yet 21! (july bd) He makes up his mind to be better he will be. He is younger that Oto, Chip, Mav, Welch.....and has tons of upside.

He can leave tomorrow (or after the NIT) and make a living at this game somewhere.

I just hope he comes back again because I love watching him, and think we can accomplish some great things next year.

Has he ever been to Hawaii?? :eek:
 



leftyslefty said:
that Rodney can't/won't improve foul shooting or anything else he sets his mind to.

A quick glance at the teams birthdays reveals this birth order from youngest to oldest...


Joe Coleman, Andre Hollins, Elliot Elisason, Mo Walker, Austin Hollins, RODNEY WILLIAMS.

I will take those 6....and play 10 games against the rest of the roster and win 10 times......and they can have Mbakwe.

Rodney is not yet 21! (july bd) He makes up his mind to be better he will be. He is younger that Oto, Chip, Mav, Welch.....and has tons of upside.

He can leave tomorrow (or after the NIT) and make a living at this game somewhere.

I just hope he comes back again because I love watching him, and think we can accomplish some great things next year.

Has he ever been to Hawaii?? :eek:
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Rodney said he is coming back.
 

dboy said:
i dont think his form/release looks too bad..

whats odd to me is he doesn't dribble or at least toss the ball around a bit to get a 'feel' for it. Some guys do two 'sets' of dribbles, toss the ball in the air, go around the back with it, etc. Rodney: catch/shoot.
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Sorry, dboy, it's a train wreck. He can be fixed, though. I think I could help him.

Early last season, Trevor was so bad that when he missed a free throw his percentage would go up. (Rim shot, please.) His improvement through early this season was remarkable.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Sorry, dboy, it's a train wreck. He can be fixed, though. I think I could help him.

Early last season, Trevor was so bad that when he missed a free throw his percentage would go up. (Rim shot, please.) His improvement through early this season was remarkable.
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we are not talking shaq, wilt, moses malone here..

the guy has touch.. off-glass touch on the bunnies inside is spot-on.. a lot of guys clank anything off-glass.. not rodney. now if those were all bricks, i'd be concerned..
 

GophersOnTheRise said:
He hasn't had many turnovers while dribbling, but that's because he doesn't dribble much. I think the reason for that is because he has little confidence in his ability to break someone down and he's afraid he might lose control of the ball. I'm not saying he's a bad ball handler, I just think an improvement in that area would be beneficial as it would help him create of the dribble and either get a pull up jumper off or get all the way to the rim more often. The better you are at ball handling, the easier it is to beat someone off the dribble. I think everyone would like to see him be even more aggressive to the basket, and I think an improvement in ball handling will give him a boost of confidence and allow him to do that more often.
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Pretty spot on imo. I would add that most of our guys need to really improve their ball handling skills. Austin, Chip, and Rodney are the three that come to mind first.
 



dboy said:
we are not talking shaq, wilt, moses malone here..

the guy has touch.. off-glass touch on the bunnies inside is spot-on.. a lot of guys clank anything off-glass.. not rodney. now if those were all bricks, i'd be concerned..
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It's pathetic, and it's tough to put it any other way. A player of that caliber with that kind of proficiency from the FT line is just embarassing, and unacceptable. His ineptness from the FT line against Michigan contributed to the loss, going 1-for-3 in Overtime, missing the front end of a 1-and-1.

Chip is in the same boat, along with EE. If Trevor doesn't come back next year, those 3 are going to account for a LOT of the Gophers FT attempts next year (along with Dre, who is deadly from the line). They're all going to have to get it together or it will cost them some games next year, without a doubt.
 

In addition to improving his shooting, free throws and ball handling as indicated above, I hope Rodney also spends a little more time in the wieght room. Adding 10-15 lbs of muscle would also help his game. (note that I do think Rodney looked a little bit stronger this year vs his Freshman and Sophomore years)
 

Rodney needs to work on his mid-range jumpers...from 6 to 16 feet...baseline, FT line and in...if he can just develop a little pull up jumper from 10 feet or a turn around jumper, he'll become a 20 ppg player.
 

Man....it'd be nice if there was a place he could go any time of the day, every day, and work on all of this stuff in his game without having to double check if the gym is even open....something like a facility to practice in? LOL

Seriously though, I was hopeful about his mid range game after his soph year, but at this point, coming into his senior year, I'm not expecting a different player to show up. The improvement I wanna see from Rodney is that leadership, holding guys accountable, and also bringing it 100% EVERY game. He improved dramatically in that regard this year, and it'll have to continue.

Obviously I hope to see the perimeter skills improve as well, as they could make him a legitimate dangerous threat on the offensive end if he does, and if that happens, this team becomes that much more dangerous overall as well.
 

Moses87 said:
Rodney needs to work on his mid-range jumpers...from 6 to 16 feet...baseline, FT line and in...if he can just develop a little pull up jumper from 10 feet or a turn around jumper, he'll become a 20 ppg player.
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I agree - if Rodney had a pull-up jumper and could get a reliable tear-drop shot going he would be dangerous. As soon as he put that ball on the floor and got inside the 3 pt line he'd be able to score regardless of how the defense reacts unless they double team him.
 

Moses87 said:
Rodney needs to work on his mid-range jumpers...from 6 to 16 feet...baseline, FT line and in...if he can just develop a little pull up jumper from 10 feet or a turn around jumper, he'll become a 20 ppg player.
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There has been slow but steady progress from Rodney the past three years, he's somewhat of a dissapointment to me but has grown as a player much more than Ralph. I don't see why he would not have a strong senior season.
 

What Rodney reaaly needs is

beavergopher said:
He needs to take about a million jumps shots over the summer.
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a 10-15 pull up jumper or fade away jumper. If he could master this Sam Cassel or Larry Bird type shot he would get twice as many driving dunks as he gets now. I agree about shooting this summer, he needs to take 500-1000 jump shots a day. He could then double his scoring average and probably become the lottery pick he hopes to be!
 

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