James/Adams/Herndon/Dalton/Naughton

[.44caliberkiller]

I would really love to see this lineup play together atleast once before the season is over. I fail to see why this lineup hasn't even been tried. When were getting destroyed on the boards it might be a good idea to put your biggest most athletic lineup in the game. It might me an mediocre 3pt shooting lineup, but in a game where threes aren't falling we should try something different. I've heard some argue that a potential lineup of Herndon/Dalton/Naugthon playing at the same time is unlikely because we would be at a disadvantage against penetrating guards/wings. But if you noticed against Nevada when Marshall was torching us, Edwards put Herndon on him, and Herdon did a decent job.

I believe this lineup would be:
by far our best defensive lineup with outstanding length (6'7/6'4/6'9/6'8/6'10)
by far our best rebounding team (James/Adams/Dalton/Naughton are all plus rebounders)
by far our best slashing lineup (3-4 guys who can penetrate)
by far our best interior scoring lineup (all 5 guys can finish around the rim)

I believe this lineup would be:
be an average 3pt shooting lineup (but still have 3-4 3pt threats)
be an average ball control lineup (but not significantly worse than usual)

I fail to see the downside of this potential lineup. I really like Edwards but I really don't like his rotations. No many teams in America have their two best players coming off the bench. No many teams in America play a walk-on freshman significant minutes. Not many teams in America play two small/slow white boys who can't shoot. I believe we have the talent to be a mid-upper echelon MTN West team, but we are trying to overcome too many self imposed problems. He is a young coach and hopefully he will improve as he gains more experience.

 

[LanderPoke]

I like it, most on here (those with really bright basketball minds) love the current lineup situation and think everything is A-OK.


Now seems like a good time to remind people of the purpose of a message board: discussion. If we all agreed with everyone else and all agreed with the coaches all the time this place would be pretty boring. :thumb:

I think Edwards is a great coach honestly, but he's just way overthinking his lineups.

 

[Cuttslam]

I like it, most on here (those with really bright basketball minds) love the current lineup situation and think everything is A-OK.


Now seems like a good time to remind people of the purpose of a message board: discussion. If we all agreed with everyone else and all agreed with the coaches all the time this place would be pretty boring. :thumb:

I think Edwards is a great coach honestly, but he's just way overthinking his lineups.

Yep all the great ones bring their two best players off the bench.

 

[Cosmic Cowboy]

I would really love to see this lineup play together atleast once before the season is over. I fail to see why this lineup hasn't even been tried. When were getting destroyed on the boards it might be a good idea to put your biggest most athletic lineup in the game. It might me an mediocre 3pt shooting lineup, but in a game where threes aren't falling we should try something different. I've heard some argue that a potential lineup of Herndon/Dalton/Naugthon playing at the same time is unlikely because we would be at a disadvantage against penetrating guards/wings. But if you noticed against Nevada when Marshall was torching us, Edwards put Herndon on him, and Herdon did a decent job.

I believe this lineup would be:
by far our best defensive lineup with outstanding length (6'7/6'4/6'9/6'8/6'10)
by far our best rebounding team (James/Adams/Dalton/Naughton are all plus rebounders)
by far our best slashing lineup (3-4 guys who can penetrate)
by far our best interior scoring lineup (all 5 guys can finish around the rim)

I believe this lineup would be:
be an average 3pt shooting lineup (but still have 3-4 3pt threats)
be an average ball control lineup (but not significantly worse than usual)

I fail to see the downside of this potential lineup. I really like Edwards but I really don't like his rotations. No many teams in America have their two best players coming off the bench. No many teams in America play a walk-on freshman significant minutes. Not many teams in America play two small/slow white boys who can't shoot. I believe we have the talent to be a mid-upper echelon MTN West team, but we are trying to overcome too many self imposed problems. He is a young coach and hopefully he will improve as he gains more experience.

I like the thinking in this lineup and I like all the players. Great post :thumb: There is def work to be done. I'd love to see this lineup in action too! It would give us Gorski, J McMan, Liebs, Kelly, Moemeka, JB, and Mo Marshall (this poor dude, I hope he earns PT somehow) off the bench. With a lineup like that you'd have to commit Moemeka and JB more spot minutes to rest the bigs which I think would be fine. Makes our 2nd bench unit a strictly 3 shot small ball squad or 3 shooters 2 bangers with Moemeka/JB just hustling and hacking if needed on D.

 

[POKE FAN]

I'm going to try to bite my lip for the remainder of the season and see where this program goes with the new recruiting classes coming in (i.e. likely upgrades in athleticism and versatility to play at Edward's faster pace). Having said that, and being old school, it drives me nuts to see a stat sheet showing the Pokes with 33 attempted threes and only 28 attempted shots inside the arc. A little less than 1/3 of Nevada's shots were from three. That's a recipe for losing by, say, 15 points at home to a solid opponent, if you're not hot from outside. The quick-threes are what really drive me nuts. You want to wear an opponent down at 7,220? Make them spend a little extra time working hard in half-court defense each time down with great ball movement and physical play inside (the exception being legit fast break opportunities.) Reduced shot clocks over the last 20 or so years have hurt that approach somewhat, though.

 

[Cowboy Junky]

I'm going to try to bite my lip for the remainder of the season and see where this program goes with the new recruiting classes coming in (i.e. likely upgrades in athleticism and versatility to play at Edward's faster pace). Having said that, and being old school, it drives me nuts to see a stat sheet showing the Pokes with 33 attempted threes and only 28 attempted shots inside the arc. A little less than 1/3 of Nevada's shots were from three. That's a recipe for losing by, say, 15 points at home to a solid opponent, if you're not hot from outside. The quick-threes are what really drive me nuts. You want to wear an opponent down at 7,220? Make them spend a little extra time working hard in half-court defense each time down with great ball movement and physical play inside (the exception being legit fast break opportunities.) Reduced shot clocks over the last 20 or so years have hurt that approach somewhat, though.

Agreed. The difference between these running teams and the Brandenburg teams, was Eric Leckner. If we had a big traditional center threat to feed in the post, we wouldn't hurt ourselves by rushing a three point shot early in the clock. I'm going to miss running the clock on offense and wearing people out. If we are going to push the pace, we're going to have to do it attacking the rack and not missing threes, and we don't have the personnel for that yet either. Adams and James can attack the rack, but doing it over and over again gets them in foul trouble. We need more bodies that can attack the rack for this offense to be effective.

I'm not sold on this Golden State offense we're running. We don't have the personnel for that YET. We need more shooters and more long bodies that can attack the rack. They're here or they're signed, but those guys don't get here until next season.

We need a big body at center like Leckner to make this offense click, someone with multiple moves to get points with their backs to the basket.

We need to work the 3 point shooting inside out. Feed the ball inside, and kick to the open three point shooters.

This offense doesn't seem to fit the personnel that are playing this year as well as it could. It fits next seasons personnel very well, but we're missing a couple of shooters and a couple of rim attackers for this offense to work efficiently.

 

[NowherePoke]

It might be worth trying. I would be concerned about Herndon's ability to hold up long-term defending wings, but at this point I don't see why it would be worth at least a limited look depending on matchups.

I know Gorski and JMac had bad games against Nevada (ok, JMac has had a bad month), but their perimeter shooting is a legitimate weapon, so I still think we need significant minutes from them.

Less Lieberman/Kelley and more James/Adams is something that just needs to happen though. Kelley is fine with me, but should only see limited spot minutes as a hard working walk-on. Lieberman has played himself out of the rotation IMO.