slufanskip Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 I've seen 2 practices ... AD still looks like AD to me. There is alot to be said for what AD brings to the table ... toughness, hustle, leadership ... but ... he can't shoot. He is inconsistent with the ball, he makes the fancy pass occasionally but that is it. I like AD ... I am glad he is a Bill. The problem though lies in what to me is very clear ... TL, KL, DB and DP are all better basketball players than AD. We need our best players on the floor for the majority of the game. One of the reasons it looks like AD plays good in practice is that fouls are rarely called ... he is physical, very physical. If he was allowed to manhandle opponents in games ... I might think he should play more. Kevin competes evenly with AD ... but doesn't have to hack the hell out of him to stop him. Tommie has to be on the floor ... just too much talent. Dwayne is the pg ... he was the pg over AD last year ... there is no reason to think he won't be this year. Danny is so athletic and shoots the ball much better than AD. IMO our guards in order of talent ... TL, KL, DB, DP, AD, LM Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB Scout Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Drejaj and Brown will be needed for this team to have any type success. I notice some of you refuse to acknowledge AD and DB as main contributors. Lisch and Liddell are excellent talents but they are also inexperienced young fresh meat. As an former player it is so hard to just walk in and play mistake free ball. Drejaj must and will take the leadership role on this team. AD brings the stability a young team has to have. Drejaj has a decent shot from long range and is as tough and hard nosed as they come. Soon everyone will be Drejaj fans. I love this kid. He plays with so much got heart! As for Brown he's being overlooked and is way under the radar. DB passion and confidence are his best weapons. He has a nice shot, plays good defense and has the skills to get to the basket often and effectively. By no fault of Brown he may not get the minutes he deserves due to the higher profile freshmen from the local area. By attracting these three kids(Liddell, Polk and Lisch) and having a winning program the Billikens future looks very bright after they start winning some games. Mark my word, athletically talented kids from all over with a solid educational foundation will be fighting to go to SLU over the next few years. Drejaj as the senior will be the key. Brad's a good teacher and a great person and he knows Drejaj is going to be the key and Brown has the tools to be the wildcard. Drejaj, Polk, Brown, Liddell, Lisch, Vouyoukas, Johnson, Newborne will be the 8 man rotation. BB Scout- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjray Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 >>Drejaj as the senior will be the key.<< Humbug says I. Someone once said you cannot teach height. Well, you cannot teach athleticism as well and Drejaj is pedestrian in this department. Also, once a kid is a senior, you can't teach him how to shoot. His shot is what it is--erratic in Anthony's case. He compensates with physical strength and raw desire (which I greatly admire) ... but the dude's shot completely left him last year. I don't want to hear about these wondrous things Anthony is able to manufacture at the Bauman-Eberhardt Center against our B Team. It's meaningless. What can an athletically challenged Drejaj accomplish against top conference foes in the A-10? Lisch and Liddell have the skill sets to allow them to compete at this level. Anthony does not. End of story in my book. We gain nothing by playing Anthony more than 10 minutes a game in a building year. On the other hand, the minutes played by Lisch, Liddell, Brown and Polk will make us a better team in the years to come. We're playing for the future right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheltiedave Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 One thing we do gain by playing AD 15 to 20 mpg is a real guard rotation. I don't think anyone will argue the fact we will be playing three guards ALL THE TIME. There is also little argument that our guard play this year must be a dominant factor to flip the seven to ten losses (last year) to the wins column this year. In order to flip last year's losses, we must maintain the defensive intensity, while improving our outside shooting % and implementing a more significant fast break/leak out game. We plan on these happening while using two freshman as the keystones for this process? The key to making the desired changes is to have a stable of effective and fresh guards that can rotate in every five minutes of game time to maintain the pressure on both ends of the court. Fresh legs with a good outside shooter and a great slasher will be a great addition to see this year! Brad will be dogging VN and JJ to step up, because the PF is the cleanup rebounder in Brad's system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 skip, i think you are letting prior memories cloud your views. you have been to practice. at worst, drejaj is behind liddell, lisch and brown only. however at the practice thay you and i recently attended, drejaj was arguably at least the second best all around player on the floor imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 I would agree that Drejaj needs to get minutes and can and will be a contributor on this team ... but I hope he is not getting 20 minutes a game. Regardless of the defensive pressure we bring, all the guards are more than capable of going 30 minutes. In fact once the season gets in full gear I would be surprised to see KL and TL not getting 30 minutes each. That leaves 60 minutes to be divided between DP, DB and AD. DP is going to get his minutes ... probably also near 30 but even if it is only 25 that leaves 35 mnutes between DB and AD. IF DB is playing like he can ... and I think he will be, I don't see how AD gets 20 minutes. If we go to a 4 guard rotation once in a while that will add some minutes and AD may get some more. Also I haven't even mentioned LM ... Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Hardball - there was plenty of competetion for pg last year that is why Polk got the job. The competetion was that there was nobody else - AD was it and he could not play pg - not fast enough. This year there are other possibilities but DP will and should get the nod again until he proves or others prove otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Hardball - that is what we heard all last year - those playing where doing the best in practice - we rode that pony to a terrible season. Finally, when Brad started to play his younger players, things started looking up. He was 6 weeks too late in making the change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Roy, I disagree ... I think AD is the 5th best guard on this team. I like AD and value what he brings to the team ... but not as a starter. I know the other day you thought he was the 2nd best player ... I didn't, even when you asked me then ... I didn't say AD. He can't shoot consistently and didn't that day either. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 BB - lots of people have talked about Brown getting to play more - we like what talent he has and agree he should get significant minutes this year. I am sorry, AD does not have a decent long range shot - he can have the occasionaly good shooting game but those are far and few in between. We have seen enough of him to know that he is what he is - tough defender,limited by his being slow and who can not be counted on to score with any kind of regularity. Let him start early if necessary to provide a phase in of the younger better talent but if in January he is still starting then either Brad is a poor judge of talent, poor teacher, or just being stubborn Brad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Dave - with 6 guards, you do not need to rotate all them in evenly - our playes should be well enough conditioned to play 30 minutes with a three 3-4 min. breaks. I agree we will see 3 guards on the floor but I would rather play or 3 best and then sprinkle in the others to provide rest as needed/required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Sorry Roy, no way anybody convinces me that AD is better than Polk. Polk is so much faster it is not even worth debating. Polk also handles the ball much better - when we had trouble breaking the press last year what did Brad finally do - he gave up on his schemes and just let Polk bring it down by clearing everybody else out . For some reason, I can not understand how some are forgetting the skills and talent Polk brings. He will play significant minutes and will start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoop Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 How about cutting AD some slack. This board has been beating a dead horse for two months. Face it, AD is going to play. If people don't like it, tune in next year. He is a quality kid and wouldn't be playing in the A10 if he wasn't athletic. Who cares if he starts? He's not going to play the whole game. Geez...new topic, please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB Scout Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Drejaj will do just fine and his shot will be okay. Billiken_roy you davidnark and billiken rich are the coolest. I have enjoyed reading your comments the past two years. You seem to be seasoned veterans who have been marinated with tremendous knowledge of the game. BB Scout- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 I'm honored but please don't confuse me with someone who knows a heck of a lot about basketball. I may know the Billikens well but I still can't tell the difference between a charge and a blocking foul in most cases. (Yes I know the text book definitions but I'm damned if I can tell between them in game conditions.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StLouBlue Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 I checked ADs minutes the last 3 years, freshman yr 25.9, soph 26.0 and jr 27.6. Looking at this I don't think there is anything other than an injury where AD will not be averaging over 20 minutes per game. Brad seems to trust his seniors, maybe to a fault and this along with shortening his bench to around 8 players, means AD will be playing a lot. I haven't been to a practice so I really don't know what roles players will be having. I would just think that will Liddell being the most athletic player, I wonder if he will be staying in and getting the rebound and then looking up court to start the fast break. This would require then that Ian and JJ or VN only block out hopefully clearing the lane for Liddell to get the rebound and then Polk, DB, Lisch or AD then looking to run. I guess for us to start running, I still think that Brad will want 3 in to rebound, unless Ian or JJ turn into dominating rebounders which I don't expect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikenbooster Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Your reasoning is sound...the only thing different is now there is truly the depth at G we have not had in a looooong time. The one thing that may make the numbers as you indicate is playing 3-4 guards at one time, for an extended period of time throughout the game. mhg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 THis is a Bills basketball board and thats what we do debate Bills Basketball. I don't think anyone is saying AD won't play. The question is how much. If you think the debate has gone on too long ... avoid it, but I don't see what difference our debate makes to you ... you weren't in it. If you want to get in ... lets hear your opinion. How much should AD play and why? Have you seen a practice? Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 in the two practices that i have attended, polk was the worst guard on the floor. i love his skills, but i still question if he ever learned to actually play basketball at vashon. he sure is out of position and beat mentally a lot. that is not the player i want handling the ball. now as the season went along last year, he made less and less mistakes and utilized his advantages more, but sorry, at this point he wouldnt be in my lineup when they toss it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardball Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Cheeseman, I felt last year the job was going to be DP regardless of how he played. However for the last third of the season we saw more of AD and less of DP especially at the end of the games. I just do not understand the thinking of just handing the PG job over to DP. If you look at last years stats between AD an DP there is not much difference. Both played about the same amount of minutes, both shot bad but AD shot better from the 3 and the freethrow line, AD had more steals, they were witin 2 assisits of each other, AD had more rebounds. How can anyone argue that it is a no brainer that DP should get the PG job instead of AD? With all this being said I believe the best starting line-up from the group that we have would be TL playing the point, KL at the 2 and DB at the three. The coaching staff better be careful not to disregard practice performance and hand out starting positions based on preconceived reputations. Just my IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SShoe Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 >i love his skills, but i still question if he ever learned >to actually play basketball at vashon. I'm sure V-Time love this quote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Acording to VTIME Polk should start at power forward..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 their turnover statistics were almost identical as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Hardball and Roy - DP was a freshman - AD a junior . DP providing the same stats as AD clearly makes him the player with more upside. Roy, I have not attended a practice yet but it seems odd to me that DP became so clueless during the summer. Lets just wait and see when the season starts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 i didnt say clueless. i said drejaj was playing better than polk. my statements about vashon were pointed in the direction that i did not think polk acted like a point guard last year. and i didnt just start saying that recently. i was saying that last year as well. also, hardball and my thoughts are that polk did not outplay drejaj last year. yes he is more exciting because of his sheer speed and potential, and yes i agree the upside is all with polk, but the argument is drejaj is not the worst guard by miles as many seem to want to say. and while i said polk was the worst guard, i dont think that was meant to say he was clueless and horrible. but the fact that liddell, lisch, drejaj and brown have just played better thus far in practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.