Before Nolte there was Will Regan who was recruited to do pretty much the exact same thing before transferring after one season. And even at Wazzou he had Daven Harmeling who played a very similar role before losing his PT to Klay Thompson in Tony’s last year there.
This has for the most part always been a constant on Bennett’s rosters throughout his HC career, he likes to have that stretch 4 shooting specialist type somewhere in his rotation. You could argue Dre filled that spot in 2018-2019 as well, it’s just that he did so many other things at such a high level that you wouldn’t really classify him as strictly being in that role.
It’s all about who is paired with a stretch big. Dunn, a hyperathletic A+ defender is a good pair. Gardner, an undersized average athlete, was a bad pair with BVP.
I think Groves is a better shooter than BVP, and I’m hopeful that his lack of athleticism can be covered up by our other guys(mainly Dunn and potentially Bond), while adding enough offense to make the trade off worth it. And hopefully Buchanan and/or MInor can step up in matchups when we need more size and athleticism.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa…you’re saying there’s actual evidence of an actual instance where Tony actually played an actually elite younger player over a veteran? I’m sorry, this is simply not possible. It is well known that Tony keeps all his elite young talent on the bench because he’s a meanie.
My hunch is if you’re a Leon Bond backer, you should want Groves to play a lot. That’s probably the best way for Leon to fill a niche on the floor. They help cover each others warts.
This is next level and Fresh has never considered how players are paired etc. so Leon plays with Groves cause Leon can defend but Groves can maybe sometimes make 3s?
Yep that’s about it. Bond can switch on just about anybody, would help them hide Groves on D. Helps with rebounding, which Grove isn’t good at it. And Groves makes up for Bond’s lack of three-point shooting.
Rebounding would be the biggest problem if they use the small DunnGroves frontline very often. That’s why I’m skeptical. TB wont’ stand for giving up offensive boards.
I don’t know. I think from the sound of it it’s been pretty even between him and Buchanan since the summer. My guess is Minor starts the opener, assuming they don’t start off small. Probably an even split between those two though. But with Buchanan being a freshman, it’s hard to count on him too much. Freshman bigs tend to stay in foul trouble.
I told you all over the summer that Minor was a little disappointing. I think it’s just that the valuable parts of his game, blocking shots and getting on the offensive glass, haven’t translated as much as they probably hoped. But he should still be a solid piece.
Tony Bennett learns his lessons. He now wants to make sure if his players fall for volleyball players, it’s our volleyball players and not some other school’s.
Lineups with Dunn rebounded quite well last year, and his frontcourt partner was like 40% BVP (side note: lineups with BVP rebounded very well too), 40% JG, 20% Kadin. But Groves is less of a rebounder than those three.
Did you mean defensive boards? On offense, he sends his guards back as soon as the shot’s up. IOW, he’s willing to give less effort for offensive rebounds in exchange for denying easy transition buckets. Or did I totally miss your point?