He shot 16.7% from three last year and has shot 28.6% for his career. To go from that to being a sniper is a dramatic change, IMO.
Why are we cherry picking the games where he played at least 14 minutes (also the ones where he was playing his best) but not the ones where he couldn’t stay on the court or all of his most recent season?
Why? I was a shooter and any game I got 3 shots or less there was about a 10% chance I could get anywhere near a semblance of rhythm. Probably less than 20% of players in the world can be in rhythm consistently in games they play less than 9 or 10 minutes.
Taine has played in 32 games and has 2 shot attempts or less in 25 of them… and 0 or 1 shot attempt in 19 of them … trying to extrapolate that someone is a bad shooter from that data set is a fool’s errand for me anyway. Most of my best games I missed my first shot or 2. But there was no stress on those shots because I knew I was only coming out in blowouts or if I got in foul trouble. Gives a player a chance to calibrate and get in rhythm.
p.s. And that makes it even more stressful and less fluid for guys who never know if they’re gonna play 1 minute or 20. The best coaches generally give players consistency so that they can be prepared and also practice that way … helps calm the nerves knowing what to expect and having the chance to have reps in that manner consistently over many games.
Let it be known that UVA not scheduling a charity game against Maryland at Capital One in DC means Tony is pro wildfires. Put it in the books
5 pillars series.
Vs Maryland in DC
Vs Kentucky in Scott Stadium
Vs Michigan State on the closest outdoor court to Kon Knueppel’s residence.
Vs St Johns at MSG
Vs Tennessee at that newish Complex in Hampton i think where the audience can be boys and girls club kids bussed in from around the state.
Each game a charity. Each game Tony can go off on a pillar for 15 minutes
Which pillar does Rick Pitino best embody?
Humility for scheduling the game even though he knows the Hoos are going to smoke him again
I played too and also subscribe to the theory that, in many cases, players who play loose and comfortably and have a decent leash are likely to play better, within reason, than those who are playing tight (see: Kadin Shedrick last year). There’s the whole you can be playing too loose and not intense enough too, etc. but that shows up more in other areas than with shooting.
FWIW, I do think Taine Murray will shoot better than 28% from three if he’s given more run this season - but your selection of 14 minutes is pretty arbitrary (as is three shots or less) and cuts out, for example, when he went 0-4 against JMU in 12 minutes, 0-3 against UMES in 12 minutes and many other smaller sample size times that are still relevant to his ability to hit open looks and his ability to be ready when his number is called.
The idea that how we’ve seen him do on the collective thus far in his career is so unrepresentative of how he will do if given time that he’s going to jump 10-12% points from three at scale (which is around where I think he’d need to be for it to be worth it given the other elements to his game)… I don’t find that very probable. I’d be thrilled to be proven wrong.
I also don’t think he’s the kind of player you can afford to let just shoot out of a slump or wait for him to heat up/get comfortable - at least not compared to the alternatives, IMO.
My synthesis is that when you’ve shot only 35 threes in your career, your percentage so far has a very low information value when it comes to reflecting your “true” shooting ability. A 20% 3pt shooter could probably fluke their way to 10 makes on 35 threes and a 40% shooter might hit a slump that lasts for 35 threes. For example, KG shot 49.5% from three his first year, but there was still an 8-game stretch in the middle of the season where he went 5-for-20.
Man I find it so entertaining when the resident know it alls chime in with long form expositions on why guys who have never seen a single second of court time in high major basketball are obviously better than whoever our hall of fame coach might see fit to play.
Ok, now that I have read through this thread i have completely no idea who will be in our rotation in the backcourt. At one time i thought i had a pretty good idea but obviously i don’t know anything
Agree … really hard to tell with the lack of opportunity for Taine so far to play consistent minutes … hard for anyone in that boat… I am a bit encouraged that when he’s gotten a little more run in games he’s generally played pretty well. Also against good opponents in Iowa, Pitt, Syracuse, Miss St, Miami.
No idea if it will translate in a meaningful consistent rotation role if he were to get that.
I did also extend it out to 13 games with most minutes where he was still better from the floor over those games than any other guard/wing in the rotation either year … but agree that it’s hard to predict how he would do as a rotation player
The sample size on Taine is way too small to make any conclusions in either direction
Agree. Not to belabor but he gets pulled from games mostly because he has defensive lapses. Not surprising with Tony. He has the challenge of not being laterally quick enough for quick wings but not the height for old school 4s. Just needs to work on positioning to compensate. I hope he can shore that up a bit because I think he’ll be a solid role player offensively.
Tbh, I draw as much from how small the sample size has been as how he’s done in that small sample size.
In the past two years. We’ve made the tourney only once, won zero tourney games, and Tony thought Taine was barely playable.
Could a guy from barely playable on two not very good teams to meaningful rotation minutes on a good team? Of course. But Is it likely?
I appreciate what Taine has done (esp the loyalty to the program and being fine with his role), but I don’t think we should heap expectations on him beyond being a high quality practice team player.
Yeah, I should clarify that my thought isn’t that he’ll necessarily be a bad shooter if he plays more it’s that I don’t think he’ll be a good enough shooter to warrant playing him over other guys who bring so many more things to the table.
Maybe this is what finally fixes our three point shooting.
Man am I excited about Bliss. Haven’t been this excited about a player since…. Ryan Dunn
