The triangle (and 5-out, too, I guess) seems to work best with only one big. Esp. when Dunn is out there for some rim protection, I think the best move is only one of Shed, BVP, or Gardner. I think BVP has an obvious upside of being able to knock down the three, and Shed has the advantage (as you pointed out, but I hadn’t considered) that they won’t switch everything when he’s out there. Jayden’s advantage is that he’s really good at producing inefficient offense. But unfortunately, that’s also his disadvantage. (But it’s also an advantage! His offense sort of gives us a floor when 3s are inevitably not dropping).
Sort of the problem with a small sample size is that Kadin was covering Klintman in all his possessions, I think. So he was mostly not that involved defensively. But what he did do was fine.
Does it sorta seem like we’ve been in small-ball / 3-man motion camp? Like, we are playing it all the time to get better at it? (and also obviously, it’s working). I think the next progression is mixing in more offenses and different looks. Like, maybe Jayden needs a different look when he’s in?
Finally, I kinda think one of my takeaways is one that I’ve sort of felt all along – I’m just not sure Jayden and BVP are complementary players. Feels like we should see more of one and not both. And also Kadin and Jayden are not complementary because they clog the lane. Yet we haven’t seen too much of Jayden being the lone big, perhaps because he’s so short.
If not obvious by now, these have been musings, rather than takeaways.
To your first point, I mostly agree but I do think BVP can work pretty well with Shedrick in any of the offenses because he can be the stretch 4 that Dunn offers while being a big body on defense and still allowing us to benefit from Shedrick’s defense without giving up spacing.
I fully agree that sometimes Jayden’s inefficient offense is valuable if the rest isn’t working - but we haven’t really seen a situation where the rest hasn’t been working for prolonged periods since we’ve gone fully to Smaller Ball and the Triangle/5-Out offenses. And, especially since the change in offenses, he’s very much the square peg we keep trying to fit in the round hole. He had a good game offensively against VT but, even then, Mutts feasted on him on the other end and it wasn’t overly positive net-net. It’s hard to find the right mix for him in these offenses where he’s both able to be a plus offensively (despite what it does for everyone else) AND not a major negative on defense.
This is actually why he was much more effective with Kadin on the floor, IMO, because we were running Sides which was an offensive system much more catered to both of their strengths, but Kadin didn’t just protect KC on defense, he also protected Gardner on defense. Dunn offers a lot of reach but he doesn’t really do that in the same way, even when you play both together. Gardner and Shedrick had some decent high-low at times as well and could both create some chaos internally offensively, as well. So, absolutely, I think if/when you’re playing Gardner, going back to Sides is the way to go and also playing Shedrick is the way to go.
… but I’m pretty sold on staying the course re: what we’re doing now offensively and just working Shedrick into it and scaling back Gardner is the best way to go. Someone said earlier Gardner is a good “break glass in case of emergency three failure” kind of situation and I liked that thought. And run sides when we go to it!
CTB has more than earned my trust in this one. Especially because in sitting Kadin others are gaining valuable experience that wouldn’t have been available.
The fact that CTB is insist in acknowledging Kadin tells me this is a long play. Some players need a coddle some need a flick behind the ear.
I’m reminded of the Kadin discussion we had in the offseason that he might need a bit of motivation. I’m not so much skeptical of the “Tony’s trying to motivate Kadin” theory, as I just feel like I don’t know much either way. If I had to guess, I’d think Tony sees that as a secondary effect, but he’s legitimately just trying other options right now and liking them.
To my eye, the less playing time Kadin’s gotten, the worse he’s played (until Saturday).
I know CTB likes to motivate through unity through adversity and his call on his teammates specifically to support Kadin through this definitely feels like an effort toward that. I’m more interested to see what Kadin’s PT and impact look like by March than really any other development on the team atm.
Exactly!.. One gripe I’ve had is lack of playable depth on past teams. By March our teams were exhausted and our bench was no help. I’ve been loving the rotations this year and CTB’s willingness to give the 1st years minutes at crucial times.
It’s definitely that he’s trying other options right now and liking them. Zero chance Kadin’s time would look like this if we were losing or if the offense wasn’t humming with BVP and the guards/Dunn. But I also think he’s well aware and working toward something with Kadin. Practically, there’s very little reason to have Caffaro enter the game before Kadin on Saturday or play more, especially given what happened when Kadin played. It just feels… off. Especially if the only consideration was on court impact. Kadin’s still the most metrically impactful player on the team and CTB is surely aware of that.
I think that’s the biggest key and to @haney point I think CTB stumbled on something a bit by accident. I’ll throw out the theory that the small lineup with Kadin at the 5 at the end of the Pitt game is more what CTB had in mind when he thought small ball. Then Bacot gets hurt, Hoos have to go small to match UNC and “uh ohh…” we might have found something, let’s explore where it takes us.
I also believe to @Wahoo1919 point another perk the team stumbled upon is a way to develop depth for this season and prepare for next season while still feasting in the present. Could it backfire? Sure but so could letting Kadin play 25 mins a game. But as of right now the net positive seems to be worth it.
To answer your question, I’m not sure when it comes to Kadin. I do think he responds to adversity, thinking back to last season the swap of him and Papi seemed to work well for both.
Yeah, that first half of the UNC game was the biggest detriment to Kadin’s playing time, IMO. It was his worst game at the worst time. Bacot went out and he didn’t play well defensively vs. the backup (although many of those first half points weren’t against him, he still made some mistakes), and the offense did get bogged down in that one because UNC pretty much left him alone entirely whenever he was at the high post. Then, in the second half, Smaller Ball absolutely cooked.
Yeah, some combination of these rotations is what I’d like as well. I’d be fine with starting Dunn or bringing him as first off the bench. He actually pairs well with either BVP or Shedrick, I believe.
hopefully he gets some good run in this upcoming game because 1) we SHOULD be able to handle BC at home regardless, 2) Post, their 7 footer, has been playing well (had 29 vs ND last outing, been in double figures each of their last 6).
i know we’ve put BVP and Dunn on guys that big, but at least let Kadin try to neutralize him 1 on 1 a few times
Reminds me of the way Houston played against us. Inside out and BVP so many times is thinking 2 plays ahead. Like @BDragon said, I didnt know he had that in his game coming to UVa
I watched some of his games from last year when his transfer was announced and loved his vision/passing, but he also played with Mark Sears who the ball tended to just stick with like a black hole, so the opportunity to play amazing team ball seemed somewhat limited.
Thanks. Great analysis. Really good stuff on the Gardner vs. Dunn dynamic and helps explain why Dunn’s playing time has been increasing and Gardner’s has been decreasing some the last couple of games. With regard to Kadin, I think his lack of a btb game or willingness to take a wide open mid-range jumper is the big negative for Tony in our offense, despite what the metrics say. I also think that Tony gets annoyed that Kadin’s not a stronger rebounder for his size. Here’s hoping that Tony’s machinations are deeper than ours, and Kadin has a Diakite/Tobey/Atkins like resurgence by the end of the season, starting with the BC and Syracuse games.
I don’t think a player’s postgame vid ever came out since the game was away, but this article has a good amount of quotes from Dunn, Clark and Franklin:
Pro wrestling angle could be kind of fun. Ref starts jawing with the home fans, away team’s manager slides a steel chair into the hands of their backup 5…