He has been terrible the last few games. What has happened? He seems out of control every time he drives the lane. He has not made his FTs and his shooting in general has been very poor. Of course the entire team has looked bad. Damion is the only one with any energy. The team has struggled on defense as well. We have the ability but we are just not playin well right now. Hopefully we can straighten this out and quick.
DJ needs to be passing more on the dribble drive. Several times today he had a wide open man to dish to, but he took a hard shot instead. Of course, when the other team shoots 55% for the game, you'll probably lose. I hate the 2-3 zone with this team.
D.J. had another off shooting night and took a couple of questionable shots. But I'm not going to put most of the blame on him. Our offense in the Mizzou game was so stagnant. Where's the motion? I thought we were supposed to be a Suns/Warriors type of team. The other role players can't stand around and watch D.J.'s greatness. They have to move! Get open at the 3pt line or cut to the basket.
As a team, the number of assists per game has declined since early in the season while the assist to turnover ratio has gone into the shitter. I believe that as of the UCLA game the ratio was nearly 2.5 to 1. I haven't taken the time to run the stats, but I'd wager it has been about 1.2 to 1 the past several weeks and it has been negative in couple of games, Texas has had a few second halves with only 1 or 2 assists. Why are the assists not coming? Lack of movement without the ball? Selfish play by the guards? Mason's game just going south - is he hurt again? Dissension on the team? I don't know, but I have noted that several weeks ago Augustin started taking a few shots each game that were just not smart shots and that he has had several drives result in offensive fouls. This may be the result of defensive adjustments taken by opposing teams which have cut his passing options. His pg assists, with a few exceptions (today is one), have dropped the past few weeks. Free throw shooting? Who knows what his problem there is. Perhaps he took those early season press clippings to heart, but presently he is not playing like the best point guard in the country. Can't lay the 97 points on DJ - Missouri smoked Texas across the board.
To be fair, D.J. did have 8 assists. I'd take that every game. 5 turnovers is a problem though. The team assist number is a problem and reflects the lack of balance and ball movement. We're not getting high percentage shots, and we're not going inside at all. I know this will change because I believe Johnson will be an offensive force for us in the post, and Connor will start contributing more on offense as well. But it's up to Barnes to encourage a more organized offense that gets high % shots. We need more off the ball movement, more pick and rolls, screens, cuts to the baskets, etc. I'd like to play an inside-out game with Johnson/James/Atchley on the low block.
Missouri was talking a lot of **** in the game. Perhaps that got in their heads. It sure didn't seem to motivate them.
Hope I'm wrong, but I wondered 2-3 times whether he was trying to polish his NBAfuture, considering the difficulty of the shots and the number of people he was trying to run over on his way to the backboard. Not saying , , , , , , , , , just saying
This team went from an unselfish make the extra pass team to a force the shot when your doubled and you have a wide open teammate and passing lane. What has happened?
We have played our best offensive basketball this year when we have someone drive into the paint. We have done very little of this lately. It has been more of that dribble around the outside until the shot clock runs down and then take a bad shot stuff. When James, DJ or AJ penetrate the lane and either shoot or dish it we seem to get into a better flow all the way around. I have a feeling that practices this week will not be very pleasant for the players. Maybe it is time to bring Gary Johnson off of the bench for awhile, at least until he gets it going. I would go back to our original starting lineup again to see if we can get that chemistry back.
DJDJ etc, had it just right. Our offense has been stagnant and has become a guard-only attack. Our bigs had a great advantage (even with CA in foul trouble) but we never got the ball into them on the block. Gary, Clint, Alex, Dexter - can all score down low, but the offense leaves them out. Why?
Hell no, as poorly as Johnson played, he is still 5 times better than Mason. Justin is absolutely done psychologically, he just doesn't have the mindset that he can do anything right at this part in the season. This could be due to basically losing both the MSU and Wisconsin games by himself for us or just because he can't dribble with confidence. Regardless, his shot is just horrible right now (and I know it isn't bad because he makes them when it doesn't matter). We need Gary's inside presence if we are going to get anywhere this season and in the post season plus Damion HAS to be at the 3. I really hope Justin can get his act together b/c he plays really hard and is only a sophomore. To want to bench Gary for him, though, is just crazy.
Yes but at least Damion plays some defense. Gary Johnson never covered anybody in that game Saturday and I guarantee you the best way to find the bench on a Rick Barnes' team is to not play defense.
