agree he needs to do more on the boards, though I'm fine with him not getting more defensive rebounds as long as he's boxing his man out effectively. Good thing is he looks like he has more bounce to his step and agility with each game and the game is finally slowing down for him.
Stoney Brook only attempted 35 2 point shots and made 23 of them so there weren’t a lot of defensive rebounds to be had near the basket. They went 5 for 19 from three and I would expect those were mostly longer rebounds.
We'll have to see how he is going to do as we move into the heart of the season but his trajectory looks very good at this point.
He didn't look tired today, which was a good sign. One of my remaining concerns is when we try to extend the defense with Jitoboh. When he gets out to near the top of the key, we seem to get caught flatfooted a lot, and he's not quick enough to recover. I'd keep him in the paint.
I agree, and just imagine if he was about 30-40 lbs lighter. He'd be a lot quicker, and it would help his cardio as well. Not body shaming him, just would like to see him at his full potential.
He still needs to guard the pick and roll. There’s no reason that he can’t do it. He only has to run 15 feet.
I think that he will always have a problem with first step quickness. But I am really liking his improvement. And why is it that he can get so many offensive rebounds and so very few defensive ones?
If he starts to really concentrate on boxing out on the defensive end, he'll be a monster on the boards.
Sometimes boxing out allows one of your teammates to get the board. Added in edit: I used to play hoops with Dwayne Dixon and he played on my intramural team. He was a very good hoopster. He often said that if we all boxed out correctly we could get every rebound on a bounce.
Some of you might remember Jerry Lucas. Jerry was 6’8” and not a great leaper. He would regularly shoot 100s and 100s of intentionally missed shots to see how they would come off of the rim. He figured it out. He had two seasons in the NBA in which he averaged 20 or more rebounds per game. He averaged about 16 rbg for his NBA career. The key is boxing out and then going and getting the ball. Wes Unseld was another shorter center who did the same thing. That’s what JJ should be working on.
I agree with 90% of this. Sometimes you box out and don't go after the ball. You let your team mate get the easy rebound and keep the guy that really wants it on the other team from having any chance at it. No stat for that, though.
Yep. Boxing out's first thing is to prevent your man from getting the rebound and not getting the rebound yourself. Making it easy for a team mate to get the board is a good thing. I wish there was a stat for that.
It's similar to the 2nd hockey assist, which doesn't exist in basketball. It's also why a player like Nembhard (or Chiozza in the NBA) doesn't have the best stats, but he is a tremendously valuable player because he starts the ball movement so quickly that it leads to scores. A +/- rating would work, except that stat is greatly affected by who is on the court with you. I have always relied on the eyeball test and will continue to do so, especially now that I have had cataract surgery. Getting old is a bitch.
Is that you Dan Mullen? We see how well that philosophy worked out for him. White shrinks his bench all the time, and coaches tight/close to the vest. He artificially shrinks his margin for error. Maybe wait your turn worked well in the past, but players expect to play now. Especially good players. You sit them on the bench instead of playing them, and they move on. Which leads to filling holes using the transfer portal. Which leads to UF basketball the past 4-5 years. The last consistent team we had here was recruited by Billy Donovan, and White rode it to the Elite 8.
Let's use Samson Ruzhnetsev as an example. He is from the same high school as Jitoboh. Samson played on a great high school team and was the best player on the team. I was able to watch a few of his games on YouTube. IMO, he was ready to be a contributor at UF last year. Instead, he wasn't in the rotation and averaged all of 2 ppg. So, he bailed. He signed with an excellent European pro team (Mega SoccerBet). Last year's NBA MVP played for and went from that team directly to the NBA, which should give you an idea about the quality of the team. Samson, in the early going, is playing 10.7 minutes per game and is averaging 7.1 ppg. He is 20-years old. he played 7.3 minutes per game for the Gators last season. That makes no sense.
