My point was that he came back for a reason. Perhaps nothing more than the amounts he will make at UF will be somewhat better than a G-league audition. But if he is truly auditioning for the next level one more time then I expect more outside shooting (hopefully mid-range and not 3s) and the ability to hold up well enough on defense against the better big men in college. Hiding him in a zone is not going to give him any decent tape. I doubt he is hanging around merely to assist Golden in getting the program up and running.
I get your point. The coach is going to have to do what’s best for the team. At least for now, that will include CC shooting 3’s. If CC can’t guard the 4, I doubt that the coach is going to let him play the 4. CC also is an outstanding shot disrupter when he is defending the basket. You certainly wouldn’t want him defending the perimeter with Jitoboh defending the low post. If we get Broome, which would be great, we will see what magic Golden can pull out of his sleeve.
This is a great point. If I think back to CC's 3 point attempts last year, it felt as though there was always a bit of hesitation, which is pretty much an automatic miss. I don't think this will be the case under Golden and i would bet he'll at least be okay from 3. Personally I'd rather him stick to the mid-range game where i think he can excel, but if he can shoot 30% from 3, I think this will at least keep the other teams honest. Plus, he'll make himself into a viable NBA prospect (not saying 1st round, but a chance to get drafted or at least a realistic chance to make a team). Also, Broome is a big time shot blocker (3.9 bpg last season) so if CC gets beat at the 4, Broome will be there for help. Also, last year when CC wasn't under the basket, defensive rebounding was attrocious, but with Broome (10.5 rpg last yr), this won't be an issue (also Felder, Fudge and some of the bigger guards should help as well).
I don’t dare compare CC and Broome to Horford and Noah, but it would be interesting to go back and look at how they defended the 4 and 5 in Billy’s man to man defense.
You're so right. I honestly didn't want to make the comparison, but it really would be the best blueprint to look at. This would certainly be our best front court on paper since Noah and Horford. That worked out really well. Not saying we'll be anything close to that team, but coaches trying to gameplan for us will be having nightmares, especially if CC develops his outside shot.
IIRC, we switched up our ball screen D a lot, but those were also the days without a ton of floor spacing fours. Nova was a definite exception in 2006. Another thing I remember is, due to our lack of size on the wing (where our backup to Brewer was actually a walk-on), we had to play Noah at the three in limited stints. Usually went zone when that happened. But Noah was the exception, not the rule. We actually recruited him as a combo forward after he blew up at ABCD in July 2003. He kept growing, though, and never developed a jumper. His lateral quickness and tenacity as a defender always set him apart. There is a reason he became DPOY in the league. Such a unique cat who played much “smaller” than his height (in a good way!).
I believe that playing defense at center the way he did in the NBA was a major factor in shortening his career. The guy never backed down against the monsters, and the wear and tear on his shoulders was enormous. As to his weird shot, I honestly thought that could have been corrected. Tie his left hand behind his back, and let him shoot a few hundred shots a day. Anytime he shot a ball with one hand near the basket, the ball was always centered on his right hand. If after practicing the hand behind the back shots, he still couldn’t put his left hand back on the ball and shoot properly, then he could have been a one-handed shooter ala George McGinnis.
Joakim Noah was a point guard early in high school. Played point at Rucker Park in the summer during his UF years.
Anthony Davis also was a guard who shot up to seven feet. When I got to 5’11”, I prayed to God every night to make me grow another foot in height. Every single night I prayed. I never heard back; not a letter, not a post card, not a telegram, not a fax, not a telephone call. Nothing. That’s not right.
I know Alex’s family. A great family. Dad military. Mom an educator. His brother was a very good football player—WR. Alex is and has always been long and lean. Very athletic. Excellent student. I think he had a 4.0 or something close to that in HS. Very intelligent kid. This team really needs that.
I think that's a pretty good comparison athletically-both Robinson and Fudge are extremely high level run-jump athletes. So far in college Fudge has played entirely at the 4. And most here, myself included think of him as continuing to play the 4 here. Biggest difference between Devin Robinson and Alex Fudge is Devin had a much more advanced offensive repertoire as Freshman. Fudge on the other hand is probably ahead of Devin on the Defensive side of the ball.
Devin was a great defender in his last year at UF which was his junior year. I will be very happy if Fudge defends at the same level.
Devin didn't excel at defense because he didn't want to, or didn't get it his first two years of college. We might find that Alex Fudge will be motivated to play defense at a younger age than Devin-given that's the reason he's going to be on the floor.
