Athleticism and shot-making

[timbfischer]

I read a lot on these boards about how “athleticism” is lacking on this team. But I wonder about that. Also, I should mention I am poorly informed on why basketball teams are good or not. But, it seems to me that when teams make open shots, they tend to do bette than teams who don’t. This may seem simplistic. But... there are plenty of examples in both NBA and college history of great players who were not deemed “athletic” who had amazing careers because they made shots or saw the floor well enough to compensate for it. Here are some that come to mind:

Kenny Anderson: amazing passer, but never had that drive to the basket that really scared you.

Larry Bird: Good athlete, but his main skills were tenacious d, shot makng, and trash talkng.

Reggie Miller: Never saw him beat a guy off the dribble, but made shots.

Christian Laettner: made shots

Bobby Hurley: Never had much athletic ability, but saw the court well and orchestrated the o.

Paul Pierce: Just a shot maker. Had supporting cast but could carry a team by making shots.

Evan Eschmeyer: A center, sure, but not a David Robinson clone.

Shaun Respert from MSU... a friend reminded me of this guy.

I would put Shurna on this list, but I actually think he was probably most atheltic athlete ever to play sporrs at NU but was too humble to show it.

Point is, give me 7 sharpshooters over “athletic” guys anyday. This is not to sat I don’t want athleticism on our team, but we need dudes who can make shots way more.

 

[DaCat]

For the past 4 or 5 years, we've been touting that these are the most athletic teams for NU. Compared to other B1G teams maybe not as much so, but still competitive enough. As noted, it's the failure to make shots, especially open threes, that kills us. Just in the LOLinois game, where we should've won in regulation if Taylor (0-5), Falzon (1-6 in regulation) or even Greer (0-2) had hit one more open three, we ended up shooting 22.2% for three pointers and 34.7% overall. Something is definitely wrong.

 

[Medill90]

Those are all athletic players. Bird was very athletic, good hops when he was young.

Hurley was super quick.

I think NU has decent athleticism and length.

 

[hoosboot]

Those are all athletic players. Bird was very athletic, good hops when he was young.

Hurley was super quick.

I think NU has decent athleticism and length.

Totally agree. I think timb may be conflating a perspective of those players as compared to other NBA players vs. those players compared to college players of their era. The knock on Anderson in college was more as a shooter than as an athlete, slasher, and finisher. Miller and Pierce were both very good athletes who finished strong at the rim in college.

The difference though was that, in addition to being very good athletes, most of those players displayed a VERY high level of skill in most other areas of the game as well (particularly in putting the ball in the basket.)

So, would tend to agree (IMHO) that the Cats' problem isn't athleticism as much as it is skill proficiency and team functionality.