Let's hope the old parable plays out wrt Turtle. Wins the race in the long term. Right now, he seems to be the "X factor" that could make or break our season....unless he starts losing minutes to Crump and Harris.
I didn't get to watch last night but I saw where Turtle was 1-1 from the field (a three pointer), 0 assists, 4 turnovers. So far, he is shooting the best 3 point percentage of any of our perimeter players (41%--Yante edges him slightly at 43% on less attempts.) Yet, he attempts ONE shot yesterday in 20 minutes. That strikes me as crazy! Been saying for a couple of games he needs to look to score more. But, now I'm seeing this. 8 shot attempts per game. Is he trying too hard to be the "point guard"? Nervous until he "has" to shoot--several of his three's have been to close halves when either the shot clock was down or we were losing in the second (ala Kansas)?
What do we think of him? Besides the fact Mark Fox hasn't developed him/isn't coaching him right, what do we make of the Turtle? Finding his way still as a regular part of the rotation? Doesn't have the swag or mentality to score? I still say it's ridiculous he only shot once in 20 minutes. He didn't have a dime and had 4 turnovers, too. He's not a PG in the way JJ can be when JJ plays as such (he often plays off the ball, but is highly capable of being a traditional PG.) Turtle is tall enough to play the wing...seems more like a wing to me considering he isn't creating for others but is making shots, but he doesn't seem to want to shoot. We had Mann who was always a wing that we tried to make a point guard...I wonder if we shouldn't be thinking of moving Turtle like we did Charles (for the most part) in Mann's final season. Turtle and Mann are vastly different and Turtle is much more suited to play point than Mann, but I still wonder if he wouldn't better be suited to play on the wing. Half the time, we don't need a traditional PG as long as we can get the ball down the floor (JJ, Turtle, Juwan are all capable) and we're facing a zone or running our offense that essential just leaves the three perimeter players out in the traditional spots and relies on ball movement. How about during those times, have Turtle "pick down" and Juwan come to the top of the key with JJ and Turtle on the wings? I'd like to see some of that.
But, I'm convinced Turtle has got to shoot more. If he does, he'll score more. He may not shoot the % he is now, but he doesn't have to. It'd be one thing if he was creating shots for others, but he isn't. Turtle needs to get aggressive or give some minutes up to Crump/Harris.
Early season chance to call it for all you keyboard cavalrymen. What happens with Turtle going forward? Because something has to give. He either has to score more and swim or play less and sink. What will it be? On him, I truly have no idea other than at this point, I'd be encouraging him to look to shoot/score more were I CMF. (And, I'm certain Fox isn't giving him good advice whatever he's telling him....that much I concede, so let's just leave the Coaching deficiency out of this one, k?)
I didn't get to watch last night but I saw where Turtle was 1-1 from the field (a three pointer), 0 assists, 4 turnovers. So far, he is shooting the best 3 point percentage of any of our perimeter players (41%--Yante edges him slightly at 43% on less attempts.) Yet, he attempts ONE shot yesterday in 20 minutes. That strikes me as crazy! Been saying for a couple of games he needs to look to score more. But, now I'm seeing this. 8 shot attempts per game. Is he trying too hard to be the "point guard"? Nervous until he "has" to shoot--several of his three's have been to close halves when either the shot clock was down or we were losing in the second (ala Kansas)?
What do we think of him? Besides the fact Mark Fox hasn't developed him/isn't coaching him right, what do we make of the Turtle? Finding his way still as a regular part of the rotation? Doesn't have the swag or mentality to score? I still say it's ridiculous he only shot once in 20 minutes. He didn't have a dime and had 4 turnovers, too. He's not a PG in the way JJ can be when JJ plays as such (he often plays off the ball, but is highly capable of being a traditional PG.) Turtle is tall enough to play the wing...seems more like a wing to me considering he isn't creating for others but is making shots, but he doesn't seem to want to shoot. We had Mann who was always a wing that we tried to make a point guard...I wonder if we shouldn't be thinking of moving Turtle like we did Charles (for the most part) in Mann's final season. Turtle and Mann are vastly different and Turtle is much more suited to play point than Mann, but I still wonder if he wouldn't better be suited to play on the wing. Half the time, we don't need a traditional PG as long as we can get the ball down the floor (JJ, Turtle, Juwan are all capable) and we're facing a zone or running our offense that essential just leaves the three perimeter players out in the traditional spots and relies on ball movement. How about during those times, have Turtle "pick down" and Juwan come to the top of the key with JJ and Turtle on the wings? I'd like to see some of that.
But, I'm convinced Turtle has got to shoot more. If he does, he'll score more. He may not shoot the % he is now, but he doesn't have to. It'd be one thing if he was creating shots for others, but he isn't. Turtle needs to get aggressive or give some minutes up to Crump/Harris.
Early season chance to call it for all you keyboard cavalrymen. What happens with Turtle going forward? Because something has to give. He either has to score more and swim or play less and sink. What will it be? On him, I truly have no idea other than at this point, I'd be encouraging him to look to shoot/score more were I CMF. (And, I'm certain Fox isn't giving him good advice whatever he's telling him....that much I concede, so let's just leave the Coaching deficiency out of this one, k?)
