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Give Robert McCray more PT

Hildreth's sneaky pivot moves are great against one defender. Against two in a zone... Maybe not so much.

Completely agree about Jake though and had the exact same thought against Syracuse when he kept dribbling back out to the 3 point line for no reason. Dude's shooting like 80% on the 10 foot fade-away this year including a game winner and he doesn't look for the free throw line jumper. Odd. And Forbes there yelling at him to take the shot... Really is just comfort and execution I think.

Definitely see Monsanto as a great option in that spot next year, I just don't think the game has slowed down enough for him yet this year to be effective. 90% of the time a shot is going up if the ball touches him, which is fine for his role right now. But just like when he's dribbling in transition he's just a little loose with his handle and decision making - which is completely understandable given the timing of his return. Then again that takes him off the 3 point line which I'm not sure we'll ever want to do. I also think Marsh changes the inside part of this next year since he'll be a constant dunk threat.

My guess is a more experienced LaRavia passing to Monsanto and Marsh over the zone next year will make it look like Forbes spent the offseason "figuring out" how to beat the zone, ha.
 
Forbes said a few times that the dribble back out to the three line against Cuse was intentional. I thought it was weird, too, and I think we may have out-smarted ourselves with that plan against the zone and that game, overall -- that it might have made the guys think a little bit too much -- but he made it clear that he didn't want LaRavia taking that shot, at least against the Syracuse zone. I don't know enough to know if that's different with different zones or different teams' versions of the same zone.

Agree that Monsanto is partly an "is he hot" thing, but mostly a conditioning one. Forbes said he won't be the player he can be in this league without being in elite condition, and that he's just not going to be in elite condition this year; so I imagine he is basically just the designated gunner and the staff will see if he's clicking. There's a lot more to his game -- Forbes has commented on his passing a lot.
 
BUMP. Need I say more after what McCray did last night, albeit in mop up time? Do we have another player who produces as much as he does in as few minutes of PT he gets? The guy is incredibly efficient and has the highlight reel trait of ManMan and Monsanto. PLAY MCCRAY!
 
I thought Forbes did a great job of explaining why we don’t see much of him at the moment.
 
LaRavia bringing the ball up the court against the 3/4 court press was NOT GOOD.

He's played a little point guard lately and I don't get it.
 
Sy can barely run and jump.

Last night was a 1 minute "senior night" stint on the court for him. Instead he just got slammed to the ground and pushed around and could not do much. To his credit the follow jam on one leg was IMPRESSIVE.
 
Complacent Deac said:
Sy can barely run and jump.

Last night was a 1 minute "senior night" stint on the court for him. Instead he just got slammed to the ground and pushed around and could not do much. To his credit the follow jam on one leg was IMPRESSIVE.
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15 minutes he had 8 rbs?
 
TripleDeac21 said:
BUMP. Need I say more after what McCray did last night, albeit in mop up time? Do we have another player who produces as much as he does in as few minutes of PT he gets? The guy is incredibly efficient and has the highlight reel trait of ManMan and Monsanto. PLAY MCCRAY!
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Facepalm
 
From what you all described last night, the McCray jam sounds like the kind of play at the end of the year that gives a player some momentum and confidence, which will be useful in the event that he's called upon to contribute over the course of four straight days of post-season games...
 
I am excited for the potential for him to start and/or get serious minutes next season. He showed real hops and energy.

He will get his opportunity to compete with Whitt, Williamson (if he chooses to return), and Mintz to be the guy. The battle for minutes there should be intense. There may even be a vet PG transfer in the mix depending on what Williamson ends up doing.
 
Is McCray a true point guard? It's tough to tell how well he handles the ball. It is not tough to tell how incredibly athletic he is. I thought the block was just as impressive as the dunk.
 
wakelaw13 said:
Is McCray a true point guard? It's tough to tell how well he handles the ball. It is not tough to tell how incredibly athletic he is. I thought the block was just as impressive as the dunk.
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His recruiting profiles list him as a combo guard. I am assuming he would play the 1 more than the 2 just from what I have seen in limited play. Maybe that is incorrect. If he's not a pure 1 and Williamson doesn't return, would think we have to get a vet PG transfer, even if Mintz is onboard.
 
OldGouldandBlack said:
Forbes said a few times that the dribble back out to the three line against Cuse was intentional. I thought it was weird, too, and I think we may have out-smarted ourselves with that plan against the zone and that game, overall -- that it might have made the guys think a little bit too much -- but he made it clear that he didn't want LaRavia taking that shot, at least against the Syracuse zone. I don't know enough to know if that's different with different zones or different teams' versions of the same zone.

Agree that Monsanto is partly an "is he hot" thing, but mostly a conditioning one. Forbes said he won't be the player he can be in this league without being in elite condition, and that he's just not going to be in elite condition this year; so I imagine he is basically just the designated gunner and the staff will see if he's clicking. There's a lot more to his game -- Forbes has commented on his passing a lot.
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I do not understand the strategy. Attack the zone. Get it in the middle and you have the wings to pass to. The dribble out is a play for the 3.
 
DCDeac said:
Manman does a lot of things incredibly well for us, but stick him in the middle of a zone and you're asking for a season high in turnovers. He's got an outstanding midrange game, but his style is to go hard at the bucket, then pull up on some jumpers when he's got his defender on his heels. Passing out of pressure with his back to the basket has not been good for us.

LaRavia on the other hand is made for that role. Great passer, good midrange game, can see over the defense. I think Forbes summed it up best in the last presser, we're just not great against zone full stop. Our shooters are best in transition except maybe for Daivien but he runs very hot and cold. We get it to Jake plenty at the free throw line but our bigs just aren't the type of players to muscle inside a defender and throw down a lob like Duke did with Mark Williams when he threw down like 4 dunks in 3 minutes over the top of Syracuse. We're not a great offensive rebounding team against zones because we're kind of a rebound-by-committee style team.

This team has an established identity and a lot of older guys on it. Really doubt you're going to see Forbes make any crazy changes, start moving guys around position-wise, or start giving Lucas/McCray a bunch of playing time all of a sudden. Our guys know what to do against a zone - think it was Notre Dame who threw zone at us and Daivien immediately nailed two open corner 3's to get us going. We just have to execute better and hit shots.
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yet he bristled against this suggestion in a subsequent press conference
 
I think I saw ManMan in the middle of the zone last night hit a jumper from about the free throw line. I was pretty deep into my case of Miller Lite, so perhaps I am incorrect.
 
siff said:
yet he bristled against this suggestion in a subsequent press conference
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Ha I definitely noticed that. And yet he also repeatedly said that when they made NC State go to man defense he knew they'd have a big advantage. I think his point was not to go off the rails acting like Wake can't beat a zone, because they can and they have. I've also heard Forbes talk about zone previously and I think he dislikes it on offense and defense for the same reason. Unless you have a team like Syracuse that builds its team around a truly elite zone (when they're good), I do think zone throws more variance into games. Even decent zones can be shot over, and even a bad team can get hot. I like our chances over the long run with Daivien, Monsanto, and Mucius taking open 3's over a zone in the long run. But we shoot an absurd percentage from 2, and you're always susceptible to missing a few in a row and giving up points quickly on the rebounds. I think Forbes would rather play man and keep the game about who can execute better, not who can get hot for a few minutes.

We also did stick Manman at the free throw line and he got an entry pass, but the one time it happened State got confused and literally didn't defend him. If I remember correctly he just turned around and made a free throw line jumper with a look on his face like, wtf? For the record if a team wants to let us give the ball to him at the free throw line with no defender on him I'm 100% in favor of putting him there.
 
DCDeac said:
We also did stick Manman at the free throw line and he got an entry pass, but the one time it happened State got confused and literally didn't defend him. If I remember correctly he just turned around and made a free throw line jumper with a look on his face like, wtf?
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I remember him missing that -- but yeah I remember that moment
 
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