bleedingTNorange
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Ok, let me start by saying this...yes i know that the quality of opponent was not the greatest, however; it was a game setting, with referrees and the opportunity to play against someone besides each other. One of the teams beat both Purdue and Georgja, so that should say something about that team. Its also not easy to adapt to the different rules, court dimensions, ball, officiating etc etc, so this is as much about dealing with adversity as it is the games(such as a bus breaking down on the way to a game haha). With that said here are a few things that i have taken from the Italy trip...
-Jarnell Stokes. Much like in Brazil with the USA team, jarnell scored whenever he wanted to, the only thing stopping him from going for 30 a night was himself and CCM. The simplest way to put it is that Jarnell is just too big and strong for most 18-20 year old kids to handle, and that was before he learned multiple post moves, and counter moves. If Jarnell has learned more moves besides his across the lane hook, and how to counter the defense stopping it, he will be a force.
- D'montre Edwards. He proved to be exactly what CCM wants him to be, and what i thought he would be. A physically ready 3, who plays very committed defense, and rebounds like a post on both sides of the court. He led the team in rebounding multiple times on the trip, and averaged around 9 rebounds a game in about 20 minutes per game, thats impressive. He also showed the ability to hit the 3 ball and jump shot, if he can shoot close to the same % he did in JUCO, thatd be great. I expect big things from Edwards.
- Armani Moore. The message seemed clear, Armani is going to get every opportunity to be the backup PG for the team this year. From the reviews ive read, and heard, he showed really good command, and a potential to be a big upgrade over the backup PG play we saw last year. He hit some outside shots, had some nice dunks, and probably most importantly played solid defense. The question will be, with his size will he be quick enough to stay in front of smaller defenders, however; that same question applies to Golden.
- Q. Yea i could type out his whole name, but theres just something about Q that i like. Q is a lot like Edwards, a physically ready guy, who plays CCM type of basketball. He is committed to playing defense on both ends, and attacks the boards as well as anyone. He showed the abililty to hit the perimiter shot which was one of the questions about him. May be hard for him to see big minutes, but i think hell fight his way in and see the court a little bit atleast.
- Jordan Mcrae. Its hard to get excited about Jordan, we've all been teased multiple times by Jordan, just to be let down. However, he had as good of an Italy trip as just about anybody on the team. He was probably the biggest stat sheet stuffer we had, scoring points, getting multiple assists, rebounds and steals each game. He showed the ability to hit pull up jumpers and the 3 ball while on the trip also, so hopefully that follows back to the US. Its hard to look too much into Jordan's progression though, because we couldnt see the games. We dont know what his shot selection was, and we dont know how many shots he was taking either, but i didnt hear that criticism from anyone so hopefully its improved.
-Trae Golden. Trae appeared to play really well at the point. He didnt tear it up scoring, dont know if thats solely the competition playing down, or if its a sign of his progression in looking to pass more. He averaged a good amount of assists, somewhere around 4, while only playing about 20 mins a game, probably a few less. In the first 2 games he didnt commit any turnovers either, didnt see a number for the last 2 games though, so cant say how much hes cut down the number of to's. In a few of the videos it appeared he pushed the ball of long misses or blocked shots, not sure if this follows back to the US, but he looked good in doing so, and i always thought he looked great last year in transition.
Yemi- Rebounded the ball extrememly well all trip, and even put up some night point totals in a couple of the games. Not sure if they were just put backs, or actual moves, but either way, nice to see that Yemi is putting the ball in the basket some. Yemi appears to be progressing nicely, and he had a good Italy trip. In all honesty im kind of excited to see how he does next year when he should see pretty big minutes.
Jeronne, Derek, Dwight, Skylar, Josh and Kenny i didnt take too much from either way. obviously the first 3 didnt play much, or not at all. skylar had a good last game, didnt do much the first 3. josh isnt a stat guy so its hard to get a good read on him without watchign the game. kenny got benched so thats probably all that needs to be said about him.
So...after Italy if i had to make a depth chart/rotation, this is what I'd roll with...
PG: Trae 30/ Armani 10
SG: Skylar 15/ Jordan 15/ Josh 10
SF: Jordan 10/ D'montre 25/ Q 5
F: Jarnell 30/ Jeronne 10
F: Jeronne 20/ Kenny 20
-Jarnell Stokes. Much like in Brazil with the USA team, jarnell scored whenever he wanted to, the only thing stopping him from going for 30 a night was himself and CCM. The simplest way to put it is that Jarnell is just too big and strong for most 18-20 year old kids to handle, and that was before he learned multiple post moves, and counter moves. If Jarnell has learned more moves besides his across the lane hook, and how to counter the defense stopping it, he will be a force.
- D'montre Edwards. He proved to be exactly what CCM wants him to be, and what i thought he would be. A physically ready 3, who plays very committed defense, and rebounds like a post on both sides of the court. He led the team in rebounding multiple times on the trip, and averaged around 9 rebounds a game in about 20 minutes per game, thats impressive. He also showed the ability to hit the 3 ball and jump shot, if he can shoot close to the same % he did in JUCO, thatd be great. I expect big things from Edwards.
- Armani Moore. The message seemed clear, Armani is going to get every opportunity to be the backup PG for the team this year. From the reviews ive read, and heard, he showed really good command, and a potential to be a big upgrade over the backup PG play we saw last year. He hit some outside shots, had some nice dunks, and probably most importantly played solid defense. The question will be, with his size will he be quick enough to stay in front of smaller defenders, however; that same question applies to Golden.
- Q. Yea i could type out his whole name, but theres just something about Q that i like. Q is a lot like Edwards, a physically ready guy, who plays CCM type of basketball. He is committed to playing defense on both ends, and attacks the boards as well as anyone. He showed the abililty to hit the perimiter shot which was one of the questions about him. May be hard for him to see big minutes, but i think hell fight his way in and see the court a little bit atleast.
- Jordan Mcrae. Its hard to get excited about Jordan, we've all been teased multiple times by Jordan, just to be let down. However, he had as good of an Italy trip as just about anybody on the team. He was probably the biggest stat sheet stuffer we had, scoring points, getting multiple assists, rebounds and steals each game. He showed the ability to hit pull up jumpers and the 3 ball while on the trip also, so hopefully that follows back to the US. Its hard to look too much into Jordan's progression though, because we couldnt see the games. We dont know what his shot selection was, and we dont know how many shots he was taking either, but i didnt hear that criticism from anyone so hopefully its improved.
-Trae Golden. Trae appeared to play really well at the point. He didnt tear it up scoring, dont know if thats solely the competition playing down, or if its a sign of his progression in looking to pass more. He averaged a good amount of assists, somewhere around 4, while only playing about 20 mins a game, probably a few less. In the first 2 games he didnt commit any turnovers either, didnt see a number for the last 2 games though, so cant say how much hes cut down the number of to's. In a few of the videos it appeared he pushed the ball of long misses or blocked shots, not sure if this follows back to the US, but he looked good in doing so, and i always thought he looked great last year in transition.
Yemi- Rebounded the ball extrememly well all trip, and even put up some night point totals in a couple of the games. Not sure if they were just put backs, or actual moves, but either way, nice to see that Yemi is putting the ball in the basket some. Yemi appears to be progressing nicely, and he had a good Italy trip. In all honesty im kind of excited to see how he does next year when he should see pretty big minutes.
Jeronne, Derek, Dwight, Skylar, Josh and Kenny i didnt take too much from either way. obviously the first 3 didnt play much, or not at all. skylar had a good last game, didnt do much the first 3. josh isnt a stat guy so its hard to get a good read on him without watchign the game. kenny got benched so thats probably all that needs to be said about him.
So...after Italy if i had to make a depth chart/rotation, this is what I'd roll with...
PG: Trae 30/ Armani 10
SG: Skylar 15/ Jordan 15/ Josh 10
SF: Jordan 10/ D'montre 25/ Q 5
F: Jarnell 30/ Jeronne 10
F: Jeronne 20/ Kenny 20
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