Q: Will you look into the possibility of playing point guards Bobby Maze and Melvin Goins at the same time?
PEARL: “I don’t know whether I said it before the Vanderbilt game — I think it might have been before the Vanderbilt game, maybe it was right afterwards — that we needed more productivity at the 2. And we still do. Bobby and Melvin both played well again (at Kentucky). Melvin’s played well since he came back with great consistency, so I do think there is a possibility of getting Bobby a rotation at the 2. It won’t come from Skylar McBee’s minutes. It won’t, because Skylar’s still earned his spot. In the first half against Kentucky on the plus/minus chart, I think Skylar led us with plus-9. He had four rebounds at half, six rebounds for the game, and he did a lot of little things in there that don’t show up on the stat sheet.
“I think there’s a chance, because here’s the deal: Yes would I like more production at the 2. If Bobby and Melvin are both going to play well and compete and step up and play tough on the road, then 40 minutes is not enough for them, so the minutes are going to have to come at the 2. And I’m not taking Skylar out of the regular rotation, so therefore Scotty Hopson’s minutes could drop some.
Q: What would be the biggest possible downside of playing Maze and Goins at the same time?
PEARL: “I think the only downside would be, ‘Where do the minutes come from?’ That’s why I answered the question with, ‘If Bobby gets a rotation each half at the 2.’ If he does, then the minutes will come from Scotty and J.P. They’ve been playing 32 or 33 minutes, and maybe then they’d play 29. But those minutes won’t come from Skylar.”
This is curious. Skylar gets minutes, I think, because of work ethic. Why else? SERIOUSLY! I think Skylar is a work in progress and I hope it is fruitful in the years to come. It is obvious that he has impressed Pearl some how.
