Reasons for Optimism Thread

[ncexnyc]

I can see why this is the optimism thread. I'm seeing the words if and may throw around quite a few times.

During the year a number of members were screaming for Silent G. They were always shouted down with the he's not anywhere near ready yet, which I understand based on what we saw.

I do find it strange that suddenly those who were quick to point out his lack of ability to grasp our schemes are touting him as magically being able to contribute and in a significant way next season.

Alex and Marshall are two other kids who haven't played one college game and again certain members are looking for these two youngsters who are totally unproven to provide us with solid contributions.

Of course I understand there isn't a whole lot for us to actually discuss now that the season is over, but I'd hate for us to build these kids up so high in the off season with false expectations that come next season should things not pan out people decide these kids weren't good and want to tear into them.

I guess what I'd like to see is for us to temper our expectations for the kids that our on the roster and let them actually show us what they can or can't do before we make any grand pronouncements.

[CDu]

My thinking on Parker if he chooses Duke (and Mason leaves and we don't get Oriakhi) is he could get 5 or so rpg in 15 to 18 mpg. But it's not just those 5 rebounds. If Parker can play 15 to 18 minutes, then Alex Murphy would get more of his minutes at the 3 (instead of almost all his minutes at the 4, which is what I think would happen if our only "true" bigs are Ryan, Marshall, and Josh), and Alex at the 3 will lead to more rebounds for the team. Thus, Tony Parker in the rotation leads to more Duke rebounds. Does that make sense?

Makes perfect sense. If we have two guys who can log reasonable minutes at C in Marshall and Parker (say, 30-35 mpg combined?), then Kelly and Hairston can play most (if not all) of the remaining minutes at PF and C. That frees Murphy up to play the 3 with Gbinije and/or whomever else warrants minutes there.

Part of me is still intrigued by the idea of Murphy playing the 4 with Gbinije and/or Zeigler/Muhammad at the 3. I do wonder if the increased quickness at the PF spot along with increased size and toughness at the SF spot would change the dynamics in such a way that offsets the loss in size and true post play. That said, I'd also be just fine if Murphy could spend most of his time at the 3.

[CDu]

I can see why this is the optimism thread. I'm seeing the words if and may throw around quite a few times.

During the year a number of members were screaming for Silent G. They were always shouted down with the he's not anywhere near ready yet, which I understand based on what we saw.

I do find it strange that suddenly those who were quick to point out his lack of ability to grasp our schemes are touting him as magically being able to contribute and in a significant way next season.

Alex and Marshall are two other kids who haven't played one college game and again certain members are looking for these two youngsters who are totally unproven to provide us with solid contributions.

Of course I understand there isn't a whole lot for us to actually discuss now that the season is over, but I'd hate for us to build these kids up so high in the off season with false expectations that come next season should things not pan out people decide these kids weren't good and want to tear into them.

I guess what I'd like to see is for us to temper our expectations for the kids that our on the roster and let them actually show us what they can or can't do before we make any grand pronouncements.

It's not a thread for expectations. I expect us to be very good next year even if the "ifs" don't pan out. We likely won't be as good as usual in that scenario, but we'll still be really good relative to D-1 basketball teams (still top 20-30, safely in the tournament).

But again, it's a thread for optimism. So the "ifs" are part of the equation in such a thread. If you want to talk about what you expect to happen, I suggest a "Expectations for 2012-2013" thread instead.

[Matches]

During the year a number of members were screaming for Silent G. They were always shouted down with the he's not anywhere near ready yet, which I understand based on what we saw.

I do find it strange that suddenly those who were quick to point out his lack of ability to grasp our schemes are touting him as magically being able to contribute and in a significant way next season.

Alex and Marshall are two other kids who haven't played one college game and again certain members are looking for these two youngsters who are totally unproven to provide us with solid contributions.

Historically we've seen that for most guys, they improve more between their freshman and sophomore years than at any other time. At that point they've had a full year in the system and have the whole summer to work on improving deficiencies in their game. So I don't think it's out of line to be optimistic that those three guys will improve pretty markedly over this summer.