More on Drago's "defense".
GO BRUINS.
over 2 years ago
Nestor
14 comments
0 recs |
Email
PrintComments
Drago
If this team did not have Drago shooting the basketball, the Bruins would be in worse shape. No one on this team is an All-American, so lay off the guy. Go Bruins.
Nope
We have no idea how the team would perform if Drago was getting less minutes. Drago is only scoring 11 points a game, but he is defensively most likely giving up 20+ points every game.
Drago's Stats
He is scoring 11 pts per game, but that’s 3rd on this team
- rebounder
- defensive rebounder
- freethrow shooter/percentage
I’d say the Bruins need this guy the rest of the year.
Bruins never would have won the ASU game without him hitting those 3’s. The Bruins need his double digits to win.
by LouisianaBruins on Jan 9, 2010 10:54 AM PST up reply actions
Uh no
Bruins got ahead against ASU in first half and then choked it away almost because of his defensive transgressions and boneheaded play in the second. It is ridiculous to judge a player just looking at straight stat lines. Lot of Drago’s rebounds came in meaningless games when he was grabbing his own clankers. 11 points for a 4th year senior, who is supposed to be a prolific shooter is not much.
He might be scoring 11 pts a game but he is also most likely giving up twice as much on defense and it has cost Bruins a number of losses this season.
Bruins are undefeated without Drago
So here we are 2-0 without Drago and 5-8 with him. Using a very generous stats-only analysis of his performance and the team results we can say he’s only been decent in four games(Cal, ASU, Colorado St and perhaps Butler) outside of that he’s literally been the other team’s MVP.
Thank God whoever sent the picture yesterday has backed it up with video. He’s out of position. He’s out of position. HE’S OUT OF POSITION! I realize the Drago may have some friends here but the tape doesn’t lie. He’s not playing Ben Ball. Not on offense and NOT on defense. Don’t blame anyone else on this team for Drago’s play. He’s a self-contained disaster.
Which poses the question: ’Why is Coach Howland doing this?"
I suspect there is a partnership in place between UCLA’s current shoe deal and the European sports body that produced Dragovich. IIRC he was a fall back recruit for another player who went to Central Conn.. I don’t remember the guy’s name but Drago was considered the better of the two(Heck Drago was once considered a 1st round NBA draft choice by NBAdraft.net).
Drago’s biggest problem, in my eyes, are his legal issues. As a guest in this country on a student visa he’s already received generous treatment. Did anyone else read the details of his arrest and think ‘Why is he getting involved in his friend’s confrontation?’ (!?!) I mean if I go to a bar and a friend of mine has a dispute with someone and I tackle them into a display case. Why in the heck would I also try to report it to the cops as if the other guy committed a crime? The whole situation makes Drago look: A. Stupid with poor judgment or B. Emotionally out of control with poor judgment.
We need him put in a reduced roll on this team. Just like Michael Fey his senior season.
Chance for an improvement on this today because
the solution seems fairly straightforward – and Howland has an extra day to fix it as we’re on a Wed/Saturday schedule.
Let’s see how it goes.
ND was in bad position, but this one wasn't his fault
Yes ND should have been in front of the man in his area. BUT the reason that this play happened was because of the 10 foot hole at the top of the zone between MR and ML that let the passer have a clear passing lane. The whole point of a zone is to create a wall between the ball and the basket. Here, instead of a wall, there was a welcome mat.
Just a breakdown in team zone defense, not just ND.
I’m not going to be able to watch the game today, but if ND scores 15+ we have a good chance of winning. If he scores less than 10, we likely lose. Somewhere in between and ML or TH will have to be productive.
I disagree
All that apply to Drago are bolded:
Point #3 clears Roll and Lee. Drago can be listed as the reason for the other 3.
From HoopsU:
Advantages of playing a zone defense
There are several reasons for a team to use a zone defense. Some are listed below.
* The opposing team has a player or players too quick (in the case of guards) or too big (in the case of forwards or centers) for a man-to-man defense to be effective. * Many zones pack defenders in the lane but allow the offensive team to take long-range shots. If the opponents are poor long-range shooters, a zone can be very effective.
* Unless trapping is involved, zone defenses typically do not involve aggressive pressure on the ball handler and allow the offensive team to pass the ball around the perimeter, leading to more time being used by the offensive team before a shot is attempted. Therefore, teams wanting to slow down the tempo of a game will often choose to play zone.
* A poor defensive player can often be “hidden” in a zone because teammates can more easily help if he or she is beaten.
interesting
As ND is playing as our nominal power forward, it seems that point 1 does not really apply to him; he is rarely giving up points because he is playing against someone too big.
Not clear whether or not ND as a power forward is so slow that we want to slow down the tempo of the game; we clearly don’t have a great transition game though, and depending on who else is on the court we may not be able to play aggressively on the outside (worst case has TH on the bench, in which case you have MR trying to deal with an athletic SF and JA getting burned by a point guard).
Re: Hiding a player in the zone – we don’t seem to have done a great job of hiding anyone. Our help defense doesn’t help so well (probably because we haven’t practiced it so much, and because our centers are inexperienced.
by britishbruin on Jan 10, 2010 9:14 AM PST up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Bruins Nation
Related FanShots on Bruins Nation
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
