UCLA Hoops Roundup: Numbers, Notes and Smith
by DCBruins on Feb 9, 2011 3:18 AM PST
in Basketball
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PrintWhile football continues its chaos, basketball continues its steady improvement. Let's delve right into the all important where does UCLA rank as far as qualifying for the tournament.
From Sports Illustrated:
The Bruins have, easily, the best win in the league (over BYU) and now are in second place, too, moving ahead of Washington in the pecking order. A home sweep of the Oregon schools would put them in solid position down the stretch.
UCLA is a bit of statistical oddity within the Pac-10. Despite being in second place. as a team we lead the Pac-10 in as many categories as we are in last place: ONE. UCLA is by far the worst team in the conference in turnover margin with a difference more than 3 times the 9th place team and UCLA leads the Pac-10 in blocked shots. In most statistically categories as a team we are in the middle. Looking only at the team statistics for the Pac-10 you would not think we were a second place team.
The individual statistics though shine a different light. First rebounding: our frontline of Tyler Honeycutt, Reeves Nelson, and Joshua Smith rank fifth, third and eleventh in rebounding. No surprise that Smith leads in offensive rebounds but Nelson and Honeycutt are second and third in defensive rebounds. To have three players with so many rebounds is impressive. You can see where we have a front court advantage over most teams when our starters are playing.
In addition to Smith leading in offensive rebounds we have two other Pac-10 leaders. Tyler Honeycutt leads the conference in blocks and Lazeric Jones in free throw percentage. We all saw how important the latter was and it is reassuring to have the ball in Zeek's hands when the other team is in a must foul situation.
Speaking of Zeek, he is hurting physically. Brendan Lane will also miss Thursday's game:
UCLA junior guard Lazeric Jones had an MRI on his injured wrist, Ben Howland said, and the result is still just a sprain. He's been fitted with a special cast for non-basketball activities, much like a walking boot, but Howland said he'll be playing through it.
Also, Brendan Lane won't be available for Thursday's game because of his grandmother's funeral. Howland is hopeful he'll be back Saturday.
Zeek's poor play against St. John's may be in part explained by this. Remember he had a bad game against SUC after hurting his finger only to play well later when he adjusted to the injury. Let's hope he also adjusts to this injury as we will need him this week.
We send our condolences to Brendan and his family. Brendan's absence brings up an interesting point. UCLA will only have 8 scholarship players available on Thursday and two of them (Reeves and Zeek) are hurting.
Next year's recruits are going to be important. And it looks like we have a very good one, although a bit naive, in Norman Powell. You see Powell grew up rooting for SUC. I think CBH has some words of wisdom for Powell about being both a UCLA and SUC fan:
"Trust me," Howland said. "Once he gets to UCLA ... Once you are a part of the rivalry, once you are a part of one side or the other, there’s no turning back. He’ll feel it, too."
Powell sounds smart as well choosing UCLA in part for the academics. Thus even if he is naive he is not stupid and I think he will come to understand the difference. On his physical gifts CBH is almost drooling:
"He’s really, really athletic, and even relative to our team and our players, he’ll be one of the top athletes from Day 1 when he sets foot on campus," Howland said.
Powell has a 45-inch vertical leap and a 6-foot-9 wingspan.
"Forty-five inches is incredible," Howland said. "He’s a freak athlete."
I have some doubt about 45 inch vertical leap as vertical leap numbers are often about as accurate as 40 times in football. However, maybe he can. After all, last year watching Josh Smith in high school, you had to think those are just high school kids wait until he gets to the "big guys" in the Pac-10. Well, Smith has and he is really starting to dominate.
How dominate has Smith been recently? Well LVBruin wrote: "We were +39 as a team in Josh's 56 minutes of play and -18 during his 24 minutes on the bench." In those last two games Smith played the most minutes he has played in any two game stretch. He has scored in double figures four games in a row and led us in scoring the last two games. He has had seven blocks in the last three games. He has really been dominate in about every way possible that a center can dominate.
Part of the reason for this was the switch from having Smith plug instead of hedge on screens. In the last two games Smith only had 2 fouls in each. Smith has held up conditioning and continues to ride the exercise bike on off days.
Smith like the rest of the UCLA keeps working and improving.
Go Bruins!
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JS's work ethic is terrific, and he is developing into a star.
Given two more years of Ben Ball and he could become a dominant force in the NBA. I sure hope he doesn’t leave too early because he’d get eaten up in the NBA right now. But if he stays at UCLA and continues to improve he’s going to become an All American center.
Lockout Looms
I really hope that the lockout will discourage any of our players from leaving after this year, and make us a real threat next year.
"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't go to yours." -Yogi Berra
Assuming no lockout
And Lee & Honeycutt leave, what is our 2 deep next year?
C: Smith – Stover
PF: Reeves – Wear – Wear – Lane
SF: Powell – ?
SG: Lamb – ?
PG: Zeke – JA
could put the wears in at SF
Powell and Lamb can also do the SG/SF route, depending on the size of opposing teams.
Lockout
Is extremely unlikely. Much more likely in football, which isn’t likely. For what it’s worth.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
I had heard
Don’t remember exactly where, but I had heard that the NBA lockout is much more likely…
"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't go to yours." -Yogi Berra
I heard this also
NFL will probably work something out, the NBA will have a harder time. Their only hope is to salvage part of the season. The NBA is in financial trouble and they need to work something out.
We look like this, I believe
PG: Zeke, JA
SG: Lamb, Powell
SF: DWear/TWear, Lamb
PF: Nelson, DWear/TWear, Lane
C: Smith, Stover
Then again, there’s always the chance coach wants Reeves to play 3. I believe we’re better off with this lineup, however. LOTS of size/length, rebounding, not too much foot speed though.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
And additional scholarships
if Lee and Honeycutt leave, CBH will have two additional scholarships. CBH will find a couple of more guys. In fact, I’ll bet he has one or more waiting to commit if those two leave.
by Arturo del Mundo on Feb 9, 2011 10:44 AM PST up reply actions
I wouldn't count on it.
There aren’t a lot of good uncommitted prospects still available. Even if nobody leaves, we have an extra scholarship available because Carlino left, and there are no guarantees that will get used. There’s a chance we pick up another point guard, but I would be shocked if we brought in two more guys with this class, even if TH and ML leave.
We're havin' too much fun today. We ain't thinkin' 'bout tomorrow.
I think Ben might go the JC route again
Not saying he’ll find someone, but we have to have a pg for 2012, and I don’t think CBH is excited about the prospect of starting a true freshman. We might take a JUCO for next year, then have him start for one year in 2012 when Zeke and Anderson are gone, while our frosh pg (i’m assuming we’ll have one) has a year to groom. Who knows.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
I'm not crazy about that prospect either
If he can find another Juco that fills the obvious need as a stopgap measure, then so be it. I’d rather Howland have the luxury of bringing a freshman PG along at a pace that heavily favors his development, regardless of how “elite” that freshman PG is.
For that reason alone
would it make sense to go after Larry Drew II?
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
No, see the last Drew we had
Larry Drew is a head case.
Well the funny thing about that scenario
Is wouldn’t it be essentially the same situation he was trying to get away from at UNC? What if the frosh PG starts to outplay him?
Powell
Athletically, Powell reminds me of Westbrook. I saw him play a little over the summer. He’s extremely quick, strong, explosive and has a great handle. He doesn’t play on the ball much for his HS team, but in AAU ball he runs a lot of point and can easily be groomed as PG – he’d be a difficult match up for most D-1 PGs.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
Lockout hurts us more than helps
Maybe (and this is a big maybe, I think one and maybe both stay) without a lockout Lee and Honeycutt leave, but with a lockout everyone in the league stays and Arizona then has to look like the favorite in the PAC-10.
I do agree with Oswego, a lockout is really unlikely, there is too much $$$ in the NBA and Stern knows it.
Interesting
We add the Wears and Powell, they add Josiah Turner and the #9SG & #17PF. Josh Smith 1 year better acclimated. I hate to be a homer, but I like us in this situation.
They simply cannot handle our frontcourt
They have an excellent backcourt assuming everyone stays, and DWilliams is still a monster, but so is Josh. We are deeper, better coached, and will have lots of experience. I give us the edge.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
If we beat (or at least hang) with Arizona in Pauley in a couple of weekends
I would agree, but that first game was pretty ugly. If the Bruins show progression against a team that clearly had their number physically and mentally, then I would say we have taken a step to the top of the PAC12.
That first game wasn't great, no
But we have a different look to our lineup, a different strategy for screens involving Josh, and a more defensive focus with Stover getting an increased role. I feel reasonably confident.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
DC i'd consider looking at the conference only stats
http://www.pac-10.org/portals/7/images/MBasketball/2010-11-Stats/HTML/confonly.htm
its not too different, but might be more accurate comparing the teams, cause its against a similar schedule, i’m pretty sure we played a more difficult out of conference schedule than most teams in the league ( i think cal and sc had more difficult schedules per rpi)
It's almost not fair
To other teams when JS is in the game. Lol Plugging instead of hedging has been a huge difference without a doubt. Showing cbh’s ability to adjust. Kudos. Our bball program showing marked improvement really has taken a little bit of the sting off the football debacle.
DGB
by westwood12003 on Feb 9, 2011 7:28 AM PST via mobile reply actions
Thoughts and condolences go out to the Lane family.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
by MexiBruin on Feb 9, 2011 7:47 AM PST reply actions 2 recs
Love
to see Joshua (I really think we need to emphasize the ‘Joshua’) grow up before our eyes. Agreed that Oregon schools are not as bad as we thought, but if we truley are top 3, we need to win and win strong, especially at home.
"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't go to yours." -Yogi Berra
now
I understand why CBH brought JS to pac-10 media day. It’s all starting to make sense.
DGB
by westwood12003 on Feb 9, 2011 8:20 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
JS is getting better
and the team is learning how to get him the ball. But we still face the challenge of playing well against good teams.
Re: " Challenge of playing well against good teams "
That will come with experience too, as long as they don’t fold under pressure. I am not a fan of Bobby Knight’s style of basketball. Yet in his Hoosiers’s heydays, they thrived on playing in hostile situations, never buckled under and squeezed out narrow victories time and time again.
Look at Bobby Knight’s last championshp win against Syracuse.
Jijm Boeheim obviously had the better team. But Indiana hung in tight, played stifling defense even if its defense sputtered and beat Boeheim’s squad on a last second jumper from the corner by a player with a surgically reconstructed knee, Keith Smart.
It was Knight’s last hurrah, his finest coaching victory before his inner demon overcame him.
The point is regardless of your opponents, you got to play every game as if it was at your own home court, with confidence and precision teamwork, win or lose.
In this college world, we may never get experience
With all the early defections to the NBA, teams are always young. You don’t get experienced teams like Bobby Knight’s or John Wooden’s.
I will say this. Reeves has recognized the big difference that comes from playing with energy. His effort over the past 4 games has been unbelievable. Winning is infectious, and I think the players believe the extra effort is worthwhile. I also credit Zeek’s example, diving into the the fans and fearlessly trying to dunk on the big guys. I believe the team in general is following his example, and is less the cool – detached kind of team that was following TH’s example. It has made a big difference, and I really hope it continues.
Team is really fun to watch now.
Over the past two years there have been several simply agonizing games to watch, starting with the tournament in Anaheim last season. Now, we are seeing maximum effort on most days, and we are seeing star quality from each of the top seven players, albeit in spurts and stops. If we can cut down on turnovers, I see us moving through a few rounds of the tournament, with maybe some surprise victories. Stover is starting to show that he can be a Hollins or Aboya by his Junior or Senior year. (Maybe I’m a little optimistic at this point, but he has those flashes of real quality play that we saw from AA2 and Hollins when they were sophs and juniors.) I go into every game now thinking that we have an outstanding chance to win.
Stover
I don’t see Stover developing like Hollins. Hollins, even under Lavin, showed explosiveness and a soft touch offensively. Stover will be a good spot defender and match up guy. I really don’t see him evolving past a defensive stalwart. He might get a little stronger and carve out a little niche professionally, too much time between now and his senior season to project with any certainty.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
maybe compare Stover to Lorenzo Mata?
Obviously not the most gifted guy offensively, but can block shots and by his senior season might develop enough of an overall defensive game to be counted on.
Hollins is a different type of player
and never really impacted the game until his senior year.
I see Stover already at Hollins’ level defensively, although he hasn’t played the same caliber of teams. If he can get some muscle and a go to post move, he will already be on his way, as a redshirt soph.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
Stover is a dominant shot blocker
but he’s otherwise a poor defender, both individually and in the team concept. The other team doesn’t even bother to defend him on offense. He’s only good for spot minutes or foul trouble at this point. I know he has played well in spurts, but he has been absolutely horrible at other times. I haven’t drunk the Kool-Aid on him yet.
JS will also have some tough times ahead, if he has to defend a big man who can drive to the basket. He is still carrying too much weight and is very slow laterally. That said, I love the guy, see him as a potential college superstar. He absolutely dominates against short teams. He still has a long way to go.
First of all,
he’s not a poor defender individually… from every game I’ve seen, he and Smith are the best post defenders on our team. Secondly, he’s one of the only players on our team besdies Smith and Honeycutt who actually help defends, and he affects nearly every shot when he’s in the game.
Offense is another issue. Hollins was an awful post defender and literally provided almost no impact on the game besides height until the tournament of his senior year.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
Everyone has a valid approach
Remember, in my mind I’m comparing Stover as a sophomore to Hollins and AA2 as a soph. By their senior years each was outstanding, as was Mata. I’ll be very happy if Stover resembles any one of the three by his Junior Senior year. In the meantime, I’m liking his presence, and earlier in the year I considered him a wash out.
Stover's still a frosh
Redshirted, but i see your point. I too considered this year a wash for him, but I like that Ben has played Lane less and gone with a defensive emphasis by playing Stover more. I really just dislike it when people think that Stover’s a “bad” defender…. It’s really something he does well. Sure he’s not Dwight Howard, but he still has three years.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
by OswegoBruin on Feb 10, 2011 10:20 AM PST up reply actions
Stover
IMHO, Stover has definitely started to come into his own on D. He is much more confident in his ability and goes for the block and the rebound with this confidence, which has made a difference. I know this is getting a little ahead of the game, but I think if he worked in the offseason the way Reeves did this past year, both bulking up a bit and working on his shot, he would be able to be strong enough to develop more of post game and have the confidence to be a threat on offense that we really need/or just hope him to be.
A new NATO member neighboring Estonia, LOL . . .
No, DC, you don’t need to edit. Fox News just reported it on their news flash.
Since it hasn't been said in a few minutes now... Joshua Smith is huge!
In his postgame interview, the Lizard compared him sizewise to DeJuan Blair (who, by the way is “only” 6’7 but weighs 270 pounds). Smith takes up so much more space than Blair and has better hands, for his age. With the progress he’s made with conditioning as well as learning to avoid foul trouble, he’s able to spend more time on the floor which leads to good things for us.
Seriously, if you’re a coach facing UCLA as an opponent, how in the world do you “simulate” Smith’s size in your preparation for the game? The answer: you can’t.
by DoubleTroubleBruin on Feb 9, 2011 10:53 AM PST reply actions
+1
But as mentioned above, Joshua Smith would be eaten alive in the NBA if he left after this year. I’m sure NBA scouts have taken notice and will make a push for him to try out. But as is the case with most talented college athletes that gain their distinct advantage through physiology rather than technique, he would find that competing against guys just as big as you is much tougher.
As much as I love the guy, Joshua isn’t ready yet for the NBA and won’t be this year. He needs to work on his body and various elements of his game before he can start realizing his potential. His ability to dominate is in its infancy. When it’s all said and done, I can see Smith having an NBA career that can be as good as Big Baby Davis (on the low end) and as great as Shaq (at the high end).
I agree with everything you said except for the comparison to Shaq
Shaq is bigger, taller, stronger, more athletic and more mobile than Smith. He was an absolute athletic freak of nature, something basketball had never seen before. With the exception of his free throw shooting, he had no weaknesses physically. If Shaq had stayed in better shape throughout his career, and learned to control his massive ego he’d most likely be considered the best who ever played the game, in my opinion.
Not trying to be a wet blanket here. Smith is very very very good and has an amazingly high ceiling, but lets not get ahead of oursleves. :)
by DoubleTroubleBruin on Feb 9, 2011 12:21 PM PST up reply actions
Agreed that the comparisons to Shaq aren't favorable to Smith
But Smith does have that ridiculous agility for a very big man that Shaq has. That’s the thing that reminds me most of Shaq when I watch Smith play. A big difference though is that Smith generally displays his nimble feet on defense, while Shaq reserved that kind of effort exclusively for offense.
Comparisons, in college, are not accurate
Shaq was THIN in college for his size, significantly thinner than Smith. Shaq was roughly 285 in college, still enormous, but significantly more cut than he is today.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
Shaq was 294 pounds by his junior year at LSU
by DoubleTroubleBruin on Feb 9, 2011 3:23 PM PST up reply actions
Your point?
He’s also 7’1". 300 pounds on a 7 foot tall guy is not that big, considering he’s now roughly 335+. Just look at the picture and see the difference.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
I guess I don't have a point, Oswego
I just thought it was funny we were talking about a 294 pound dude as thin, thats all.
by DoubleTroubleBruin on Feb 9, 2011 11:01 PM PST up reply actions
Sorry
Some of my posts come off as combatitive. That’s the crazy thing about Shaq, is that WAS thin. If you looked at his body, he wasn’t gigantic. He was tall and thick, but body-shape wise he was just a tree. It wasn’t until he hit orlando that he really started gaining weight, also in LA.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
by OswegoBruin on Feb 10, 2011 10:21 AM PST up reply actions
No worries
As a side note, I met Shaq once when I was still a student at UCLA. I knew Tracy Murray’s roommate and Shaq came by for a visit (I think he may have been in town for the Wooden Award ceremony). Anyway, Shaq walked in and he literally filled up the entire doorway. Even when he was smaller in college, he was still the biggest person I’d ever seen. Thats why I got a chuckle out of all the “thin” talk.
by DoubleTroubleBruin on Feb 10, 2011 4:56 PM PST up reply actions
you're right
comparing a college freshman to a top-5 all time NBA center is wrong. So I’ll retract that part and think of a better comparison.
Smith, Lockout, etc...
A NBA lockout is a certainty. The NBA owners, unlike the NFL, are split. Contraction talk is very real. Lower revenue sharing and non-guaranteed contracts are deal breakers for the players. It’s inevitable. I still see Honeycutt and Lee dipping their toes in the water, it’s a weak class.
Smith is a force, but he’s only as good as the referees allow him to be. He still reaches and puts himself in bad situations in help defense. Nelson and Smith flourish in a loosely whistled game – where our more “polished” guys struggle.
The Oregon schools pose threats, Oregon moreso than OSU. The Ducks spread the court and will force Joshua to guard Katron in space – it’s a difficult matchup to say the least. Oregon has guards extremely good off the dribble and have been hitting their threes lately. It’ll be a tough game. Their wins over the Huskies and Cougs weren’t lucky by any stretch. UCLA physically matches up well versus OSU. The Bruins owned them last year in a terrible season – the only way OSU stays in the game is with torrid shooting beyond the arc and UCLA turning the ball over a ton.
I like the Bruins winning both games this weekend, but the Oregon game wil be a grinder. Altman is an outstanding coach and tactician.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
A lockout could actually hurt us with ML and TH
In a normal draft, a player like Honeycutt (especially with the season he’s having) wouldn’t even get a sniff of the lottery, and probably not even the first round. But, with an already weak draft year, and a lockout potentially keeping some of the better players in school for another season, suddenly Honeycutt ends up a top 10 pick this season, whereas next season, unless he improves significantly, he’s looking at the second round. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
We're havin' too much fun today. We ain't thinkin' 'bout tomorrow.
you think?
I see no way Honeycutt is top 10 this year under any circumstances
by DoubleTroubleBruin on Feb 9, 2011 12:27 PM PST up reply actions
It could be an epically bad draft this year.
If I were an NBA GM, I wouldn’t touch Honeycutt with a top 10 pick, but this is already a season in which Derrick Williams, a talented, but seriously undersized power forward is pretty much a consensus top 5 pick. Imagine if there is a lockout and the majority of the underclassmen in the draft stay in school. GM’s will be scouring Conference USA, the Mountain West, and European leagues just to find 60 players to draft. Maybe a GM watched our game against Kansas, and thinks its worth taking a chance on drafting that player. It’s not like there would be anybody else with that type of upside sitting on the boards.
That said, even if the universe conspired to make TH a top 10 pick this season, he would be incredibly stupid to leave in a year when he won’t get to play ball, or receive a paycheck when he clearly is not NBA ready, and can clearly benefit from more time under CBH.
We're havin' too much fun today. We ain't thinkin' 'bout tomorrow.
Williams plays a 4 in college because that is where he is needed.
He might turn into a really good 3 in the pros. He has good touch and decent ball handling skills. He is still hitting about 70% from 3 and 74% from the line. I am not saying that he is a natural 3, but he has better outside skills than one would expect from a 4.
On Honeycutt, I agree. Until he proves he can take people off the dribble and stop people from taking him off the dribble, I don’t see him as a lottery pick in a normal year.
True.
I didn’t mean to disparage Derrick Williams. I think he’s an excellent college player, and will probably be a very good NBA player someday, either at the 3 or the 4. But a guy with his physical atributes wouldn’t normally be a top 5 pick (can you imagine where he would go in the 2008 draft?), and that more than anything else was my point.
We're havin' too much fun today. We ain't thinkin' 'bout tomorrow.
I think people
who pass up DWilliams in the draft are going to regret it. His skill set is as good as I’ve seen for a four man. He reminds me of a more athletic Kyle Singler, who I watched in HS, only a slightly worse handle. He’s an excellent athlete who somehow became a dead-eye shooter. If I was a GM, i’d take him in a heartbeat.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
by OswegoBruin on Feb 10, 2011 10:23 AM PST up reply actions
Honeycutt has lottery-level measurables
He’s a rangy, 6’7" shooting guard that has great handle and court vision. He would thrive in an open court offense and up and down game. He can get and create his own shot, UCLA has terrible spacing on offense. He’ll rate very high in the NBA draft because of his upside, length, athleticism, shooting range, versatility and his ability to play off the ball. This is an extremely weak class. He might want to delay is choice a season, but if it’s about getting paid all these guys want to get their free agent eligibility clock started asap.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
Hmmm
I think Tyler needs to get physically stronger. He’s bothered by guys that bump him on his shot – a reality he needs to live with professionally. He’s a good rebounder, would be a great rebounder from the guard spot. Defensively he’s not terrible – his wingspan allows him to affect jumpers and he get’s a fair number of blocks. He also hasn’t played in a pro style offense or with a high level PG – things the NBA evaluators will take into consideration. He’ll shine in individual workouts.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
Josh Smith
is better than Catron even as a freshman. More skilled, more touch, and more bulk. Catron has the experience advantage, and will do his best to foul josh out of the game. I’m sure Josh will do the same.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
My feeling as well
I expect a lot of heartburn for Bruins fans against Oregon, with the outcome still not very clear. Our advantages are two-fold: it’s a Thursday game, and it’s at home. I’m hoping that will be enough.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
JSmith does have the potentials
But I wouldn’t say he is that good yet. To me, JSmith is an improved version of George Sidek, that big Czech center on our 95 NC team, as we speak.
JSmith’s play is on the same par as Sidek was in the latter’s senior year. I know most of you can recall how immobile, wooden legged Sidek was in his first couple of seasons at Pauley. But he worked hard, and blossomed in the shadow of some finest athletes ever assembled. That JSmith already showed flashes of dominance midway through his freshman season speaks volume of his potentials soon to be realized.
With confidence growing, he can only become progressively better after each game. That’s why I had a hunch that our team might be peaking, if we prevail over Arizona at home and win at Seattle.
Smith much better than big George
IIRC, Zidek not play much until his senior year. He had a suprisising good senior year, playing well within himself and playing good defense, rebounding, and hitting the easy shots.
Smith is likely conference freshman of the year.
by RealisticBruinFan on Feb 9, 2011 1:24 PM PST up reply actions
Zidek!
He was in my dorm, a very gentle guy. He was absolutely perfect in our Final Four game, shutting down “Big Country”. Josh is already better than he was even at his peak, especially if he stays out of foul trouble. Zidek was in better shape, but only by his senior year.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
He was my roommate for a summer
Mike Flanagan, George Kase, Grady Stretz, Darren Cline and I had a place on Sepulveda and Big George slept on our floor for the summer. Great guy. We were both Bus Econ, he was very smart. Total gentle giant.
I miss Big George Zidek
Unfortunately, he wasn’t even close to as skilled as Smith is now, even as a senior. Zidek was a role player on a team full of athletes. Yes, his development was impressive but his primary role in 1995 was to take up space (7’0, 260 pounds) and keep interior defenses honest so our wings and guards could do their thing. He seldom had plays run for him and he wasn’t nearly the rebounder per minute that Smith is now. (Zidek averaged 10 points and 5 boards in 95).
Today’s team is learning on the fly that the more often they get the ball into Smith hands the better. Sure, he needs a driving Nelson or a penetrating Lee/Honey to get his shot, but Smith is slowly becoming one of the primary options in the half court set. Smith’s biggest problem this year has been his inability to stay on the court due to foul trouble.
The fact that Zidek was a first round draft pick, #22 overall, scares the crap out of me in terms of Smith leaving early…
by DoubleTroubleBruin on Feb 9, 2011 12:51 PM PST reply actions
Agreed, Zidek was a role player.
He also did not exhibit the moves under the basket that JSmith does. But in some way, JSmith’s play really reminds me of what Zidek did that year, offensive rebounds, putbacks, dunks of course, and occasionally wide open shots inside the perimeter, etc.
Sure, when all is said and done, JSmith will be a Rasheed Wallace type NBA player with similar role and reliably effective within the paint. But if he goes after this season, then the Continental League would beckon soon because he just wouldn’t last in the NBA the way he is now.
If only
JSmith had a jumper like Rasheed’s! Glad he doesn’t have the same temperament though.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Were he the hardheaded type, I'd still prefer him to be . . . .
the Rasheed Wallace type than some others.
JSmith is just realizing that his inside game, unstoppable for some teams, is rendering him to be intentional foul target. Repugnant as it seems, the strategy is annoyingly true in some cases.
Temple Uniuversity’s former coach, Don Chaney, allegedly told one of his Owls to do just that.
Ask Shaq if he hadn’t endured, during his heydays with the Lakers, those sneaky elbows, quick hacks and what not the referees sometimes missed. Then there are the two most infamous incidents involving Kermit Washington and, for us Bruins embarrasingly, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, when they both swung their fists, retaliated with ugly consequences.
Some of you can recall who Kermit Washingtion victimized. Kareem smashed the face and jaws of Rudy Tomjanovich, then with Houston Rockets and fractrured his own hand.
No, JSmith is a gentle giant and I excuse him for letting it get to him that time.
I grew up down the street from Kermit
Very nice man. Sad to see his reputation take such a hit. He was always very nice whenever I spoke with him/saw him.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
UW and UCLA
Just goes to show that stats aren’t everything, but as DC mentioned, with our stats you wouldn’t think we would be #2 in Pac-10. On the flipside, UW has great stats.
Per tWWL:
UW:
- in overall ppg at 84.8
- in assists per game at 17.3
- in rebounds per game at 40
- in FG% at 0.477
UCLA:
- in ppg at 71.4
- in apg at 14.9
- in rpg at 37.5
- in FG% at 0.459
I guess one of the main stats that isn’t mentioned would be the D, which has improved for UCLA this season and has kept us alive when our guys have focused and been in lockdown mode.
One other thought is regarding DC’s mention of UW and its poor performance away. I feel like that is the next step for our Bruins as well. I know these next 2 games vs. the Oregon teams will be tough, but I really want to see if we have gained the maturity to keep it together away as well…
can't think about washington today
or else we’ll fall flat against oregon tomorrow. this team can’t afford to spend any time at all looking at the standings.
by Strathmore&Gayley on Feb 9, 2011 5:02 PM PST reply actions
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