FanPost

Kenner League Recap: 2016 Playoffs

The only truly important news from the first three nights/days of the playoffs - Marcus Derrickson: as most people probably know, on Saturday Marcus Derrickson went down in some significant pain after stepping on the basketball after driving into traffic at high speed and getting the ball knocked away. Trainers were testing his right knee, and he put no weight on it while leaving the court.

Ben Standig (a reporter who covers the Hoyas and was at the game) tweeted out that he heard that Derrickson is OK. that is good news, but I am still holding my breath.

Often you need an MRI to be positive about potential knee damage. I don’t mean to be alarmist, hopefully Marcus is fine. But I’ll feel better after we hear that his MRI is clean (which we may well never hear officially), and/or somebody sees him walking around campus next week with no crutches or knee braces!

Thursday games: not too many notes on these games, as I was watching with friends and not taking a lot of notes. Also - the game notes are pretty repetitive at this point in the summer, so I’m keeping these reports shorter in general.

Jagan Mosely: 4 pts, 1-4 2 pt, 2-2 ft, 0-3 3pt, 1 reb, 3 asst, 1 bl, 3 TO

-smooth crossover move to blow past his man for a layup.

-no look left handed pass in transition leading to an open layup

-best play: jumped a passing lane, missed the pass, then flew back into the play from behind to block the shot. Really good hustle and athleticism.

-Did not shoot much - in part because DSR and Derrickson played well, with those two and Pryor taking most of the shots in this game

Marcus Derrickson: 24 pts, 4-7 2 pt, 4-5 ft, 4-7 3pt, 10 reb (1 off), 1 bl, 2 TO

-Had some very strong defensive boards, coming from well outside his area and ripping down boards through defenders

-very strong overall game. He was in a really good, confident offensive rhythm.

-also drew 2 charges. Marcus does not elevate all that well, but he plays very good position D at the rim. He anticipates drives well and moves quickly from off the ball to get into position to draw charges and contest shots

Rodney Pryor: 32 pts, 9-14 2pt, 5-5 ft, 3-6 3pt, 6 reb (2 off), 1 st, 1 bl, 2 to

-One of the few concerns with Rodney is that he throws himself around the court so much (because he plays so hard all the time), you do worry that one of the hard falls to the floor he takes could eventually lead to an injury, or result in his body wearing down over the course of the season

-Generally had another very strong game. Saw a bit less of the ball offensively, with DSR playing for the tombs and having a good game.

-up 6 with 40 seconds left - he caused a turnover on an inbounds play that pretty much put the game away for the Tombs

George Muresan: 0-1 3pt, 1 bl, 2 to

-played only spot minutes. The game is definitely too fast for him right now, and he has to get a lot stronger to be able to compete at all. But he has some skill and a good understanding of the game.

Tre Campbell: 11 pts, 3-7 2pt, 2-2 ft, 1-6 3pt, 4 reb (2 off), 2 asst, 1 to

-Nice play splitting 2 defenders on PnR, leading to open layup

-good baseline cut leading to back door layup

Kaleb Johnson: 13 pts, 5-5 2 pt, 3-4 ft, 4 reb (1 off), 1 st, 1 bl

-played well, but spent too much time on the bench

-nice post up score on Mosely

-Recognized a mismatch on a PnR switch, took shorter defender right down into the post and scored on a nice right handed move in the lane

LJ Peak: 32 pts, 9-15 2pt, 5-6 ft, 3-5 3pt, 4 reb (2 off), 3 asst, 2 bl, 2 to

-really strong 2nd half (19 pts) in a wild 2 OT game that had a whole bunch of weird stuff down the stretch. LJ took over and led a Clydes comeback, and he made the big plays in OT to win the game.

-Had a tough transition finish - eurostep, then powered the ball over the defender at the front of the rim

-good baseline cut, then used the rim to protect the ball. Finished off the glass with his left hand

-Hit a pulp 14 foot jumper

-down 3 with 40 seconds left - jesse missed a foul shot, LJ got the rebound and scored to cut lead to 1

Jessie Govan: 14 pts, 4-11 2pt, 3-4 ft, 1-4 3pt, 10 feb (1 off), 3 bl, 1 TO

-Took good post shots/open jumpers early, they just were not going down

-Struggled covering a smaller, quicker player. Either got pulled away from rim and beaten off the dribble, or put into PnR and did not play it well too often

-In general Clydes fouled a lot, almost every possession for one second half stretch when Jessie was really getting killed on the PnR. It felt painfully familiar!

-Down 1, on D: finally had a great PnR defensive possession, resulting in a blocked shot. LJ grabbed the loose ball and got fouled in transition

Friday Games: Note - Mourning and Agau did not play. Agau was in street clothes on the bench, Mourning was not there.

Jonathon Mulmore: 18 pts, 3-9 2pt, 6-9 ft, 2-8 3pt, 3 reb, 7 asst, 1 st

-went end to end with a D board. Extremely fast and explosive move

-Hit a long 3 as a trailer in transition

-Consistently attacked the basket in the half court offense. finished some tough shots , drew multiple fouls, but also missed some shots badly

-Had some trouble staying in front of Byron Allen (good player from George Mason). Allen is very strong, and used his combo of speed and strength to get past mulmore a few times

-threw a perfect lob pass on the break to Copeland for a dunk

-Missed a few 3s that were not good shots - settled for them early in shot clock rather than working for a better shot

-really strong half court passing - created multiple easy shots with good passes off his dribble penetration. Throws good interior passes in tight spaces.

-Best play: in the half court - Copeland was posting up. he and mulmore made eye contact. Mulmore threw a lob to the rim just as Copeland spun around the defender trying to front him. Isaac caught the ball at the rim and twisted in the air to finish the play.

Isaac Copeland: 22 pts, 8-11 2pt, 3-4 ft, 1-3 3pt, 7 reb (3 off), 1 asst, 1 st

-Good PnR D on one play - attacked the dribbler and got a piece of the ball to disrupt the play

-Running the court really well all summer. Very dangerous finisher in transition. His best role this year will, I think, be as a transition finisher and catching passes on off ball cuts in the half court. We have a bunch of other players who are much better at attacking off the dribble, Isaac really should not be doing a whole lot of this. Play him off the ball and making cuts, spotting up for corner 3s, and attacking the offensive boards.

Reggie Cameron: 12 pts, 4-7 2pt, 1-2 ft, 1-6 3pt, 10 Reb (2 off), 1 asst, 2 TO

-Hit a step back Nowitzki 7 footer in the lane

-Hit a step back jumper off the dribble from 14 feet over Ike - probably his nicest offensive move of the summer

-Way too hesitant on a shot underneath - triple pumped before missing badly

Paul White: 4 pts, 2-2 2pt, 0-1 3pt, 3 reb (2 off)2 asst, 1st

-only on the court for about 16 minutes of playing time

-overall looked better than in previous games

-passed the ball really well in the midcourt. Even beyond any assists he had - he also set up a few other good shot opportunities that were missed. He was quicker and more decisive in his decision making

-had a nice transition play in which he successfully contested a Nate Britt drive to the basket.

-Hit a tough floater in the lane off the dribble on which he was knocked to the floor - a foul probably should have been called

Saturday: Agau again on the bench in street clothes

Jagan Mosely: 15 pts, 6-10 2pt, 3-4 ft, 0-3 3pt, 5 reb, 4 asst, 1 st, 5 to

-Had another strong crossover move to beat defender, leading to layup. This right-to-left crossover seems to be a go-to move for Jagan.

-Strong power drive over Mulmore

-Found a wing man running hard up the middle, hit him with a pass ahead in transition leading to basket. Hits one or two of these pass ahead plays every game, he is always looking up to see if anyone is behind the D. Those one or two easy baskets a game can be very valuable.

-Used a Pryor ball screen really well. Stayed tight to the screener, lost his man on the pick and got into the lane for a layup.

-Hit a floater off the dribble on a scramble, end of shot clock situation

-Threw a very nice bounce pass inside through traffic for a layup

-hit a key 1-1 at the end of the game to put team up 4 with 14 seconds left

-his 3 pt shot still needs work. the fundamentals are fine, but he does not yet knock it down quite consistently enough

-turned the ball over more than usual today, usually happening when he attacked into traffic off the dribble

Marcus Derrickson: 15 pts, 6-9 2pt, 1-3 3pt, 7 reb (3 off), 3 TO

-see injury report in introduction

-Hit a 16 foot step back baseline jumper off the dribble. very tough shot requiring a high skill level

-hit an NBA length 3 from the top of the key

-backed Isaac down under the rim for a point blank score

-fouled a lot today - I counted 6. I think he’ll have some significant fouling issues if we play him at the 5 for extended minutes, as he has to really be physical with bigger guys in order to defend the post.

Rodney Pryor: 39 pts, 12-22 2pt, 6-7 ft, 3-7 2pt, 7 reb (2 off), 1 bl

-another huge game, again attacking and scoring constantly

-keeps his dribble very low when driving, this is one of the keys to his success

-just a tremendous finisher at the rim. Knows how to use the eurostep, and how to absorb contact while still finishing the shot.

-His main potential flaw: he shoots a lot, and takes a lot of contested jumpers. When he is hot, he can blow a game open very quickly this way. But when he goes cold - it can lead to a lot of quick, empty offensive possessions that allow the opposition to come back. This pattern recurs in most Tombs games. But then he gets hot again later and the team pulls away. I think we need to be prepared for some stretches where he hits these cold streaks and thinks get chippy for our offense. But it is worth it to keep him aggressive, his intensity energizes the entire team.

-he also fouls quite a bit - had 4 today, 3 in the first half. Again, we probably need to live with this because we don’t want him to cut back too much on his aggressiveness.

-Took Mulmore off the dribble. Mulmore played really good D on the possession, turning pryor back twice. But he kept coming, tried a third time, and blew by mulmore for a layup

-Had a spectacular rundown block, but got the man with a little bit of his body for a foul

Jonathon Mulmore: 23 pts, 6-9 2pt, 5-7 ft, 2-5 3pt, 3 feb, 6 asst, 2 st, 1 TO

-hit a 27 foot 3 on the first possession

-the Tombs D was running two men at him off ball screens, the way a lot of teams defend Curry in the NBA. The goal is to get the ball out of his hands. He handled it well, finding the open man. But early on, his teammates could not make the D pay for playing 3 on 4 after the pass out of the double team. The Tombs jumped out to an early 20 point lead by shutting down the Hoops Magic offense almost completely for the first 10 minutes. then hoops magic settled in and played well offensively after that, but the deficit was just too much to come all the way back from.

-Mulmore has pretty much mastered the "throw your head back whenever a defender even comes close to making contact with the ball handler" move that has become the standard move for guards in both the NCAA and the NBA.

-Nice PnR pass to rolling copleand

-very creative passer. Leads to some turnovers, but creates a lot of good scoring opportunities. Just as we’ll have to tolerate some cold shooting stretches with Pryor, we’ll need to tolerate some TOs and forced drives from Mulmore. On the whole, their aggressiveness produces a lot more positive than negative. It will be a very different fan experience - our frustration will come from our players being too aggressive offensively rather than from them being too passive.

-a bit shaky on his foul shots the last two games. His form is solid, he was just a little off. Should be a 75-80% foul shooter

Isaac Copeland: 10 pts, 3-10 2pt, 1-2 ft, 1-5 3pt, 6 reb (1 off), 4 asst, 1 bl, 2 TO

-this was his roughest game of the summer. He had good defenders on him all the time - Derrickson or Pryor usually. He could not get by them off the dribble at all, and early on he was settling for a lot of contested mid range jumpers, which he could not hit

-Eventually he started playing more of a facilitator role. When nothing opened up of the dribble, he threw a number of good fundamental passes that led to scores - rather than pulling up for a tough jumper

-He did not play for the last 10 minutes or so, even as Hoops Magic almost came back from way behind. He did not seem to be hurt, not sure why he was not playing

George Muresan:

-nothing particularly notable in this game

Paul White: 14 pts, 5-5 2pt, 1-1 ft, 1-3 3pt, 2 feb, 3 asst

-easily his best game of the summer. Looked a lot more like frosh year level of play

-smart, quick passes, hitting jumpers, finishing around the rim

-played quite a few more minutes than in previous games

-made a few good off ball cuts that resulted in layups

-very encouraging to see Paul looking much more like himself for the first time this summer

Jessie Govan: 20 pts, 9-14 2pt, 2-2 ft, 0-1 3pt, 6 reb (2 off), 1 asst

-really struggles to defend GW big Tyler Cavanaugh. Cavanaugh can shoot the 3, and is quick enough to take a slower footed big like Jesse off the dribble. Cavanaugh often took him outside and burned him with the 3/pump fake and drive game. Or just kept him away from the rim, opening up the lane for Tre Kelly (South Carolina alum), who can be a very effective scorer in the lane. Kelly was hot, and Jesse also struggled when put into PnR D. they really worked Jesse pretty badly on D, and the entire Clyde’s defense broke down for most of the game, leading to a pretty one sided loss

-had a good crossover move from 15 feet, leading to a tough runner from 8 feet in the lane that he hit

-nice pick and pop 14 foot baseline jumper coming out of a PnR with Peak

-had a good, aggressive offensive game, but the D was rough

LJ Peak: 19 pts, 7-10 2pt, 5-7 ft, 0-4 3pt, 2 reb (1 off), 2 asst, 1 bl, 3 to

-not quite as involved offensively. His team has one guy who shoots almost every time he gets the ball, and this hurt Clyde’s offensive flow a bit today

-his outside shot was off, missed all his 3s and most jumpers

-had a nice drive and finish through heavy contact with White

Stay Casual, my friends.