Jump to content

Kwan Kwan and more Kwan


1981 grad

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, tolbob said:

KD let him take the last shot against KSU to build his confidence going into the tournament

 

Where did you hear this?  There's no tournament being played for for several more weeks.  I commented on this in another thread.  He's already said that they ran a play because he believed that Kwan had the best chance of getting an open look.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PCCC made staying on Kwan a priority.  They never left him to double Big Dog, hsi man never played help defense and  they always looked for him and found him in transition.  It's the first time I've seen a team do that this year.  In past years, you'd see Kwan get down on himself when he'd have a rough game, but it appears our young man has grown up this year.  As such, I am confident he'll come back.

 

I can't imagine Keith was looking to the tournament and Kwan's confidence in his late playcalling.  Quite simply, Kwan's been our best clutch 3 point shooter this season.  That doesn't come down to the previous twenty minutes he's played, it's season long.  He got a good look and missed the shot.  On to the next one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kwan's gotta try to drive to the hoop a bit more, just to keep defenders honest & on their heels a bit more.  They were all over him on the 3-line.  Good for K.ent, btw, they did a great job with that.  

 

Big Dog is pretty much a constant.  But it seems apparent that as Kwan goes, so the team goes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

Kwan's gotta try to drive to the hoop a bit more, just to keep defenders honest & on their heels a bit more.  They were all over him on the 3-line.

 

I keep seeing this come up from time to time.  And I did touch on it earlier, but lets dig into this in a little more detail. 

 

Yes, I think he might be able to turn and beat someone to the hoop from a posting position 5-10 feet from the basket.  I'd actually much rather see him do that rather than take the 10 foot fall-away jumper.  

 

But, this thought that he might be able to get a layup when holding to ball 5 feet beyond the 3-point line (like on Saturday) is absurd.  He's never going to get there unless the other 4 defenders are off the floor.  He's not going to get far enough to drive and dish either.  And if he has the ability to drive just into the paint, stop, and hit a 10-15 footer off the dribble, I don't think I've ever seen it, and there's probably good reason for that.  

 

Yes, I know he was a guard at one time years ago.  But that was before he was 6'-10" tall.  Unless he's suddenly acquired Magic Johnson's talent, guys that size rarely possess the ability to get to the hoop from 30 feet out off of the dribble.  

 

Shoot some 3's for us when he has a good look.  Work for some baskets in the paint.  Rebound and defend for us, as he's been doing.  That's how he can help us the most.  Asking a guy that size to put the ball on the floor to try to beat defenders to the hoop from the perimeter is a recipe for disaster.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, skip-zip said:

 

I keep seeing this come up from time to time.  And I did touch on it earlier, but lets dig into this in a little more detail. 

 

Yes, I think he might be able to turn and beat someone to the hoop from a posting position 5-10 feet from the basket.  I'd actually much rather see him do that rather than take the 10 foot fall-away jumper.  

 

But, this thought that he might be able to get a layup when holding to ball 5 feet beyond the 3-point line (like on Saturday) is absurd.  He's never going to get there unless the other 4 defenders are off the floor.  He's not going to get far enough to drive and dish either.  And if he has the ability to drive just into the paint, stop, and hit a 10-15 footer off the dribble, I don't think I've ever seen it, and there's probably good reason for that.  

 

Yes, I know he was a guard at one time years ago.  But that was before he was 6'-10" tall.  Unless he's suddenly acquired Magic Johnson's talent, guys that size rarely possess the ability to get to the hoop from 30 feet out off of the dribble.  

 

Shoot some 3's for us when he has a good look.  Work for some baskets in the paint.  Rebound and defend for us, as he's been doing.  That's how he can help us the most.  Asking a guy that size to put the ball on the floor to try to beat defenders to the hoop from the perimeter is a recipe for disaster.   

Late in the second half at the Kent game Kwan drove to the basket and score in the paint.  It has to do with footwork, a big first step to get pass your man, and the ability to drive to the basket.  Kwan has all 3 and has driven to the basket numerous occasions this season and is one of the reasons I started this thread.  However, the last few games he has relied more on the 3 ball and less driving to the basket.  Once he beats his man it opens up the floor since somebody will come over to prevent the layup and leave somebody open.  We need Kwan to drive more and stop settling for the 3 ball.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, zippy5 said:

No no no.

 

A 6'10" guy driving to the hoop is a guard's dream on help defense

If the alternative is hoisting a 25 foot three, what would you rather he do?

 

I don't care if Kwan gets hot and cans a couple consecutive 25 footers. I get it...it's a shot he can make. But it is very low percentage, and it is the opponent's dream that the Zips hoist 25 footers when games get tight...because the percentage that we fail is very high. 

 

It's not just Kwan...in crunch time the Zips lack poise, and begin chucking bad 3's instead of taking what the defense gives them. That's why we don't blow anyone out. That's why we lost to OU. That's why we lost to Kent. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

If the alternative is hoisting a 25 foot three, what would you rather he do?

 

I don't care if Kwan gets hot and cans a couple consecutive 25 footers. I get it...it's a shot he can make. But it is very low percentage, and it is the opponent's dream that the Zips hoist 25 footers when games get tight...because the percentage that we fail is very high. 

 

It's not just Kwan...in crunch time the Zips lack poise, and begin chucking bad 3's instead of taking what the defense gives them. That's why we don't blow anyone out. That's why we lost to OU. That's why we lost to Kent. 

I agree with all of that. The discussion was that he should focus on driving to the hoop more. Ehhh no thanks. I am fine with less NBA range 3s though. We seem to get up by 7 or 8 each game and then immediately have a few bad possessions and let teams back in it instead of stepping on their throats. Happened late in the OU game and at the end of the first half against Kent. See the one handed oop attempt to Ivey and then an Antino drive and dish to the defense. I think these are the pressure points where we need to bear down and get good shots, and we can avoid the crunch time where we need a bucket to win.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with everything Captain Kangaroo said as well.  

 

Precisely, the reason we got into this discussion was that a couple of people suggested that when our 6'-10" forward is closely guarded, out at the 3-point line, he should put the ball on the floor because he "might be able to get a layup".  That's just absurd.   There's other situations/locations where he would be capable of putting the ball on the floor and scoring, but this isn't one of them.  

 

Antino can do that. Jimond can do that.  I'll point the finger at those two guys in particular if they are taking bad 3's and not doing some of the other things that the defense might be allowing them to do.  Kwan is a front court guy who CAN hit a spot-up 3-pointer.  If he's standing at the 3-point line without a good look, passing the ball to someone else is going to be the best move nearly every time.  It's no different than nearly every other guy in college and the NBA who's 6'-10" but has some outside shooting ability.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kwan is sitting on 901 points before tonight's game. Barring an absolute complete collapse the Zips have at least 6 games remaining (4 regular season, one MAC tournament and one postseason). He'll have to average 16.5 if there are only six, 14.1 for 7, 12.3 for 8, 11 for 9 and 9.9 for 10 (which is the most number of games I can realistically see the Zips getting to this season)  to reach 1000. So its going to be tight but I think all of us would love to see him reach that milestone. A nice 25 point game tonight would go a long way in easing my mind about it. ;)  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

For sure.  He's definitely got much, much better games left in him yet this year than what we've seen lately, from a scoring standpoint.  

But apparently I lost Antino in the shuffle. He's actually ahead of Kwan in overall points although he's a year younger. Antino is at 943 so he should hit the 1,000 point mark this year. Since Big Dog reached it earlier this year we could have three 1,000 point career scorers on one team. Noah has a shot at it before the end of next year.

Edited by MDZip
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, skip-zip said:

I agree with everything Captain Kangaroo said as well.  

 

Precisely, the reason we got into this discussion was that a couple of people suggested that when our 6'-10" forward is closely guarded, out at the 3-point line, he should put the ball on the floor because he "might be able to get a layup".  That's just absurd.   There's other situations/locations where he would be capable of putting the ball on the floor and scoring, but this isn't one of them.  

 

Antino can do that. Jimond can do that.  I'll point the finger at those two guys in particular if they are taking bad 3's and not doing some of the other things that the defense might be allowing them to do.  Kwan is a front court guy who CAN hit a spot-up 3-pointer.  If he's standing at the 3-point line without a good look, passing the ball to someone else is going to be the best move nearly every time.  It's no different than nearly every other guy in college and the NBA who's 6'-10" but has some outside shooting ability.  

I understand what you are saying but this year Kwan has shown the athleticism to the basket and score.  He just has to work harder than launching a 3.  Look at the Kent game at the with 5:43 left in the game.  Kwan could not do that last year.  The best way to get more space is to blow by these guys with a first quick step. 

Edited by 1981 grad
Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, 1981 grad said:

The best way to get more space is to blow by these guys with a first quick step. 

 

But where's he going to go?  That's what a few of us are pointing out.  If you think he can "blow by" people, then do it from 10 feet away when he sees an open path, and can get a quick lay in.  From 30' away, the help defense would eat a guy alive who's accelerating and dribbling for that distance at 6'-10" tall.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I think the team in general shoots too many rushed threes, including Kwan.  I am resolved to the fact that the Zips offense is in large part based upon the three ball, but they all too often hoist well guarded rushed threes, which drives me a little nuts.  

The ones from 25 feet are wide-open looks.

 

Wonder why....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a couple of things I might be able to add about the 3-point shooting that were interesting. 

 

1) The 37% we are shooting from beyond the arc is actually the best of the last 5 years, except last year.  And last year was only 1% better.  So, if someone is making the point that anything about our 3-point shooting (rushing shots, shooting them closely guarded, etc.) is any different than it's been before, the success rate doesn't support that.  

 

2) If our inability to blow people out is being attributed to "rushed 3-point shots", why haven't we had this problem in the past?

 

3) Keith has openly talked about this being his best offensive team. 

 

Guys, I think some might be too quick to put their finger on the 3-point shooting, yet the numbers regarding 3's and our overall offensive productivity are good .  I think there might be a problem with consistency.  I think this team struggles too often to defend and create turnovers like other Akron teams.  And I also think there's no pushovers sitting at the bottom of this league like there had been in the past.  

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...