Swami Boeheim Speaks On Fab Melo, Dion Waiters
by Sean Keeley on Jul 27, 2010 4:07 PM EDT
36 comments
Jim Boeheim might be a lot of different things but when it comes to previewing the season ahead with the players in front of him, he usually tells it to you straight. And he's got an eye for this sort of thing.
It was Boeheim who first said Wes Johnson was one-and-done at Cuse, long before any of the national folk noticed.
His bold "declaration" before last season that Syracuse would be better off with Brandon Triche than Jonny Flynn sounded like lunacy...until it ended up being true.
So when Jim Boeheim talks about the potential he sees in incoming Syracuse freshman Fab Melo and Dion Waiters, you can believe that he's not going to b-s you. Or Seth Davis, who asked the questions for us.
So when Boeheim says that his incoming 7-foot freshman center, the wonderfully named Fab Melo, will be "a strong contender for national rookie of the year," you should pay attention. Not that this is a surprise. Boeheim said Melo has lost 30 pounds over the last year, and unlike many big men coming out of high school, he is ready to have an impact right away. "He's a good passer and shooter, but he's also seven feet tall and he can block shots and rebound," Boeheim said. "The good thing for him is that we have four veteran guys who will be out there with him. He's not going out there with guys who don't know how to play."
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I hope this season will be sweet(er)
Lets hope we break the Sweet 16 curse this year. Too many times in recent memory has a surging and/or highly rated Syracuse performed well until the Sweet 16.
Matter of fact the number 16 was very unlucky for us Cuse fans this year:
-Sweet 16 loss to BUTLER
-Syracuse lacrosse loses during the round of 16 (aka first game)
-U.S. Soccer loses to Ghana during the round of 16
You stay classy Syracuse.
I can see that
A lot of people don’t factor in what size and athleticism can do in the 2-3, or a big man who can actually run in a high octane offense. I’d love to throw some hate the ’Cuse’s way, but I think they’ll be solid.
But I think a lot of people thought the Cuse would be better without Devo/ Flynn/ Harris. Those three sometimes… strayed from the team concept on offense. And sometimes on defense.
The East Coast Bias - St. John's blog with midwestern interludes.
Prediction
5 – Melo 20 min, Jackson 20 min
4- Jackson 15, Joseph 25
3 – Joseph 15, Jones 25
2 – Triche 30, Waiters 10
1 – Jardine 35, Triche 5
That is the most glaring issue with that rotation
I also can’t see Joseph playing 25mpg at power forward. And that Jones 25mpg craziness trickles down…no way Triche only plays 5 minutes. That is totally ridiculous. I also can’t see Waiters playing only 10 minutes.
You do remember that Jones has been a complete liability on defense right? Regardless of how well he is shooting, no way he gets 25mpg unless he has made huge strides on defense.
Furthermore, the word on the street is that Jackson has been developing his shot to be a more well-rounded power forward. This is important for a lot of reasons, not least of which is that he’s not going to be able to make the NBA as a center and he won’t be able to make it as a PF if he can’t shoot outside of 8 ft. So hopefully he won’t be logging 20mpg at center.
Complete liability on defense
Didn’t keep Devendorf and Harris off the court.
And Triche is playing 35 minutes, not 5.
That’s the pattern of the last few years. One guy plays 40 minutes, 2-3 guys play 35 minutes, guys 5 and 6 play around 20 minutes and guy 7 plays about ten.
My bad, I misread that - didn't see the "Triche 30"
Devendorf was lousy defensively. Harris was out of position in the zone when he played forward. However, they were on teams that weren’t as strong defensively as this one could be. Their replacements in the zone wouldn’t have been any better and their replacements offensively would have been downgrades.
Anyway, I still don’t see Joseph playing 25mpg at PF, nor do I see Mookie getting close to 25mpg. And I’m hopeful that Waiters gets more than 10mpg.
I’m curious how Dashonte is doing. Has he put on any bulk or improved his coordination? What about the 4th freshman – Keita? He is 6’11" and seems like he might be pretty adept on the defensive end and glass.
If Fab Melo is as good as Boeheim says, he will probably get more than 20mpg. Especially since he sounds very dedicated to his fitness after dropping 30 lbs.
CJ Fair
I think there’ s a possibility he could be man #7/8. Lanky, likes to play D, and judging by his recruiting videos, a good spell for KrisJo.
Other people look, Andy Rautins can SEE.
Agreed
Swap Fair or Southerland for Mookie and hopefully a few more minutes from Waiters and that’s a pretty solid rotation … I hope.
Center/PF
Boeheim always lets his seniors play where they have the best chance to make a career. That puts Jackson almost exclusively at PF…more minutes at center for Melo…and Fair and/or Riley battling for backup minutes at those 2 spots.
by steelerwheeler on Jul 29, 2010 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions
Yeah I have a hard time believing
he’s going to get steady 15-20 minutes a game. Maybe early on but I think it’ll fade
Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician - The Syracuse blog that cares.
Buy my book "How To Grow An Orange"
when mookie played down on the wing last year
his defense was actually pretty decent. I think he can see minutes there, but not 25.
im already very excited for this bball season!!
In boeheim we trust.
by orngfan on Jul 27, 2010 4:37 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
HELL YES!
this is killing me. 3.5 long months…
BK: This guy is on fire, he is really smokin'.
KenKo: Oh yeah, Bill? What's he smokin'?
dont forget about the freshman from last year
riley and southerland
good stuff from those two as well
I think Southerland
gets the backup SF minutes. Mookie’s got to make himself like Scoop was last year, an invaluable spark off the bench.
We need more toilet paper, I'm taking my talents to South Beach.
by bigbluethruandthru on Jul 27, 2010 8:50 PM EDT reply actions
Prediction for the Rotation come January
1: Scoop – 35, Triche – 5
2: Triche – 25, Waiters – 15
3: Joseph – 30, Southerland – 5, Waiters – 5 (Waiters minutes comes when playing a small lineup)
4: Jackson – 30, Riley 5, Joseph 5 (Again, Joseph at the 4 when playing small)
5: Melo – 30, Riley 10
Mookie, Keita, and Fair barely see the floor. Maybe Fair takes Southerland’s minutes if he comes in that good, but I think Southerland will have improved beyond Fair’s level for this year.
Two things
First, it sounds like Fab is going to be a regular starter, awesome. Great to hear.
Second, SU was better with Triche than Flynn? What? Someone is going to have to make a defense to that, cause I don’t see it…not even remotely.
Go Orange(men)!
I used quotes there
cause its not technically what Boeheim said, but he was trying to say that Triche is more of a pure PG whereas Jonny was a PG but also a shooter/scorer. It came out wrong when he said it, but I get what he meant.
Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician - The Syracuse blog that cares.
Buy my book "How To Grow An Orange"
by Sean Keeley on Jul 28, 2010 10:05 AM EDT up reply actions
I thought you used quotes
when directly quoting someone? Don’t make me get all deadspin-like-journalism-mocking on your ass, birthday boy! ;)
Go Orange(men)!
I get the Harris and Devo thing ...
but I still find it hard to believe Jonny Flynn wouldn’t have made that team even better. They lacked a crunch time scorer and a guy who could “take over” since Wes wasn’t that guy and Andy couldn’t create his own shot. Flynn’s defense wouldn’t have been as good as Triche but his offensive upgrade would have far outweighed that negative.
It really doesn’t matter, but I think it’s strange how quickly we forget how awesome Jonny Flynn was in his two years at Syracuse as soon as he walks out the door.
Johnny would have dominated the ball and taken away a lot of the open looks Andy got. He would pop a shot rather than hit AO or Ricky for the RIDICULOUSLY high percentage shots they got last year. And he would have really hurt the defense. I guarantee had Johnny been on the team other teams would have attacked his part of the zone.
I agree with tash
That team needed an offensive leader. During crunch time last year the offense was forced to rely on Scoop forcing shots and everyone else scramble for rebounds. Do you really think that would have been the case with Flynn?
Flynn’s last year: scored more points (17 vs 8), had more assists (6.7 vs 2.8), better A/TO ratio (2.0 vs 1.4) and more steals (1.4 vs 0.9).
Triche only had a slightly better Points per shot stat (1.42 vs 1.39)
There is almost no comparison between the two. Flynn did more with the ball himself, did more getting the ball to his team, was faster and was a solid leader. Flynn could carry the offense when needed, Triche was a liability on offense, and the defense was not THAT far apart to even begin justifying it.
Go Orange(men)!
If we had Flynn
we lose the WVU game. Jonny would try to take over and take contested shots. Brandon played like a freshman should and got the ball to guys for high percentage shots.
Im not saying he was a better player… but like Devo, Flynn could hurt the team as much as he helped it. Brandon is bigger and stronger, no one was going to attack him on D.
I also think that while Jonny had the leadership to do well, he could have also destroyed a lot of the team chemestry and the amazing D we played last season. With exacerbated 6 OT ego, Jonny would have pushed for man-to-man all season and butted heads with Jim B much worse than Mookie. Sometimes not having a leader on the floor is not a bad thing because everyone defers to the coach (2004 pistons)
If we had Flynn
we beat Butler and probably make a real deep run in the tourney.
Flynn had over 6 assists a game, I don’t understand this idea that he wouldn’t get AO/Jackson the ball.
I just don’t understand the logic at all, he was a far superior player that made his teammates better. Again, in crucial situations this past year Triche wasn’t even on the floor. Scoop was the PG.
Go Orange(men)!
C- Melo 35 Jackson 5
PF- Jackson 25 Joseph 10 Southerland/Fair 5
SF- Joseph 35 Southerland 5
SG- Triche 25 Waiters 15
PG- Jardine 30 Triche 10
Rotation – Mookie Jones will get some minutes, Big time 3pt threat.
"One of the teams asked me a running back question," McCluster said. "They said when you have the ball, do you focus on the guy who's in front of you or the next guy.
"I told them 99% of the time, I'm going to make that first guy miss. Then, I'm onto the next."
hahaha my bad
"One of the teams asked me a running back question," McCluster said. "They said when you have the ball, do you focus on the guy who's in front of you or the next guy.
"I told them 99% of the time, I'm going to make that first guy miss. Then, I'm onto the next."
Okay, since we're all making wild ass guesses
C – Melo 30 Riley 10
PF – Jackson 30 Joseph 5 Fair 5
SF – Joseph 25 Southerland 5 Fair 5 Jones 5
SG – Triche 20 Waiters 15 Jones 5
PG – Jardine 30 Triche 10
So that’s the starting 5 getting 30 mins/game (Melo, Jackson, Joseph, Triche, Jardine), Waiters getting 15, Fair and Jones getting 10, and Southerland getting 5.
Wow, that’s 9 guys, and it doesn’t even include the other incoming center, who I don’t think will see much time his freshman year.
What could change this? A few things:
- if Melo isn’t as ready as many currently think, then you’ll probably see Jackson in the middle more & a smaller lineup with Joseph + another SF (Fair/Southerland/Jones).
- if Waiters blows the doors off, then he’ll get more minutes. Those would be at the expense of all 3 other guards.
Is it basketball season yet?
Wait, it’s not even fantasy football season yet. Doh!
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