AJH at the 4

[BBG]

So what are the odds that IF AJH comes back next season, he works on playing the 4 in the off season? If he could get the skills needed (better outside shot) to do that, then we could see the "twin towers" in full effect next year with Taylor coming off the bench to relieve either Haas or AJH (in theory).

Thoughts? It might just be wishful thinking on my part, but I would think that would be his spot in the NBA anyway.

 

[jwspiker]

he'd really need to improve his dribbling/handles in order to do that.

 

[lbodel]

Zero.

There's no chance he'll develop enough in one offseason to start playing the 4. He also is too slow.

 

[purdue4sure]

I expect MP will give it a try in the pre-B1G games. If it works well, we'll see it when it matters.

 

[burbo]

Originally posted by lbodel:
Zero.

There's no chance he'll develop enough in one offseason to start playing the 4. He also is too slow.

Could he play the 4 on offense and back to the middle on defense?

 

[Bigohh]

Re: AJH at the 4 dramatically improve his handles...

IMHO. Plus his footwork would need a major overhaul. He is only "adequate" for a five and has to be set up in the low post in order to do something. If he could drive the lane or at least start at the elbow he would be a much better NBA prospect.

 

[woggy718]

Originally posted by burbo:

Originally posted by lbodel:
Zero.

There's no chance he'll develop enough in one offseason to start playing the 4. He also is too slow.

Could he play the 4 on offense and back to the middle on defense?

Where would you put Haas then on defense? Surely not the 4
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[IndyBoilers2000]

Why does everybody keep saying if AJH comes back? I think its more probable that he comes back than he doesnt.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[ustankass]

Originally posted by woggy718:

Originally posted by burbo:

Originally posted by lbodel:
Zero.

There's no chance he'll develop enough in one offseason to start playing the 4. He also is too slow.

Could he play the 4 on offense and back to the middle on defense?

Where would you put Haas then on defense? Surely not the 4
Posted from Rivals Mobile

AJH at the 4 I have think would almost devastate the defense. In no way is this a knock on Hammons, it would would just throw off everything that is good with the defense. He is not quick enough to guard a college 4 since most are more a 3, and it would pull him away from the basket. He was one of the best shot blockers in the nation last year. Haas isn't that rim protector that Hammons is...yet. We would have to play zone and we saw how that went early on the year.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Grad2009DPT]

I think it would be a good idea if Purdue is up approximately 10 points at the end of the first half, after the under 4 timeout, and we are trying to grind the clock down and just get a good close shot at the rim.

 

[lbodel]

Because we don't know?

If I had to bet money, I'd probably go with him returning, but we have no idea at this point.

There's been much more surprising people leaving early than AJ Hammons would be.

I'll remove the "if" when he says he's coming back.

 

[scottm.gjr]

It's fun to think about but realistically it just wouldn't make sense. Vince Edwards owns that 4 spot and rightfully so. The only time I like the idea of Hammons at the 4 is if we are losing a game and need to make an adjustment to get an advantage inside.

 

[purdue4sure]

Originally posted by scottm.gjr:
It's fun to think about but realistically it just wouldn't make sense. Vince Edwards owns that 4 spot and rightfully so. The only time I like the idea of Hammons at the 4 is if we are losing a game and need to make an adjustment to get an advantage inside.

I would like to see Edwards at the 3. He has the skills, and that's his position at the next level.

 

[Scheffler fan]

Just as a random thought, and saying this, Wisconsin will probably get decimated in the next couple hours, but I really like the way Wisconsin uses Frank. I always thought it was stupid, but rotating him up to the top, and moving him a around like they do, really opens up the offense for penetration, which back off the defense for open threes as well.

Just a random thought. Frank scores a ton down low on the blocks, but he rarely posts up, does he? I'd like to see us try that. Of course, all the smart fans would be screaming at Painter to keep him down low. Kind of like I use to think it was stupid of Wisconsin to have Frank up high.

 

[scottm.gjr]

I'd love to see Vince at the 3 spot too because that's his natural position. However, Davis owns that 3 spot so I see Vince as our 4 until Davis graduates. Of course when Davis is on the bench Vince could play the 3, but I don't think Painter is wanting to play Hammons at the 4.

 

[purdue4sure]

Originally posted by scottm.gjr:
I'd love to see Vince at the 3 spot too because that's his natural position. However, Davis owns that 3 spot so I see Vince as our 4 until Davis graduates. Of course when Davis is on the bench Vince could play the 3, but I don't think Painter is wanting to play Hammons at the 4.

There's a domino effect here. I would love to see Davis move to the 2. I know that means that Matthias and Stephens are on the bench at that time, but MP likes to play matchups. In pre-B1G games I'd like to see that big lineup. PG is the question mark, but since I'm going big, try Matthias there.

People say that Hammons at the 4 weakens Purdue's D, and MP said at the beginning of the year that D would be the deciding factor. Again, I think it's a matter of matchups. I think that most opponent's 4s are not going to be hitting from outside, so he's not going to be too far out on the perimeter. And if his does go out there on D and his man drives around him, he'll still have to deal with Haas. That's no different than the current style where Purdue's 5 is expected to be the "stopper".

Anyway, MP teased us a few times last year with talk about a twin towers line-up. I believe he only used it for a few seconds against MSU after the game was already out of hand. So... no, I don't expect to see a big lineup when a game is on the line.

 

[toddbrewster]

AJH is coming back at the 4

AJH showed remarkable improvement this year and will work hard at the 4 for next.

He will try to emulate Frank this year on offense and will have the advantage of having Haas down low. AJH is already a very good team defender and this will force him to learn how to move his feet more to become a better man to man defender.

It will help that he gets to practice every day against Haas, Edwards and Swanigan.

AJH knows that if he pulls this off that he can be a 1st rounder next year, so financially this makes sense.

Edwards and Swanigan will help each other tremendously too as they will go against each other in practice and learn to play more 3 and some 4. Swanigan will decide that playing near home, playing every day against good players will allow him to be improve and also playing at least 3 years at Purdue will shape him in becoming more as a complete person as well as a first rounder. One and done is a dream and few people make it and those who do lose valuable lessons from not going to College.

 

[Bruce1]

Even if AJ doesn't develop the skills to be full time at the 4 I think there are a lot of situations where the twin towers could be effective. For example at the end of the half or the end of the game we have one possession left , I could see both bigs running a high low to get an ally oop, etc.

 

[lbodel]

Re: AJH is coming back at the 4

But the thing is, it's great to think oh, look how great it is for Kaminsky to play essentially like a 4 (even though he is a 5 at Wisconsin). But did you watch Kaminsky? He's so much quicker than Hammons. No way Hammons is that agile, let alone has the ball handling that Frank has - and he certainly isn't going to learn that in one offseason.

Hammons spot on the court is a solid 5 and he's still not that solid. He still has some issues playing defense one on one/post-up defense. He has plenty of work to do to solidify himself at the 5 spot. And that's where he'll have the best chance of playing in the pros and so as much as he can master that - he will be a very average 4 at best.

 

[Scheffler fan]

The whole number thing is crazy to me. Keep him down low on defense, but I hope we can be creative enough on offense to open it up for drives, where A.J.'s double team defenders cant clog up the middle whenever we want to drive. That was what I was trying to say about Wisconsin. When he just stays low and posts up every time, we will have three big fellas in the lane making a quick slash and drive or pic and roll to the basket almost impossible.

 

[toddbrewster]

Re: AJH is coming back at the 4

AJH does not get that many blocked shots unless he is agile. He looks slow, because they are teaching him to be a back to the basket center and play team defense. I don't think AJH will be as good as Frank overnight, but he has to work on it in the offseason and then again during the season. If he comes back and improves his array of shots in close, does not allow defenders to strip the ball from him and improves his post defense; IMO he is not a 1st round draft choice. If he becomes an adequate dribbbler to make some moves to the hoop, hit a few jump shots and improves his feet on defense to play man 2 man d against against quicker players; then IMO he is a 1st rounder. In the NBA, he will still score down low and play D, but he won't be a one trick pony.

 

[TopSecretBoiler]

I would love it. I begged for it all year. But he needs to show he can consistently knock down that open 15 footer. His shooting was not as improved this year as I would have hoped and guys started sagging on him. He needs to watch some Tim Duncan tape.