Carsen E.

[Bluegrass Boiler]

I think what can be said is that Carsen is on a winning team...a very good team and "a" main player on that team. His various comments that were on video from time to time indicate a fairly mature, respectable person that doesn't bring his ego to the forefront. He is an above average athlete and has great range on his shot. He also appears to have an in-between game in "high school" that can't get quite as deep in college for him to still be effective. I've seen him make one handed passes with either hand and THAT is impressive. What makes it so difficult for me is that I have no comparison in his competition to tell how quick he is relative to the next level. His demeanor and some of his play reminds me of Melo and that is not to suggest he will be as good...which he may, that is up to him. What I can tell is that he will be expected to use a lot more energy on defense than many of the videos I see. Sometimes he makes a good play on D, but that is due to superior athleticism in high school it seems, more than D positioning and focus. It is safe to say that he won't be allowed the freedom he has in high school, but then again ...how many college players are allowed the same freedoms? Same goes for going from college to the NBA.

Well, he's been quick enough to lead his undefeated team to the 6A (largest schools) championship final four in Texas. And Texas HS basketball, while not up to the level of its football, has become quite good over the past couple of decades (2016 Rivals rankings have 8 Texans in top 100; 2017 rankings have 7, with 3 in the top 11). I'm guessing his competition is good enough to predict he can play here too.

 

[Dakota Girl]

He has them get set up for their halfcourt motion probably 90% of their overall possessions. They don't have to run the same basic outline scheme every single possession. That gets predictable and good teams can find ways to stifle it. That holds some of his players and his Purdue teams back to a degree, IMO.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/stats/_/id/2287/year/2013/illinois-state-redbirds

The advantage of motion offense is that it is NOT predictable. It is organized chaos as a rule. It is only predictable when no one is moving. Painter does have set plays that he runs which are situational. Isolation a are great if you have the best offensive athlete on the floor. How many times do we have that?

 

[JeremyThePoolMan]

Melo's play is more fluid (not saying "better") than Yogi's. Yogi changes speed a lot - does some crazy quick bursts - not sure I've seen quite the same from Carsen. I think Carsen reminds me more of Melo, though I hope he ends up being able to shoot like Yogi.

You beat me to it. I love Melo's game and he is exactly who Carsen Edwards reminds me of. He can go inside or out. He knows how to use his body going to the hole and I can see he has some strength to him as well. He also has a very fluid looking shot and it looks exactly like Melo's. Great comparision.

 

[BoilerDaddy]

The advantage of motion offense is that it is NOT predictable. It is organized chaos as a rule. It is only predictable when no one is moving. Painter does have set plays that he runs which are situational. Isolation a are great if you have the best offensive athlete on the floor. How many times do we have that?

Well said.

 

[tjreese]

Well, he's been quick enough to lead his undefeated team to the 6A (largest schools) championship final four in Texas. And Texas HS basketball, while not up to the level of its football, has become quite good over the past couple of decades (2016 Rivals rankings have 8 Texans in top 100; 2017 rankings have 7, with 3 in the top 11). I'm guessing his competition is good enough to predict he can play here too.

Not at all what I said. Not even close. Read again and see if you disagree

 

[Bluegrass Boiler]

Not at all what I said. Not even close. Read again and see if you disagree

Did you see the part of your OP that I bolded? That was what I was replying to, and it does address your concern.

 

[Inspector100]

...................... His issue with RJ is that Purdue didn't have enough reliable shooters to really spread the floor.

I disagree with this. RJ would slow the game down with his control of the ball. Then, his teammates would stand waiting for him to do something. With everyone standing, RJ would then decide to hold the ball longer till it was too late in the shot clock to really exploit the defense.

In contrast, this current Boilermaker team runs a much faster pace offense and it shows greater results when compared to the RJ lead Boilermakers. As of late, I only see problems with the Boilermaker offense when they try to run the shot clock and stop moving. I believe that if they keep up the pace with the same high tempo as when they are successful, the results would be fewer of those lost leads we have come accustom to.

 

[BoilerDaddy]

I disagree with this. RJ would slow the game down with his control of the ball. Then, his teammates would stand waiting for him to do something. With everyone standing, RJ would then decide to hold the ball longer till it was too late in the shot clock to really exploit the defense.

In contrast, this current Boilermaker team runs a much faster pace offense and it shows greater results when compared to the RJ lead Boilermakers. As of late, I only see problems with the Boilermaker offense when they try to run the shot clock and stop moving. I believe that if they keep up the pace with the same high tempo as when they are successful, the results would be fewer of those lost leads we have come accustom to.

It sounds to me like you are describing Scott, but, regardless, I think that we'd agree that RJ was given more than enough freedom when he was at Purdue.

 

[tjreese]

Did you see the part of your OP that I bolded? That was what I was replying to, and it does address your concern.

No I never saw it as it was hidden in my phone. FWIW, I personally worked with for a few years and coached the states leading scorer at 30.8 before a basket was given 3 points to help pad the stats. He was a preferred walk-on at Purdue and actually hurt his knee in preseason conditioning running the hills on the triplets team. I slipped int eh gym and could tell in his lift he was not right physically after working with him shooting thousands of shots over the years. Without his injury speed was not his greatest strength. His stats were impressive as well.

Over a year ago I made mention that I preferred Carsen of the three potential PG candidates Purdue was offering. I like Carsen and think he will be a good player for Purdue, but none of that changes my mind that I really don't know how quick he is. I don't think he is the quickest on that team. It is true the team is very good and that doesn't happen with one player. I hope he is very quick, but not willing to say that playing in the biggest division and on a very solid team is indicative that he must be quick. It does suggest that he can play and succeed with some good competition. I also think his maturity will help him improve in all phases. I'm happy he chose Purdue as I think he can offer some things Purdue is missing and one is the ability to create his own shot as he does have a quick release. No Knock on Carsen as I'm happy, but until I personally can compare him to some others it really is hard for me to suggest him being quick..not that he isn't...just that I cannot tell...

 

[Do Dah Day]

I personally worked with for a few years and coached the states leading scorer at 30.8 before a basket was given 3 points to help pad the stats. He was a preferred walk-on at Purdue and actually hurt his knee in preseason conditioning running the hills on the triplets team. I slipped int eh gym and could tell in his lift he was not right physically after working with him shooting thousands of shots over the years. Without his injury speed was not his greatest strength. His stats were impressive as well.

Over a year ago I made mention that I preferred Carsen of the three potential PG candidates Purdue was offering. I like Carsen and think he will be a good player for Purdue, but none of that changes my mind that I really don't know how quick he is. I don't think he is the quickest on that team. It is true the team is very good and that doesn't happen with one player. I hope he is very quick, but not willing to say that playing in the biggest division and on a very solid team is indicative that he must be quick. It does suggest that he can play and succeed with some good competition. I also think his maturity will help him improve in all phases. I'm happy he chose Purdue as I think he can offer some things Purdue is missing and one is the ability to create his own shot as he does have a quick release. No Knock on Carsen as I'm happy, but until I personally can compare him to some others it really is hard for me to suggest him being quick..not that he isn't...just that I cannot tell...

My son held the scoring record at his large HS for many years and played D1 (mid major), His first comment on his first call home after practice started was that the slowest guy on the team was faster/quicker than anyone he had ever played against. A shot that he considered was wide-open was easily blocked. The step-up to college is difficult to imagine, even with AAU because great defense is not coached in AAU.