Dakota's last 3

[takedownboiler]

The zone sagged back to eliminate the inside pass. He stepped up and drilled a three. We need to take more shots like this when defenses are basically begging us to shoot the ball. Instead of forcing the ball inside or around the horn and then forced in. Our guards have to develope a confidence to be able to hit a shot that's not off of either a kick out/swing/skip pass. Seems that it's only on those passes to we feel like we are allowed to shoot the ball.

 

[Ben Shadeland]

Good point. That was for sure a "confidence three," and I like that Dakota took it. Basketball is so situational, but a player needs to have that fearlessness to take a shot sometimes even when it might not be an obviously good shot (like off a traditional reversal or off a picture-perfect skip pass). Sometimes the perfect shot doesn't materialize, and you just need guts. Dakota showed guts with that shot, and we benefited profoundly from it.

 

[njm8845]

Good point. That was for sure a "confidence three," and I like that Dakota took it. Basketball is so situational, but a player needs to have that fearlessness to take a shot sometimes even when it might not be an obviously good shot (like off a traditional reversal or off a picture-perfect skip pass). Sometimes the perfect shot doesn't materialize, and you just need guts. Dakota showed guts with that shot, and we benefited profoundly from it.

Developing confidence is ok, but I'd rather them develop skill. Taking shots wasn't an issue that game, but making them was.

Think Kendall Stephens. He had all the "fearlessness" in the world, but that never helped our team much.

 

[Ben Shadeland]

Developing confidence is ok, but I'd rather them develop skill. Taking shots wasn't an issue that game, but making them was.

Think Kendall Stephens. He had all the "fearlessness" in the world, but that never helped our team much.

Right. Because my comment was clearly a dismissal of the importance of skill development and a celebration of poor shot selection in all situations.

Or, it could just be that confidence and skill aren't mutually exclusive.

 

[BoilerDaddy]

Developing confidence is ok, but I'd rather them develop skill. Taking shots wasn't an issue that game, but making them was.

Think Kendall Stephens. He had all the "fearlessness" in the world, but that never helped our team much.

I thought Stephens clearly struggled with confidence.

 

[FiveWeight]

I thought Stephens clearly struggled with confidence.

He took too many ill-advised shots when there was time in the possession to set up a higher-percentage shot. This can be taken as a sort of confidence, but also shows how having confidence in the wrong thing is counterproductive. I would rather see the teamwork to set up the best shot possible, rather than one person having the confidence to take a lower percentage shot. It works out sometimes, but the law of averages works against you.

IMO that same type of confidence is much more valuable when the shot clock is getting low, or if there is an open opportunity from someone who hits a high percentage of shots from the spot where they get the ball, earlier on in the shot clock.

 

[Ben Shadeland]

He took too many ill-advised shots when there was time in the possession to set up a higher-percentage shot. This can be taken as a sort of confidence, but also shows how having confidence in the wrong thing is counterproductive. I would rather see the teamwork to set up the best shot possible, rather than one person having the confidence to take a lower percentage shot. It works out sometimes, but the law of averages works against you.

IMO that same type of confidence is much more valuable when the shot clock is getting low, or if there is an open opportunity from someone who hits a high percentage of shots from the spot where they get the ball, earlier on in the shot clock.

To clarify--and I'm not sure if you were also addressing me with this reply--the situations I'm talking about only occur once or twice per game. Obviously, you want good shot selection on every possession. Obviously, you condition your players to work for the right shot, the best shot for the team rather than the shot the defense wants you to take.

But sometimes rhythm and flow are interrupted by a grossly overplaying defense, and the defense simply dares you to take a makable but untraditional shot. Sometimes you're presented with the opportunity for a decent shot that, in that situation, might be the best shot you're going to get. I'm not talking about jacking up an off-balance twenty-eight footer with twenty-three second left on the shot clock; I'm talking about the kind of shot Dakota took.

It wasn't traditional, and in most situations, it wouldn't be a shot you'd want. But the defense was sagging off him, was clogging the middle and denying the post-entry pass. The reversal pass was sort of there, but it would have moved the ball an extra ten feet off the top of the key, and the resulting reversal would have yielded a shot no more open than the one Dakota took.

So he took a rhythm dribble, stepped up, and nailed it. That took guts. And, I should add, skill.

 

[Boiler Wolf]

I think we could get a lot more of those types of 3s if our bigs kicked it back out more often when the defense sags on them. Sometimes against GSU there were 3 or 4 players packed in around Biggie or IH.

 

[CRBoiler]

Dakota's sitting at 46.7% from 3 so far this year, and I think a lot of that is shot selection. He makes good decisions about when to shoot & when to continue the offense to find a better shot - something Kendall never quite figured out.

Dakota has made some bad passes (couple of them failed skip passes I believe) that caused turnovers recently, but my guess is he studied the tape thoroughly and will be less likely to repeat those mistakes. He is an really good passer when it comes to post feeds IMO, and I chalk those recent bad passes up as just getting used to playing D1 competition (including teams playing zone) at full speed again.

Dakota is never going to explode to the rim and dunk I don't think, but I think his defense is actually pretty good, and I'm definitely glad to have a high BBIQ shooter/facilitator/post feeder like him on the team.

 

[FiveWeight]

To clarify--and I'm not sure if you were also addressing me with this reply.

Nope, wasn't specifically addressing you - was responding to BoilerDaddy about Stephens, not Mathias. Mathias can be hot or cold, but doesn't shoot the volume of forced/bad shots that Stephens sometimes did. I always thought with the way the rest of Stephens' game improved, he could have been a great player if he was just more careful about shot selection and recognized when he was having a bad shooting night. A shooter like him should have been able to do better than 31.7% from 3 on the season. Not sure how much of that was on him vs the coaching staff, but other players on the team seemed to have better awareness.

 

[BoilerDaddy]

He took too many ill-advised shots when there was time in the possession to set up a higher-percentage shot. This can be taken as a sort of confidence, but also shows how having confidence in the wrong thing is counterproductive. I would rather see the teamwork to set up the best shot possible, rather than one person having the confidence to take a lower percentage shot. It works out sometimes, but the law of averages works against you.

IMO that same type of confidence is much more valuable when the shot clock is getting low, or if there is an open opportunity from someone who hits a high percentage of shots from the spot where they get the ball, earlier on in the shot clock.

My point is that it appeared that he really struggled when he started doubting himself.