Maybe Giffey is the problem

[nelsonmuntz]

When a player is as good as Giffey has become, he isn't helping the team by being so unselfish. As far as I can tell, he has the complete package offensively, long range to driving to the hoop, and Daniels will usually draw the top forward defender. Giffey has to look for his own shot more. He should be averaging low teens ppg.

 

[ColoradoUCFan]

His teammates rarely pass him the ball

 

[Penfield]

Why did I read

 

[CTBasketball]

This post is as alarming as when HuskyFanDan appeared in the chatroom last night...

 

[Rico444]

Giffey needs to pull the trigger more often. It seems like he only shoots when he's completely wide open. He's got a good enough shot to shoot under a little bit of pressure.

 

[tykurez]

This is obviously tongue in cheek right? At least the problem part?

Because I agree with you about the other stuff. Either he needs to be more assertive or they need to work on more plays where he's the option. He had such a great start to the season, I don't want to see him regress into the young Giffey that defers. After watching him play on the German team last year, you can see that he's capable of adding the dribble drive to his game with a lot of success.

 

[aceboon]

good players just don't shoot only when they're wide open, he's capable of much more, especially when defenders are closing out hard on him to prevent the 3.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

This is obviously tongue in cheek right? At least the problem part?

Because I agree with you about the other stuff. Either he needs to be more assertive or they need to work on more plays where he's the option. He had such a great start to the season, I don't want to see him regress into the young Giffey that defers. After watching him play on the German team last year, you can see that he's capable of adding the dribble drive to his game with a lot of success.

The best shooters need to shoot more. Giffey is the best shooter on the team.

Giffey has the dribble drive, he can get to the hoop, and he is long. He isn't going to smoke top defenders to the basket, but he doesn't have to, because Daniels is going to draw the top forward defender. I am not expecting Giffey to score 20 ppg, but he needs to average more than 9.3.

A wing should not be shooting over 60% from the field, because that means he is not shooting enough. A contested Giffey jumper is still a lot better than a lot of the junk that Boat or Calhoun hurl at the basket. A player can be too unselfish, and Giffey is definitely in that category.

 

[blackbird]

Giffey isn't getting the ball enough. He doesn't touch the ball enough, and when he does..half the time he's not really in a position to do something with it.

The team needs to run more plays for him. Just give him half of Boatright's shots.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Giffey isn't getting the ball enough. He doesn't touch the ball enough, and when he does..half the time he's not really in a position to do something with it.

The team needs to run more plays for him. Just give him half of Boatright's shots.

I agree with all of that, but I don't like the cop out of blaming it on his teammates. Basketball is both an individual and team game. Giffey needs to demand the ball and create his own shots.

 

[sparky]

NG is capable of hitting the open shot, but can he hit under pressure ? I am not sure he gets himself open well enough to be a consistent scoring option. Our bigs are really not a threat, so inside out offense is not effective. Perhaps if Giff was more like Ray he constantly move till he was open and then operate. Unfortunately he is no Ray. Solution: run specific plays for him, single and double screens.

 

[David 76]

Plus he pump fakes.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I got the idea for this post while thinking of Calhoun's criticism of Ben Gordon. Was Calhoun the one that called him "gentle Ben"?

Giffey is not Gordon, but he does not need to be. We just need more out of him

 

[Gurleyman]

I think it's an uphill battle. Giffey seems like he has been coached his whole life to be solid above all else - he takes very few risks. He'll shoot his shots when he's open, but he won't try to create his own or shoot when he's not in his comfort level. He gives you neither assists nor turnovers, because he makes the conservative pass. He plays good position defense, but doesn't gamble much on blocks or steals.

I kind of think that all through his career, through German youth teams, international competition and his early years at UConn, he was always the fourth or even the fifth option on the floor, so he's been coached accordingly. His key to staying on the floor with German national teams, and with us too, was to take good shots, not make mistakes, and stay within himself. Most of our other players have been the man on their HS or AAU teams (or both) and probably have to be reined in a bit. Giffey's the opposite - when he tries to force things, he looks less comfortable. If he had this type of season as a sophomore or junior, there would be more time to coach him out of his shell, so to speak and get him more comfortable taking some risks.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

I think it's an uphill battle. Giffey seems like he has been coached his whole life to be solid above all else - he takes very few risks. He'll shoot his shots when he's open, but he won't try to create his own or shoot when he's not in his comfort level. He gives you neither assists nor turnovers, because he makes the conservative pass. He plays good position defense, but doesn't gamble much on blocks or steals.

I kind of think that all through his career, through German youth teams, international competition and his early years at UConn, he was always the fourth or even the fifth option on the floor, so he's been coached accordingly. His key to staying on the floor with German national teams, and with us too, was to take good shots, not make mistakes, and stay within himself. Most of our other players have been the man on their HS or AAU teams (or both) and probably have to be reined in a bit. Giffey's the opposite - when he tries to force things, he looks less comfortable. If he had this type of season as a sophomore or junior, there would be more time to coach him out of his shell, so to speak and get him more comfortable taking some risks.

Perhaps you're right, but my memory of videos on him before he arrived showed him being what looked like the main guy on his team. He handled the ball a lot in the open court and was more of a playmaker. When he came to UConn, he tried to do that and made some mistakes (i.e. too fancy pass attempts on fast breaks, etc.) and he got totally reamed by JC. He then seemed to get reamed by JC when other players screwed up.

I would like to see Bazz make some of those great passes he makes to DD go to NG as well off of slip screens to get him the ball going to the basket more. He still seems to look to pass too much going to the hoop, so KO could tell him he's going to sit whenever he overpasses.

 

[CTBasketball]

I think it's an uphill battle. Giffey seems like he has been coached his whole life to be solid above all else - he takes very few risks. He'll shoot his shots when he's open, but he won't try to create his own or shoot when he's not in his comfort level. He gives you neither assists nor turnovers, because he makes the conservative pass. He plays good position defense, but doesn't gamble much on blocks or steals.

I kind of think that all through his career, through German youth teams, international competition and his early years at UConn, he was always the fourth or even the fifth option on the floor, so he's been coached accordingly. His key to staying on the floor with German national teams, and with us too, was to take good shots, not make mistakes, and stay within himself. Most of our other players have been the man on their HS or AAU teams (or both) and probably have to be reined in a bit. Giffey's the opposite - when he tries to force things, he looks less comfortable. If he had this type of season as a sophomore or junior, there would be more time to coach him out of his shell, so to speak and get him more comfortable taking some risks.

He was his team's #1 all throughout HS and was like the 2nd or 3rd option on the German National team this past summer.

The problem is that every time he touches the ball it is the result from a drive and kick, kind of forcing him to take an open 3. He should make that shot, which he has been. Can't hark on him for that. But he doesn't get the ball very much other than that. The only time he got aggressive is when he drove and took a pull-up jumper against Florida. But Ollie took him out and he didn't score until 20 minutes later. Ollie probably doesn't want that kind of offense from Giff, because its probably more productive when we get it from Shabazz or Boat or DD.

 

[gampelcrazies]

JOKE!!!!!!!!

 

[Husky]

Omar shouldn't be starting over him

 

[CTBasketball]

Omar shouldn't be starting over him

Agree 100%.

Omar makes some shots, but most of the time he destroys the flow of the game. That's more important than hitting an extra 3.

 

[Husky]

Agree 100%.

Omar makes some shots, but most of the time he destroys the flow of the game. That's more important than hitting an extra 3.

He's clearly hurt and looks way off offensively and defensively. He shouldn't be starting....

 

[champs99and04]

I think it's obvious at this point that Omar isn't starting because he's better than Giffey, he's starting because we can't afford to cut into his confidence/minutes now when we're still banking on him to be a major contributor later in the year.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The weird thing about the "risks" theory is Giffey is a cowboy on defense this year. I think he gambles way too much on help defense and gets caught in no man's land quite a bit. He is still our best defensive forward, Daniels is adequate defensively on a good day, but Giffey definitely gambles quite a bit on defense.

Giffey looks for his shot occasionally, but then other times he might as well just stay on the defensive side of the floor.

A good rule of thumb is that a player who is shooting less than 40% from the field should shoot less, and a player who is shooting over 55% (and especially over 60%), should shoot more. He is not being a good teammate by letting some of the chuckers chuck more.

 

[mauconnfan]

I agree with muntz, Niels needs to keep his guy in sight more unless he actually has a help situation. He is a good defender and he does anticipate well but there have been times he's left to make a play and was burnt.

Kromah did a real good job on Randle the other night and made it tougher for him to score.....Boat didn't do as well on that end and he to me is not guarding as he is capable.

As far as shooting the ball, both Giff and DD have to work on their first step. Neither has the ability to get past a decent defender on the wing off the dribble and proof was in the pudding the other night when the opportunities were there! In that case one or the other needs to show on the high post!

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

There's something about this team's half court defense that's looked off to me all year. They're rarely balanced, guys get lost behind screens and give up, and they don't seem to have a sense of where their help is coming from on any given play. During those games that come down to the wire I find myself doing the math on who's going to have the last shot with about 2 minutes left, because I have very little faith that they can get a stop when they need one. That Florida game was case in point; that last bucket was basically an uncontested layup out of a half court set. Mind boggling that that could happen. And the worst part was that I had zero doubt that Florida was going to score.

 

[Gurleyman]

He was his team's #1 all throughout HS and was like the 2nd or 3rd option on the German National team this past summer.

The problem is that every time he touches the ball it is the result from a drive and kick, kind of forcing him to take an open 3. He should make that shot, which he has been. Can't hark on him for that. But he doesn't get the ball very much other than that. The only time he got aggressive is when he drove and took a pull-up jumper against Florida. But Ollie took him out and he didn't score until 20 minutes later. Ollie probably doesn't want that kind of offense from Giff, because its probably more productive when we get it from Shabazz or Boat or DD.

He may have been 1 on his HS team (i admittedly have no idea) which may eliminate much of my point. But he was clearly the fourth or fifth option with Germany this summer. He just shot a high percentage, which enabled him to tie for fourth on the team in scoring.

http://www.eurobasket2013.org/en/ci...9le2.season_2013.roundID_8830.teamID_288.html