Welcome Sterling Smith
- Thread starter Bradlib Zannamaker
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http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspo...transfer-rutgers-wake-forest-pitt-louisville/
Nice! It will be interesting to see if he's still a 3 point threat, or if he'll be handcuffed by Dixon's system?
"Smith was 76-for-182 (41 percent) from long distance this past season"
No Pitt player shot more than 80 3s last year, so will they let this guy have the freedom to hoist 'em up?
Nice! It will be interesting to see if he's still a 3 point threat, or if he'll be handcuffed by Dixon's system?
"Smith was 76-for-182 (41 percent) from long distance this past season"
No Pitt player shot more than 80 3s last year, so will they let this guy have the freedom to hoist 'em up?
I agree with both another 2 and a 4/5 is needed. Did they host the kid from Brown that is transferring? I wonder about Adonis Del Larosa (?) - from St. John's. I read somewhere he would need to drop some weight - sounds like a project that they don't have time to invest.
Ashton Gibbs shot over 200 three pointers in his junior and senior seasons. Not comibined, he shot over 200 each season. If I remember correctly, Jamie was also coaching those teams. Who exactly on the roster last year did you want shooting 182 three pointers? Jamie's job is to win games, and given the Durand suspension and Cameron Johnson injury, Pitt could not win by chucking threes. We had to use this crazy mid range jumper system which almost worked well enough to make the tournament. I'm still kind of stunned we beat UNC and ND.
Well no one except Jones, Robinson & Artis. Jones led the way with 115
I hate to admit it, but I kind of thought the same thing. Will this 14 ppg, 41% 3PFG scorer be a player for us or will he struggle in the system? If the latter, we will hear the same old stuff--he played against weaker competition, with lesser teammates, didn't grasp Pitt's defensive concepts, etc. etc. At some point, however, there can only be so many excuses for the failures of the guys we bring in. We are either not using them properly or not evaluating them properly.
One thing's for sure--he won't be taking 182 3 pointers at Pitt. Anyone know how this guy is off the bounce, and if he can can get to the rim?
Um, if he hits his 3s Dixon will let him shoot. Unless someone else coached those years Gibbs was here and I just missed it.
My bad, I went to the Pitt Official website and looked at a pdf that wasn't updated that showed 80, so yes Jones had 115.
There was just that little issue of losing 5 of our last 7, including the last 4 in a row, that kind of got it the way of making the tourney. I don't think our system changed at all--it's just that the players in it shot more mid range jumpers. I think that was more because we didn't; have post scoring or anyone who could get to the rim than it was because we didn't have strong three point shooting. We had to be near the bottom of the ACC, if not the country, in converting layups this past year.
Its all good. Artis was 99 and JRob was 94 I believe. But still, no where close to 180.... I believe Coppin has 1-2 players in the 140 range as well.... Volume was probably a product of the system.
Look, I'm not defending the roster, or Jamie's coaching down the stretch, I'm only making the point that if this guy can shoot the ball he will be given free reign to do so. Lamar shot a ton of 3's. So did Ashton. So did Sam Young when he was here, and Ron Ramon etc. I'm sure Durand would have taken 160-180 threes had he been here last season.
After the two Johnsons were off the roster, who on our team last season was a strong three point shooter? By the end of the season, I actually thought Mike Young was our best option from 3
You don't even have to go back to Gibbs. Lamar Patterson shot 206 3's in 2013/2014 as a 39% shooter. Woodall shot 149 3's as a 37% shooter as a senior.
If Sterling Smith can shoot the ball against top level competition (something he didn't show he could do last year at Coppin State - 8/26 (31%) against Oregon, Illinois, Notre Dame, UConn, & Michigan), he will be allowed to shoot as much as he wants. One thing, though, is those teams likely focused a bit on him, but at Pitt, he'll have Artis and Young to draw attention away from him on the offensive end. Maybe that will free him up to shoot better against the top competition.
That was a different team, different circumstances. Gibbs was the scoring focal point of the offense, we ran him around off screens to get him looks all game long. He rarely even had to dribble--just run off of screens, get open, catch and shoot. He also shot nearly 50% from 3 as a junior. Lastly, Gibbs played huge minutes. This guy will not come in and suddenly be our #1 option. Do you think there will be 180 3 point chances for anyone on this roster? I guess it's possible, but I don't see that.
You are definitely right, it was a different team. But as other posters have noted, Gibbs isn't the only Panther to shoot a good number of threes.
Will this guy be able to come in and get the green light 100% of the time? Definitely no. But I do think there's enough evidence to suggest that Dixon has no problem letting a reliable 3 point shooter let it go when he has a shot.
Never let logic get in the way of complaining about events that haven't happened yet.
Seriously, when did the narrative become "Dixon won't let guys score points"? Have they watched games for the past decade?
Yes, against higher competition his 3pt% went down. These teams may have focused on him a bit more than he was used to, but typically when a team like Coppin St has to play a high level team, their inside game gets taken away by bigger, stronger 4s and 5s than they are used to, forcing their offense to become more perimeter based. He likely had to take more difficult shots that he wouldn't normally take. That shouldn't be the case playing with Pitt.
Take out the first 2 games where he came off the bench and he was 8-20 vs Notre D, UConn, Mich.... 12 pts, 3 rb, 4 ass against those 3 is fine with me from the 2G position.
He didn't make a 3 pt shot against Oregon or Illinois. He shot 40% against ND, UConn and Michigan, close to his average of just under 42%.
Oh, the old 'take out the games he did bad in' thing....
He could be good, he could struggle to get his shot off against the better competition as a whole. It's good to have him though, and not to have to rely on Newkirk or Cam Johnson playing 25+ minutes at the two.
He could be good, he could struggle to get his shot off against the better competition as a whole. It's good to have him though, and not to have to rely on Newkirk or Cam Johnson playing 25+ minutes at the two.
In fact, he did pretty well. People need to consider what this year's Pitt guards would have been capable of in those games.
Everything I have read on him thus far suggests it is an upgrade from this past year for Pitt. That I realize, might not be saying much given the lack of close out quickness and inability to stop dribble penetration that was evident this past year. Size is good for the position, so hopefully it does improve the defensive presence a bit.
Right, but if he hits only 31% in ACC games, will it be okay because he didn't struggle in every ACC game?
I actually think the kid is an upgrade from what Durand would've given Pitt... he has played a lot more basketball than Durand the past two years, hit a lot more three's, and hit a much higher percentage of those three's. I don't know if that says more about how good Sterling is, or how suspect Durand is.
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