Doesn't it seem like there has to be one or two players who are negatively impacting the whole roster with their attitude? I don't how to explain the ineptness and inability to learn.
Who is the cancer on this team?
- Thread starter IamHeisenberg
- Start date
Right - youth and a general lack of basketball awareness
Who knows, there might be some kind of negative personality.
But, this team just plays in a fog. JROB, who IN THEORY would be the heady guy, always seems to be half in his head. And, you just see these guys collectively lacking in awareness ...
There only hope is that this IS a young team, and that something kicks in for them going into next year.
Who knows, there might be some kind of negative personality.
But, this team just plays in a fog. JROB, who IN THEORY would be the heady guy, always seems to be half in his head. And, you just see these guys collectively lacking in awareness ...
There only hope is that this IS a young team, and that something kicks in for them going into next year.
I think it is unfair because it is unknowable. We would be specualting on who is a bad person in the locker room. If you want to say who is bad on the court, that is debatable, but at least it is based on knowable things like stats and performance that we all see. Calling a person a cancer is not really defined, and calls on largely speculation on things which will not be provable. It would be total opinion based on no facts.
The only analogy I can provide is we could debate which posters appear to be the most knowledgeable in hoops, or the most annoying, but speculating on who is most miserable at home or beats their wife, not knowable and not fair. Someone like Phil can be a total a-hole on here, but may be a great husband. Some player could be awful on the court, but be a good team mate and be giving his all. What is the point of throwing guys under the bus for something unknowable, when we have plenty of knowable things to underbus throw them with?
The only analogy I can provide is we could debate which posters appear to be the most knowledgeable in hoops, or the most annoying, but speculating on who is most miserable at home or beats their wife, not knowable and not fair. Someone like Phil can be a total a-hole on here, but may be a great husband. Some player could be awful on the court, but be a good team mate and be giving his all. What is the point of throwing guys under the bus for something unknowable, when we have plenty of knowable things to underbus throw them with?
That's only one of its major problems.
How about lack of rebounding, inability to score in the paint, and inability to defend the interior? We gave up more uncontested dunks and layups than I can remember ever seeing from any Pitt team this year.
You can sum it all up in one word: SOFT. Guys who don't box out, guys who half-ass it when setting screens, guys who aren't physical enough to fight through a ball screen, guys who are afraid to get their hands dirty on a switch or a loose ball. Look at our frontcourt players: Jeter-SOFT. Artis-SOFT. Randall-SOFT. Jones (and yes I consider Jones a forward)-SOFT. Mike Young--too SOFT. Young less so than the others, but he still needs to toughen up and get his uniform dirty underneath.
For years we were one of the most physical, effective screening, rebounding and man-defending teams in the country. There is virtually no trace of that former identity with this year's team.
How about lack of rebounding, inability to score in the paint, and inability to defend the interior? We gave up more uncontested dunks and layups than I can remember ever seeing from any Pitt team this year.
You can sum it all up in one word: SOFT. Guys who don't box out, guys who half-ass it when setting screens, guys who aren't physical enough to fight through a ball screen, guys who are afraid to get their hands dirty on a switch or a loose ball. Look at our frontcourt players: Jeter-SOFT. Artis-SOFT. Randall-SOFT. Jones (and yes I consider Jones a forward)-SOFT. Mike Young--too SOFT. Young less so than the others, but he still needs to toughen up and get his uniform dirty underneath.
For years we were one of the most physical, effective screening, rebounding and man-defending teams in the country. There is virtually no trace of that former identity with this year's team.
Dixon! The buck stops at the top! It wasn't just that they stunk, they also just plain quit! The last few games they didn't even really try very hard, constant mistakes, lazy passes. Lack of ability aside, and there is plenty of "lack of ability" since Dixon just recruits athletic body types he can teach to "defend", instead of "shooters, scorers, basketball players", on top of the lack of serious basketball ability they weren't even TRYING at the end. NIT, lack of fans in The Pete is no excuse, if you care, you care, whether it's the Final 4 or in your dad's driveway, they just didn't care.
Hard to say whether there is a cancerous player or clique..but
if i had to single out two guys whose lack of effort really stands out, it would be Artis and Jones. Those two just don;t seem to work very hard out there, and many of their fouls and mistakes are ones of laziness. Cam Wright isn't much of a player but he works hard. James Robinson can be criticized for a lot of things but his effort isn't one of them.
If Artis worked as hard without the ball as he does with it,, he;d average another 5 ppg, and he might accidentally run into a rebound or two. If he worked AT ALL on the defensive glass, he'd average another 3-4 RPG for sure. Defensively, he;s really bad.
if i had to single out two guys whose lack of effort really stands out, it would be Artis and Jones. Those two just don;t seem to work very hard out there, and many of their fouls and mistakes are ones of laziness. Cam Wright isn't much of a player but he works hard. James Robinson can be criticized for a lot of things but his effort isn't one of them.
If Artis worked as hard without the ball as he does with it,, he;d average another 5 ppg, and he might accidentally run into a rebound or two. If he worked AT ALL on the defensive glass, he'd average another 3-4 RPG for sure. Defensively, he;s really bad.
Oh come on.......it is sooooo glaring.........and sooooo obvious.
Bill Barton. Look at Pitt's success pre Barton and post Barton.
He is the malignancy.
Bill Barton. Look at Pitt's success pre Barton and post Barton.
He is the malignancy.
It is total opinion but that is what a message board is all about. Your board analogy is a false narrative. Years back we did have posters that were definite board cancers and brought the quality of the board down. I could care less how nice they were to their dogs and kids, but I know they made all other posters worse off by being here. Many of them have gone and the board is better for it.
Re: This team
When you combine poor guard play with the lack of a inside presence trouble will find you and in Pitt's case it did. The poor guard play and the lack of a big man hurt them on offense and on defense.
You can have nice people but if you have too many weakness they will come back to bite you.
When you combine poor guard play with the lack of a inside presence trouble will find you and in Pitt's case it did. The poor guard play and the lack of a big man hurt them on offense and on defense.
You can have nice people but if you have too many weakness they will come back to bite you.
Here's the thing about....
Artis on the foul shots. On the first one he absolutely, positively did NOT know it was a 1 and 1. He did not move until after everyone else was already in the lane. So after the follow up foul he actually asked the refs if it was 1 and 1 or not, and he boxed the crap out of his guy on the first one. Which of course the guy made. On the second one him and Chris Jones were so focused in on the guy that neither of them paid any attention at all to the ball. And I don't know, call me crazy but it seems like it would be really difficult to get a rebound when you aren't paying any attention to the basketball. Pretty pathetic.
Artis on the foul shots. On the first one he absolutely, positively did NOT know it was a 1 and 1. He did not move until after everyone else was already in the lane. So after the follow up foul he actually asked the refs if it was 1 and 1 or not, and he boxed the crap out of his guy on the first one. Which of course the guy made. On the second one him and Chris Jones were so focused in on the guy that neither of them paid any attention at all to the ball. And I don't know, call me crazy but it seems like it would be really difficult to get a rebound when you aren't paying any attention to the basketball. Pretty pathetic.
Re: Here's the thing about....
I'm still trying to figure out why the hell Jones was in the low position on the FT?
Re: Here's the thing about....
Let's be honest, it was just a sloppy game and lazy effort in every facet. I hate to be so harsh, but it is reality.
