The Point Guard Debate

Amaseinyourface said:
I couldn’t disagree more about the eye test.

Yesterday we were so much better whenever he was in. The offense ran smoothly and we got good looks. You look at his box score and come to the conclusion that no production must have meant no impact. We scored 96 points.

7 points from free throws we got on passes he made.

Beautiful drive and kick right away to Sanon who missed the corner 3. Beautiful pass in transition to zuby who missed the layup. Another one to Sanon in the second who missed the layup. Great feed to to Hopkins at the free throw line who missed the jumper. Hes the one who fed sellers on the first 3 of the 2nd half, but since sellers took his time, no “assist”.

And he’s on the floor, getting deflections.

Defensively he got beat bad one time yesterday. Their PG finished 2-8.

3 games vs high majors and he’s +31 in those games. While we are 1-2. Go figure.
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lawmanfan said:
My point sort of was that almost everyone in the world, in crunch time, is giving the ball to their point guard to make a play - take the shot, get to the rim, or find someone.

I could be wrong, but I do not think our answer in the limited sample of close games we have was "give the ball to Darling." And I don't think it will be, either. I mostly agree with Mug - he gets the ball up the floor, he tries hard, he doesn't hurt you on defense comparative to Sanon and Jackson because, well, they're legendarily bad at it, and he doesn't jam up the offense because (like Mitchell) he isn't really looking to make any plays himself.

How that still ends up with such low assist numbers in such high minutes is a bit of a mystery to me.

But at the end of the day he is simply not a "plus" player. If he avoids being a "minus" player, that's nice. But I think there are spots when not having a plus player at such a critical position is really going to bite us in the rear, and those will not be spots that will make us happy.

Hope I'm wrong.
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“Plus” 31 says otherwise
lawmanfan said:
My point sort of was that almost everyone in the world, in crunch time, is giving the ball to their point guard to make a play - take the shot, get to the rim, or find someone.

I could be wrong, but I do not think our answer in the limited sample of close games we have was "give the ball to Darling." And I don't think it will be, either. I mostly agree with Mug - he gets the ball up the floor, he tries hard, he doesn't hurt you on defense comparative to Sanon and Jackson because, well, they're legendarily bad at it, and he doesn't jam up the offense because (like Mitchell) he isn't really looking to make any plays himself.

How that still ends up with such low assist numbers in such high minutes is a bit of a mystery to me.

But at the end of the day he is simply not a "plus" player. If he avoids being a "minus" player, that's nice. But I think there are spots when not having a plus player at such a critical position is really going to bite us in the rear, and those will not be spots that will make us happy.

Hope I'm wrong.
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lawmanfan said:
TBH my game most resembles Dylan Darling's, only without the handle. Skinny, scrappy, gets more rebounds than you would expect, hustle, tough defense, a bit streaky as a shooter.
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And threatened to sue refs over foul calls. The sign of a stellar legal career
 
paultzman said:
Self loathing then? 😉
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If you're a limited player who hustles his ass off, you know a limited player who hustles his ass off when you see one. Except from what I've seen so far Darling has a better handle than I do, but I'm a better shooter. And we are about the same size, too.

I love a limited player who hustles his ass off. Just not as a 30 MPG point guard for a Final 4 team is all.
 
If Jackson and Sanon played defense as poorly as Darling we currently would be undefeated this year.

He keeps the offense moving and isn’t someone that will dribble for 10 seconds for no reason.

I think we could/should have gotten a better pg but this is the team we have and he is playing hard and not turning the ball over. Could have easily had 3-4 assists yesterday as Mase pointed out in an earlier post.
 
mm52 said:
I could not agree more. And as I wrote elsewhere, if he does well against mediocre BE opponents, that won't change my opinion of him. He simply seems like he cannot compete against players on elite teams. I really hope I am proven wrong.

All that being said, who are we to question his place and role on the team as Pitino says of him:

“I think you guys really underrate Dylan [Darling],” Pitino explained. “He’s got the best credentials of anyone coming in here.”

“His credentials are much higher than just about anybody…I have absolutely no reservations at all that he could play against anybody, anytime, anywhere.”
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As Mr. Dylan once said I have no idea what that Pitino credentials quote even means so can’t agree or disagree with it.
 
Amaseinyourface said:
I couldn’t disagree more about the eye test.

Yesterday we were so much better whenever he was in. The offense ran smoothly and we got good looks. You look at his box score and come to the conclusion that no production must have meant no impact. We scored 96 points.

7 points from free throws we got on passes he made.

Beautiful drive and kick right away to Sanon who missed the corner 3. Beautiful pass in transition to zuby who missed the layup. Another one to Sanon in the second who missed the layup. Great feed to to Hopkins at the free throw line who missed the jumper. Hes the one who fed sellers on the first 3 of the 2nd half, but since sellers took his time, no “assist”.

And he’s on the floor, getting deflections.

Defensively he got beat bad one time yesterday. Their PG finished 2-8.

3 games vs high majors and he’s +31 in those games. While we are 1-2. Go figure.
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You look at things like a coach. Very good response.
 
My memory's a little fuzzy, but didn't we start the 2010-2011 season with Malik Boothe as our starting point guard? Then, as the season went on, it sort of became PG by committee with Hardy bringing the ball up much of the time, but also sharing the ball handling role with Boothe and Stith. Maybe something similar happens this season. I like Darling, but in a supporting role not a primary one.
 
I suspect that, like last season with Jenkins, Darling will prove to be a tough, capable point guard.
 
monte said:
My memory's a little fuzzy, but didn't we start the 2010-2011 season with Malik Boothe as our starting point guard? Then, as the season went on, it sort of became PG by committee with Hardy bringing the ball up much of the time, but also sharing the ball handling role with Boothe and Stith. Maybe something similar happens this season. I like Darling, but in a supporting role not a primary one.
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Even DJ handled the ball a fair amount on that team. Good call.
 
hardytime said:
That team was absolutely PG by Committee. Malik was a bench piece ultimately. Dwight had the ball the most, but DJ and Brownlee did a fair amount of pushing off rebounds, creating and facilitating.
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Whether you love Lavin or hate him, he brought us back from the depths of despair to the back page headlines of the NY papers and to a top 10 ranking at one point. Just a phenomenal first year even if later years disappointed.
 
Knight said:
I suspect that, like last season with Jenkins, Darling will prove to be a tough, capable point guard.
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Don’t forget that our very well respected Coach Panther agrees. Dylan just needs to have more confidence in his jumper. He’s rushing and it comes off flat. He’s excellent in going to the basket. He’s also able to drive and kick.
 
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