D'Angelo Harrison

[beast of the east]

There's three reasons why I think Dlo will have a fantastic year:

1- maturation
2- healthy branch
3- additions of Jordan, sancheZ, and hooper

Big, big year ahead

Very true. He cannot be the guy to put the team on his back...that's when the pressure is on him and he makes a ton of bad shot selections. As articles have stated, he's really best in an off-ball position. When Harkless kind of took control 2 years ago and Harrison was off-ball, he played very well. When he was forced to be THE guy, he had some good games, but overall his numbers fell due to bad shot selections. Now he has guys like a healthy Branch and Jordan to find him.

I disagree that he can't put this team on his back--to a degree. I also disagree that putting the team on his back led to his bad shot selection. IMO his poor shot selection was more due to him not getting enough good shots while he was hot or while we needed it. Harkless didn't take control of the ball two years ago. Harkless was our center, remember? He scored most of his points down low off of putback slams (averaged 3 offensive rebounds per game) and in transition (averaged 1.6 steals per game). He was a fantastic offensive rebounder. He did not dominate the ball from the perimeter, although he was given a decent amount of chances to create from midrange. Harrison averaged more points than he did. What Moe did was give Harrison was a second scoring threat, but let's not rewrite history--not aimed at you. Moe did not have a top 15 pick type of season. He was taken that high because of his incredible potential. Even with Moe two years ago, the team looked completely anemic offenively with Harrison out of the game...it was ugly.

To me, there is a big difference between carrying a team and being the ONLY legitimate scoring threat. I think we could win if Harrison averages 20 ppg. Hopefully the guys around him give him enough good looks and enough space to be able to do what he does best. If he doesn't have 2-3 guys draped on him at all times, that 20 will come much more easily. For that to happen others will have to step up and prove they are threats to score the ball.

I think his bad shot selection came from losing faith in his teammates and then subsequently not letting the game come to him. Way back when, I used to get upset when Chris Mullin would pass up a wide open 20 footer to find Jeff Allen open from 10, which he missed more often than not. As much as I was ticked, Mullin was simply playing the game the way he was taught and the way it was meant to be played, a team game designed to get the easiest shot possible. Harrison far too often, thought that any shot by Harrison was better than any other shot by a teammate. For anyone who knows how beautiful basketball can be, it was painful to watch. You didn't have to be an SJU fans in 85 to appreciate this - anyone who saw Artest's squad at SJU saw the same.

 

[Moose]

There's three reasons why I think Dlo will have a fantastic year:

1- maturation
2- healthy branch
3- additions of Jordan, sancheZ, and hooper

Big, big year ahead

Very true. He cannot be the guy to put the team on his back...that's when the pressure is on him and he makes a ton of bad shot selections. As articles have stated, he's really best in an off-ball position. When Harkless kind of took control 2 years ago and Harrison was off-ball, he played very well. When he was forced to be THE guy, he had some good games, but overall his numbers fell due to bad shot selections. Now he has guys like a healthy Branch and Jordan to find him.

I disagree that he can't put this team on his back--to a degree. I also disagree that putting the team on his back led to his bad shot selection. IMO his poor shot selection was more due to him not getting enough good shots while he was hot or while we needed it. Harkless didn't take control of the ball two years ago. Harkless was our center, remember? He scored most of his points down low off of putback slams (averaged 3 offensive rebounds per game) and in transition (averaged 1.6 steals per game). He was a fantastic offensive rebounder. He did not dominate the ball from the perimeter, although he was given a decent amount of chances to create from midrange. Harrison averaged more points than he did. What Moe did was give Harrison was a second scoring threat, but let's not rewrite history--not aimed at you. Moe did not have a top 15 pick type of season. He was taken that high because of his incredible potential. Even with Moe two years ago, the team looked completely anemic offenively with Harrison out of the game...it was ugly.

To me, there is a big difference between carrying a team and being the ONLY legitimate scoring threat. I think we could win if Harrison averages 20 ppg. Hopefully the guys around him give him enough good looks and enough space to be able to do what he does best. If he doesn't have 2-3 guys draped on him at all times, that 20 will come much more easily. For that to happen others will have to step up and prove they are threats to score the ball.

I think his bad shot selection came from losing faith in his teammates and then subsequently not letting the game come to him. Way back when, I used to get upset when Chris Mullin would pass up a wide open 20 footer to find Jeff Allen open from 10, which he missed more often than not. As much as I was ticked, Mullin was simply playing the game the way he was taught and the way it was meant to be played, a team game designed to get the easiest shot possible. Harrison far too often, thought that any shot by Harrison was better than any other shot by a teammate. For anyone who knows how beautiful basketball can be, it was painful to watch. You didn't have to be an SJU fans in 85 to appreciate this - anyone who saw Artest's squad at SJU saw the same.

Any shot by Harrison WAS better than most of the others unfortunately. But he did force things. I put up with it in the past but this year its a different story.

 

[Pleasedontbanmeagain]

I remember someone saying Harrison told reporters or other people that he's in the best shape and that he lost weight. I saw a picture from today of him at practice and his arms look MUCH more defined while cutting out some of the bulk. I remember being surprised the past 2 yrs that a 6'3 Big East basketball player's arms were not that defined. Looks like he really did lose weight now.

 

[fun]

Way back when, I used to get upset when Chris Mullin would pass up a wide open 20 footer to find Jeff Allen open from 10, which he missed more often than not. As much as I was ticked, Mullin was simply playing the game the way he was taught and the way it was meant to be played, a team game designed to get the easiest shot possible..

Jeff Allen played three years at SJU, two with Mullin. His shooting percentages those two years were 62.1 and 58.3. His career percentage was 56.5, which includes one year at Rutgers, where he shot 50 percent as a freshman. Only once in his career did he miss shots more often than he made them, his first year at SJU, when he shot 49.5 percent from the floor. What I recall was that Allen was nearly automatic inside the foul line.

Allen incidentally was 5-5 for from the floor in the NCAA tournament game we lost to Alabama by one in Uniondale, wherein we managed to miss three shots in the last 8 seconds: Goodwin, Russell, then Kevin Williams. Good times.

 

[beast of the east]

Way back when, I used to get upset when Chris Mullin would pass up a wide open 20 footer to find Jeff Allen open from 10, which he missed more often than not. As much as I was ticked, Mullin was simply playing the game the way he was taught and the way it was meant to be played, a team game designed to get the easiest shot possible..

Jeff Allen played three years at SJU, two with Mullin. His shooting percentages those two years were 62.1 and 58.3. His career percentage was 56.5, which includes one year at Rutgers, where he shot 50 percent as a freshman. Only once in his career did he miss shots more often than he made them, his first year at SJU, when he shot 49.5 percent from the floor. What I recall was that Allen was nearly automatic inside the foul line.

Allen incidentally was 5-5 for from the floor in the NCAA tournament game we lost to Alabama by one in Uniondale, wherein we managed to miss three shots in the last 8 seconds: Goodwin, Russell, then Kevin Williams. Good times.

I do not remember Jeff Allen as a polished offensive player in any regard. I seriously doubt he was automatic from 15 feet and in, and I would think the majority of his shots were made from 8 feet and closer. However, that really wasn't the point, was it? The point is that Mullin, the best shooter on his team at every level he played, would make the pass to give a lesser player a higher percentage shot closer to the basket. contract that attitude with Michael Jordan, who instructed teammates that anyone who passed the ball to Bill Cartright would get frozen out themselves. Cartright was a career NBA .525 shooter.

 

[fun]

I do not remember Jeff Allen as a polished offensive player in any regard. I seriously doubt he was automatic from 15 feet and in, and I would think the majority of his shots were made from 8 feet and closer. However, that really wasn't the point, was it? The point is that Mullin, the best shooter on his team at every level he played, would make the pass to give a lesser player a higher percentage shot closer to the basket. contract that attitude with Michael Jordan, who instructed teammates that anyone who passed the ball to Bill Cartright would get frozen out themselves. Cartright was a career NBA .525 shooter.

This would then be another case where your vague memory trumps the facts. You say that Allen missed more than he made from 10 feet away. That would make him under 50 percent. When presented with facts showing that he made more than he missed and by a wide margin, for college basketball - his shooting percentage his last two years was higher than Walter Berry's - you seriously doubt it and then construct from whole cloth a scenario where you are right anyway. Except if he missed more than he made from 10 feet away, and most of his shots were from 8 feet and in, then he shot 90 percent from 8 feet away. Which makes him a "polished offensive player" in at least some regard.See also your own petard, hoisted upon.

I understand your point about Mullin, as did everyone else with with a functioning cerebral cortex. Like everyone else with a FCC I found it less than an epiphany. And yet in response all I did was attempt to make pleasant conversation about our shared glorious basketball past, as one does on a BB message board, and to correct your slander of Jeff Allen, a career nearly 60 percent shooter, the 56th pick in the 1983 NBA draft, a fine Christian and churchgoer like Paul Pasqualoni, one half of the twin towers, and otherwise a grand fellow. That you managed to get your panties bunched I'll chalk up as a boon.

PS Good point about Jordan. What a looser.

PPS Sic

 

[Andrew]

I do not remember Jeff Allen as a polished offensive player in any regard. I seriously doubt he was automatic from 15 feet and in, and I would think the majority of his shots were made from 8 feet and closer. However, that really wasn't the point, was it? The point is that Mullin, the best shooter on his team at every level he played, would make the pass to give a lesser player a higher percentage shot closer to the basket. contract that attitude with Michael Jordan, who instructed teammates that anyone who passed the ball to Bill Cartright would get frozen out themselves. Cartright was a career NBA .525 shooter.

This would then be another case where your vague memory trumps the facts. You say that Allen missed more than he made from 10 feet away. That would make him under 50 percent. When presented with facts showing that he made more than he missed and by a wide margin, for college basketball - his shooting percentage his last two years was higher than Walter Berry's - you seriously doubt it and then construct from whole cloth a scenario where you are right anyway. Except if he missed more than he made from 10 feet away, and most of his shots were from 8 feet and in, then he shot 90 percent from 8 feet away. Which makes him a "polished offensive player" in at least some regard.See also your own petard, hoisted upon.

I understand your point about Mullin, as did everyone else with with a functioning cerebral cortex. Like everyone else with a FCC I found it less than an epiphany. And yet in response all I did was attempt to make pleasant conversation about our shared glorious basketball past, as one does on a BB message board, and to correct your slander of Jeff Allen, a career nearly 60 percent shooter, the 56th pick in the 1983 NBA draft, a fine Christian and churchgoer like Paul Pasqualoni, one half of the twin towers, and otherwise a grand fellow. That you managed to get your panties bunched I'll chalk up as a boon.

PS Good point about Jordan. What a looser.

PPS Sic

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1126976/1/index.htm

See page 6 for mention of Jeff Allen.

Over the summer of 1982, between my freshman and sophomore years, I was picked for a Big East all-star team that would travel to Angola. Lou Carnesecca of St. John's was coach of the team, and we had a crazy mix of players. Red Bruin from Syracuse. Norman Bailey and Vern Giscombe from Connecticut. My Villanova teammate Happy Dobbs. Sir John Collins from Seton Hall. Jeff Allen and Billy Goodwin of St. John's. And Carl Hill of Providence, Steve Beatty of Pitt and Martin Clark of Boston College. We met in New York on July 23, the day before we would leave from Kennedy Airport. After practice we were put up in a big home in Pelham Manor. And we had a party there.

 

[beast of the east]

I do not remember Jeff Allen as a polished offensive player in any regard. I seriously doubt he was automatic from 15 feet and in, and I would think the majority of his shots were made from 8 feet and closer. However, that really wasn't the point, was it? The point is that Mullin, the best shooter on his team at every level he played, would make the pass to give a lesser player a higher percentage shot closer to the basket. contract that attitude with Michael Jordan, who instructed teammates that anyone who passed the ball to Bill Cartright would get frozen out themselves. Cartright was a career NBA .525 shooter.

This would then be another case where your vague memory trumps the facts. You say that Allen missed more than he made from 10 feet away. That would make him under 50 percent. When presented with facts showing that he made more than he missed and by a wide margin, for college basketball - his shooting percentage his last two years was higher than Walter Berry's - you seriously doubt it and then construct from whole cloth a scenario where you are right anyway. Except if he missed more than he made from 10 feet away, and most of his shots were from 8 feet and in, then he shot 90 percent from 8 feet away. Which makes him a "polished offensive player" in at least some regard.See also your own petard, hoisted upon.

I understand your point about Mullin, as did everyone else with with a functioning cerebral cortex. Like everyone else with a FCC I found it less than an epiphany. And yet in response all I did was attempt to make pleasant conversation about our shared glorious basketball past, as one does on a BB message board, and to correct your slander of Jeff Allen, a career nearly 60 percent shooter, the 56th pick in the 1983 NBA draft, a fine Christian and churchgoer like Paul Pasqualoni, one half of the twin towers, and otherwise a grand fellow. That you managed to get your panties bunched I'll chalk up as a boon.

PS Good point about Jordan. What a looser.

PPS Sic

Thanks for your pleasant banter. Show up and say hi at a game this season.

 

[fun]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1126976/1/index.htm

See page 6 for mention of Jeff Allen.

Over the summer of 1982, between my freshman and sophomore years, I was picked for a Big East all-star team that would travel to Angola. Lou Carnesecca of St. John's was coach of the team, and we had a crazy mix of players. Red Bruin from Syracuse. Norman Bailey and Vern Giscombe from Connecticut. My Villanova teammate Happy Dobbs. Sir John Collins from Seton Hall. Jeff Allen and Billy Goodwin of St. John's. And Carl Hill of Providence, Steve Beatty of Pitt and Martin Clark of Boston College. We met in New York on July 23, the day before we would leave from Kennedy Airport. After practice we were put up in a big home in Pelham Manor. And we had a party there.

Further along.

"Some of us were getting drunk, and after a while one of the players asked if we wanted to get high. "Yeah," I said. "Let's get some cocaine." We weren't that far from Astoria, Queens, where one of the players knew where to score some. ... So a few of us chipped in some of our meal money and took a ride. We bought an eighth of an ounce of cocaine and, back at the house, sat in a room and partied all night. We split up the coke we had left over. Some guys saved theirs. I did mine up."

I wonder if the player who knew where to cop was Tony Bruin, a native of Astoria, who owns the distinction of being one of the few players ever dismissed from Syracuse U for committing a crime, in his case, sale of cocaine. (Imagine how badly you must behave to get thrown off the Syracuse basketball team. It's unheard of.) Actually I don't wonder, of course it was him. Bruin eventually went up the river for violating his probation, instead of to the NBA where he belonged. Last I remember he was kicking around as an assistant community college coach somewhere or maybe it was high school. His kid went to Iona. Of course my memory could be faulty. But even if it is and someone presents proof gleaned from contemporaneous newspaper accounts of the events as they happened in real time those cannot be counted upon to rebut my vague recollections and supposition.

 

[Pleasedontbanmeagain]

How did we go from talking about Harrison to talking about scoring cocaine in Astoria?

 

[fun]

How did we go from talking about Harrison to talking about scoring cocaine in Astoria?

Well, someone mentioned a minority basketball player and that naturally led to a discussion about how all of those people (schtum) are criminals and one thing led to another. That is not racist by the way, PM me and I'll send the statistics I just cited over by carrier pigeon.

 

[Pleasedontbanmeagain]

How did we go from talking about Harrison to talking about scoring cocaine in Astoria?

Well, someone mentioned a minority basketball player and that naturally led to a discussion about how all of those people (schtum) are criminals and one thing led to another. That is not racist by the way, PM me and I'll send the statistics I just cited over by carrier pigeon.

Stats are racist. Never forget that. East Harlem, East New York, and the South Bronx are exactly the same as Beverly Hills and Saddle River crime wise. So don't worry son! Go ahead and play on 125th st after dark! You have no reason to be worried and if you have one ounce of worry, you are a foaming-at-the-mouth racist!

That's a conversation I can imagine you having with your son.