My advice to D'Angelo Harrison

My advise would be continue to do what you have been doing . But, if you are double teamed, look for the open man, dont force shots , and dont shoot the 3 on a 3 on 3 fast break.

Yeah right, and that 3 from beyond the arc to get us back the lead against nd was an ill advised shot as well. Dlo's going to take some forced shots, but there is absolutely nobody on this team I'd rather take a crunch time shot. heck, I don't know of anybody who wants to take that shot except him. And, Lavin sets up plays for him to get the ball in crunch time.

Harrison made exactly one big shot all night and two altogether. The three he nailed was a wide open look, and has nothing to do with shooting a 3 on the break. Shooting a three on the break is one of those shots that only makes sense when you make it, or looks ridoculous when done every time you are running the break. If you take a moment to look at the box score you'd see that Harrison attempted 8 shots vs. ND, all but one a 3 point shot, lending credence to my accurate assessment that he was mostly hanging out way out on the perimeter. He missed all previous 7 looks from three, and you'd have to believe that someone who can handle the ball like him can do much better than shooting 7/8th's of his shots from beyond the arc, and making only 2.

The guys around him were hitting shots vs. ND. Usually sadly that is NOT the case. Hence him usually attempting twice as many shots.

That was a high pressure shot at a very critical point in the game. Who else would have cojones to take that shot? Almost everybody else would pass the ball because they're afraid of the high pressure situation. DLo doesn't have that fear. Is he going to make that shot every time, no. Is there anybody else on this team you'd want to take that shot?

Why do you think that every team we face designs their defences to stop DLo?

Asking me? I'm his biggest fan. He has permanent green light in my book.

Does he get pissed when his teammates cant throw the ball in the ocean? Yes. Thats where it unravels. But the other night they were firing on all cylinders and he could take a step back.

Michael Jordan gets a permanent green light. So does Kobe, Lebron, Jerry West, Geroge Gervin, Isaiah Thomas and a slew of unstoppable players. The rest play in the framework of a team. Harrison right now is in the category of everyone else, and if you think otherwise I don't know what to say except we have a big difference opinion, and one of us is wrong.

Newsflash. Those guys don't grow on trees. They are NBA HOF'ers. Scotty Reynolds had a green light at Nova. He was never going to be an NBA player. Didn't stop him from being a great college player. Apples to oranges with the names and examples you gave.

And Scotty Reynolds played 100% within the team concept. I am not arguing Harrison's talent, but he is nowhere near good enough to go outside the team concept and try to win games himself. Great players get it done within the team, not outside it. Look at the Lakers record with Kobe firing away and putting up mega-numbers as opposed to when he reins it in and makes his teammates better. And Harrison obviously is not in the same universe as Bryant.

Just as an aside, Scotty Reynolds, who was a great player at Nova, was even a better kid. Unless many jocks, who are isolated from the rest of the student population, Reynolds was 100% student athlete, and made many friends among students. He was a well liked, friendly guy and a serious student. My daughter knew him at Nova, where he graduated in four years. From meeting him, I think he was about 6 feet tall, maybe less, and at that size the NBA is a longshot for anyone. Great kid, though. He was adopted at birth by a white family in Virginia, and because of the chance he got, was strongly anti-abortion. supposedly, the fistfight he got into with Corey Fisher over a pregnant girl, erupted to blows when fisher flippantly responded, "So what she's pregnant, she'll just get an abortion."
 
Back
Top