Posh and Curbello tandem, is it working?

Johnny Rapper

Johnny Rapper

Well-known member
After watching the game against Temple I have more reservations about the Posh Curbelo tandem then even before. On the positive, both serve as a disruptive defensive force that at times gave the Temple guards fits and certainly disrupted their offense.

The issue is on the offensive side of the ball. With the limited scoring and shooting efficiency of the team in general, and the need for a shooter to step up, it has become quite apparent that Posh is no shooting guard and Curbello at best is an inconsistent point guard. It seems that Curbello is handling the playmaking duties for the majority of the time and Posh looks very uncomfortable in his role, whatever that is?

I think this set up will become more glaring as the competition improves and the team is not able to score as much off the defense. I believe the dilemma for the staff will be, does the defensive positives that the tandem bring to the court outweigh the offensive deficiencies that have been quite apparent? I guess it may be a game to game decision.
 
Johnny Rapper said:
After watching the game against Temple I have more reservations about the Posh Curbelo tandem then even before. On the positive, both serve as a disruptive defensive force that at times gave the Temple guards fits and certainly disrupted their offense.

The issue is on the offensive side of the ball. With the limited scoring and shooting efficiency of the team in general, and the need for a shooter to step up, it has become quite apparent that Posh is no shooting guard and Curbello at best is an inconsistent point guard. It seems that Curbello is handling the playmaking duties for the majority of the time and Posh looks very uncomfortable in his role, whatever that is?

I think this set up will become more glaring as the competition improves and the team is not able to score as much off the defense. I believe the dilemma for the staff will be, does the defensive positives that the tandem bring to the court outweigh the offensive deficiencies that have been quite apparent? I guess it may be a game to game decision.
Click to expand...
The intense, defensive pressure created by these two guards is the reason we are winning.
 
Gabelmc said:
The intense, defensive pressure created by these two guards is the reason we are winning.
Click to expand...
Agree and to date, that’s true, but will that be enough against Big East level competition and guards who can withstand pressure? That’s my concern.
 
I don’t think your concerns are meritless JR but I do think to this point it has been much more good than bad. I would expect it to get better as season goes on not worse but I’m sure there will be times where going with 1 instead of both will be the right play. Hopefully CMA is willing and able to make that decision.

Posh isn’t a shooter but he can be a quality 2 guard or whatever title you want to give it. He is one of the most unorthodox (but extremely effective) guards you’ll see in college and he just seems to find a way. I don’t think Storr as the 2 with posh as the 1 would see as much good looks for our bigs and might hurt our ball movement. Storr gives us length but having two guards who can really get into opposing ball handlers shorts and play D I believe does truly have a cumulative effect on the opponent as the game goes on.
 
The experts always say that winning in the NCAA tournament is a function of excellent point guard play, so having 2 effective point guards certainly would help. I do recognize that our shooting is suspect with these 2 so we have to get a bunch of points off turnovers and good decisions. I think we will have games where we love the guard play and others where we want to puke. We just have to hope that it gets better and better as the season progresses. Would love to have one dead eye shooter but I guess that is another subject.
 
As the season plays on, although Mathis is starting at the 3, I foresee
Posh, Curbelo & Mathis essentially covering the 1 & 2 25-30 min each.
i hope king gets 5+ min, so Mathis plays 5-10 min at sf.
storr & Wusu ( & Pinzon ?) should share the 3, play the hot hand more Each game
 
I think its working out tremendous. We havent lost yet and curbelo won the game for us last night. This team is light years better then last years and the cubcelo/posh tandem is one of the main reasons why.

You are just looking for things to complain about if you are picking apart the posh/curbelo tandem.

Enjoy it while it lasts. It may be 20 years until we have 2 guards again that are this talented on our roster.

We are winning st johns fans. Time to stop looking for negatives and just enjoy the games!
 
It’s still early, I think they need more time to gel and build that chemistry. With how Posh has played the last few years, he can play with anybody and succeed. That’s just the type of player he is because he gives all out effort.

My only concern is when the two of them play alongside Mathis. 3 point shooting is really not a strong suit and spacing becomes difficult.

On the flip side, that might be the best defending guard trio in the country. Posh’s tenacity, Curbelo’s quick hands and Mathis’ elite on ball defense is special.
 
Getting guys to the line down the stretch of a close game is the way to go. It means not turning it over. When Temple got close the guys got it.
 
We haven't lost a game yet so it's working as of now. What happens by the end of the season who knows. Once we get to big east play and they are gelling more will be easier to answer the question by the results we are getting in conference play
 
I actually agree with the premise of your post and I brought this up in a separate thread. Right now the issue is that Curbello is the primary ball handler and setting up others for good looks. The issue with Posh is he has not shown any ability here to hit jump shots and especially three pointers. He has also not shown any willingness to try to take his man off the dribble and drive in for points. I'd like to see him be more aggressive in both areas. I am optimistic it will improve in time.
 
room112 said:
I actually agree with the premise of your post and I brought this up in a separate thread. Right now the issue is that Curbello is the primary ball handler and setting up others for good looks. The issue with Posh is he has not shown any ability here to hit jump shots and especially three pointers. He has also not shown any willingness to try to take his man off the dribble and drive in for points. I'd like to see him be more aggressive in both areas. I am optimistic it will improve in time.
Click to expand...
No willingness to take his man off the dribble? He’s scoring 10+ points and as you mentioned hasn’t hit a 3 yet. I do agree that he should look to be more aggressive but don’t think it’s been completely missing by any means.

On another note I personally think that Posh couldn’t care less what position he is playing or how many shots he takes or points he scores. I think he would rather share the ball with another point guard then have to run the show himself. If we begin to struggle then it will probably effect him and everyone else, but I doubt he cares how we win just as long as we do win.
 
Amaseinyourface said:
I don’t think your concerns are meritless JR but I do think to this point it has been much more good than bad. I would expect it to get better as season goes on not worse but I’m sure there will be times where going with 1 instead of both will be the right play. Hopefully CMA is willing and able to make that decision.

Posh isn’t a shooter but he can be a quality 2 guard or whatever title you want to give it. He is one of the most unorthodox (but extremely effective) guards you’ll see in college and he just seems to find a way. I don’t think Storr as the 2 with posh as the 1 would see as much good looks for our bigs and might hurt our ball movement. Storr gives us length but having two guards who can really get into opposing ball handlers shorts and play D I believe does truly have a cumulative effect on the opponent as the game goes on.
Click to expand...
For me, the ideal scenario when they are not both on the court together is Mathis at the two and Storr playing the three. I think that Storr would be better offensively with his upper body strength and agility being around the basket more. Would also be nice to see Soriano and Stanley on the court together at the same time but I guess that wont happen till Nwyie returns to back up Soriano.
 
It's nice to have options. This team does. PS was weird that Mathis didn't even look for the outside shot last night. His form and success from 3 in the first 4 games was great.
 
Amaseinyourface said:
No willingness to take his man off the dribble? He’s scoring 10+ points and as you mentioned hasn’t hit a 3 yet. I do agree that he should look to be more aggressive but don’t think it’s been completely missing by any means.

On another note I personally think that Posh couldn’t care less what position he is playing or how many shots he takes or points he scores. I think he would rather share the ball with another point guard then have to run the show himself. If we begin to struggle then it will probably effect him and everyone else, but I doubt he cares how we win just as long as we do win.
Click to expand...

Yes but a lot of the points he's scoring are in the flow of the offense. He's not breaking down defenders one on one much, like what we witnessed from Curbello late in the game yesterday. This isn't a knock on him just an observation. Posh is one of my favorite players since I've been a fan. But I think it's fair to critique and say he's limited in certain areas offensively.
 
room112 said:
Yes but a lot of the points he's scoring are in the flow of the offense. He's not breaking down defenders one on one much, like what we witnessed from Curbello late in the game yesterday. This isn't a knock on him just an observation. Posh is one of my favorite players since I've been a fan. But I think it's fair to critique and say he's limited in certain areas offensively.
Click to expand...
I think you nailed it with the last sentence. He is limited in that regard. He’s a get it and go, full speed, guy. He doesn’t play around much with a live dribble like curbelo is capable of.
 
stjohnschris said:
Defensively yes, offensively no. Something isn't clicking for Posh on the offensive end of the court.
Click to expand...
We have to give Posh the green light on shooting the three…especially in the next couple of games. He proved he was capable in the DR games. We will need that dimension to our offense as the competition gets tougher.
 
Gabelmc said:
We have to give Posh the green light on shooting the three…especially in the next couple of games. He proved he was capable in the DR games. We will need that dimension to our offense as the competition gets tougher.
Click to expand...
stjohnschris said:
Defensively yes, offensively no. Something isn't clicking for Posh on the offensive end of the court.
Click to expand...

i think posh has the green light. but he plays within himself and the game. he's smart.

and i don't think it has anything to do about 'clicking'. posh has never been an offensive threat. there's another option on the floor now. so he's doing what he does best: defense and distributing.

i am fine the way he's playing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top