panther2 post=446435 said:
mjmaherjr post=446394 said:
Posh just wish Ponds had better coaching
I agree MJ. In Shamorie's last year here, he was not in very good shape and was not held accountable. I believe that if he had stayed for his senior year, with Coach Anderson, he would be considered one of our all time greats and been drafted.
Some may say that he could not have played for coach Anderson, I disagree. Good players will rise to coaches expectations of them and Shamorie was definitely a very good player. I also believe that he would have benefited from Coach Anderson's hands on, familial approach.
As for Ponds vs Alexander, I ain't touching that. They have been fine representatives of our school. I wish both of them the very best as their journeys continue.
During his time here, I was in frequent contact with GSJ. Staff was acutely aware that Ponds main objective was to become an NBA player, as almost all D1 players have, but with the talent to back it up. Ponds was not an easy kid to coach, because so many people were in his ear about what he had to do to get to he NBA first round. GSJ told me that he admired Chris encouraging Ponds to to go NBA workouts after his sophomore year, but knew Ponds wasn't ready for the NBA at that point. When Ponds returned, he went over the scouting reports with Shamorie, and they would work on those things he needed to improve upon to become a first round pick.
Basically they were: Forget about points per game, increase assists, lower turnovers, improve shooting percentage, and win games. In essence, become a complete, more efficient player that could lead SJU into a successful season.
When we got off to a 12-0 start, Ponds looked new and improved. His game was more refined, and people noticed. Ponds may not have been in incredible shape, but let's not confuse him with Trimble, who had a weight problem and had to work hard to keep it off.
My take is that when his teammates went into a prolonged shooting slump, Ponds tried to shoulder too much of the offense. Of course he was keyed on. The guy who could take almost anyone one on one, now found lanes clogged with defenders who dared any other Johnny to shoot. Instead of dazzling layups, Ponds often found himself in a tangle of defenders, threw up garbage, complained he was getting fouled to no avail. When he shot from the outside, he often took what the defense gave him - shots way beyond the arc.
Just like that his season unraveled, and his NBA chances dissipated. He was and still is, a big time talent, as evidenced by his G league successes.
I'm not sure what a coach can do when his entire team cannot make a wide open 18 foot shot and teams pack it in so the hoop is sealed off. In the BET vs. Marquette and in Dayton vs. Az State, our problems were magnified. We couldn't shoot, period. If AZ state was any good, they'd have trampled us the way Marquette did. Funny thing, though. We swept Marquette during the regular season, once by 17 points.
Mullins was not a good coach. He was not, IMO, inattentive towards Ponds.
To the question, Posh is impossible to dislike on the court because of how hard he plays on both ends. He's sort of a Pete Rose type who works so hard you can forget how talented he is. Without choosing one over the other, Posh can impact a game without scoring more than 10 points. Ponds basically needed to score although for a guy his size he could rebound very well on the defensive end.