No suckage for JJJ

[Texas Western]

One thing young offensive players need to learn is once they miss a shot get back and play D, JJJ seems to be in another world when that happens.  His energy level on getting back is
basically bad, bad body language.  His shot is still really funky, not sure who taught him how to shot the ball, like Keith Wilkes, lets see if he can follow up with another good game or how
he shots it on the road.

I think he has shown evidence of getting back and making up for bad plays with steals etc quite a bit. However, I have noticed on more than one occasion the things you pointed out. I think the key for him to keep playing the minutes he needs, is to become a consistent defender.

The shot style  is the shot style. He makes a high percentage of free throws so we know he can stroke it. I would analogize it  to the golfer Jim Furyk, has a crappy golf swing but it works. Or as you point out Keith Wilkes.

[mattyv1908]

I think he has shown evidence of getting back and making up for bad plays with steals etc quite a bit. However, I have noticed on more than one occasion the things you pointed out. I think the key for him to keep playing the minutes he needs, is to become a consistent defender.

The shot style  is the shot style. He makes a high percentage of free throws so we know he can stroke it. I would analogize it  to the golfer Jim Furyk, has a crappy golf swing but it works. Or as you point out Keith Wilkes.

Jim Furyk doesn't have a bad golf swing.  He takes it up extremely vertical BUT he has one of the best impact positions in the the game. 

If anything can be taken from Jim Furyk is that 5 Hour Energy is bogus because he always seems to fade late on Sunday afternoons.

[Autoengineer]

I was expecting a breakthrough year for him.  He just needs to hit the weight room this next off season. 

[We R Final Four]

One thing young offensive players need to learn is once they miss a shot get back and play D, JJJ seems to be in another world when that happens.  His energy level on getting back is
basically bad, bad body language.  His shot is still really funky, not sure who taught him how to shot the ball, like Keith Wilkes, lets see if he can follow up with another good game or how
he shots it on the road.

This is spot on. It is clearly evident that JJJ is learning to play defense. His help D, his weak side box outs and to a lesser degree his on ball man to man are foreign to him. Luke will cover many deficiencies of our guards, but he will rack up fouls quickly trying to cover for Carlino and JJJ's D.
Great on the open floor however.

[Jay Bee]

Agreed. The thing I've learned in all the statistical breakdown of how much players impact their team is that steals have the most impact of anything you can do. JJJ is truly amazing in that he is in the top 2% of all players in steals  (4.4% of opponents trips) and somehow does it while committing less than one foul per 20 minutes. Yes, he has to stop turning the ball over and make more of his threes to go along with his 59.5% on two pointers - but he is taking points off the board with his defense.

Concern for JJJ is, "what is real?" Juan is definitely a 3.0%+ steal guy. That's him. Duane I think can be.

JJJ... not sure. In 4 of 9 games he had zero steals. If I were to throw out a guess for him this season when March arrives.. I might drop down to a ~2.8 vs. the 4.4 he's at.

Hope it's real.. but from the data + games watched.. not sure it's "him" so much

[Texas Western]

Jim Furyk doesn't have a bad golf swing.  He takes it up extremely vertical BUT he has one of the best impact positions in the the game. 

If anything can be taken from Jim Furyk is that 5 Hour Energy is bogus because he always seems to fade late on Sunday afternoons.

I will amend and say It is an unusual looking swing at the top.

[slingkong]

I will amend and say It is an unusual looking swing at the top.

But it's consistent and that is key, whether golf or basketball.

[Texas Western]

But it's consistent and that is key, whether golf or basketball.

Agreed

[MU82]

Bringing this thread back to life, because again, there were few signs of suckage for JJJ.

He came up huge for us again, especially in the second half.

I see a kid who is still learning, especially about how to play D, but who has very good instincts and a $hitload of talent.

Glad he's still a Warrior!

[Texas Western]

Bringing this thread back to life, because again, there were few signs of suckage for JJJ.

He came up huge for us again, especially in the second half.

I see a kid who is still learning, especially about how to play D, but who has very good instincts and a $hitload of talent.

Glad he's still a Warrior!

I really enjoy watching JJJ play . He is my favorite player on the team. His body control on the floaters is incredible.

[Shark]

I really enjoy watching JJJ play . He is my favorite player on the team. His body control on the floaters is incredible.

JJJ kinda reminds me of how explosive DJO was. Obviously DJO was one of the best players MU has had in a long time but when JJJ gets going to the hoop you can't help but get excited. Then he'll occasionally make you yell "oh god don't shoot that" and then he'll make it anyway. I'm really excited to watch this team the rest of the year.

[brewcity77]

Tonight on many of his drives I wasn't excited, I was furious at his thought process. Driving 1-on-3 or 1-on-4 with no hope of an outlet pass. Thank god the refs bailed him out on some of those. Jajuan has the potential to be great, but he needs to learn when to attack and when to pull up and wait for reinforcements.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Tonight on many of his drives I wasn't excited, I was furious at his thought process. Driving 1-on-3 or 1-on-4 with no hope of an outlet pass. Thank god the refs bailed him out on some of those. Jajuan has the potential to be great, but he needs to learn when to attack and when to pull up and wait for reinforcements.

I'm fine with it because nobody else does with the exception of Duane. That's the kind of play we were missing last year so I have zero problems with that.

[forgetful]

Tonight on many of his drives I wasn't excited, I was furious at his thought process. Driving 1-on-3 or 1-on-4 with no hope of an outlet pass. Thank god the refs bailed him out on some of those. Jajuan has the potential to be great, but he needs to learn when to attack and when to pull up and wait for reinforcements.

I completely agree.  He needs to learn to understand the defense, where his teammates are and evaluate the best options.  Sometimes you need to take chances and be aggressive, but right now he is always taking chances.

[WarriorInNYC]

Tonight on many of his drives I wasn't excited, I was furious at his thought process. Driving 1-on-3 or 1-on-4 with no hope of an outlet pass. Thank god the refs bailed him out on some of those. Jajuan has the potential to be great, but he needs to learn when to attack and when to pull up and wait for reinforcements.

Agreed.  He reminds me a bit of Jerel McNeal in that every now and then he gets this look, and you know that no matter what he is going to take it to the hoop and attempt to shoot.  Several of his drives last night needed to be ended a little earlier with a pass, or pulled up.

[MarquetteDano]

Agreed.  He reminds me a bit of Jerel McNeal in that every now and then he gets this look, and you know that no matter what he is going to take it to the hoop and attempt to shoot.  Several of his drives last night needed to be ended a little earlier with a pass, or pulled up.

I think of all the players on this team, JJJ is the one who could really have a nice pull-up game.  We are going to start facing some erasers going into Big East season so it is not always wise to take it all the way to the tin each time.  I am hoping we start to see more floaters and pull-ups out of JaJuan going forward.

[GGGG]

JJJ had a good game yesterday.  He had a couple good games last year.  However outside of Arizona State, none of these good games have been against higher quality opponents.  He can get away with stuff against the likes of North Dakota that he can't against the likes of BE competition.

That has to be the next step in his evolution as a basketball player.

[brewcity77]

I'm fine with it because nobody else does with the exception of Duane. That's the kind of play we were missing last year so I have zero problems with that.

Against higher level competition, I will happily miss the play of a guy driving 1-on-3. Both halves started with ND getting whistled for the first 6 fouls, and Jajuan was the beneficiary of more than a couple of those. One in particular he drove straight at three guys and it looked close to a clean tie-up, but the refs called the foul. In Big East play, almost all his trips to the line would have been turnovers.

I love his athleticism, love his potential, but he desperately needs to learn the value of a possession.

[GGGG]

I'm fine with it because nobody else does with the exception of Duane. That's the kind of play we were missing last year so I have zero problems with that.

Never once did I think last year "Man, if only someone would drive 1 on 3."

Juan, JJJ and even Duane were doing a little too much to create "something out of nothing."  It was part of what lead to a really poor first half.  Once they settled down and played within themselves, *that* is when things took off for them.

[jsglow]

I see everything you guys are talking about on both the offensive and defensive ends.  But somehow I believe that JjJ is getting quality coaching for the very first time THIS year (forget about Buzz getting him any better) and I see a kid with an open mind trying very hard to get better, especially on the defensive end where it seems that he never had any instruction before.  I'm expecting continuing improvement this year and beyond.

[keefe]

Never once did I think last year "Man, if only someone would drive 1 on 3."

Two words: Butch Lee

[bilsu]

It seems to me that the hitch, or whatever you want to call it, in his three point shot is getting worse.

[Texas Western]

I see everything you guys are talking about on both the offensive and defensive ends.  But somehow I believe that JjJ is getting quality coaching for the very first time THIS year (forget about Buzz getting him any better) and I see a kid with an open mind trying very hard to get better, especially on the defensive end where it seems that he never had any instruction before.  I'm expecting continuing improvement this year and beyond.

I agree with this analysis . You are making a very good point.

[brewcity77]

I see everything you guys are talking about on both the offensive and defensive ends.  But somehow I believe that JjJ is getting quality coaching for the very first time THIS year (forget about Buzz getting him any better) and I see a kid with an open mind trying very hard to get better, especially on the defensive end where it seems that he never had any instruction before.  I'm expecting continuing improvement this year and beyond.

I agree with all this. I do think that he will continue to improve on his deficiencies. But it doesn't make them any less frustrating when he does one of his "Jajuan against the world" drives.

[mu03eng]

I agree with all this. I do think that he will continue to improve on his deficiencies. But it doesn't make them any less frustrating when he does one of his "Jajuan against the world" drives.

I agree with Glow and you on this....my fear right now is I see a little too much Dameon Mason in JjJ.  There is a ton of athletic potential there, but I'm not sure the basketball IQ is there.  I don't think JjJ has had to "think" through basketball, including last year, and as a result he has a good game when it's a less talented team or one that plays sloppy because it becomes an athlete game as opposed to somebody like Georgetown that plays disciplined team defense that will eat up reckless drives and not to mention officiating that won't reward bad drives.

I think Wojo is coaching him up and he will get better, I just hope JjJ gets that prior into running into the Big East wall.