Just throwin' a few stats out there since the loss of James...
I am starting to wonder if McNeal can get it done without the likes of a penetrator to set him up...
Four last regular season games without James...McNeal shot 20-67 = 30% if you round up. He wasnt really spectacular in the big east tourney either. I believe he was 8-23 shooting.
He simply isnt getting easy shots anymore. If he was a great scorer as he was made out to be he should still be able to find a way to score.
Any Thoughts?
The loss of James has pointed to the fact that McNeal has difficult creating his own shot. He does not have that quick burst like James or even Wade (not many people do). Further, while McNeal has improved his shooting, he is still an average shooter.
In fairness, he is receiving a fair amount of attention from the other teams; the other teams best defender and a lot of double teams. That is why the last minute of the Villanova game was painful, essentially two shots while double-teamed. Passing to an open teammate would have been smart.
As someone else on this Board stated, you have to wonder if McNeal is thinking about the team or impressing NBA scouts?
The way to impress the NBA is to think of the team first. I think he knows that. He's aggressive, and sometimes to a fault.
The recent decline in JM's production has nothing to do with the loss of DJ-----JM was always a create his own shot type and was the recipient of very few DJ assists.
What's happened is that teams are playing jam the middle containment defenses at MU and JM instead of pulling up like he did last year is settling for contested treys and forcing the drive to the hoop-----has a great pullup which he should resurrect!
The loss of DJ hurts, but we would be much better off right now if Jerel would trust his teammates - to get him the ball in good shooting position, to hit the shot when he feeds them, etc. And when he has the ball on the drive, he needs to recognize that there are options other than just crashing to the hoop - like his (formerly effective) pull-up jumper, or dishing to an open man when the D collapses on him. That seemed to be happening during our comeback against Nova, and Jerel (and others) got some nice open looks off the pass. Then down the stretch, we reverted to our "get the ball to Jerel and get out of the way" offense, and we never scored again.
What MU misses most is DJ's game management. Against NCST, Buzz put the ball in DJ's hands at the end. Since the injury, Buzz has put it in Jerel's--his AA senior. We don't need to rehash the pain of those last 40 seconds...other to point out something that I haven't seen mentioned here: If Jerel uses the shot clock on the possession where he launched his early trey at 40 seconds, the shot clock on the last possession is turned off. Nova is then fouling down the stretch. A whole different game.
DJ floor leadership is irreplaceable...look at Flynn. Mo is trying, but we are a different team. The good news is, between SJU and the NOVA 2nd half, ex the final 40 seconds, we seemed to find something. Will our lessons learned over the last six games be implemented? The fact is, Jerel is a much better shooter on the catch and shoot--he misses DJ badly. Wes and/or Mo need the ball at the end.