Jake Thomas Needs to Shoot!

[WayOfTheWarrior]

Something I observed during the game and throughout the season so far: it seems Jake is somewhat picky with his shot selection. Tonight against Florida almost every time he was passed the ball he would immediately shot fake, dribble, and pass. I'm not saying that necessarily a bad thing some of the time, in fact he used the shot fake against UMBC a couple times to set up a couple of jumpers inside the arc.

I just feel as though he is holding back, whether it be because Buzz is telling him to be cautious of his shot selection or he is worried about taking bad shots. The way I see it is that he is the best three point shooter we have, so why not take 8 three point attempts and see what happens, even if some of them are contested shots. If we are going to be facing teams like Florida down the stretch who can stroke it from outside, we need to be able to keep up.

Overall I am excited to see Jake get legit minutes and he is making an impact. He just has the potential to be much more than where he is now.

[GGGG]

I was saying the same thing, but I'm not sure he has a quick enough release.  I still think he is adjusting to the speed of a game like yesterday's. 

[frozena pizza]

I thought that too.  I do like that he never seems to take a bad shot - that is part of being a good shooter.  But it does seem like there were a couple times he had decent looks and deferred.

[MU82]

I can think of one time yesterday that he pump-faked, dribbled and could have pulled up for an open 15-footer on the baseline but instead drove and got rejected.

Otherwise, except for the one 3 he made, he simply wasn't open long enough to pull the trigger on a quality jumper.

He is not blessed with great quickness or an exceptionally quick release. He isn't tall, either, so it's not as if he's going to shoot over anybody. Any team that wants to keep him from getting an open shot can do so by having a defender stay with him.

So unless an opponent foolishly leaves Thomas open, if Buzz wants to get him open shots, he has to get other players to set screens for Thomas. He did that on a few inbounds plays in Maui to reasonable success.

[GGGG]

He is not blessed with great quickness or an exceptionally quick release. He isn't tall, either

Ladies and gentlemen...our back up SG...

[Golden Avalanche]

Ladies and gentlemen...our back up SG...

But at least people had proper expectations for him over the summer.

This is where the never showing up Taylor and absence of Mayo hurt. Don't think anyone assumed either would be a star but they would provide nice cover minutes for that secondary two guard spot. Thomas seems overwhelmed at all the other matters on hand that he can't focus on his only redeeming quality.

crap, if the backup 2 is going to look that bad I'd rather Ferguson play and burn off his Frosh wide eyes.

[Nukem2]

But at least people had proper expectations for him over the summer.

This is where the never showing up Taylor and absence of Mayo hurt. Don't think anyone assumed either would be a star but they would provide nice cover minutes for that secondary two guard spot. Thomas seems overwhelmed at all the other matters on hand that he can't focus on his only redeeming quality.

crap, if the backup 2 is going to look that bad I'd rather Ferguson play and burn off his Frosh wide eyes.

Yes, Jake puts forth a lot of effort, but he has serious limitations.  Thats why he would have been a non-scolarship walk-on if Taylor had stayed and Todd was not ineligible.

Losing DJO, Jae, Jamail, TJ and Todd has left this team ultra thin in the backcourt as well as leaving the team with almost no reliable perimeter shooting.  Lockett's slow start has not helped either.  Trent is really more of a small 3-4 guy than a big 3-2 guy. 

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Ironically enough, I think Jake has looked better than I thought on defense, but not as good on offense.

He's obv. not a star on defense, but he's adequate for a role player/shooter... the only problem is that he's not much of a shooter right now.

I thought his minutes would be determined by his ability to defend... turns out it might be the other way around.

[WellsstreetWanderer]

The guy seems to get himself in right spot for rebounds. Last few games he is in the mix and causes ball to get to MU teammates. I agree, I kept looking for MU to set palys to get him open but we looked elsewhere and nobody but Vander seemed too eager to shoot last night

[Dr. Blackheart]

Ladies and gentlemen...our back up SG...

And therein lays the problem.  As we have discussed numerous times, Jake is a situational.  Buzz has asked him to play efficiently within the system as the backup 2G.  In fact, Jake had many opportunities to launch at trey last night, but Buzz wants his 2G to find the crease on dribble drives, rotate the ball. Buzz follows the Bobby Knight philosophy of the best way to beat a zone is with a dribble drive. Jake passing up a wide open trey to take it to the hoop is what Buzz wants him to do. Don't agree.

Btw, Jake is MU's most efficient player at 131 for the season and was a 142 last night.  Great, but his role is to launch the damn ball when down double digits.  Really need Mayo back...who some said MU would be fine without him back in the Spring.  Big gapping hole....but I am not going to criticize a kid in Thomas who is being asked to be something he isn't because of the circumstances. Let!s hope Todd gets it together.

[GGGG]

nm...misread.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

"Too eager??"  He goes 8-14 from the floor and now he shoots too much?

Context... go back and re-read.

[Dawson Rental]

Yes, Jake puts forth a lot of effort, but he has serious limitations.  Thats why he would have been a non-scolarship walk-on if Taylor had stayed and Todd was not ineligible.

Losing DJO, Jae, Jamail, TJ and Todd has left this team ultra thin in the backcourt as well as leaving the team with almost no reliable perimeter shooting.  Lockett's slow start has not helped either.  Trent is really more of a small 3-4 guy than a big 3-2 guy. 

The two scholarships that opened up were due to TJ Taylor and Aaron Durley, Todd should still be on scholarship.

[GGGG]

Context... go back and re-read.

Ah...corrected.

[ErickJD08]

I think Jake is key against team like last night.  It was clear that FL read up on the Marquette book that we like to dump it down inside and let our bigs work.  FL doubled the second Gardner touched the ball and we looked shocked.  When the double comes down, that is the time we are suppose to find a wide open shooter like Jake and make them pay for the double.  

There was at least a stretch of about 5 minutes after Gardner got forced to the three point line that we just didn't put it down low and we looked lost.

[RushmoreAcademy]

I think Jake is key against team like last night.  It was clear that FL read up on the Marquette book that we like to dump it down inside and let our bigs work.  FL doubled the second Gardner touched the ball and we looked shocked.  When the double comes down, that is the time we are suppose to find a wide open shooter like Jake and make them pay for the double.  

In theory, yes.  I think that's what was so disappointing. It's not as if he was passing up wide open looks, but his definition of a wide open look has to change.  He would get what looked to be space to shoot, pump fake, dribble, have another split second to shoot, pass that up, and swing it around again.  With a guy who isn't going to the basket against a team like FL effectively (as evidence by the awful rejection), he's got to shoot, or he isn't bringing anything to the offense.  It almost looked like we are shocked by how fast they rotated.

That said, I think they'll make the adjustments and come out strong against Bucky.

[ErickJD08]

In theory, yes.  I think that's what was so disappointing. It's not as if he was passing up wide open looks, but his definition of a wide open look has to change.  He would get what looked to be space to shoot, pump fake, dribble, have another split second to shoot, pass that up, and swing it around again.  With a guy who isn't going to the basket against a team like FL effectively (as evidence by the awful rejection), he's got to shoot, or he isn't bringing anything to the offense.  It almost looked like we are shocked by how fast they rotated.

That said, I think they'll make the adjustments and come out strong against Bucky.

When he pumped faked there, I literally screamed at my TV to shoot which was directly followed by a deep sigh, head down, eyes closes, shaking head after he was just rejected to the sixth row.  That block was nasty.  Definitely had space to shoot.

[tower912]

Jake, like Trent, seems to be finding his way.     Jake doesn't want to hog the ball, wants to be a good teammate.   I am pretty sure if he was still at SD, where he was expected to be a leading scorer, he would have taken some of the shots he is currently passing up.    But last night, everybody but Blue and DWilson looked passive, so he wasn't alone.     His defense and rebounding have been better than advertised.   Hopefully, he gets more comfortable with actually looking for his shot.     He is the least of my worries for this team.   

[bilsu]

I agree that Jake needs to shoot. He can shoot on the move. However, that would ruin Buzz's precious assist to basket ratio. It was interesting watching Virginia play UW, I think they had very few assists as their offense was designed for the player with the ball to try and drive and take a pull up. It was a very different style from MU, which emphasises paint touches and shooting off passes.