I just think you put too much emphasis on the injury aspect when there are multiple signs, poor passing, holding the ball, getting himself trapped, jacked up 3s. these aren't all the result of injuries.
the frustrating thing is you can see the skill level, it's the errors primarily stemming from a lack of awareness or poor habits to not move the ball. he just lacks 'flow' to his game. I think he can make incremental improvements, and so my expectation is he doesn't touch the ball as much which I wonder how he can handle that, hence the need for him to focus on contributing defensively more to stay engaged. 
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The reason I think the injury was a key part of the three point shooting last season was that MT shot 41%, 37% and 37% in his first three years, dropping to 26% is massive. Leg injuries can kill shooting, and he was limping the whole year. I agree his shot is ugly, and that his shot selection was questionable last year. But, when you are shooting 26% every three looks like a questionable decision. Previous Message
well first of all Sparky. I am a fan of Tsohonis
also yes critical. it's because to me he has such tremendous unfulfilled skill, his issues are upstairs.
1) 3 pt shooting, I don't think injury really influenced this especially first part of year. it's part he doesn't have what I'd call great form, and also he simly takes bad shots
2) his rebounding improved. again with Tsohonis he has to think defense first and not be focused on offense. yes he can score but needs a mentality defense first, scoring will come
3) I don't understand why he doesn't pass better. it's a function of his holding the ball, or to put another way, he has developed bad habits to NOT GET RID OF THE BALL BEFORE a double team coomes. great plaeyrs, I don't care if they are Kobe or LeBron or MJ, or Steph, they don't perform well double covered. what they do (well maybe not Kobe) is they get rid of the ball 1/2 or a second before the double team arrives. That is the #1 problem with Tsohnois, I really think it's just habit. It's as if he has the awarenss and he's reinforced thru his developing years like being able to score whil e double teamed is some neat thing. It's not like Keala King who whose habits were more baffoon like.
he has to develop better decision making on offense. I don't know for a grad player how possible that is, but he's not going to be effective without that. he's a big key, if he is able over the summer to work on that, then maybe he can change the habits. I don't know about that 3 pt shot, it's not great form. Caffey was able to alter his knuckleball somewhat between jr and sr year and had a great start to his senior season. I just don't know if that 3 pt shot if he can adjust to make it reliable enough, and either way, he has to be circumspect about that shot.
we can't have him holding the ball against double teams next year. AJ, AT, LT proved that they can be really efficient, and don't need Tsohonis to score 15 points a game all the time, even if he can. hopefully the staff can reinforce and alter the game a bit with him for better ball movement, even when posting him to score, which is his strength, he needs to view and kick the ball at times. Previous Message
I agree that the most likely PG starter is Messiah Thompson. He has been more successful and is far more experienced (admittedly at a lower level) than Silva. There is significant value in being a mature 5th year player, with years of starting experience. Silva, on the other hand, is IMHO not to be written off. I agree he is a question mark. But, he did shoot .500 from three as a frosh (19-39). He did have a positive a/TO ration last season. And, he was playing at a much higher level league. The things that make you wonder are his inability to make an impact even against mid-level teams. For example, I looked at the box from the first game of the year last season when Stanford played UOP. Silva got 16 minutes to show he could do something. His line included no shots, no rebounds, no points, no FTs, no assists. How could a really good player have no impact on his team in 16 minutes? I think the most likely role for him is coming off the bench backing up Thompson.
As to Ngoyi and Polynice, both were hurt for significant portions of last season. Both are athletic for bigs and move well. Ngoyi reportedly was the fastest guy on the squad last season before he got hurt. But, he is young and has basically no experience. Add in coming off a serious injury, there is the question of how much of an impact the injury will have going forward. I think the injury was to the knee, that may impact his athleticism. Polynice was interesting. he has real size, moves really well, and can sort of play a stretch 4 role. But, he also was not nearly strong enough to hold his own i the post, a real necessity for a guy his size. Some of his value may depend on Aboubacar's development. If AT has been able to improve his shooting, he might slide nicely into a SF role. This could open minutes for Polynice. Bottom line as I see it, Lassina Traore will get the bulk of the C minutes, and if AT takes the bulk of the PF minutes and Stroud is the first guy off the bench in both spots, it may be hard for Polynice and Ngoyi to find more than spot minutes.
I know you are not a fan CC; but, to me, Marcus Tsohonis is a potential big upgrade from last season. I am unsure how much of his potential we have really seen. MT was hurt for most of last season. Additionally, with Murray out and Tone Hunter not up to the task, MT was asked to be the main PG, a role he does not seem suited to. If MT is healthy, he might be able to shoot far better than last season when he was a really underwhelming .264 from three. He was often unstoppable in the paint. But, he played hurt when we needed him to, he showed that at times he could be an offensive force, and if he is healthy, he might be the sixth man of the year in the BW, it hard to shoot on bad legs (foot?) Previous Message
next to Messiah, Ngoyi to me is the biggest potential addition to the squad. granted was a red-shirt last year.
has a lot of the skill set as Polynice, I think a quicker, his shooting form is solid, if not totally 'classic'. He's had a couple years to bulk up to D1 muscle to complement his quickness.
will give even more depth inside and for defense, I think he could be a 20 minute a game player. Hard to tell until he plays. Like Stroud I think he can anchor the top of a 1-3-1 and down low. In fact, I can see Ngoyi and Stroud out there together in some line-ups that are defensive oriented. Stroud, Ngoyi, AT, Jones/AJ & Messiah would be an interesting defensive line-up, even subbing Rotegaard/Tsohonis in for JOnes/AJ and sacrificing some defense for offense.
probablly the biggest 'mystery' of players for next year, with some hopeful significant upside
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on 6/26/2023, 7:55 am, in reply to "