The Player Development Thread

[jazznik]

Give him all the shots, run all the plays for him, give him the bigger defensive assignments, see if he responds or if he just implodes.

This is like the direct opposite to the very idea of player development.

 

[LogGrad98]

This is like the direct opposite to the very idea of player development.

There are a lot of schools of thought around this. When we had Deron as a rookie, for example, Sloan was playing him limited minutes, coaching him regularly after plays, and giving him times to stretch himself, the very definition of player development. To which many, including pundits around the league and other coaches even, were complaining that Deron was ready, just hand him the keys. There is some value in allowing someone to fail at their assignments and learn from said failure, rather than coddle incessantly. I take this track with new supervisors/managers/ and even senior managers working for me. Give them good details about the job, make sure they have the support they needs, give them training and clear expectation and make sure they have a good picture of what success looks like, not just failure. Then let them off the leash and let them botch things and learn from that. So it is tough to say what he will respond to the most. I say this is the year to do something like that if they are going to. He has been "bench-learning" for nearly half the season now. Now let him have the keys and make some mistakes of his own along the way. Plus it all but guarantees us a better pick, and frankly that we can just keep the pick to begin with. But if he responds and we are suddenly winning, well that is a major positive in and of itself. But we won't know if we don't let him try. I can't think of many players who said "my career would have been way better if coach had limited my minutes a lot more my rookie year, I hate him for letting me play and learn the ropes on my own".

 

[FalseFlagg K]

I kind if wish they would just throw him in the deep end for a string of games in a row, see what he can do, or if he just flounders and drowns. Why not? This is the season to let him get the big moment minutes and see what he can do with them. Give him Lauri's role for a dozen games, bring Lauri off the bench, or just swap them mid-way in the first. Give him all the shots, run all the plays for him, give him the bigger defensive assignments, see if he responds or if he just implodes. But if there is a season to waste on this kind of all-in development, it is this one. Maybe he blossoms and gets going for real AND we get a better draft pick. Win-win. Worst case scenario at least we get a better draft pick and let him get some valuable experience.

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how dare you agree with me *******


hopefully that's what they're gonna do post all star break

 

[HermanG]

I kind if wish they would just throw him in the deep end for a string of games in a row, see what he can do, or if he just flounders and drowns. Why not? This is the season to let him get the big moment minutes and see what he can do with them. Give him Lauri's role for a dozen games, bring Lauri off the bench, or just swap them mid-way in the first. Give him all the shots, run all the plays for him, give him the bigger defensive assignments, see if he responds or if he just implodes. But if there is a season to waste on this kind of all-in development, it is this one. Maybe he blossoms and gets going for real AND we get a better draft pick. Win-win. Worst case scenario at least we get a better draft pick and let him get some valuable experience.

I'm pretty sure we will witness Ace Bailey being featured plenty in the post ASB stretch. We may even see a starting lineup that incorporates one of our guards with a supporting cast of Ace, Cody, TH and Flip (lord have mercy on our souls).

Tankers do what tankers must.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

I kind if wish they would just throw him in the deep end for a string of games in a row, see what he can do, or if he just flounders and drowns. Why not? This is the season to let him get the big moment minutes and see what he can do with them. Give him Lauri's role for a dozen games, bring Lauri off the bench, or just swap them mid-way in the first. Give him all the shots, run all the plays for him, give him the bigger defensive assignments, see if he responds or if he just implodes.

People REALLY want to believe Hardy is refusing to "free" Ace, and is preventing him from being his "true self" or something. Probably stems from the subconscious disappointment of him not being the player fans hoped he would be.

Occam's razor says that this is just who Ace is right now. He can't get to the basket or the FT line, his ballhandling is basic, and he can't hit from the perimeter. Those things are obvious and "throwing him in the deep end" wouldn't help. He simply doesn't have the tools at this stage to make a difference. He's a project.

 

[HermanG]

People REALLY want to believe Hardy is refusing to "free" Ace, and is preventing him from being his "true self" or something. Probably stems from the subconscious disappointment of him not being the player fans hoped he would be.

Occam's razor says that this is just who Ace is right now. He can't get to the basket or the FT line, his ballhandling is basic, and he can't hit from the perimeter. Those things are obvious and "throwing him in the deep end" wouldn't help. He simply doesn't have the tools at this stage to make a difference. He's a project.

Not 100% true. Last few games they have ran some Lauri plays for him and thats something they didnt do before when Lauri was playing.

I agree with some basic principles you establish here but coach can control workloads to some extent.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

Not 100% true. Last few games they have ran some Lauri plays for him and thats something they didnt do before when Lauri was playing.

The obvious way to get him more of those plays would be to bring him off the bench when Lauri is playing.

I'm just skeptical about trying to force feed Ace shots and touches in the first place. His focus areas should be elsewhere right now.

 

[donAZ62]

I kind if wish they would just throw him in the deep end for a string of games in a row, see what he can do, or if he just flounders and drowns. Why not? This is the season to let him get the big moment minutes and see what he can do with them. Give him Lauri's role for a dozen games, bring Lauri off the bench, or just swap them mid-way in the first. Give him all the shots, run all the plays for him, give him the bigger defensive assignments, see if he responds or if he just implodes. But if there is a season to waste on this kind of all-in development, it is this one. Maybe he blossoms and gets going for real AND we get a better draft pick. Win-win. Worst case scenario at least we get a better draft pick and let him get some valuable experience.

Up until now I have been impressed with Ace's mentality about making a good pass instead of taking a forced shot. I think in the long run he is learning to play the right way in Hardy's system. But a couple games ago I was starting to feel pissed off at the other players- who never seem to look to set up Ace. He was at 18 points with a few minutes to go-- and I could tell he was aware of that because he was getting open and then clearly hoping for those passes which didn't come. No matter how selfless he is- he is watching fellow rookies put up big numbers- and it pisses me off that coaches and teammates won't set him up for a 25-30 point game just to build that confidence and show him his selfless passing will be reciprocated.

 

[HermanG]

The obvious way to get him more of those plays would be to bring him off the bench when Lauri is playing.

I'm just skeptical about trying to force feed Ace shots and touches in the first place. His focus areas should be elsewhere right now.

I actually think "bench-Lauri" is one of the better development paths for him. Could run them as double threat for some stretches and overlap the rest of their minutes.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

Up until now I have been impressed with Ace's mentality about making a good pass instead of taking a forced shot. I think in the long run he is learning to play the right way in Hardy's system. But a couple games ago I was starting to feel pissed off at the other players- who never seem to look to set up Ace. He was at 18 points with a few minutes to go-- and I could tell he was aware of that because he was getting open and then clearly hoping for those passes which didn't come.

Sure. That's why it's rare for an off-ball scorer to become a true star. You're always at the mercy of others. Even Lauri had to add some self-creation, no matter how rudimentary, to his game before he really got over that hump.

 

[donAZ62]

Sure. That's why it's rare for an off-ball scorer to become a true star. You're always at the mercy of others. Even Lauri had to add some self-creation, no matter how rudimentary, to his game before he really got over that hump.

That's a good point. I think he already has shown he has moves to create advantages- for himself or others. But I just wish at least every few games they would give him more touches and encourage him to work on those moves.

 

[LogGrad98]

I kind if wish they would just throw him in the deep end for a string of games in a row, see what he can do, or if he just flounders and drowns. Why not? This is the season to let him get the big moment minutes and see what he can do with them. Give him Lauri's role for a dozen games, bring Lauri off the bench, or just swap them mid-way in the first. Give him all the shots, run all the plays for him, give him the bigger defensive assignments, see if he responds or if he just implodes. But if there is a season to waste on this kind of all-in development, it is this one. Maybe he blossoms and gets going for real AND we get a better draft pick. Win-win. Worst case scenario at least we get a better draft pick and let him get some valuable experience.

Looks like I called it, at least in this game tonight against the Wolves. Great effort from Ace. And they handed him the keys, and he responded, 20 points, 4 boards, so that is good to see. Of course he is still chasing Key himself at 40 pts this game tonight, so far. Wow. I mean we earned a win here with the triple double from Nurk at 14/16/10/1/1, just wild. And Collier with an 18 point double double. One of those nights when everything clicks. And the wild thing is our defense is so bad we could still lose this, even with performances of the year from like 5 of these guys. But a good example of chucking Ace in the deep end to see if he responds, and he did! Good on him!