Following potential 2014 draftees
- Thread starter Dr. Jones
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The early theme in practice this year, as is the case at the beginning of most seasons with Calipari, is play fast, think slow. What Coach Cal means by that is he wants his players to play fast, but he wants the game to slow down in their heads so that they can make sound decisions. It’s tough for the new guys to play that way with everything that is being thrown at them, so there has been some sloppy play at times, but that’s what Calipari is building towards. “Understand, I’m throwing a lot at you,” Calipari told his players. “I’m making you play really fast while asking you to let your minds slow down. I know it’s hard and you want to slow down, but keep going fast. Do not slow down. Your mind will catch up.”
OK, on to some individual observations. The first one goes to the guys I was most impressed with. In fact, let me just say I was a bit stunned. I know Marcus Lee was a McDonald’s All-American. I know he was one of the best players in high school last season. But wow, he is an athletic freak. He does some things that make you shake your head in disbelief. I know Anthony Davis was here two years ago and made some plays that were hard to believe, and I’m not necessarily comparing Lee to Davis, but the kid possesses some athletic traits that very few people have. He jumps like a pogo stick, runs like a deer, and, despite how thin he is at this moment, throws down dunks with authority.
This is the "11th guy" we're talking about here, btw..
Among Lee’s many jaw-dropping highlights: He took off from the beyond the free-throw line, took two giant steps (it would have taken me two leaps to make his one step) and tomahawked a dunk so hard that his lower body essentially buckled when he landed. Later, he caught the ball above the square – not just the rim – with one hand and slammed it home effortlessly. On the very next possession, he blocked a shot from Derek Willis, who stands at 6-foot-9, as if he was sitting on a ladder near the rim, caught the ball and threw it straight down. And finally, my favorite, late in practice he caught a lob pass so high and so off target that I was certain it was going to hit the side of the backboard. Wrong. Lee not only caught it, he somehow cocked it back and threw it in the basket without even touching the rim. In other words, he was so high up and has such a ridiculous reach that he was able to throw it in downward and into the basket
Among Lee’s many jaw-dropping highlights: He took off from the beyond the free-throw line, took two giant steps (it would have taken me two leaps to make his one step) and tomahawked a dunk so hard that his lower body essentially buckled when he landed. Later, he caught the ball above the square – not just the rim – with one hand and slammed it home effortlessly. On the very next possession, he blocked a shot from Derek Willis, who stands at 6-foot-9, as if he was sitting on a ladder near the rim, caught the ball and threw it straight down. And finally, my favorite, late in practice he caught a lob pass so high and so off target that I was certain it was going to hit the side of the backboard. Wrong. Lee not only caught it, he somehow cocked it back and threw it in the basket without even touching the rim. In other words, he was so high up and has such a ridiculous reach that he was able to throw it in downward and into the basket
One more thing on breakaways that Calipari emphasizes: Don’t take the extra step and dribble. If the basket is open, Calipari wants them taking off from the free-throw line. His players are long enough that they don’t need that extra dribble. To him, all it does is allow the trailer to catch up. He understands that they will miss some layups going full speed, but it’s better to get the ball up on the basket than to get blocked. Willie Cauley-Stein put Calipari’s advice to work when he caught up with Aaron Harrison from behind and swatted his shot out of bounds after the guard let up and took an extra dribble. “If you try to slow down and gather yourself, that’s what happens,” Calipari said.
Aaron and Andrew Harrison are smooth. They can go left. They can go right. They can shoot it. They can drive it. They are fluid in just about every part of the game. And they are both a lot more interchangeable than I thought. Andrew shoots it better than advertised, and Aaron certainly has the handles to play point guard.One thing Calipari is trying to get the Harrison twins to do is play faster. They are such physical guards and fast enough that they’ve always been able to get past people using their physicality. They didn’t get bumped off the ball at the high school level, and often won’t in college, but they will have to play faster in Coach Cal’s system.
This just in: Cauley-Stein can still run like a wide receiver. In 22, a drill where one of the two defenders starts behind two offensive players and must sprint to catch up to the fast break, Cauley-Stein feasted on blocks. Nearly every time he was the trailing defender, he either swatted the shot, pinned it or altered it.
We all know James Young can shoot. What we didn’t know – or at least what didn’t occur to me until Monday’s practice – is he has the ability to be a very good, if not lockdown, defender. He has a lot of length and quickness at the wing position that will give smaller two guards fits. Young possesses quick hands, which could allow him to be a very sneaky defender. Cal doesn’t stress a lot of steals in his defensive philosophy, but Young could have quite a few steals this season.
Dakari Johnson is getting more athletic by the day. He will always be a space eater inside, in the mold of a DeMarcus Cousins in size, but going against guys like Lee and Julius Randle every day is forcing him to pick up some speed. For all the highlights Lee provided Monday, Johnson got the best of him during the Skip 21 drill when Johnson caught it near the corner of the free-throw line at full speed and flushed it in Lee’s face. Johnson was also able to bully Lee a bit inside when it came to one-on-one stuff under the basket. The one time Lee got inside and put his body on Johnson, it was like throwing a tennis ball against a brick wall. Lee just bounced right off of him. Coach Calipari talks a lot about his players playing to their strengths. That way of thinking will certainly apply to those two.
Where to begin with Julius Randle? For one, when he wants to score, he can score on anyone. He has the speed of a guard, the frame of a body builder and the force of a wrecking ball. What makes Randle so special, to me, is that he can absorb contact from just about any blow. He can take the most punishing of hits – which in most cases will be fouls – and they don’t knock him but an inch off his line of direction. That core strength, combined with his speed and his attitude, allows him to get where he wants to go when he wants to go. If there is a weakness in his game right now, it’s just that he’s thinking too much. When he starts to think about everything Calipari is throwing at him, he tends to slow down a bit. When he just plays basketball, he is a load to stop.
