Conley has been a big part of this team playing well and he is having a career high at age 35 in assists so far. To replace him we need a player to fill his passing role.
We Got Swindled by Sexton (And Eddie Zero Sucks)
- Thread starter Saint Cy of JFC
- Start date
Doesn't really gut the team that much. You still have Clarkson/Lauri/Vanderbilt
Since 2007
cctrackstar
Well-Known Member
screw the tank, let's go 
Conestoga Finn
Active Member
Because I don't consider undersized guards to be part of the long term plan
Coach Ellis
Well-Known Member
Also, give him the same kind of leash you would give to a rookie point guard and see what happens. He’s only 23 years old and has tons of upside. I’d give him some room to make mistakes and learn from them. Hardy is a damn good coach. I’m sure he’ll get more out of Sexton as he gets healthy and comfortable in the system.
Coach Ellis
Well-Known Member
I agree with you on this point, but I think that extremely athletic guards who can score and shoot will still carve out a role somewhere in the NBA. I’m certainly of the mindset that you should try to build around wing-sized players and stretch bigs - but I’m not all the way out on small guards yet. Just want them on my bench instead of my starting lineup.
Tremendous Upside
Well-Known Member
I'm not that worried about Sexton's offense, particularly if he's used as a sparkplug scorer off the bench. He's very small but he's been finding ways to put the ball in the basket all his life. That's who he is.
What I am worried about is his defense. He's not lazy – on the contrary, he seems to extend a ton of energy on that side of the ball to achieve... well, very little. The fact remains that Sexton can't guard either backcourt position. He's not enough of a PG himself to defend 1's (that's important), and he's much too small to defend 2's.
That alone makes him a bench player IMO.
Coach Ellis
Well-Known Member
I agree. But, you have to play who you have, not who you want. I’m all for making changes to the roster to try to upgrade the PG position. . . and when they do, I think the focus should be to get bigger and better on defense.
Until then, I play him as much as I need to and live with the results.
fishonjazz
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Guts it too much
jumpin bean
Well-Known Member
If it aint broke dont fix it , we look like contenders ,too good to tank. Beasley and Gay could get traded and I think we still roll but I aint messing with this team recipe too much because they are showing everyone we underestimated them. let them cook
I would say we look like a team who could push a top seeded first round opponent to a tough 6 game series.
That is where injuries at some point will be helpful. Not anything major but if Conley goes down for a week or 2 it gives Sexton opportunity to step in as a starter and show a little bit more of what he can do. The same goes for some of these other guys off the bench. At some point I really want NAW and Ochai to get the opportunity to player consistent minutes for a couple weeks.
Coach Ellis
Well-Known Member
Tremendous Upside
Well-Known Member
Maybe. But we're not a great half court team (as far as running a methodical, deliberate offense is concerned), and half court is super important in the playoffs. It's tough to create the type of chaotic environment that's an advantage to you when the other team has scouted you to within an inch of your life and 1-on-1 matchups start to matter more.
The fact that this team consists entirely of "role player" types (well, with the exception of Sexton, I guess...) has been surprisingly difficult to spot. But you can see it in the way dudes start lobbing those hand grenades to one another when the shot clock is running down. We constantly have that problem when the game slows down and we get stuck overpassing the ball in half court.
Oh well, it's a long season and guys are learning new roles. But I'm not talking about playoffs just yet.
Things could definitely fall apart real quick at this point into the season. Lauri has been amazing but he has also been a very injury prone player throughout his career so I would expect at some point for him to tweak something and miss a few weeks. The same goes for Conley with how heavy his minutes have been. I almost look forward to that time happening as long as it is not a major injury because there are so many guys on this team that I want to see play for an extended period of time. Hell I would love to see Udoka and Balmaro get some run for a few games.
Eddie Zero
Well-Known Member
He is not "that" injury prone. This team on Marky's back, has not only silenced the low expectation claims, and the tank dreamers. It has proven that the least likely, tunnel-vision-labelled guards, like Sexton and JC, can actually play team basketball. I attribute this to Hardy. I think although it is really, really, early, this man is going to be considered an all time great coach based on the buy in he has already.