A10 Talk
- Thread starter UR80sfan
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Or if it was a coaches poll and not a Twitter poll
Serious GG question: is his lack of defense due to his own flaws, or is this a similar thing to TJ being held back on D because he was "too important to the offence" to play D?
Grant is a lot like TJ. Very skilled, but not very athletic. The more athletic ability you have, the quicker you are, which leads to better defense. No one held TJ back. And no one is holding Grant back. They both have made plays on defense, and Grant has shown he can block shots. What looks like being held back is simply not trying to do more than you are capable, which would lead to silly fouls and accomplish nothing.
It was great having TJ, and it is great having Grant. Let's not kid ourselves here. As skilled as both are offensively, if they were above average defensively, TJ would be in the NBA and Grant would be at a P6.
There have been numerous plays on which Grant has not even raised his arms once when his man is driving with the ball to the basket. And I'm not talking about late-game situations when he has four fouls... These are early-game situations when he has none. You can't tell me that he's not capable of being better than that. If the coaches can't figure out a way to teach him, then they are terrible at their jobs.
He can and has been good on defense, which is why GS's question is valid. I don't believe he would be allowed to stay on the floor very long if he were truly playing "defense" on his own the way I described. Which is why it makes sense to many of us that he's been coached to avoid playing defense sometimes.
Mooney said as much with respect to both players. We all are very glad Grant is on the team. We'd be equally glad if he significantly improved on defense, because last year's effort wasn't nearly good enough.
I don’t get the impression that grant is as unathletic as many seem to think. Admittedly, he could move his feet a bit better but he’s reasonably quick for a big guy and clearly is a strong kid. He’s not an above the rim type player but it doesn’t impact his ability to score and he has decent anticipation to block shots.
My sense is what’s holding him back on D isn’t physical tools.
My sense is what’s holding him back on D isn’t physical tools.
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I feel like i saw an article where some one said Cline didn't play aggressive D because he was too important to the offence, and that it was a coaching decision.
Here are some more Rothstein A10 tweets.
At the end of the podcast he talks about Richmond as his sleeper team.
At the end of the podcast he talks about Richmond as his sleeper team.
Here is a great article written by Noah "The Web (TBT) – Where Are They Now?" on A10 Talk. I thought you guys might enjoy reading it. Players in Europe bounce around a lot. Hopefully it is because they keep getting better contracts. https://www.a10talk.com/the-web-tbt-where-are-they-now/
Thanks for the link. It's nice to know where they are pursuing their pro careers.
Some of you guys have gotten on me for grammar jokes and I've reined it in as these are conversational forums. Noah's a journalist, however. I realize it's an online article and there's probably no editor, but come on, man...
"Kevin Andersen"
"Milwaulkee"
"Him and Cline certainly..."
"Spannish"
Perhaps he is aiming for a job in our sports marketing department.
I think Coach retires after contract over and does TV comments for games, and we hire TJ Cline for coach. I think both will be very good with new jobs. My wife thinks Coach look like Ben Afleck.
