Italics wrote:
Great thread. We do need this guy. Such a great addition if he can continue to come along. He adds that tyler Haws-like element of both running, outside shooting and solid rebounding. Whether he ends up starting over KC and CA or fills at the 4, love the depth that seems to be starting to develop.
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agreed, I didn't originally think we'd miss Haws that much this year since we were already such a great shooting team without him, but this year our shooting percentage has been pretty sub-par, and so having Rogers step up as a consistent shooter could be huge for us, especially on nights when Jimmer and Emery are off.
Haws has been a bigger hole to fill than most of us realized simply because a fast-paced offense is most effective when it has OPTIONS. It was mentioned before that the dangerous thing about Haws was that his shot forced a defender to camp in his lap. If anyone didn't, he got the ball and the shot went down. If they did, that opened everything up more. In as much transition ball as we played last year, it was great having 4 guys out there who could knock down almost any shot on the run. We really don't have that this year (the ability to do it on the run, that is). KC is a slasher, but hasn't got the spot-up mentality (or stroke) that Haws has, and neither Hartsock nor Davies have the speed OR shot that Tavernari had. He could actually start a break better than many of us gave him credit for, because in his heart, he was a 2, but he had a great nose for the rebound (wasn't he 2nd on the team? Not bad for a 6'5 kid). Both Haws and Tavernari just had this instinctual skill to move well with or without the ball in the open court. We now have only Jimmer and Jax who we trust 1)to actually BE at the other end of the court before the defense, and 2) to make the shot when it comes to them, which I think is why Rose has toned the speed-demon down a bit, and worked us out of a half-court set much more often (and effectively).
And as it relates to the break, preliminarily, that's why I like what I've seen from Rogers. He'd be a good compliment to Jimmer and Jax in that he can be the guy who takes the pass on the break and pulls up like Tyler was. I was always SO afraid when JT would stop-and-pop - that wasn't his style of rhythm. His best 3-ball was out of a swing-it setup. If he was gonna shoot on a break, I only felt comfortable with layups from him. He was useful, though, because he was a 4 that could run on the break. Rogers can play the 4, but he's got the quickness to be a JT type break-runner, AND the shooting style to be a good stop-and-pop option like Haws.
I actually like the hybrid style we've settled into. We can run when the opportunity presents itself (4 guys on the floor who can run), but we've shown that we can make plenty of shots with the defense in front of us. Charles and Kyle are both better half-courters, imo. Now that we've got three (when CC is healthy) actual post-players who'll see considerable time, chances are good we're going to have 2 guys on the court who are not expected to be down the court before a defender is on a break. That limits us to only 3 options at any one time who are our "breakers," so we pull it back, settle into a half-court set with competent (if not overpowering) big-men, and make a defense choose whether to play us 3 on 4 with a doubled Jimmer, which we've shown we can easily beat, or let Jimmer go off on just one defender.
I agree though, for our offense this year, Rogers can be effective in either part of the hybrid. The Hawaii game showed that he can make smart decisions and take good shots in the half-court, but he's also got the nose to be a court-stretcher.
