Derrick vs Junior.....

[IWB]

Ok, with all of the people complaining about Derrick, let's take a look at Derrick vs Junior in their Junior years.

First off, remember that in Junior's jr year, he had already had a full season as the starter, and he was playing alongside Jae Crowder, Darius Johnson-Odom and Vander Blue. In his first year as a starter he had Dwight Buycks and Jimmy Butler - great players to work with in your 1st & 2nd year as a starter.

Ok, so at this point in their junior years......

MPG PPG Assists T/O Junior Cadougan 25.86 6.9 5.0 2.33 Derrick Wilson 28.9 4.6 3.8 1.3

Not that far off, and Derrick doesn't have a Jae Crowder or DJO etc. playing alongside of him.

[MU88]

Unlike Junior, Derrick doesn't force the action. He doesn't take risks. Junior had more turnovers, but more assists too. Derrick doesn't look for his shot, even when unguarded. He is looking to move the ball around the perimeter. Look, he is a fine backup point. He should not start.

[Markedman]

I think sometimes its hard to judge a point guard by stats.

Many times Junior would look for a seam in the half court D..take it hard to the rim and miss the shot but because the defense had to converge on him it left an easy offensive rebound basket. Also if you make a good pass and Gardner is fouled going up for the shot…no assist but still points for the team.

Derrick is definitely better at not turning it over but teams have not pressed us this year either……..

The one thing that I did notice is Christian went off in the first half when Derrick went to the bench…….in the 2nd half he made those 2 tough 3’s but you couldn’t ask for better D then Derrick played on both of them…..

Sometimes you just have to credit the other team…...

[TedBaxter]

I think sometimes its hard to judge a point guard by stats.

Many times Junior would look for a seem in the half court D..take it hard to the rim and miss the shot but because the defense had to converge on him it left an easy offensive rebound basket. Also if you make a good pass and Gardner is fouled going up for the shot…no assist but still points for the team.

Derrick is definitely better at not turning it over but teams have not pressed us this year either……..

The one thing that I did notice is Christian went off in the first half when Derrick went to the bench…….in the 2nd half he made those 2 tough 3’s but you couldn’t ask for better D then Derrick played on both of them…..

Sometimes you just have to credit the other team…...

Dawson went to the basket late in the first half and his miss allowed Gardner to follow up. Need more of that.

[bleedbluegold03]

so what you're telling me is Junior was a below average starting PG in the BEast, and Derrick is actually the worst.

[MUfan12]

Dawson went to the basket late in the first half and his miss allowed Gardner to follow up. Need more of that.

Agreed. They don't have anyone that forces help, and that causes the offense to stagnate.

We complain about the outside shooting, but this is a root cause of their struggles offensively.

[TAS35]

The only problem I have with Derrick is that he never attacks. He never puts the defense in a position to have to quickly rotate to help, which opens up passing lanes and open shots. The downside of him being so "steady" is that the defense has an easier time staying intact. That is why we struggle to get open shots and struggle to score. Sure, Junior would turn the ball over more, but he would drive full force at the rim quite a bit. By his senior year he had a mid range pull up that was pretty good, so he could punish the defender that sagged off him on his drives. Derrick has none of that, so we never get easy shots.

On the flip side, I don't see that in Dawson yet, either, plus he is a poorer defender than Derrick. So I don't really fault Buzz as he doesn't have great options.

Vander leaving hurts here the most. He could be that guy at the point this year, and Duane and Dawson might be ready to take over next year.

[IrwinFletcher]

Ok, with all of the people complaining about Derrick, let's take a look at Derrick vs Junior in their Junior years.

First off, remember that in Junior's jr year, he had already had a full season as the starter, and he was playing alongside Jae Crowder, Darius Johnson-Odom and Vander Blue. In his first year as a starter he had Dwight Buycks and Jimmy Butler - great players to work with in your 1st & 2nd year as a starter.

Ok, so at this point in their junior years......

MPG PPG Assists T/O Junior Cadougan 25.86 6.9 5.0 2.33 Derrick Wilson 28.9 4.6 3.8 1.3

Not that far off, and Derrick doesn't have a Jae Crowder or DJO etc. playing alongside of him.

So Junior was directly accountable for 16.9 ppg, while Derrick is accountble for about 12.2. That is about 5 ppg difference. That is significant.

I think the one big thing that DW doesn't do that Junior was great at (and I saw Dawson do a bit last night) is that he really pushed the ball forward, even after a made basket. We used to get a lot of easy baskets off of transition and just simple beating the other team down the court. X did that to us last night for a number of easy buckets. DW gets the ball and either walks it up or goes half speed.

Now that might be under the directive of Buzz for all I know. But Junior was so good at that.

[TheSultan]

So Junior was directly accountable for 16.9 ppg, while Derrick is accountble for about 12.2. That is about 5 ppg difference. That is significant.

You have to account for the difference in turnovers and the better defense to make it fair.

[IrwinFletcher]

Fair enough. The difference in TO's is one a game. How many PPP does our opponents score on avg? 1? 0.9?0.8?

Factoring that in you are still around 4 ppg difference. Looking how we have fared in 6 of our losses, those 4 points go a long way.

Now in regards to the defense - I will let you try and figure out that statistical impact.