Is there any reason why I would want to start this guy anywhere other than SF? I am trying to figure out how to best utilize his good PE and great LP. For background, this is Rupp Division I.

Frederic Baillie (Soon to be senior) Please note, I recognize that he is not a world beater, but he is good for my crappy team and poor coaching ability.

ATH 64, SP 46, RE 73, DEF 48, SB 31, LP 98, PE 66, BH 46, P 52, WE 87, ST 78, DU 64, FT B

With A- Offense (motion) and DEF running a halfcourt press/m2m or fullcourt press


I have his 3pt shooting set at -1 but thought that the 66 PE would translate into at least a decent 3PT% (this season was 38%). Should I set to -2 to get more of the LP advantage? Any other way to tweak my plan to get him more opportunities to score and at a higher level? At SF am I losing out on the benefit of his 98 LP? I was thinking of moving him to PF for that reason, but that seems to negate his good balance of PE and REB/LP for a SF.

Any help is appreciated?

I'd play him at PF, his low shot blocking isn't that big of a deal and his lack of speed makes him less effective when he plays SF.

A couple suggestions for you, however:
- drop your press all together and go full time man to man. You are not forcing nearly enough turnovers with your press to continue running it and your man defense suffers because of the lack of IQ's. Your team is just not fast enough to press at D1. If you want to keep pressing, then drop the man defense and start recruiting speed as a requirement, ie, no guards under 80-85 speed and no bigs under 40-45 speed. Your team average speed on the court is what is going to get you turnovers, and your defense rating is what's going to limit fouls. I just don't think it's possible (or at the very least, it's extremely difficult) to run a combo defense at Division 1, especially as a mid major.

- I would try to avoid anyone at the D1 level that does not hit at least 60 ath (outside of a true PG that has 85+ bh/pass) , and that's a bare minimum. I would be shooting for team averages in the low to mid 70's in ath and defense, anything above that is a bonus. Your sophomore big (Jamie Lewis) is just not athletic enough to ever make an impact at the D1 level. If you go to team ratings, every single good team has a good ath and defense rating.

- I'd play Ballie on -2, using his 66 perim as a turnaround jumper away from the basket and really trying to take advantage of that low post rating. He's a nice player, I just don't think -1 is worth it for a guy like that since you have some guards that can get you 3 pointers.

You have some real nice players for a mid major, you're not far away at all. Feel free to sitemail me if you have any more questions. I'm not the greatest coach out there but I think I know what I'm doing for the most part.

Keep him at SF.  You are not losing out on his strong LP rating by playing him at SF.  I would definitely put him at -2, as his perimeter isn't very good and his speed is low. If you put him at -2, then he'd also get to the FT line a lot more.   A SF with a great LP can score a ton.   I don't know his potential, but if he has room to grow in ATH, I'd pump a lot of practice minutes into conditioning.   Boosting his ATH as much as possible should be a priority. 

I looked at your roster and I see you have a guy Stewart who looks like he'll be a great scorer next year.  Just as good as Baille.   I would also suggest giving Coughlin more minutes than Lewis.  Lewis' ATH is quite low that will limit his offense, defense, and rebounding. 

I would also suggest that you should put all of your PFs and Cs on your squad right now to -2 because they all have atrocious PE ratings.  You don't want them taking 3s ever. 

One last piece of advice, and probably a few coaches disagree with me.  But I think it would be smart to stop practicing 2 defenses.  It wastes a lot of practice minutes that can go into developing your players.  I would suggest picking one and sticking with it. 

Posted by utahjazz88 on 7/21/2011 4:35:00 PM (view original):
Keep him at SF.  You are not losing out on his strong LP rating by playing him at SF.  I would definitely put him at -2, as his perimeter isn't very good and his speed is low. If you put him at -2, then he'd also get to the FT line a lot more.   A SF with a great LP can score a ton.   I don't know his potential, but if he has room to grow in ATH, I'd pump a lot of practice minutes into conditioning.   Boosting his ATH as much as possible should be a priority. 

I looked at your roster and I see you have a guy Stewart who looks like he'll be a great scorer next year.  Just as good as Baille.   I would also suggest giving Coughlin more minutes than Lewis.  Lewis' ATH is quite low that will limit his offense, defense, and rebounding. 

I would also suggest that you should put all of your PFs and Cs on your squad right now to -2 because they all have atrocious PE ratings.  You don't want them taking 3s ever. 

One last piece of advice, and probably a few coaches disagree with me.  But I think it would be smart to stop practicing 2 defenses.  It wastes a lot of practice minutes that can go into developing your players.  I would suggest picking one and sticking with it. 

RE: your last part, I couldn't agree more. I tried a combo defense at midmajor (Alcorn State in Phelan) and wondered why I didn't have more success.. once I dropped my press and went to a full man defense, I won 25+ games multiple years in a row

Thanks for the feedback - I think that I will drop the press for now. I ran mostly m2m last season because many of my players had (and still have) mediocre stamina. You both just gave me another reason to abandon the press idea. 

I would play him at PF. But he wouldn't be on my team, def is way too low for me.