Spaceman Spiff wrote:Beachcat97 wrote:At this point, I'm just hoping Smith's age and maturity have a positive impact on the bench. Don't think it makes much sense to expect much from him on the court.
This is what I'd like from Dylan. 10-15 mpg of defense, rebounding, shooting open, rhythm 3's and NOTHING ELSE.
No dribbling. No driving to the basket. 3, D, rebounds and stop there.
I have felt so anti-Smith for the past couple months because he is holding a scholarship that I would much rather be going to Brown. All that said, I look at this team and the one issue I still feel is there is no proven defender other than Smith to guard the perimeter. I'm not saying he is even remotely close to some of the lock-down players we have had: Allen, Nick, TJ, Rondae, Gordon, etc.
I understand Green is supposed to be the athletic defensive stopper that this team needs because of all his intangibles and what he has shown in high school, I hope and really do think that he will be. But, we have had plenty of other recruits come in who fit that bill and never panned out. Hell, two years ago everyone thought Akot was to be groomed as our new go-to defensive stopper, that dude fit the archetype as well as anyone.
Even if Green is elite defensively. Miller's best teams didn't just have one good defensive player, 2013-14 had TJ, Nick, Gordon, Kaleb, Rondae.... 2014-15 had TJ, Kaleb and an absolute terror in Rondae. Also Stanley and York were at the very least serviceable defenders.
The only players I can pretty comfortably say I think will play solid defense are Smith, Green and Chase. BWill and Ira have shown a lot of flashes but unless they make a pretty decent jump in their defense since last year, I can't say they are good defenders.
As much as I would trade away Smith's scholarship in a heartbeat for Brown, I think he will be a real positive to this team in one of it's potential weak spots.
Miller has much more talented players on the offensive side of the ball this year, I trust him to pull the plug on Dylan as soon as he becomes a liability on that end.
We probably only have 1 year of the Nico and Green show, lets not let it get derailed like some of the past years by not having at least a solid defensive team.