11/6 - MBB vs. West Georgia

[MtnWasp]

IMO, George reminds me a lot of Josh Heath (with a higher scoring upside)...someone who looks to facilitate more than score. When George is feeling it, he can put up 10+ points a game as well.

Not to knock Josh Heath or anything, but I have been a little shocked by some posts that suggest that either I am lost in the ethers on George or many fans are woefully under-valuing this player.

George scored at least 15 points in 8 ACC games as a true Freshman (with a high of 24 points in our ACCT loss to ND).

But scoring aside, George's floor vision is truly exceptional. He makes plays that most guards, regardless of level, don't even see. He made a pass against WG where he dribbled right, got into the paint and made a "hook shot" lob pass to a well guarded Baye Ndongo for an easy lay-up that hardly any players would try. He not only sees the play in real time, not only tries that pass, but he does this with a low turnover rate.

And while George is not the quickest guard, he doesn't seem to have any difficulty getting to where he wants to go, and he plays with pace. He's got this stuttered high dribble thing like Chris Mullins that is flat hard to guard. Between his dribbling style, floor vision, quick decision making and efficient passing, George consistently moves defenses and makes our offense flow.

Not to mention that he has demonstrated, even as a Freshman, that he is clutch in tight situations, maybe the rarest of qualities in sport.

This guy is a special player and it saddens me that some GT fans don't even see it even when it is right in front of their noses.

As a fan of high I.Q. players, George became a favorite of mine as soon as I started watching him play. There's nothing machine-like or formulaic about him. He is creative. Against WG it looked to me like he picked-up right where he left off so, I will go to the mattresses for him. I love watching him play.

Enthusiastic thumbs-up for McCollum's first game. He's both high energy and productive. With George and Lance off the bench, that is a seriously promising backcourt.

 

[ESPNjacket]

Not to knock Josh Heath or anything, but I have been a little shocked by some posts that suggest that either I am lost in the ethers on George or many fans are woefully under-valuing this player.

George scored at least 15 points in 8 ACC games as a true Freshman (with a high of 24 points in our ACCT loss to ND).

But scoring aside, George's floor vision is truly exceptional. He makes plays that most guards, regardless of level, don't even see. He made a pass against WG where he dribbled right, got into the paint and made a "hook shot" lob pass to a well guarded Baye Ndongo for an easy lay-up that hardly any players would try. He not only sees the play in real time, not only tries that pass, but he does this with a low turnover rate.

And while George is not the quickest guard, he doesn't seem to have any difficulty getting to where he wants to go, and he plays with pace. He's got this stuttered high dribble thing like Chris Mullins that is flat hard to guard. Between his dribbling style, floor vision, quick decision making and efficient passing, George consistently moves defenses and makes our offense flow.

Not to mention that he has demonstrated, even as a Freshman, that he is clutch in tight situations, maybe the rarest of qualities in sport.

This guy is a special player and it saddens me that some GT fans don't even see it even when it is right in front of their noses.

As a fan of high I.Q. players, George became a favorite of mine as soon as I started watching him play. There's nothing machine-like or formulaic about him. He is creative. Against WG it looked to me like he picked-up right where he left off so, I will go to the mattresses for him. I love watching him play.

Enthusiastic thumbs-up for McCollum's first game. He's both high energy and productive. With George and Lance off the bench, that is a seriously promising backcourt.

I was going to let that comparison go but you are correct.

 

[Silk3]

Full disclosure: I'm in FL this week on a fishing trip so didn't get to watch the game yet.

From what Stoudamire is saying, he's got more guys this year he feels can put points on the board than we had last season. We all know Reeves, Ndongo, Terry can put up points. McCollum, so far, is who we thought he would be. O'Brien, as Stoudamire alluded to, is going to consistently get you around 9 pts/game. Powell is one of those players Stoudamire "can count on". IMO, George reminds me a lot of Josh Heath (with a higher scoring upside)...someone who looks to facilitate more than score. When George is feeling it, he can put up 10+ points a game as well.

IMO, that's a good "base" of players that can produce points for you. I've always thought that good teams have about 4-5 guys that can consistently get you 10-15 pts a game. It appears GT has seven guys that can do that, and possibly 8 once the freshmen find their footing at this level.

We'll see in the next couple of weeks how it shakes out. I'm looking forward to the UGA and Oklahoma games. Those two games will tell us a LOT about this group.

The Josh Heath comp is dresrespectful lmao

 

[Jacketman99]

We should be able to handle ugag unless the refs turn this into a wrestling match by swallowing their whistles which seems to happen more often than not in this matchup. I think we can handle Cincy, but I don't think we will beat Oklahoma. That's the first true road test for this team and I just see us dropping it due to nerves/"hostile" environment. Hopefully it'll be a lesson learned for the rest of the year.

The transfers we have added have played a lot of basketball. I don't think nerves will be an issue at Oklahoma. We just need to play a clean game.

 

[Jacketman99]

Not to knock Josh Heath or anything, but I have been a little shocked by some posts that suggest that either I am lost in the ethers on George or many fans are woefully under-valuing this player.

George scored at least 15 points in 8 ACC games as a true Freshman (with a high of 24 points in our ACCT loss to ND).

But scoring aside, George's floor vision is truly exceptional. He makes plays that most guards, regardless of level, don't even see. He made a pass against WG where he dribbled right, got into the paint and made a "hook shot" lob pass to a well guarded Baye Ndongo for an easy lay-up that hardly any players would try. He not only sees the play in real time, not only tries that pass, but he does this with a low turnover rate.

And while George is not the quickest guard, he doesn't seem to have any difficulty getting to where he wants to go, and he plays with pace. He's got this stuttered high dribble thing like Chris Mullins that is flat hard to guard. Between his dribbling style, floor vision, quick decision making and efficient passing, George consistently moves defenses and makes our offense flow.

Not to mention that he has demonstrated, even as a Freshman, that he is clutch in tight situations, maybe the rarest of qualities in sport.

This guy is a special player and it saddens me that some GT fans don't even see it even when it is right in front of their noses.

As a fan of high I.Q. players, George became a favorite of mine as soon as I started watching him play. There's nothing machine-like or formulaic about him. He is creative. Against WG it looked to me like he picked-up right where he left off so, I will go to the mattresses for him. I love watching him play.

Enthusiastic thumbs-up for McCollum's first game. He's both high energy and productive. With George and Lance off the bench, that is a seriously promising backcourt.

I'm right there with you. I am not sure a lot of fans realize how good this kid is. His assist numbers as a freshman were right up there with some of our best pgs as a freshman. The offense runs so much smoother when he is in the game. He has good size and his shooting is improving the more he plays. He knows where and how to get guys passes in scoring positions.

 

[gte447f]

Full disclosure: I'm in FL this week on a fishing trip so didn't get to watch the game yet.

From what Stoudamire is saying, he's got more guys this year he feels can put points on the board than we had last season. We all know Reeves, Ndongo, Terry can put up points. McCollum, so far, is who we thought he would be. O'Brien, as Stoudamire alluded to, is going to consistently get you around 9 pts/game. Powell is one of those players Stoudamire "can count on". IMO, George reminds me a lot of Josh Heath (with a higher scoring upside)...someone who looks to facilitate more than score. When George is feeling it, he can put up 10+ points a game as well.

IMO, that's a good "base" of players that can produce points for you. I've always thought that good teams have about 4-5 guys that can consistently get you 10-15 pts a game. It appears GT has seven guys that can do that, and possibly 8 once the freshmen find their footing at this level.

We'll see in the next couple of weeks how it shakes out. I'm looking forward to the UGA and Oklahoma games. Those two games will tell us a LOT about this group.

Techster, looks like you stepped in it with your evaluation of Nait the Great and especially the Josh Heath comparison…

 

[MtnWasp]

I'm right there with you. I am not sure a lot of fans realize how good this kid is. His assist numbers as a freshman were right up there with some of our best pgs as a freshman. The offense runs so much smoother when he is in the game. He has good size and his shooting is improving the more he plays. He knows where and how to get guys passes in scoring positions.

In addition to George's outstanding floor vision, quick decision making, creative play-making and a knack for being clutch, I should have included unusually good situational awareness. He rarely takes bad shots. He tries to do the right thing at the right time. Nait can read the room.

I can understand some fans not being impressed. He's not explosive. He doesn't hunt a pretty jump shot nor does he have an explosive pet move he wants to exploit over and over like most star players do.

But if explosiveness leads to easy buckets, then George is explosive between the ears.

I have posted this before, but ACC coaches paid George a huge compliment last year as an early adjustment they made against GT was to deny George the ball. They trapped him in the back court to make him pass it off and then designated a defender to deny him the ball. This strategy spoke directly to the analytics showing that GT was much more efficient with the ball in George's hands.

Now with McCollum on the team, I hope that strategy will not be as beneficial.

In tight competitive games this season, I think we will see him attempt more field goals than what we will see in the small school pre-season games. I think he was content to get his team mates easy buckets in a game where the team was up 20+ points and where we had a front court size advantage.

 

[Techster]

Techster, looks like you stepped in it with your evaluation of Nait the Great and especially the Josh Heath comparison…

LOL...people are taking the comparison too literal and not reading what I wrote.

That's OK. I'm enjoying 80 degree weather trolling around on a center console in the Gulf with an adult beverage, and I got people pulling their hair out over a message board. Give me all the hate.

I still love all of you. Better debating player comparisons than losses.

 

[kg01]

LOL...people are taking the comparison too literal and not reading what I wrote.

That's OK. I'm enjoying 80 degree weather trolling around on a center console in the Gulf with an adult beverage, and I got people pulling their hair out over a message board. Give me all the hate.

I still love all of you. Better debating player comparisons than losses.

I guess our invitations got lost in the mail?

 

[MtnWasp]

I still love all of you. Better debating player comparisons than losses.

I was just looking for an excuse to love on George.

 

[78pike]

In addition to George's outstanding floor vision, quick decision making, creative play-making and a knack for being clutch, I should have included unusually good situational awareness. He rarely takes bad shots. He tries to do the right thing at the right time. Nait can read the room.

I can understand some fans not being impressed. He's not explosive. He doesn't hunt a pretty jump shot nor does he have an explosive pet move he wants to exploit over and over like most star players do.

But if explosiveness leads to easy buckets, then George is explosive between the ears.

I have posted this before, but ACC coaches paid George a huge compliment last year as an early adjustment they made against GT was to deny George the ball. They trapped him in the back court to make him pass it off and then designated a defender to deny him the ball. This strategy spoke directly to the analytics showing that GT was much more efficient with the ball in George's hands.

Now with McCollum on the team, I hope that strategy will not be as beneficial.

In tight competitive games this season, I think we will see him attempt more field goals than what we will see in the small school pre-season games. I think he was content to get his team mates easy buckets in a game where the team was up 20+ points and where we had a front court size advantage.

I tend to disagree. Last year we needed Nait to be a scoring option. This year not so much. I think we will see Nait be a facilitator and distributor which are his strong suits especially given that we have more shooters on this team than last year. That being said, he is a capable enough scorer that if teams choose to back off of him he can and will shoot it. But I personally think he will drive the ball more and look to make scoring chances for his teammates.

 

[MtnWasp]

He's got to be enough of a scoring threat to prevent teams from sagging off him.

 

[orientalnc]

I tend to disagree. Last year we needed Nait to be a scoring option. This year not so much. I think we will see Nait be a facilitator and distributor which are his strong suits especially given that we have more shooters on this team than last year. That being said, he is a capable enough scorer that if teams choose to back off of him he can and will shoot it. But I personally think he will drive the ball more and look to make scoring chances for his teammates.

These are all interesting thoughts, but CDS comes from the NBA where you attack the opponent's weakness. When we play UNC it won't be their guards, for instance. Against uga, it isn't likely to be Newell. So, how much George scores will depend on two things: what the game plan is and whether he is hitting the shots he gets. Having McCollum on the floor will make for interesting matchups at guard this year.

 

[orientalnc]

He's got to be enough of a scoring threat to prevent teams from sagging off him.

You cannot sag off a player you are trying to deny the ball.

 

[MtnWasp]

You cannot sag off a player you are trying to deny the ball.

He was a scoring threat last year. What Pike78 was saying is that because we have more scoring threats this year that George is going to be, primarily, a facilitator. I think we are going to see more balance from him than that.

Do you predict that ACC defenses will continue deny George this season?

 

[Techster]

I was just looking for an excuse to love on George.

He deserves all the kudos. George will be a 4 year legacy type player for us. Trust me, I rate him highly.

 

[brandon_cox]

All time Nait George. Historic last 6 minutes (including overtime)

 

[AUFC]

All time Nait George. Historic last 6 minutes (including overtime)

I was in my living room alone and don't think I had a voice by the end of this game. Just got chills again watching the step back 3 he hits to make it a 4 point game with under a minute to go in OT.

 

[Peacone36]

Who is UGA’s worst player that averages 15 mpg? That guy is gonna score 17-20 points.

 

[AUFC]

nm