Facts

[Matthew G]

This season has completely fallen apart, but most are blind (or choose to be) to the actual reasons.



Fact: Trae has never been able to produce for his team in playoffs or late season. He couldn't do it in high school (failed to win a State Title with 4 D-1 players), and didn't even get there the other three years--simply put: he struggles with leading. He is a side-show...a gifted sideshow, but not a consistent and reliable weapon either in taking care of the ball or defensively. These areas cost teams heavily over the course of the season. He gives as much momentum over a year as he creates.

Good thing Trae never won the Peach Jam with Mokan Elite or anything....


Not like he averaged 28 points 7+ assists during that tournament as the primary ball handler.



Now, for the rest of the points, Trae's defense has been a liability, yes. It's hurt OU defensively, yes. At the same time, this team has a leadership issue. That's their problem. Whether it's because of the hype Trae gets or what, they have a leadership issue. Last night showed exactly what's happened during February. When Trae makes plays for others, and they fail, he starts chucking it from 30 feet trying to do it all, and it usually fails. Then everyone else sees that and packs it in. Nobody plays when you can't score. There's no leader on this team

 

[chuckb]

I could not possibly agree more with Postman's post. It is, without a doubt, the best post I've read here in some time. This was an experiment that could have worked out extraordinarily but has failed. The guys who remain next year will be much better next year if the team can get a PG and a scheme that fits their abilities.

None of this makes Trae a bad player or teammate, nor does it say the same about anyone else on the team, nor does it make Kruger or the assistants bad coaches. They tried something that could have been tremendous. Instead it failed. Sometimes stuff happens.

I personally believe that people should be given the freedom to experiment and try new things, all the while knowing that it might blow up in our faces. But this is not an epic disaster. This doesn't set the program back significantly. It's just a terrible ending to what could have been a great season.

 

[chuckb]

On those 28 foot 3 pointers: I'm sure they are terribly deflating for the team. What never gets mentioned, however, is that they basically end up as live-ball turnovers that become run-outs for the other team. When announcers say that Trae has 5 TO's for the game, that doesn't count the 4 or 5 horrific shots he took that are essentially turnovers also. And all his turnovers seem to end up as transition buckets for the other team. Sometimes I think the team would be better off if those shots were just thrown out of bounds instead of bouncing to some guard on the other team because at least OU could get back on defense.

 

[stormspencer]

On those 28 foot 3 pointers: I'm sure they are terribly deflating for the team. What never gets mentioned, however, is that they basically end up as live-ball turnovers that become run-outs for the other team. When announcers say that Trae has 5 TO's for the game, that doesn't count the 4 or 5 horrific shots he took that are essentially turnovers also. And all his turnovers seem to end up as transition buckets for the other team. Sometimes I think the team would be better off if those shots were just thrown out of bounds instead of bouncing to some guard on the other team because at least OU could get back on defense.

Chuck.....you, me, and several others have lamented that these long shots are not good decisions by Trae and typically lead to immediate negative results.....and it certainly has an effect on our transition defense. I wish Lon would do something about this (and to be honest, maybe he has, yet Trae won't listen....I don't know). I don't have the answers....sigh.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Chuck.....you, me, and several others have lamented that these long shots are not good decisions by Trae and typically lead to immediate negative results.....and it certainly has an effect on our transition defense. I wish Lon would do something about this (and to be honest, maybe he has, yet Trae won't listen....I don't know). I don't have the answers....sigh.

I still find this particular topic fascinating. We have won multiple home games that we absolutely would not have won without Trae hitting tons of very deep threes late in the game. Baylor and TCU come to mind immediately If the deep threes are bad shots, then you all need to come on here and complain about them after those games, too. The depth of his shots is never an issue for me. I do think he sometimes takes unnecessarily tough shots early in the clock, but that is different than just complaining because he is 8-10 feet behind the arc. But I rarely see him taking the poor shots in games where his teammates are doing anything to help offensively. He tends to do it when no one else is scoring and he feels like he has to force the issue.

 

[stormspencer]

I still find this particular topic fascinating. We have won multiple home games that we absolutely would not have won without Trae hitting tons of very deep threes late in the game. Baylor and TCU come to mind immediately If the deep threes are bad shots, then you all need to come on here and complain about them after those games, too. The depth of his shots is never an issue for me. I do think he sometimes takes unnecessarily tough shots early in the clock, but that is different than just complaining because he is 8-10 feet behind the arc. But I rarely see him taking the poor shots in games where his teammates are doing anything to help offensively. He tends to do it when no one else is scoring and he feels like he has to force the issue.

As the year has gone along, he has taken less deep 3s....thank God. Also, if you go back many game threads, I've always eschewed the long 3 because the risk far outweighs the reward. It's great when he makes them (and I concede we have won a game or two because of them), but I would bet he is somewhere around 15% from that range in league play.....and that is a problem. It's not a formula for success....as mentioned above, it leads to poor transition defense and lackluster offensive flow.

Could his teammates help him out more?....certainly they could. But jacking up 28 footers will not resolve the issue even if his teammates aren't up to the task that night. My answer is to find a way to get to the basket more often and attempt to get to the FT line. Trae's eFG% has fallen considerably during conference play.....thus, the only way he can directly affect that fall in percentage is to make up for those points at the line.

 

[schoonerdriver]

Good thing Trae never won the Peach Jam with Mokan Elite or anything....


Not like he averaged 28 points 7+ assists during that tournament as the primary ball handler.

Glorified pick up games. Purely for showcase and not playing winning team basketball. This is how Trae plays every game. High risk plays are the norm. Just like the final minutes of KSU game Saturday and we are trying to ice the game. Trae throws a cross court pass that gets picked off. Those plays will lose you games.

Sent from my VS990 using Tapatalk

 

[chuckb]

I still find this particular topic fascinating. We have won multiple home games that we absolutely would not have won without Trae hitting tons of very deep threes late in the game. Baylor and TCU come to mind immediately If the deep threes are bad shots, then you all need to come on here and complain about them after those games, too. The depth of his shots is never an issue for me. I do think he sometimes takes unnecessarily tough shots early in the clock, but that is different than just complaining because he is 8-10 feet behind the arc. But I rarely see him taking the poor shots in games where his teammates are doing anything to help offensively. He tends to do it when no one else is scoring and he feels like he has to force the issue.

To me, the problem isn't the shots themselves. The problem is those that are contested early in the shot clock. Those are absolutely bad shots. If the team runs some offense and he's got some space, it's no longer a bad shot. The difference is that those shots are being contested now and weren't earlier in the year. You probably noticed that the opposing team's defense starting picking Trae up basically as soon as he crosses halfcourt and, as soon as that began, his shooting percentage went way down.

BTW, it's tough for anyone else to help offensively if they never have the ball in their hands. Just look at the % of possession numbers and compare Young to other players in the country.

Trae Young -- 38.9% -- easily highest in the country. No other Big 12 player is even in the top 100. (Interestingly, checking in at #99 is Akolda Manyang at Utah Valley.)

Keenan Evans -- 27.4%
Jevon Carter -- 25.4%
Devonte Graham -- 25.1%

Even Collin Sexton at Alabama is just 32.3%.

The ball just stagnates as everyone stands around watching the Trae Young show. It's difficult to blame the others for not doing their part on offense if they never touch the ball and the team isn't running offensive sets to get them the ball.

 

[152219]

From an ESPN Insider article about Trae's draft stock

Part of that is undoubtedly due to how bad his supporting cast is, and it was jarring to see how little help they provided him early on, blowing wide-open layups and 3-pointers, being unable to make simple catches and getting pummeled all game inside the paint by a much more physical Baylor squad. Young actually started the game well (though he wasn't rewarded for it on the stat-sheet), but he quickly appeared disheartened by his lack of help and the way the game evolved.


The article does talk about his poor defense and "frail" body.