Lon/Trae

[Soonerinkc]

Yes, this collection of players outside of Trae Young who went 11-20 last year is totally being held back by him.

Young is good...BUT this isn't a "team". I could almost guarantee, just as much as any could guarantee not, that the "team" is having some jelling issues. Most competitive athletes have a me first mentality...TY's/Manek's success, replacing 2 starters from last year (who actually played pretty good last year) will have an effect.

 

[AdaSooner]

Yeah this team that was 11-20 last year is totally being held back by Trae Young

Thanks for reminding these guys with short memories! Without TY, this team would be well on their way to another losing season with no chance at a post season birth.

Does anyone really believe our back up point guard can run this offense? How many wins that can be directly or indirectly attributed to Trae do you think we would have right now?

Unbelievable! :facepalm

 

[hoopsaustin]

Thanks for reminding these guys with short memories! Without TY, this team would be well on their way to another losing season with no chance at a post season birth.

Does anyone really believe our back up point guard can run this offense? How many wins that can be directly or indirectly attributed to Trae do you think we would have right now?

Unbelievable! :facepalm

Exactly :ez-roll:

 

[Soonerinkc]

Ada,
I agree and understand. I do wonder if he wasn't here would the others have developed more. Everyone (coaches included) end up relying on a stud player too much sometimes.

I'm glad he chose OU...I'd like to see him stay, get everyone more involved (ref to above statement) and as I've stated before the "chemistry" has got to improve. It doesn't seem good right now.

 

[allday92]

When you have high usage players like Trae and Russ, they obviously make the team better than if they weren't on the team, but I don't know if the team can reach its full potential. Look at players such as Oladipo and Sabonis they are having better years now then they did with Russ. Having someone dominate the ball for such long stretches can/will have negative effects on the rest of the players. Just touching the ball every once in a while can get and keep a player in rhythm. This is where Lon needs to come in and shake things up.

A good example of a high usage player taking the next step and having a positive impact on his team is Steph Curry. With Mark Jackson, he had a lot more freedom. Under Kerr, they've embraced the philosophy of "Strength in Numbers." Kerr uses Steph as a decoy all the time and has him set screens for Zaza Pachulia of all players. Lon needs to embrace some of this. Have Trae set screens, use him as a decoy, and have his gravity open up shots for other players. Granted he's not playing with Klay, KD and Draymond but the concepts still exist.

Bottom Line: Trae makes the team better and with more guidance from Lon he and the team can take the next step.

 

[AdaSooner]

Ada,
I agree and understand. I do wonder if he wasn't here would the others have developed more. Everyone (coaches included) end up relying on a stud player too much sometimes.

I'm glad he chose OU...I'd like to see him stay, get everyone more involved (ref to above statement) and as I've stated before the "chemistry" has got to improve. It doesn't seem good right now.

The chemistry hasn’t been good, but it was much better in tonight’s game.

I was thrilled to see last year’s McGusty show up. Doo didn’t do much on offense, but he worked his tail off on defense. Both are improvements I wanted to see. More importantly, they were a sign the chemistry issues may be over now.

CJ and Muni played well. Trae’s shooting from deep definitely hurt, but I shudder to think about where we’d be without him. I’m optimistic now that we’ll win our home games.

 

[sperry]

I get it, we haven't been playing well. But we lost to a flat out better team tonight on the road. Our supporting cast played well. Trae couldn't buy a bucket, but he didn't play out of control.

Saturday is make or break for the season. Gotta beat Texas at home.

 

[Chiefdaddy]

Here's a stat I just read: Trae Young is 7-41 from 3 point range in his last 4 games. Wow.

 

[Soonerinkc]

The chemistry hasn’t been good, but it was much better in tonight’s game.

I was thrilled to see last year’s McGusty show up. Doo didn’t do much on offense, but he worked his tail off on defense. Both are improvements I wanted to see. More importantly, they were a sign the chemistry issues may be over now.

CJ and Muni played well. Trae’s shooting from deep definitely hurt, but I shudder to think about where we’d be without him. I’m optimistic now that we’ll win our home games.

I didn't see 2nd half, baseball with the boy. 1st half was pretty decent, minus several very bad def rebounding efforts resulting in 6 points for tt.

Hopefully things are getting smoother.

 

[DenverSooner]

This is just nonsense. Trae has conducted himself well in the media and is an amazing talent. Does he try to do too much at times, yes. He is a freshman and plays like it at times.

Lon Kruger is a great basketball coach and an even better person. Virtually everyone with knowledge of sports or knowledge of Lon Kruger will agree. He believes in being positive. That does not make him a bad coach. 30+ years of major head coaching experience proves he is a good coach.

 

[61sooner]

It's possible OU will play it's way out of the Tournament. Lot of time yu hear how they look at the final 10 games. If OU goes 3-7 or 2-8 they may be on the outside of the top 68 especially if there are conference tourney upsets.
Trae probably an AA but is shooting his way out of POY honors.

 

[oudna]

It's possible OU will play it's way out of the Tournament. Lot of time yu hear how they look at the final 10 games. If OU goes 3-7 or 2-8 they may be on the outside of the top 68 especially if there are conference tourney upsets.
Trae probably an AA but is shooting his way out of POY honors.

Last 10 games is no longer taken into account

They’ve made a point of equally including entire body of work

 

[oudna]

I didn't see 2nd half, baseball with the boy. 1st half was pretty decent, minus several very bad def rebounding efforts resulting in 6 points for tt.

Hopefully things are getting smoother.

There was about a 5 minute stretch in the second half I thought he was playing for Tech

 

[WaymanFan]

This is just nonsense. Trae has conducted himself well in the media and is an amazing talent. Does he try to do too much at times, yes. He is a freshman and plays like it at times.

Lon Kruger is a great basketball coach and an even better person. Virtually everyone with knowledge of sports or knowledge of Lon Kruger will agree. He believes in being positive. That does not make him a bad coach. 30+ years of major head coaching experience proves he is a good coach.

Good points, but we need to start winning some basketball games. When you lose game after game after game, eventually it wears on people. I don't remember who said it, but I'll echo it: "Winning cures all."

 

[thebigabd]

Guys this is the worst coaching job Lon has done since he has been at OU, I believe he made a deal to get Trae and no matter what he is going to honor that deal.

:OUbball-logo:Trae Young is a hot dog, he gives off an attitude that he is the team, he makes way to many mistake for a play with talent but when you have an attitude that "I'm the man" then you do what you want. We lost tonight because of mistakes, Trae made way to many trying to be Mr. Hot Dog, I for one hope he goes to the NBA so that OU will get back to being a TEAM and Lon gets back to being the coach we all know he is and should be.

Nice post

 

[Soonerman]

Guys this is the worst coaching job Lon has done since he has been at OU, I believe he made a deal to get Trae and no matter what he is going to honor that deal.

:OUbball-logo:Trae Young is a hot dog, he gives off an attitude that he is the team, he makes way to many mistake for a play with talent but when you have an attitude that "I'm the man" then you do what you want. We lost tonight because of mistakes, Trae made way to many trying to be Mr. Hot Dog, I for one hope he goes to the NBA so that OU will get back to being a TEAM and Lon gets back to being the coach we all know he is and should be.

:ez-roll:

 

[Jccouger]

Here's a stat I just read: Trae Young is 7-41 from 3 point range in his last 4 games. Wow.

And he keeps jacking it up from 30+ feet.
Might as well count as a turnover.

 

[DenverSooner]

The only thing Lon needs to do is have Trae rein in the loooong 3s, because he's terrible at them. Otherwise, you want the best player on your team doing things.

I agree with this. It is one thing for him to take some of those after he has made a few threes but when his shot is not falling, I don't think 25 foot 3 pointers is the answer. And I say this with full knowledge he has struggled early, hit some of those and then gone off. However, I view those as low percentage shots and more likely to lead to more frustration and more forced shots.

 

[AdaSooner]

And he keeps jacking it up from 30+ feet.
Might as well count as a turnover.

We get it! You don’t like the way TY is playing!

I couldn’t help but notice you didn’t have a thing to say early in the season when the team was playing well and knocking off one top ten team after another. You have been a member here almost since the board was launched in October, 2008, so it’s not like you haven’t had the opportunity to add something positive. Except for that Nick Thompson post you made sometime ago, you have remained silent through the good times, even OU’s final four run.

Why now? Why did you wait until this team went on a losing streak before you graced us with your great insight into what is wrong with this team? Frankly, you’re beginning to look more like a troll than someone who is genuinely interested in seeing OU turn this season around. So, tell me Mr. Cougar, what kind of game are you playing? Troll from another school, or a disgruntled fan with a personal ax to grind?

 

[sooner333]

Maybe you, soonermarty, oketex, et al should just watch Hoosiers on repeat instead of watching ou/okc anymore this year.

Jimmy Chitwood was a ball hog