Something I've noticed about Carl Blair

[AdaSooner]

Am I the only one who has noticed that a higher percentage of Carl's turnovers are unforced, where he dribbles the ball off of his foot or leg, or relaxes too much and allows an opponent to steal the ball away?

I think it's safe to say that the majority of turnovers occur in traffic. Yet, Carl is actually pretty good at penetrating the middle and creating a shot or getting fouled. His TOs seem to come at the most unexpected times, when he's in the open court and not being pressured all that much.

That appears to suggest that many of his turnovers are caused by a lack of focus and concentration. But I won't rule out the possibility that he doesn't handle the ball well enough to scan the floor for passing opportunities and control his dribble at the same time.

Am I on to something here, or is the answer "all of the above" in Carl's case? I have been exploring this topic in my mind, because I believe he could be a really good point guard if he could cut down on his TOs and work on his lateral speed and quickness to improve his defense. But with his ongoing problems of giving the ball up at the most inopportune times and in guarding the opponent's point guard, it's easy to see why Coach Capel and his staff are making a special effort to bring in another PG next year.

 

[jmizzy4ou]

Am I the only one who has noticed that a higher percentage of Carl's turnovers are unforced, where he dribbles the ball off of his foot or leg, or relaxes too much and allows an opponent to steal the ball away?

I think it's safe to say that the majority of turnovers occur in traffic. Yet, Carl is actually pretty good at penetrating the middle and creating a shot or getting fouled. His TOs seem to come at the most unexpected times, when he's in the open court and not being pressured all that much.

That appears to suggest that many of his turnovers are caused by a lack of focus and concentration. But I won't rule out the possibility that he doesn't handle the ball well enough to scan the floor for passing opportunities and control his dribble at the same time.

Am I on to something here, or is the answer "all of the above" in Carl's case? I have been exploring this topic in my mind, because I believe he could be a really good point guard if he could cut down on his TOs and work on his lateral speed and quickness to improve his defense. But with his ongoing problems of giving the ball up at the most inopportune times and in guarding the opponent's point guard, it's easy to see why Coach Capel and his staff are making a special effort to bring in another PG next year.

I agree Ada. He seems to struggle with handling the ball while setting up the offense. He appears more comfortable when he is handling it on the way to the hoop. Signs of a guy who has played alot of streetball/one on one ball. IMO.

Newell is even worse. That kid cannot dribble without using his free arm to push off. They finally called it last night, but he does it every time a defender acts as if they are going to move in on him while dribbling.

I believe that we will see major improvement from both of those guys in the next couple of yrs. Newell may be better as a 2 guard once we land a true PG. I think that Blair has the tools to be a good PG. He just needs to work on footwork, defense, and handling the ball.

 

[campbest]

The unforced turnovers do hurt him quite a bit.

I will admit that some of hist TO's are not his fault...case in point the OSU game on the turnovers against the half-court trap. Carl didn't do himself any favors by dribbling into the timeline, but CJ didn't flash high when his man went to trap. Instead he sat on the block and watched the trap. To make matters worse, he was standing next to Cade, therefore Cade's man was able to guard two players.

 

[Pizza the Hutt]

I agree Ada. He seems to struggle with handling the ball while setting up the offense. He appears more comfortable when he is handling it on the way to the hoop. Signs of a guy who has played alot of streetball/one on one ball. IMO.

Newell is even worse. That kid cannot dribble without using his free arm to push off. They finally called it last night, but he does it every time a defender acts as if they are going to move in on him while dribbling.

I believe that we will see major improvement from both of those guys in the next couple of yrs. Newell may be better as a 2 guard once we land a true PG. I think that Blair has the tools to be a good PG. He just needs to work on footwork, defense, and handling the ball.

Yep, notice the same thing. Some raw talent out there, to say the least. We have already seen marked improvement this year. I predict their fundamentals become much more solid, a long with their overall game. Blair excites me with his playmaking ability, just needs to learn to dribble with his head up and alert.

 

[stoops4pres]

Am I the only one who has noticed that a higher percentage of Carl's turnovers are unforced, where he dribbles the ball off of his foot or leg, or relaxes too much and allows an opponent to steal the ball away?

I think it's safe to say that the majority of turnovers occur in traffic. Yet, Carl is actually pretty good at penetrating the middle and creating a shot or getting fouled. His TOs seem to come at the most unexpected times, when he's in the open court and not being pressured all that much.

That appears to suggest that many of his turnovers are caused by a lack of focus and concentration. But I won't rule out the possibility that he doesn't handle the ball well enough to scan the floor for passing opportunities and control his dribble at the same time.

Am I on to something here, or is the answer "all of the above" in Carl's case? I have been exploring this topic in my mind, because I believe he could be a really good point guard if he could cut down on his TOs and work on his lateral speed and quickness to improve his defense. But with his ongoing problems of giving the ball up at the most inopportune times and in guarding the opponent's point guard, it's easy to see why Coach Capel and his staff are making a special effort to bring in another PG next year.

Completely agree. He does get careless with the ball.

That's why I think he can still see a dramatic improvement in his game, because one of his biggest weaknesses is something that can be addressed if he just concentrates and focuses more.

 

[campbest]

Completely agree. He does get careless with the ball.

That's why I think he can still see a dramatic improvement in his game, because one of his biggest weaknesses is something that can be addressed if he just concentrates and focuses more.

His biggest weakness is lateral foot speed on the defensive end. I can live with a few TOs a game, but you can't let opposing PGs take you to the rack at will.

 

[Escape Goat]

My struggle with Carl Blair (in particular last night) is his lack of productive initial pass to start the offense. So many times the first pass does nothing but get him started through the lane and leaves the second person standing about 40 feet from the hoop.

I'm also concerned about how much he pushes off while trying to bring the ball up with pressure. A lot of no calls last night when there could have been offensive fouls.

Overall he has played OK, but is certainly a back-up on a good team.

 

[stoops4pres]

His biggest weakness is lateral foot speed on the defensive end. I can live with a few TOs a game, but you can't let Balbay take your ass to the rack.

Yeah, that's one weakness that he can't dramatically improve on, unlike his occasional carelessness with the ball.

To be fair, there was definitely one (maybe two) occasions where he didn't get any help from his teammates when guarding Balbay. One play Fitzgerald just stood there in the paint and refused to step in and contest the shot, resulting in a wide open lay-up for Balbay. It was awful.

 

[jmizzy4ou]

My struggle with Carl Blair (in particular last night) is his lack of productive initial pass to start the offense. So many times the first pass does nothing but get him started through the lane and leaves the second person standing about 40 feet from the hoop.

I'm also concerned about how much he pushes off while trying to bring the ball up with pressure. A lot of no calls last night when there could have been offensive fouls.

Overall he has played OK, but is certainly a back-up on a good team.

Very good point about the way our PG's get us into the offense. The 1st pass is usually further out because our 2 Pg's struggle against on the ball pressure. A couple of times last night it appeared that Newell just wanted to get rid of the ball as fast as he could.... The result was Pledger or Cade catching the ball 30 ft away from the bucket.

I think that Capel is working hard to teach them both how to be PG's. Newell looks like he probably just out ran guys in HS, relying on his athleticism. He is very challenged when he has to dribble against pressure.

 

[trueou]

Why are we talking about Carl Blair's turnovers today? The box score has him charged with only 1 turnover last night. He had 5 assists.

He does have a history of turning the ball over. But why are we harping about this problem today? He did not have that problem last night. Did the stat keeper screw up?

 

[billyball]

He sure does not look comfortable dribbling with his right hand. ballboy was guarding him and forcing him to go to his right, and he would push him with his fore arm rather than switching to his right hand.

 

[red recluse]

To be fair, there was definitely one (maybe two) occasions where he didn't get any help from his teammates when guarding Balbay. One play Fitzgerald just stood there in the paint and refused to step in and contest the shot, resulting in a wide open lay-up for Balbay. It was awful.

i saw the same. fitz has to recognize blair getting beat of the dribble and rotate off his man to cut off balbay. poor team defense.

i thought blair was the offensive constant in the first 8 minutes. he was getting to the rim and made two buckets. thought he should have attacked more. and i also wouldn't have a problem with him going to his pull-up jumper like he did late in the second half. if the offense is struggling to get good shots, and blair can beat his man, i don't mind him taking the step back 10-12 footer.

 

[stoops4pres]

i saw the same. fitz has to recognize blair getting beat of the dribble and rotate off his man to cut off balbay. poor team defense.

Yeah, I'm not giving Blair a pass because he should have played better defense and not let Balbay beat him that easily at times, but its not shocking that Balbay was going to beat him to the basket. Balbay has done this to seemingly everyone he's played against. But like you said the team defense should have been better, hence the Fitzgerald example.

i thought blair was the offensive constant in the first 8 minutes. he was getting to the rim and made two buckets. thought he should have attacked more. and i also wouldn't have a problem with him going to his pull-up jumper like he did late in the second half. if the offense is struggling to get good shots, and blair can beat his man, i don't mind him taking the step back 10-12 footer.

Ya I don't mind Blair doing that either. As stated before, him and Clark are the only ones that can consistently beat opponents off the dribble. The more they create, usually the better.

 

[Big Old Booger]

I agree Ada. He seems to struggle with handling the ball while setting up the offense. He appears more comfortable when he is handling it on the way to the hoop. Signs of a guy who has played alot of streetball/one on one ball. IMO.

Newell is even worse. That kid cannot dribble without using his free arm to push off. They finally called it last night, but he does it every time a defender acts as if they are going to move in on him while dribbling.

I believe that we will see major improvement from both of those guys in the next couple of yrs. Newell may be better as a 2 guard once we land a true PG. I think that Blair has the tools to be a good PG. He just needs to work on footwork, defense, and handling the ball.

I would like to see Newell rotate in more with Pledger at the 2 just so we could see what he can do. Especially now that we have no shot at the postseason.

 

[AdaSooner]

I agree Ada. He seems to struggle with handling the ball while setting up the offense. He appears more comfortable when he is handling it on the way to the hoop. Signs of a guy who has played alot of streetball/one on one ball. IMO.

Newell is even worse. That kid cannot dribble without using his free arm to push off. They finally called it last night, but he does it every time a defender acts as if they are going to move in on him while dribbling.

I believe that we will see major improvement from both of those guys in the next couple of yrs. Newell may be better as a 2 guard once we land a true PG. I think that Blair has the tools to be a good PG. He just needs to work on footwork, defense, and handling the ball.

Excellent points, jmizzy. I never thought about the streetball connection. It makes sense, though. His game does remind me of a player you might see in a school yard or at the local rec center.

We're definitely on the same page with what Carl needs to work on in the off season. In truth, he's come a long way in the past 8 to 10 games. But he still has a lot of work to do if he wants to be a complete player.

Newell, on the other hand, does not have that point guard mentality one would expect from a kid his size. He's a scorer first, which is fine if you don't need point guards. I agree that he may be better playing the two spot. But I don't know if he can guard someone who is ever bit as quick and twice his size?

I honestly can't recall an OU back court that struggled as much as this group to stay in front of their man. :facepalm