Steve Pledger: A victim of being out of position, or not so good?

[thebigabd]

Everyone had pretty high hopes for Pledger this year, even me. I thought that if OU was going to be good, Pledger was going to be the go-to guy and be a good scorer and sharp-shooter. He worked really hard all off-season, lost a bunch of weight, had a great first game, and then has just fallen apart.

He is 9-35 from behind the arc, good for 25%. He also shoots 34% from the field.

It is PAINFULLY obvious that he is not and never will be a point guard.. I think that has a lot to do with his struggles early in the year. They have to get him off the ball and let him do what he was recruited to do, which is come off screens, shoot, and score.

I don't care who the hell plays point guard (although Newell seems like the logical choice), but they really need to move him back to shooting guard and see if he can improve his production and numbers. I still think he should be a good player.

 

[NickZepp]

I think he's similar to Cade Davis in a his game. He doesn't have the high arcing 3. But he's a 3 point shooter that isn't really all that good at shooting 3s. Or he hasn't shown he can make a lot of them. I think he's better off shooting inside the 3 point range with higher percentage shots like Cade Davis has done the last few games.

 

[BigTime]

I dunno. I thought he played well in the first three games when he ran the point. I also thought he played ok (not great) in the time he ran point against UK. It was the two games after UK that he was horrible and in both those games he played the SG.

I liked his mindset as a PG in that he was taking the ball to the rack....

 

[StatGeek]

I thought Pledger was going to be an assassin, but my confidence in this has steadily dropped since he first stepped on campus. I still hold out hope, but its fading. At this point he is Cade Davis minus the defensive motor (not meant to slight Cade).

 

[sdcloud9]

I like Pledger burt he is a catch and shoot guard 2-guard. He is not athletic enough to create his own opportunities and is an average defender.

He is a role player but gets exposed when he plays too many minutes, imo.

 

[Seymore Cox]

I like Pledger burt he is a catch and shoot guard 2-guard. He is not athletic enough to create his own opportunities and is an average defender.

He is a role player but gets exposed when he plays too many minutes, imo.

You're right, he's a catch and shoot guy and nothing is wrong with that. It also doesn't make him a role player. This whole pg one day sg the other day stuff is too confusing. Let him play with Carl, a guy who can drive and he'll get more catch and shoot opportunities.

 

[NickZepp]

I don't know if he can shoot good enough to be a catch and shoot guy.

 

[CMSOONER]

You're right, he's a catch and shoot guy and nothing is wrong with that. It also doesn't make him a role player. This whole pg one day sg the other day stuff is too confusing. Let him play with Carl, a guy who can drive and he'll get more catch and shoot opportunities.

I think this is exactly right. Plus we've seen him get to the rim since he's been playing PG. If he can transition that to his SG role, like Cade, he can be very effective. Getting to the rim will free up his jump shot. The talent and ability are there, now it's just whether or not he can put it together.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

I like what I saw from him as a PG...getting to the rack.

I just don't know what happened to his shot. Didn't capel once said he has the best stroke he has ever seen?

 

[38red]

You're right, he's a catch and shoot guy and nothing is wrong with that. It also doesn't make him a role player. This whole pg one day sg the other day stuff is too confusing. Let him play with Carl, a guy who can drive and he'll get more catch and shoot opportunities.

The problem with Carl, Cade and him on the court at the same time equals bad D! That's why (to me) he is a role player.