We have not had a guard or wing player capable of legitimately threatening a team off the dribble since Marble. In fact, Marble is one of the few guards or wings Fran has ever recruited who could create his own shot or threaten a defense with the dribble drive. Our other high-end guards could all be classified more as pure "shooter" types (Jok, Gatens, JBO).
These type of players are not rare. Most teams have several guards or wings capable of playing downhill toward the basket with varying levels of skill. You can go through the big ten and count multiple on each team.
The "true" point guard discussion has been beaten to death. But Fran's roster construction problem is broader than that--he appears to simply not value the dribble-drive skillset. He consistently prioritizes "length" or "shooting" in his wing players to the detriment of foot speed and dribble-drive ability. And its killing us, because teams eventually just get in our grill on the perimeter with superior athleticism, stick to our shooters, and there is nothing we can do about it, because we can't dribble drive the aggressive man defense and make the defense react.
We will never get it, but I'd love to hear Fran's honest philosophy on roster construction.
These type of players are not rare. Most teams have several guards or wings capable of playing downhill toward the basket with varying levels of skill. You can go through the big ten and count multiple on each team.
The "true" point guard discussion has been beaten to death. But Fran's roster construction problem is broader than that--he appears to simply not value the dribble-drive skillset. He consistently prioritizes "length" or "shooting" in his wing players to the detriment of foot speed and dribble-drive ability. And its killing us, because teams eventually just get in our grill on the perimeter with superior athleticism, stick to our shooters, and there is nothing we can do about it, because we can't dribble drive the aggressive man defense and make the defense react.
We will never get it, but I'd love to hear Fran's honest philosophy on roster construction.
