Hey Ralster… I should have worded my post differently.
After your post I went back and read it again. It sounds a bit like I’m bagging on EJ. I’m an EJ fan, too… mostly because he made the ultimate sacrifice of playing out of his position for the good of the team. It didn’t prove to help us, but I don’t blame him for that. He didn’t have the right skill set to be a PG. He should have always stayed a 2.
I should have stated that if CS wants to recruit guards that can play at both the 1 and the 2, make sure the guards have the skills required to play the 1. It doesn’t work the other way around. You have to have a guard who protects the rock well, both by dribble and pass… someone who can see the defense and take advantage of what it is given… be able and willing to penetrate… control tempo… find the gaps… etc etc. I guess Mason was a 2 in HS… but he’s a natural PG. With just a few games under his belt, we can see that he has so much to offer at point. He’s a x-axis player… low to the ground, lots of lateral movement and looking for spacing advantages. I don’t think these gifts are easy to teach players, because we certainly don’t see many using these skills. It always seems tougher to develop x-axis skills for bigger guards. Maybe because they have always played looking for a vertical game… their size helps them in some ways, but they don’t develop the bulldog tenacity some of the little guards have… who will find gaps, and if they don’t see one maybe they create one!
Tharpe is the perfect example of a PG who can play the 2. We can count on seeing him score some minutes at the 2 this year.
