He never really played at the 2 when he was at OU. He's built like a boxer. He's a 3.
If anything, Oweh starts at the 3 and Robinson at the 2. Butler's your point guard. Robinson is a better ball handler than Oweh by a country mile.
Pope on KSR
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If anything, Oweh starts at the 3 and Robinson at the 2. Butler's your point guard. Robinson is a better ball handler than Oweh by a country mile.
BBN didn't obsess over Wayne Turner's weaknesses when he was here. Butler has a similar comp.
30-33% from three is adequate when one figures that he'll be surrounded by five or six guys who can shoot in the 37 to 40% three point range.
Best post in the thread so far.
Yeah it's not like the game has changed or anything since the Wayne Turner days...
Good try.
Pitino's system was predicated on exactly the same paradigm as modern college basketball; and yet even with Turner's weaknesses exhibited in a system based on perimeter shooting, the kid still started on a runner-up team.
By the way, Tristan Newton - a guard and lead playmaker - shot a woeful 32% from three last season.
Based on your logic, how in the world did he ever manage to lead UConn to a second national championship?
Wow so now you are comparing this group to Uconn. Hope people's expectations don't get so crazy that when we might get 10 losses people will want Pope fired. It's a nice group of transfers but come on.
A horrific and illogical response on your part.
I'm in no way suggesting this UK team is on par with last year's UConn team. I merely compared the three point element of two-point guards and noted that if @track42 is going to be dismissive of Butler because of his three-point shooting, he needs to fine tune that argument. Newton's mediocre shooting is in no relevant way inhibited the overall performance of Tristan Newton.
You don't think he had much better talent around him? You really live in a dream world my man.
Nice try to move the goal post, man. I thought you were better than that in these discussions.
You're arguing that a team can't be as successful if they have a mediocre-shooting point guard.
I just showed you they can.
We're NOT comparing talent level on UConn and UK. We're looking into the depth of your weak argument, one where you're suggesting UK is going to be limited because of Butler's weakness as a shooter.
I just showed you that Newton was a mediocre shooter. It didn't prevent UConn from reaching their peak.
So let's try again: we're asking whether a marginal shooting point guard can help their team get to their ceiling. The answer is yes. We're NOT comparing UK's 2025 talent to UConn's 2024 talent, but rather, we're following your original line of argument: that a marginal shooting point can't help their team get to their peak.
You're just wrong. I only looked back one season, but if I dug deeper, I could annihilate your argument, as you well know.
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I could see next season going either way to be honest. Most likely the truth is somewhere in the middle.
I'm not the one making weak arguments that show themselves to be baseless with even an elementary digging into recent research.
I thought you'd changed your ways this summer after you act of public contrition and your noticeable lack of reasoning in some of your most bizarre stances.
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I think both of you are wrong in some ways and likely the truth is somewhere in the middle. Butler has his good and bad points like anyone but the question for me is are the players around him good enough to make up for that.
For sure all of your arguments have turned out correct in the past. You really want me to go over that list.
I've had a ton of bad takes on here.
Some of them have been horrifically irresponsible and shortsighted.
The worst one I had was not being willing to give Pope a chance at the outset. That's one that was stupid, silly, and totally fear-based on my end.
I'll own that one for the rest of my UK fan experience.
I was just plain wrong. I should have given him a chance, even in the early stages when BBN was going nuts.
I have plenty more, by the way. I supported the Cal contract extension in 2019. That one was stupid as well.
Nothing he runs is original. He copied his style from SOMEBODY. He didn't invent anything he runs. Love his style, it is a very up tempo offense, but he was not the first coach to run it.Pope isn't interested in copying anyone. He's got his own style and way of doing things.
I think Kriisa will be the starting PG or 2G. he just brings too much to the floor in shooting and scoring. Myself, I an not really sold on Butler being the starter. If so, Kriisa is the 2G. JMO.
Might want to check Butler's stats. he is awful. 30% on 3FG attempts and a clear sign he is not a good shooter, 59% on FT's. YES, we do have it.
that cornbread poster has been posting doom and gloom for Pope and UK since Cal left. dont fall for their bait, they have an agenda.
Oh please. It's a sports board so tell me what deadly agenda I have. People are so weird.
Most people supported the Cal extension at the time as he was terrific those first years. I really never saw it getting as bad as it did at the end. but Cal was so stubborn he refused to see the game was changing and he needed to adapt.
They were tough and a headache to face. Al Horford proved how great he was in The league. Noah was a Dbag but he had a decent career and Brewer was solid. The other were good college players.
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The extension wasn’t the issue. It was the terms and especially that ridiculous buyout.
That was also in the 1990s. But it sucks when your PG can't shoot. How many starting PG's are in the NBA that aren't snipers from deep?
You can never have too many shooters in modern basketball.
I will say it’s nice having a little bulk on the team again. You can tell how long these guys have been in college and how strong they are. Usually we have a bunch of skinny freshman who need the whole year to gain any weight.
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That is true, but we just need Butler to do what he does well and take open looks. As long as he keeps the defense honest I’m fine with that. He just can’t be like Wheeler and refuse to shoot half the time.
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I will say one thing that kind of stood out to me in that Pope interview is he talked more about Butler on defense and Kriisa on offense but also added a point about Kriisa also being a bit of a pest on the defensive side too. But, he didn't really add anything about Butler on the offensive side (unless I missed it). May be nothing really at all and, either way, Butler will be surrounded by plenty of shooters.
He shot 73% and 77% the 2 years prior. It isn’t a weakness, you’d know that if you actually watched college basketball instead of looking at stat sheets and trying to form opinions from that. 😜
Wasn’t he in the 70’s from the line the previous two seasons? You really don’t know if he is a bad shooter. You are just looking at numbers. Maybe he had to carry the team a lot and took a lot of questionable shots. You go ahead and worry about him and I will enjoy his play this year.
So what caused him to go so far down? I mean it is a legit concern as the point guard is the guy who will have the ball at the end.
“Travis Perry and Trent Noah, they have been awesome. I mean, I’m so proud of those two kids. They have grown so much, they kind of came in here just excited, eager, hungry,” Pope said Thursday morning on KSR. “Travis Perry just has this — he walks around with confidence and I think he’s growing so much. I think he’s having fun growing.”
And then he got to the good stuff: Perry’s summer, again confirming the 6-1 guard’s streak of 100 made free throws on three consecutive days.
www.on3.com
And then he got to the good stuff: Perry’s summer, again confirming the 6-1 guard’s streak of 100 made free throws on three consecutive days.
Mark Pope on Travis Perry's hot shooting summer: "I've never seen this at any level of basketball."
The legend of Travis Perry grew by the day in Lexington this summer. Mark Pope says it's something he's never seen before.
Newton Is also ten times the player butler is offensively. I like butler, but newton is miles better than him offensively.
If Butler is creative, quick enough to beat his man off the dribble and drive to the basket, that would mean someone has to drop off of their man & pick him up. If he can make the right pass on time, that should result in an open shot for someone. That is about all you can ask for in a point guard
