Willis now leading UK in 3 pt FG%
- Thread starter KWilt43atbuzz
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It's not relative in this instance. It's decent defense on the playground, it's bad defense in D1.
No, Willis didn't have "great position" in the 4th video. He's almost perfectly vertical. He's giving a swing guard feet of room. Yes, he's moving his feet a little bit more, but that's putting lipstick on a pig.
The player is hitting these shots because he's extremely comfortable. Willis is giving him this shot..........which is bad D. Make him put it on the floor, don't let him get a good look at the trim, annoy him, do anything other than what willis did, and we wouldn't be talking about this. Willis' used his outstretched hands to try to recover because he was 4 ft away from him.
Willis is limited in his ability to defend and there is little he can do to improve. If he gets too close, his guy can easily drive past him. If he sags off, they shoot over him. At least giving up 3s, it's a lower percentage shot.
Admittedly I am not a coach or even very smart,but I think differently.
I would rather him play closer on a shooter and make him work for the shot more. If he gets by you isn't that where help defense comes in? I think if you sag off nobody else is "helping"?
Am I missing something fundamental? That is a general defense question, nothing to do with Willis.
Edit: Of course if someone is shooting 3's int the teens, by all means let the have at it. I am talking about a decent shooter.
Have you guys looked at the box score? MSU had a great shooting night .. they were hitting shots on everyone. Not just Willis
How bout this....at least play him until oNe of his threes or FTs hits the rim.
Nothing wrong with his stroke. Can't remember one of his shots touching iron.
True, true, demonstrably false. It's true that Willis has hit some 3s in a very small sample size. It's also true that, in a very small sample, Willis has been a terrific free throw shooter. At this level, Willis is a 1-tool basketball player. He has a nice shooting stroke. But he is 1 of the worst defenders on our team, and he is a weak rebounder. If you can't defend, you don't play serious minutes for Calipari. Calipari's goal is to win as many games as possible, while getting NBA scouting exposure for his draftable players. Willis is not 1 of those players. Willis will never get close to an NBA camp. When you hear Calipari complain he is having to play guys who shouldn't be playing this many minutes, who the heck do you think he is talking about? LOL! He is talking about Willis and Mulder. Calipari seldom criticizes his players by name in public, but he has already criticized Willis' defensive performances several times this year. I guess some of our fans aren't listening.
It is irrelevant if anyone else can play defense, Cal threw Derek under the bus and it is incumbent upon the BBN to run over him and then back over him if necessary
I agree 100%, many posters should be ashamed of treating a Wildcat as bad as they do this kid. I have seen VERY poor defense by every one of these players from time to time.
I didn't read all the re hashed mess again .. I might surprise some people here as card carry member of THE Derek Willis Fanboi club ( charter member ) I don't think he really needs more minutes . Hes playing about right amount since Briscoe started picking it up . My gripe is with Cals SEEMINGLY lack of support for the kid . The team can be playing poorly and Cal has singled Derrick out . See the 20 seconds of playing time and he got the hook 2 weeks ago , or last night he last a GREAT couple of minutes but because he was guarding a guy on a switch that hit a 22-23 footer off the dribble he drew the ire of Cal with zero mention of the 2 three's , a rebound and a blocked shot in less than 2 minutes of action. The reporter threw Coach a softball of an opportunity set up to praise Derrek's contribution and Cal rags his ass . That's my gripe . DW defense in the 2nd half SUCKED . I just hope because DW is a offensive minded player that Cal doesn't shake him to the point he doesn't do what he does well . drill the 3 .
For the game, Mississippi State had 64 TS%
Willis played just 11 minutes in the game.
Willis was one of 5 defenders on the court.
So yeah. Blaming him for a hot shooting night from Mississippi State is silliness.
Willis played just 11 minutes in the game.
Willis was one of 5 defenders on the court.
So yeah. Blaming him for a hot shooting night from Mississippi State is silliness.
Dude is like Wiltjer ..he has offense, but he couldn't guard me ..he needs less clock when Hawk comes back..Derekl is lazy or can't put on weight/muscle..I bet he's not put in the work...
This. Well said.
Another issue, is that he plays great offensively as almost a hybrid shooting guard-small forward, but then has to turn around on the other end and play defense against smaller quicker guards, and simultaneously try to help defend the paint, because we lack a defensive presence there. I think his defensive role needs to be more defined. I think he's doing pretty darn well as the 6th man off the bench. Could he be a better defender? yes....but so could Skal and a few others. The only consistent defender that brings it all the time, is Briscoe.
So why does Lee and Poythress get a pass when they play defense on the perimeter the same way? The only difference is they are better at blocking shots when they are beaten but still thats not the way you should play defense....
Not hard to understand if you hit 2 threes which is 6 points but your man or you lack of help defense is a direct result of the opponent scoring 20 then you did nothing of benefit. Watch this insane math. 20>6. 20-6=14. That puts you at -14 contribution.
That's the hilarious thing about this board. People will bury poythress for only scoring 6 yet his man scores none, or he switches and helps when someone's man gets by...but cry for Willis to play when he hits a three but his man scores at will. Alot of not knowing what the hell is going on around here.
So when Hawkins gets back.... you going to play him at PF ? I mean thats where Willis is mostly playing.
Ok look here. Yeah Derrick Willis is not a good defensive player. He's not a good rebounder. But he gives us more value off the bench than say Charles Mathews does. IMO if a kid can come off the bench and shoot over 40% from 3 and hit 2-3 a game then he's a very valuable backup. I'd like to see him get a little more PT. I think he should be getting something like 15-18mins a game. And next season if he'll work on his defense, get a little stronger and more physical, plus have more confidence then he could be one hell of a 6th man. I'm big on having good 3pt shooters. I think we need a couple 40plus% 3pt shooters every year. Personally I'd bench Mathews like we've basically been doing and my rotation would be Ulis, Briscoe, Murray, Poy, Lee, Skal, Willis, Mulder, and Hawkins. Then Humphries and Mathews would play sparingly.
No....no he shouldn't. But you pointing out he made a bad pass? Everyone made a bad pass last night. What's your point???
The entire team makes bonehead plays all game every game.
Not true. Look at the guy poythress is guarding combined field goal percentage...it's very low..it was 13% before this yr for his career. An example, remember the sweet 16 against uofl when Hancock was going off because james young (another terrible defender was guarding him)..guess who was switched to gaurd him and he didn't score again......Poythress. He's proved he can stop ppl...Willis never has.
2. There is more to defense than on ball man..I don't get why ppl can't understand this. There's this thing called help defense where you rotate in the lane. There's going above or under screens, hedging, rotating, all these things. Willis knows how to do none of them and it's simply because his awareness is low. He loses sight of the ball, doesn't communicate, aND overall doesnt unDer stand defense principles...it's nOT picling on him...it's reality. People need to get over their only grasp that there is a white kid from KY on the team they want to play...especially when there is a kid from Richmond on the team no one starts threads about who is much more valuable.
The answer to Willis is UK needs to play zone when he is in the game. Anyone who shots the ball as well as Willis needs to shot Willis is the square peg in the round hole that is man to man defense. UK needs to have some type of zone defense if it wants to win it all this year IMHO.
Not to mention how many times he makes stupid turnovers. And I love J-Dawg. He's my 2nd favorite player on the team, but people want to point out Willis's weaknesses and not others. Poythress for example. About the only thing you can count on him for each game is rebounds. He'll look like Julius Randle one game and then look like Mark Coury the next. Or Briscoe and him being such a liability on the FT line. Now he looked good last night making a couple J's but he's still a liability at the end of a close game. You noticed he was being subbed in and out the last couple mins last night right?
I had that thought as well. And IMO it would be fine unless we're playing a team like Vanderbilt.
I don't get this. again yeah he's not a good defender or rebounder, but we always have lacked good 3pt shooters. If a kid can come off then bench and shoot over 40% from down town then he deserves to play. If he can make 2-3 threes off the bench every game playing 15 mins a game then its worth us playing a little zone while he's in.
You all do realize you can keep arguing this until you're blue in the face, and neither side will give?
We have such an irrational fanbase.
This started because Lmd cried and said Cal called DW out at halftime for no excuse and didnt talk bad about other players.
Which was totally false.
Cal immediately called out Alex and Marcus, SS asked specifically about Willis, Cal responded.
I disagree that the 3 at the half was really on DW.
Unlike Lmd and others who whine and say it is all Murray's fault because he was picked and didnt fight through good enough and poor DW didnt have time to recover are blatantly wrong again.
Willis had plenty of time and in fact was ahead of Newman at one point. When the shot was released he was right in front of him, in good position in my opinion.
A very good driver in Malik had the ball, 24 feet out. And more importantly he shot the ball with 4 seconds still on the clock. No way you get in his grill with that much time left.
So no, DW was not at fault IMO, sorry Cal.
But when posters use fallacies to gripe and whine abut these topics it causes problems.
Add in the sissies who are mad that every player isnt given equal minutes and a trophy every game and it gets worse.
Add in posters who dont like DW and now have a great opportunity to slam Willis and it becomes awful.
Add in the trolls who are looking at any chance to slam Cal and spew patheticness causing posters who like DW but understand his issues look like bad guys as well.
So basically you have guys like Lmd who hate Cal.
Guys like Dan who want fairness above all.
and Trolls.
Difficult to debate anything in a respectful manner with these ingredients.
This started because Lmd cried and said Cal called DW out at halftime for no excuse and didnt talk bad about other players.
Which was totally false.
Cal immediately called out Alex and Marcus, SS asked specifically about Willis, Cal responded.
I disagree that the 3 at the half was really on DW.
Unlike Lmd and others who whine and say it is all Murray's fault because he was picked and didnt fight through good enough and poor DW didnt have time to recover are blatantly wrong again.
Willis had plenty of time and in fact was ahead of Newman at one point. When the shot was released he was right in front of him, in good position in my opinion.
A very good driver in Malik had the ball, 24 feet out. And more importantly he shot the ball with 4 seconds still on the clock. No way you get in his grill with that much time left.
So no, DW was not at fault IMO, sorry Cal.
But when posters use fallacies to gripe and whine abut these topics it causes problems.
Add in the sissies who are mad that every player isnt given equal minutes and a trophy every game and it gets worse.
Add in posters who dont like DW and now have a great opportunity to slam Willis and it becomes awful.
Add in the trolls who are looking at any chance to slam Cal and spew patheticness causing posters who like DW but understand his issues look like bad guys as well.
So basically you have guys like Lmd who hate Cal.
Guys like Dan who want fairness above all.
and Trolls.
Difficult to debate anything in a respectful manner with these ingredients.
What the hell are you talking about? Lee and Poythress get eviscerated in the game thread regularly. The only reason you see it more with Willis is because of dumb threads like this.
Willis still has the highest box plus/minus on the team, and his defensive box plus/minus is actually stronger than either Ulis or Poythress.
But I don't believe he's a better defender than either of those guys. I think it's more likely that he's benefitted from getting the bulk of his minutes versus other reserves.
Still though, he's a better defender on paper than what the eyeball test shows. Another factor could be that he helps make up for mistakes by making other defensive plays - tipping balls, creating transistions opportunities.
Our eyeballs see something really bad and we cringe. Meanwhile, we notice less when he makes a subtle positive play.
I will certainly keep an eye on the numbers moving forward.
FYI - as far as last night was concerned, Willis' raw plus/minus number was -5. That was worst on the team, as only he, Mulder, and Matthews were negative.
But I don't believe he's a better defender than either of those guys. I think it's more likely that he's benefitted from getting the bulk of his minutes versus other reserves.
Still though, he's a better defender on paper than what the eyeball test shows. Another factor could be that he helps make up for mistakes by making other defensive plays - tipping balls, creating transistions opportunities.
Our eyeballs see something really bad and we cringe. Meanwhile, we notice less when he makes a subtle positive play.
I will certainly keep an eye on the numbers moving forward.
FYI - as far as last night was concerned, Willis' raw plus/minus number was -5. That was worst on the team, as only he, Mulder, and Matthews were negative.
There are a dozen or more posters on here that I believe should get banned when they start some of these stupid threads. Coach Cal was 1st talking about Lee/Poy at half and not getting much. I have heard him talk about Murray after Murray just scored 20-25 points and said a couple of his turnovers and defensive plays need to improve. Even in the OSU game and Murray goes off and scores 33 and him alone almost brought Kentucky back to defeat OSU and Cal says about the play when Murray should have just picked up the ball when he was trying to recover it and there was couple more plays he didn't like that was on Murray. Even though Murray scores 30+ he was still talking Turnovers and defense that Murray could improve. Coach Cal just doesn't single out DW its just these few posters that want to make it look that way. I will say wth DW at 6'9 he gets thrown around as much as Skal does and if I was DW over last summer I would have worked more on weights to become stronger to go with his 6'9 frame that would help him alot. His Defense is horrible and if he does that much in a 10-12 minutes he is in the game think about him playing 30-35 minutes a game. The person would score 40+ a game and would make him look like Lebron. I like Willis but he has to work on his "D"!
Yes, of course, because he was an all-world defender otherwise. Lol Plenty of fodder for Lob Rock bashing if that was the topic...
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For someone to get more playing time work on your game and do what is ask of you. No one is to blame but the player himself. If a player isn't satisfied with the minutes he is getting, he should have a talk with the coaches and find out what needs to be done. Coach doesn't have anything against the team he instructs them on what to do and if a junior messes up that is bad. If a freshman messes up well he is younger and he can learn. A junior has had 3 years in Cal's system and a freshman is just starting out. Cal wants the players to improve and it is on them to do so. Jorts improved his game and he worked hard during the off season.
I am a Willis fan he will never be a great defensive player but he can be a lot better than he is. He just needs to focus on it keeping hi knees bent even when he is off the ball so he will be quicker for help defense. He needs to play intense all the time on the defensive end of the floor. He needs to get out on the shooter with his hand high and tight on the shooters face and challenge him to go by him and get help when he does. He is not the quickest player in the world, but that is no excuse for not playing with defensive intensity.
There are so many folks on here who cannot be objective when it comes to Calipari. Yes, Willis should be playing more and his lack of defense is mostly an excuse for Cal (and many of you sheep) to justify his overwhelming bias for the 5 star players. If Willis was considered to be a high draft prospect he would be playing much more, poor defense be damned. Look no farther than Skal and you will see that for much of the current season Cal stubbornly ignored Skal's defensive deficiencies. But when it comes to a lesser rated talent, suddenly defense becomes a huge deal and they are pulled from the game the instant they make a mistake. It was only when he knew he knew he could no longer remotely justify it that he finally relented on starting Skal. The dude is just a big hypocrite when it comes to playing time. He claims he does not promise playing time but he don't have to because the whole world can see how he does things. It's an unspoken promise but the highly rated prospects get the message loud and clear.
Look at Hawkins. Dude plays excellent defense and he still barely sees the floor. So why is that? It's because he is not one of Cal's golden boys. Meanwhile Brisco is allowed to lay bricks all day and never gets pulled. Is he really any better than Hawkins? I don't think so. Hawkins would surely shoot better from the foul line and 3 pt. land and you don't lose much if any on the defensive end. I mean seriously, how can you justify having a starting guard who shoots 33% from the line and 18% from downtown. Then you have Marcus Lee who is shooting foul shots at a clip of 36%. That is 2 starters yall shooting well under 40% from the charity stripe. Hawkins is 71% from the foul line and still a better 3 pt. shooter. And Willis is currently perfect from the line. Cal's casual disregard for terrible foul shooting is really annoying.
There is nothing wrong with admitting the truth but so many of you will argue till you are blue in the face about Willis' terrible defense because that is the narrative that allows Calipari to get away with his bs. So many sheep on here who blindly follow their idol and can't admit the truth. I'm sure I'll get torn apart for stating my opinion because everyone knows you can't state such an opinion on this board. But I just did, so hit me with your best shot.
Look at Hawkins. Dude plays excellent defense and he still barely sees the floor. So why is that? It's because he is not one of Cal's golden boys. Meanwhile Brisco is allowed to lay bricks all day and never gets pulled. Is he really any better than Hawkins? I don't think so. Hawkins would surely shoot better from the foul line and 3 pt. land and you don't lose much if any on the defensive end. I mean seriously, how can you justify having a starting guard who shoots 33% from the line and 18% from downtown. Then you have Marcus Lee who is shooting foul shots at a clip of 36%. That is 2 starters yall shooting well under 40% from the charity stripe. Hawkins is 71% from the foul line and still a better 3 pt. shooter. And Willis is currently perfect from the line. Cal's casual disregard for terrible foul shooting is really annoying.
There is nothing wrong with admitting the truth but so many of you will argue till you are blue in the face about Willis' terrible defense because that is the narrative that allows Calipari to get away with his bs. So many sheep on here who blindly follow their idol and can't admit the truth. I'm sure I'll get torn apart for stating my opinion because everyone knows you can't state such an opinion on this board. But I just did, so hit me with your best shot.
Willis missed his last free throw attempt against Northern Kentucky on November 10th of 2013. Since then he has gone:
4-4 the rest of 2013-14
6-6 all of 2014-15
10-10 so far this year
Hasn't missed a free throw over.....by my count...the last 795 days.
Darryl
4-4 the rest of 2013-14
6-6 all of 2014-15
10-10 so far this year
Hasn't missed a free throw over.....by my count...the last 795 days.
Darryl
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