mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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08-12-17 09:54 AM - Post#231890
In response to PennFan10
Well, you need the bigs for D. If anything, two bigs that can't take threes hurts Steve's offense.
Now, if he sticks with that gimmicky zone, he probably doesn't need a second big, because no one can suck AJ out to the perimeter. That being said, his team was one of the worst at allowing 3pt attempts (irrespective of percent made). It's hard to stop that out of a zone, but if you go man, you probably want a second credible rim protector on the floor. That tradeoff could be where not having a "real" 4 hurts you.
Also, important to remember, Howard was the 10th best defensive rebounder by rate in the league last year, marginally behind AJ. Only Bathurst and Oni rebounded better as guards and they were only marginally better as well. Howard being so helpful there papered over another trouble spot of a zone.
I guess all of this is to say that Howard might have been a very special player that enabled some strategies and lineup combos that it won't be easy to just slot someone else in to take over. That doesn't mean that the new ways Penn will have to play will be worse - the new personnel could empower better strategies - but, for me, losing Howard makes it tough to talk about Penn from the same starting style as last year.
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