Batemon kinda reminds me of Grill coming off the bench, he can get hot real quick and get shots of quickly.
Batemon & Toure
- Thread starter SolterraCyclone
- Start date
I really enjoyed that row 6 lineup too. It seemed like we did well with that lineup in (don’t have any data to back me up on that though)
I’m fine with this approach until March. In March you need to win. It’s not fair to Lipsey, Jefferson, Heise to hurt their last few games remaining trying to help a freshman through their growing pains.
His general defense is still needed so he's probably going to play no matter how much fans want to pretend ISU can just bring droves of players off the bench to score points.
He's key to ISU's success and is very unlikely to be the sole reason ISU is 'held back'.
Give me him working through things vs. just not playing while ISU has foul issues or has a tough time guarding the arc when length is needed.
Yes, I’m good with him playing 10-15 minutes per game. I’ve never suggested to bench him full time.
He is averaging about 16 minutes a game over the last four. I think that is reasonable. He has value with his defense. TJ has the flexibility to adjust minutes between Heise, Toure, and Batemon based on how they are playing and the score of the game. As we play in the post season I expect TJ to stick with the hot hand more. If Toure continues to start, he will have his opportunity to impact the game defensively and earn more minutes. Similarly, Batemon needs to make shots when he is on the court.
From a playing time perspective, with Tamin graduating there are plenty of minutes available for them both next year. Hopefully they were caught up by The Magic enough this year to be willing to take the "pay cut" that other schools will put in front of them.
Toure is what he is. He’s an elite defender and a good ball handler who can drive to the basket. He also isn’t a very good shooter. The problem is that also describes Lipsey. It’s tough in a half court offense when your two guards both shoot under 30% from 3. And in the half court you want the senior Lipsey running things. This leaves Toure as a liability, not because of his skills, but because his skills don’t fit well next to Lipsey. Next year I think Toure and Batemon can be a top backcourt in the country. They complement each other well.
Him and Milan together are by far our best offense. Teams can't sag off anyone. A lot of our struggles offensively come from having players on the floor other teams know they don't have to defend.
Tyrese always had a set shot and it was always effective. Toure didn’t have one prior to this year and it’s not effective. How many airballs does one need to see?
A
As An international kid, I don’t think Toure can get NIL….at least legally
I think people are overthinking this a little bit. At the beginning of the year Toure was a better player than Batemon, so he was starting. Now Batemon is a better player. Put your best starting 5 out there and play them a lot of minutes. Because Jones was so awesome off the bench I think we have this idea that it’s normal to play a couple bench guys starter minutes. Not really normal and certainly not necessary.
Clearly Toure needs to play, but I’d play Batemon a lot more mins with Heise the primary bench G and Toure as the second guard off the bench.
NCAA tourney starts in 10 days. Probably nothing you’re going to do to fix a SG that can’t shoot and struggles with TOs right now. That’s going to take a full offseason.
Toure just needs to get back to the 33% he was shooting earlier in the season. That was just enough were teams had to at least respect it.
Imo it's not overthinking it to assume that for whatever reason the staff and probably players have determined that things operate well enough as they generally are (with some changes as someone like Batemon has gotten more confident) for this group to win 25 games with the way they've generally gone about things.
I don't think starting Toure is trying to fix his offense; it's just a better fit for what they're comfortable with.
I'll be curious to see what happens on here if/when Toure does start to hit one or two threes here and there over the next few weeks.
He wasn't a good 3 point shooter in high school.
I wasn't citing one game as a sample size. I was pointing to a readily available example of a set shot succeeding. He's had two stretches of games where his 3-point shot was an asset.
Every shot form requires timing and coordination, not just set shots. A set shot is usually used to simplify form and increase consistency. I agree it shouldn't be flat footed.
There are far more things that have to go right (or better said, more things that can go wrong) on a jump shot with legs flailing. There's a reason he's been coached to ditch that form.
Realistically, it’s hard to see TJ pulling Toure from the starting lineup this late. That’s said, he’ll be <15min unless garbage time from here I would imagine. You’ve got to ride Tamin/Batemon/Heise for as many minutes as possible. Teams at least respect Nate’s ability to hit an open shot.
I don’t think in his current form he can even do a pull up jump shot. It’s there for the taking and he won’t even try because he has a set shot, lacks confidence, and he needs to be wide open. Plenty of pull ups in the highlights I shared. It’s a problem for a point guard. We need him to more than set shoot.
Also agreed on the flailing of the legs lol but that’s easier to coach out of someone than changing their entire damn form. And it didn’t/hasn’t worked…..
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