I agree with you as a whole. They are definitely more important off the bench. Pleta might be debateable but only because you could play small ball while Buchanon rests. But none of the them have shown the ability to turn around a struggling offense every single time like Nelson has.
Dom Nelson - The Defibrillator
- Thread starter clone52
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Your first sentence is 100% correct. And until last night, I would have agreed with you on Watson. and I even still agree with you that from a statistical perspective, Watson would give more to this team. However, I can't deny the fact that Nelson has proven to jolt Iowa States offense when it is struggling every single time the situation has occurred this year.
Correlation does not prove causation.
All I can say is after last night with 4 guys who nearly fouled out , the bench is crucial in finally getting past the sweet 16. Whether it’s foul distribution, recovery time, injury replacement, we need a bench. It has not been, and still is not good enough. Heise has had 1 decent shooting game all year. Nelson is a bull in a China shop. Batemon and Pleta were MIA last night. Mulder saw no action, even when Buchannon and Pleta both were in major foul trouble most of the game.
Not sure where you are seeing that but we have been a worse team with Nelson on the court than off. I guess you are claiming that we play better after he leaves the floor because he set the tone for everyone else? Seems like an insane reach but technically possible I suppose.
Seems like an off speed pitch compared to the other guards. I think Fran F called him that in one of the early season games. It seems like its good for the team offensively, but yes, he is more of a turnstile defensively. He is important to the team, 100%. Glad he is on the good guys this year.
To be honest this graphic shows me that Nelson has been our best bench guy, which is not something I would have expected. It also doesn't do much to prove or disprove that he has been an offensive spark off the bench. The guys he is coming in for, Lipsey and Toure, have a lot of high level minutes on the court so the team struggling on offense for a period before Nelson comes in doesn't move their overall metrics that much and the periods when Nelson is helping jump start the offense isn't better than our offense production when its going well for long stretches, its just better than the offensive lulls we go through sometimes.
All the bench player's On/Off splits are going to be bad when the starters include 3 All American level guys, but the team is absolutely worse with Nelson on the court than off of it. I don't mind him in small spurts but he has the 2nd highest usage rate on the team and 2nd lowest true shooting % - more volume and less accuracy is generally not great. Again he's fine as a change of pace 4th guard but I think sometimes people mistake "doing something" with "doing something well"
Read closer. I never said we are a better offense with Nelson on the court. What I said was that if our offense is struggling, a 3-5 minute jolt from Nelson has always led to improved offensive performance. Sometimes immediately when steps onto the court, often times right after he leaves the court.
Dom Nelson comes in the game to get buckets. We've already got a great defender coming off the bench in Heise. Having that versatility will win us games.
Fun post and I agree, when he's been good he's been really good. He is an excellent "zag" to the rest of the teams "zig". It gives us just that one extra way to beat you that makes us incredibly difficult to gameplan for. He isn't without his limitations but having a guy that seems like he plays in a completely different system is super valuable
Why do you think that would be the case? I'm genuinely curious because I have never once heard of a basketball player whose value is derived from coming into a game and then the team being better again after they leave
EvanMiya says the same thing about Nelson as it did about Watson last year. They are/were emergency spot minute guys only. That could change for Nelson given he started to play OK prior to the injury. But right now he looks like the odd man out in the rotation.
And hopefully those that were pining for Watson to play more last year despite analytics saying he shouldn’t can see that he’s averaging 3 and 3 at 16 mpg for North Texas.
And hopefully those that were pining for Watson to play more last year despite analytics saying he shouldn’t can see that he’s averaging 3 and 3 at 16 mpg for North Texas.
There could be some intangible value in a guy just playing differently than most of the team (downhill drives and drawing FTs vs passing and jump shots), and honestly if he was just bad and not horrific at shooting he'd be getting more minutes IMO
Coach getting T’d up on purpose, team that never presses throwing on a press, throwing in Dom Nelson…sometimes things just wake up a sleepwalking team.
Saying somebody is a bench spark vs somebody should be playing more minutes are very different things. The fact that he has better on/off spits but worse individual efficiency metrics than the other bench guys points to him being a spark off the bench type that helps get the team going.
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I like the thought of calling him a change-up pitch. We really don't have any other guys with his skill set. Just get downhill and attack the rim. He's kind of Keshon Gilbert light on offense. IF he could learn to stay in front of guys, he'd be playing 20 mpg. But as it is, he probably gets around the minutes he deserves.
That said, our most important reserve is Heise by far. You see him do all of the little things. He can guard 1-4 and switch on whoever. Cuts well, can finish at the rim. If you leave him open, he can burn you from 3. You don't see many guys who can guard a 4, yet still be a primary ball-handler if needed.
That said, our most important reserve is Heise by far. You see him do all of the little things. He can guard 1-4 and switch on whoever. Cuts well, can finish at the rim. If you leave him open, he can burn you from 3. You don't see many guys who can guard a 4, yet still be a primary ball-handler if needed.
The "Defibrillator" works in mysterious ways. Don't question it. Embrace it!
F it. Here's a theory as to why he boosts the team: Defibrillator checks in. He bounce, he score, he turnover, he miss FT, he blow box out. He leaves the game and everyone wonders if Dom was something that they imagined. In the back of their minds, Dom's teammates think, "Was Dom in the game? Did you see WTF Dom just did? Was Dom really out here?" They get a little chuckle. They are freer now to destroy.
F it. Here's a theory as to why he boosts the team: Defibrillator checks in. He bounce, he score, he turnover, he miss FT, he blow box out. He leaves the game and everyone wonders if Dom was something that they imagined. In the back of their minds, Dom's teammates think, "Was Dom in the game? Did you see WTF Dom just did? Was Dom really out here?" They get a little chuckle. They are freer now to destroy.
