Can you show me where is he late to his rotations more than most? Or are you singling him out for some reason?
Yet again the last five minutes…
- Thread starter dahliaclone
- Start date
I’m pretty sure the staff knows heise’s value and the fact Watson has finished the last couple of games speaks for itself. That’s primarily because of his defense and rebounding, but he’s becoming a better 3-pt shooter as well. Glad to see it, will make for a much deeper bench when Milan returns in 4-5 more games.
I think it's also reasonable to say that there is some expectation that Heise can get back to being a serviceable shooter based on what he did last year and at time earlier in the year. There's some of that hope that he'll get back to that. He was doing a solid job driving and dishing earlier on, but in Big 12 play he's not been aggressive at all.
I really think we've seen Watson be more assertive taking a couple shots and getting to the rim on cuts at least because as much as people like to say otherwise, it's really hard to play guys at positions other than the 5 where they don't either score or run the offense through them like a distributing point guard.
You have to get offense from positions 2-4, and probably scoring. Not saying you can't be a great, final four level team without offense and scoring from those three spots, but those positions are like first base and corner outfielders in baseball. Those are positions that exist primarily for offense.
Not that they have to go out and score 8+ a game, but the idea that a guy can play a traditional offensive position and just rebound and defend and get serious minutes on a National Championship-caliber team is pretty antiquated. Again, it's possible, but very rare and difficult. There's a reason ISU's best rebounder, a very good defender, and probably most versatile defender couldn't get on the floor for a defensive-minded coach.
Watson providing some offense, or even just being a bit of a threat to shoot and be aggressive to go with everything else he does is huge. It was great seeing Heise hit the 3 vs. UCF and hit that shot early vs. Arizona. But I do think he has until Milan is back in full swing to prove he can be somewhat of a threat offensively with some level of consistency, or his minutes could really shrink.
I was coaching pre middle school kids in basketball and I grew up a wrestler. I am stating that because I dont know much about basketball. A high school coach told me rotate your players how you need to throughout the game. But at the end make sure you have your best 5 atheletes/players in at the end if it is close. This coach has over 20 teams in the Iowa State tournament and over 700 career wins member of the Iowa Hall of fame. I took that to heart and rotated the grade school kids so that I could always finish with my best 5 atheletes. Maybe Watson is that 5th player now?
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