…I would it rather be Joe or Jones. I don’t think we can as easily make up for the loss of either Whitt or Sills.
On the offensive end, if three pointer is not there, we have three options. Jones driving and very often turning it over or Whitt with his funky money midrange jumpers or Sills to the hoop. We can perhaps get by without Jones there but not Whitt or Sills.
On the defensive end, no question Whitt and Sills are better than Joe and Jones.
I don’t think we can get by without both Jones and Joe, but we can get by without one of them, if we have to.
Well it’s a hit on defense when Joe is a good rebounding guard and comes up with steals and assists. He stuffs a stat sheet pretty good. With Joe on the floor he just needs the Ball to go inside out like it did yesterday. That’s my opinion. His knee is probably a huge part of his slump.
I agree with Labb, Jones and Whitt have been our 2 most valuable players. The offense starts with Mason Jones. Whitt has just been very consistently excellent in all phases of the game. This team has such little depth that losing one of our players is a big deal, no matter which starter we are talking about.
It is just a danged shame we don’t have a stud inside player who is 6-10 or so. If we did, we would be Sweet 16 material. But, we don’t. Making the big dance would be a nice deal in Coach’s first year.
D D
Agree with you 94.3%… LOL
Our next game, fortunately here at Walton Arena, will be a nice plus and get us rolling a bit. 12 games left, so still a LOT of things can happen with our bench players and their contribution.
PJ, I think you’re giving a little too much credit to yesterday’s game. Jones would be a much bigger loss than Desi. After 3 of 3 on 3s, he’s still shooting .244. Yes, Desi had a great game yesterday though. Really gave us a lift.
All Jones is doing this year is leading the team in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and free throws made and percentage. He had a 1 point 1st half while sitting out about half of it in foul trouble. He scored 19 in the 2nd half. We may have lost that game without those 19 points.
Joe has shown his disappointment on some video of practices I have seen this week. He hates not playing BUT reinjuring himself if playing too much too soon will be detrimental to the rest of the year for Joe… and the Razorbacks. Can he stomach playing hard for 8-10 minutes only and then working back up to 30 minutes a game? Time will tell. But he seems disgruntled to me.
With Muss ability for player development, hopefully we are building enough capable depth to cover when a key player is either injured or having a down night. Seems that other players are starting to step up their game while Isaiah recovers.
If Joe stays out few more games, we will soon know if staff has done a good job of developing depth. I don’t think they trust having Cylla or Henderson on the floor right now. We are effectively 7 deep right now.
When a key player is out, rest of the team usually steps up in the next game, but effect of the loss of a key player starts showing up from second game onl
Sidney Moncrief played with tendinitis in his knee for most of his career. It was something that he played through in college and in the NBA. He had a funky gait at times that was the result of the tendinitis. I heard trainers and coaches call in a “jumpers knee.” That was a gentler reference than saying he’s playing through a sore and bothersome knee. I get a sore knee after a long day of wading the river (slipping and sliding on slick rocks). I guess that’s “waders knee.”
Fishing can cause a lot more than a sore knee! I enjoy being out on the water even when the fish don’t bite. Catching a mess to cook is just a bonus.
Since you mentioned it I do remember Sid and that gate he moved with on that knee covered with the wrap! He didn’t let it effect his play!