Monday, August 2, 2010

shooters only?

I hate to disagree with my compatriots, but I cannot subscribe to the “don’t recruit them if they cannot shoot” theory. It just is not true that every player does everything equally well. Every player is stronger at some facet of the game than others. If you recruit so that every player can shoot (which the Princeton schools do), then you will face the same thing they face – they get pounded on the boards and can only play zone defense. Would we turn down Wilt or Shaq because they were terrible shooters? If you recruit based on a single overriding criterium, then you automatically say that the other criteria will of necessity fall by the wayside. You have to recruit so that you have SOME shooters – several of them, and you normally will want your perimeter players to be able to shoot from the perimeter, but do you turn down a John Fowler just because he can’t shoot (and he could) – one of the best defensive players we have ever had? That just does not make sense to me.

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