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What to do with Taylor Hendricks year one

Jingled said:
I'm not sure Henricks has a game that would really benefit from playing big minutes in the G-League, similar to Ochai last year. He might be better off playing a few rotation minutes right away.
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A 5-10 game G League stint could be great for him. I worry with guards that they will force too much stuff and play out of character down there. I think he could work on some stuff and get comfort.... I would only push him there is he isn't getting any PT or is really struggling in a 10-15 minute role. I think the NBA season starts a month or so prior to G League so he might have already elevated himself out of G League duty.
 
Man this isn't rocket surgery. We are not contending for a title. Give the kid some minutes in the big leagues, see how he does and make assessments from there. If a stint in the G-league is warranted then fine, otherwise just let him play.
 
The reason Brice would play ahead of Hendricks is he has a more mature offensive game and a skillset the team is generally lacking.

Pretty sure from a statistical perspective Brice was the best offensive freshman in the nation.

If we are talking about needing wing minutes, I think Brice could have an advantage. I'm not a big believer in Hendricks being a defensive force as a perimeter player at this point, so I don't think the perceived defensive difference is as big as the offensive difference between the two
 
Handlogten's Heros said:
When I responded I wasn't trying to be dismissive but state the reason why I think it would be real safe to "pencil" in Taylor for the leftover minutes. I don't think Hardy will look to spark some offense with Brice by using him as a ball in hand guy in lineups that need offense. Anything can happen and maybe he is exceptional for a rookie but its more likely he is mistake prone and struggles with shot selection and then you can add that on to his defensive issues. Its not really about draft status... its about what he could bring to the team now and in the future. Its the reason he was basically a consensus top 10 pick. He should be able to spot up and hit enough threes while being passable or a slight plus on defense... so he can blend/hide better than Brice can. In that small of a role, 10-15 minutes, its hard to do much so its about him getting assimilated and comfortable. Sensabaugh in 10-15 minutes would just be a target on defense.

I also don't see many lineups where you don't have JC or Sexton... you also have Key in there and he has a big head start on Brice. I also think Dunn will be more productive off the dribble than Brice will be as a rookie. As a spot up guy I think Taylor will be just as good as Brice. Coming off of surgery I am just taking the position that this will look more like a redshirt year for Brice but would love to be surprised.

I also don't think it is just a coaching hardass thing for rookies who can't defend. If you have a great bucket but it has a hole in it... then you have a problem. Unless Brice is A LOT better defender than he showed (and it wasn't just the knee) then he will get absolutely flamed. Long term I like the pick but I need to see what he looks like on an NBA court before I make any definitive statements. I've seen enough players like Taylor to think he can survive for 10 minutes a night even if his shooting takes a bit to lock in.
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I am not going to die on a hill for Brice’s defense, but I do think the problem is being overstated here. Again, we’re talking about a 6-12 minute role max against bench units. I don’t think teams are going to be targeting him. Shot creation is one of, if not the biggest gap on this team and Brice may have been the best in all of NCAA basketball in that area. I would also just add that if you’re not watching games and watching clips instead, that is a pretty horrid way to understand how good or bad a defense is. Not saying this is what you’re doing, but when I was watching full games I thought his defensive issues were overblown and people are just obsessed with labeling players fat and lazy. He’s bad, but on a play to play basis was mostly doing the right things even if he’s physically limited.

Don’t get me wrong, there is an extreme difference on defense between the two…but there is also a big difference on offense. Depending on the lineups I can see why you might prefer Brice. Maybe Hendricks gets some time because he’s in theory a bigger part of the future. I think Hardy is trying to look extra tough by saying the rookies have to “earn it”. But at the same time I don’t think he will give Hendricks 10 minutes just to survive. He will just play Ochai 10 more minutes instead.

There’s also the obvious thing that may be so obvious we just overlook it. If you can’t shoot, you probably can’t play. I think we expect all of our rookies to be good shooters, but there is no guarantee of that. I don’t know who the best shooter is among the 3….but there’s a good chance that guy gets the spot minutes before everyone else.
 
Y’all believe what ya want. If I’m penciling in minutes and rotations imma go ahead and put Taylor in front of Brice.
 
I would expect Hendricks to get minutes first as well, but it's an open ended question. My guess is that neither play right away. I think Hardy will favor giving an extra 5-10 minutes to Ochai and others before playing Hendricks or Brice. Keyonte isn't even a lock to play right away. Most rookies suck, especially incoming freshman, so thinking about who will suck the least is not that engaging of a conversation. Brice and Hendricks are just very different players to begin so I can see arguments for either depending on the surrounding players.
 
ok, let me just put this here. I see ya'll arguing over Hendricks vs BC.

First, there is man-to-man defense. this is your ability to guard the player you are supposed to guard. This a lot of times is as much about desire as it is about talent. Just look at Sexton he puts in so much effort here that it is almost comical.

Second and maybe the most important in defense and that is team defense. You can be below average defender but look a lot better by being able to play team defense. Now this has a lot to do with knowledge and how and when to rotate and play the passing lanes. This ability will get you more playing time, I think than being able to play just man-to-man. I think both Hendricks and BC are going to struggle here at first but I do see Hendricks have an edge with his ability to rotate from the weakside and block shots.

I have heard coaches say that BC just doesn't have a grasp on his defensive assignments. He was almost unplayable at the end of games last year. I want to see them both get playing time but I also want to see them both grow.
 
Samanic is only partially guaranteed. If Hendricks can beat him out by mid-season, Hendricks could take that rotation spot. He could also beat out Fontecchio in the rotation at some point. He's just going to need to earn his minutes. I think he's a 4 though. I'd expect him to backup John Collins.
 
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kabenac said:
I don't really like Hendricks at 5. Hendricks would be an ideal 4. I think he can get to 230 pretty easily. At 230 he would weigh more than John Collins.
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I agree RE: the 5.

And I know the difference between 3 and 4 is basically zero, so I'll just say that I think Hendricks should be able to guard any perimeter wings, plus do some banging with the bigger powerwings in the interior. He's a big, switchable wing.

His recipe for minutes is pretty straightforward to me: (a) hit his threes and move ball, (b) very solid man-to-man defense, (c) the awareness of when to rotate and protect the rim as a help defender.
 
NAOS_pt2 said:
I agree RE: the 5.

And I know the difference between 3 and 4 is basically zero, so I'll just say that I think Hendricks should be able to guard any perimeter wings, plus do some banging with the bigger powerwings in the interior. He's a big, switchable wing.

His recipe for minutes is pretty straightforward to me: (a) hit his threes and move ball, (b) very solid man-to-man defense, (c) the awareness of when to rotate and protect the rim as a help defender.
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Agree and it’s very doable. I know we don’t know what will translate perfectly but Taylor will shoot it just fine and will do some good things on defense (along with some bad). He won’t take a lot of chances and thus won’t make a lot of mistakes. His development as a player an an asset is probably like one of the top five most important things for the upcoming season.
 
Chargers Jazz Angels said:
ok, let me just put this here. I see ya'll arguing over Hendricks vs BC.

First, there is man-to-man defense. this is your ability to guard the player you are supposed to guard. This a lot of times is as much about desire as it is about talent. Just look at Sexton he puts in so much effort here that it is almost comical.

Second and maybe the most important in defense and that is team defense. You can be below average defender but look a lot better by being able to play team defense. Now this has a lot to do with knowledge and how and when to rotate and play the passing lanes. This ability will get you more playing time, I think than being able to play just man-to-man. I think both Hendricks and BC are going to struggle here at first but I do see Hendricks have an edge with his ability to rotate from the weakside and block shots.

I have heard coaches say that BC just doesn't have a grasp on his defensive assignments. He was almost unplayable at the end of games last year. I want to see them both get playing time but I also want to see them both grow.
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Who is BC?
 
I think the reality is going to be minutes will be rotated on the back end unless someone is really playing exceptionally well.
 
Im more of a blank slate guy and we just haven't seen anything out of either two dudes yet. Brice has legitimate star scoring upside so he should be invested in as much as Hendricks
 
Ferguson_Mellochill said:
Samanic is only partially guaranteed. If Hendricks can beat him out by mid-season, Hendricks could take that rotation spot. He could also beat out Fontecchio in the rotation at some point. He's just going to need to earn his minutes. I think he's a 4 though. I'd expect him to backup John Collins.
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At this point I'm not sure I couldn't beat Fontecchio out for a rotation spot. Hendricks shouldn't have a problem.
 
Saint Cy of JFC said:
I think the reality is going to be minutes will be rotated on the back end unless someone is really playing exceptionally well.
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Not how things work in reality at all
 
Saint Cy of JFC said:
It's how Hardy did it last year and how he publicly stated he liked doing.
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It’s not how he did it. Guys win rotation spots and then if they don’t play themselves out of the rotation they kinda stay there until an injury or in our case a trade happened. Unless there was load management the rotation was the rotation.

Once it was tank season you saw THT and Ochai getting a bunch of burn… they collected dnps when healthy.
 
I think Hendricks is probably the only rookie that's gonna get minutes from the jump. They've stressed positional size and I think he pairs well in lineups w/o Kessler on the floor because of his shot blocking.
 
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