Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Hoops - Leeting Big Men Shoot Jumpers

I saw this quote from Luke Schenscher's breakout game the other night with the Bulls. He scored 10 points, including a few outside jumpers. Here's the quote:

After hearing Tuesday the Bulls would sign him to a second 10-day contract, Schenscher got a rare chance to show why he should stick around. He came into the game averaging a point and a rebound in four appearances, but he finished with 10 points and four rebounds in 18 minutes against Portland.


Chants of "Luuuuke" filled the arena whenever the 7-foot-1 Schenscher hit one of his five field goals, which included several long jumpers.


"I've always had [the jumper]," Schenscher said. "[Assistant coach Ron Adams] said if I'm open I can take it, so that gave me confidence."


If you remember, in Luke's senior season he took a handful of outside jumpshots, mostly along the baseline - and he hit some of them. Only a few though. Why? On our most recent team we saw Ra'Sean Dickey expanding his game with a mid-range jumper. However, that's NOT very typical of a Paul Hewitt team. Guards shoot and the big guys bang in the middle. However, is that because of personnel Coach had to work with? I have a feeling Luke had a good shot and he was held back from taking it. Maybe the offensive scheme actually kept him under the hoop more often. It's just something I was thinking about. Why didn't Luke shoot more to open up the lane for others? Don't get me wrong - I'm not looking for the bigs to start leading the team in outside attempts. But it does add an interesting element to the team. I like that Dickey was allowed to develop that part of his game. Will that continue to develop into next season when we add two 6'8" perimeter long-arm athletic outside shooting guys like Young and Faye? Just thinking outloud.