Why hasnt this clown worked on his dribbling at all? It actually seems that his handles have gotten worse than last year. I mean, Shandon is a really good player, and I like him a lot. You all know the routine... he plays defense, hustles, does the little things, etc etc. But his dribbling just sucks for a 2 guard. I usually see him losing the ball after doing a simple non-fancy move like a standard cross-over. If he could just handle the ball, then he should definately be able to score at least 5 or 6 more points. If Shandon was a better dribbler, I think our transition game would be much better. Seeing as how he is already a good transition player, if he just improved his handles, he'd be unstoppable in transition. Francis and others will be more confident in giving him the ball in transition... we could just throw it ahead to him since he's always running the floor, and give him some easier opportunities to score. And we could actually run some more plays for Shandon. I've seen times where he's just plain lost control of the ball when we've givin him the ball during a play designed for him. So... why doesnt he just work on his dribbling. I mean, we have FRANCIS on our team who is one of the best dribblers in the L. Can't Francis just teach him or something. Doesnt he realize that he needs to work on that... dont the coaches tell him? ------------------ da ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic of intelligence - alaskanSnowman [This message has been edited by alaskansnowman (edited December 01, 2000).]
I'll have to admit, when I first noticed Shandon was having a problem, I didn't think it would matter much...that it was just a minor problem that comes at the beginning of the year, that would be worked out soon... But it's not working out. Like Alaskan said, it's almost as if it's getting worse. There are 2-3 plays a game now where you see our offense slow down a bit because Shandon doesn't quite gain control of the basketball. While normally it doesn't penalize us in the long run, what CAN he do? It does need to be fixed. ------------------ Jazzkiller
Time to be harsh; I have little respect for 7' leapers who fall for headfakes and can't block shots consistantly like Cato vs LaFrentz. I likewise have little offensive respect for guards who can't dribble. You are a professional NBA guard Shandon; learn how to dribble if you want the big money. I'm sorry; it is not that hard to practice dribbling over and over, consider he is an NBA guard. He either can't do it, or he shows complete lack of interest in learning to do it. Time for excuses for Shandon's lack of dribbling are dwindling as fast as Cato's lack of blocking fundamentals.
SA is a good role player, and a very good defender. That is all he will ever amount to. The best players add something to their game year after year. SA is not improving, but he can still be effective as long as he does not have to dribble, kind of like Mo not having to rebound. DaDakota ------------------ If Mankind evolved from Monkeys and Apes, then why are there still Monkeys and apes?
Jeezus Christ! Shandon Anderson is not lackin' in dribblin skills. You guys lack patience n' jump to crticism way to hastily. It's obvious the mans mind is elsewhere and we all know why. Shandon had no problems dribblin' last year whatsoever, nor, did he in the pre-season before the sudden family tragedy. Shandon recieves the ball when he hustlin' down the court at 90mph and that causes a majority of these turnovers you speak of. How can you fault the guy for hustlin'? Shandons dribblin' is not a problem, yet. ------------------
SA is a good role player, and a very good defender. That is all he will ever amount to. The best players add something to their game year after year. SA is not improving, but he can still be effective as long as he does not have to dribble, kind of like Mo not having to rebound. DaDakota ------------------ If Mankind evolved from Monkeys and Apes, then why are there still Monkeys and apes?
Shandon had no problems dribblin' last year whatsoever, nor, did he in the pre-season before the sudden family tragedy. Shandon recieves the ball when he hustlin' down the court at 90mph and that causes a majority of these turnovers you speak of. How can you fault the guy for hustlin'? -ROCKETBOOSTER Actually, Shandon did have some problems dribbling last year... there were times when he would drive only to get completely ripped(and not due to a good defensive play; it was due to bad dribbling). Whenever you force Shandon to try and do any sort of move to go by you, he loses the ball. I mean, have you ever seen Shandon do some sort of a nice move?Shandon's only good when he drives straight to the basket and uses his body to manuever his way to a lay up. If you're still not convinced, just think "What happens on a Shandon Anderson ISO?" The rare times that I've seen it happen, I've never seen him get by his defender, simply due to his lack of moves/handles. At best, his dribbling last year was average. And also... some of the turnovers do come from him "receiving the ball goin 90 mph" but a lot also come from just plain bad dribbling. I've seen times when Shandon is taking it upcourt on a fastbreak, and I see him just mishandle the ball. I remember at the beginning of the season, he almost cost us the game by dribbling it right to the defender in the closing minutes. And there have been plenty of mistakes just like these in the beginning of the season. It's obvious the mans mind is elsewhere and we all know why. It is really sad about Shandon's mother passing away, and I hope Shandon gets through this tough time, but his mom's death can't be the reason for his bad dribbling. I say this because he wasnt a good dribbler last year. And also, he's been kicking it off his foot, losing it out of bounds, and other plays like that. Dribbling is not something that you can just "lose"... it's not like a shot that can be on or off. Either you have it or you don't. Therefore, i dont think that the death of Shandon's mom is the reason he's been dribbling bad. I hope that I'm wrong and Shandon does indeed have some secret handles, but from what I've seen this season as well as last season, I dont think he does, and I think he needs to seriously work on em. ------------------ da ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic of intelligence - alaskanSnowman [This message has been edited by alaskansnowman (edited December 01, 2000).]
im w/ u snow. i mean shandon is like a freakin hmmmmmmm...... ok les go w/ jaguar. shandon is like a freakin jaguar! this clown is down tha court on every fast break, a lil work on his dribbling would mean sum monster improvements in our fast break ------------------ Lookin at a 75 year old man in a thong: NASTY Lookin at Shaq hit free throws: "O SH**!"
In Shandon's defense, dribbling is about the hardest aspect of basketball to improve. He does not have horrible ball control, but probably does need to practice more. Still, a lot of the difference between being a decent dribbler and a great dribbler has to do with natural talent and coordination. Another thing is that we aren't using the strengths that he has now very effectively. He moves very well without the ball and is a decent spot-up shooter. There's no reason, we couldn't run motion sets based on these two strengths to get him a few wide-open shots per game (imagine running plays to get your SG more shots ). Also, he's decently sized for a 2-guard and has a good post-up game. Why not give him the occasional opportunity to post-up smaller players? If anything, it would diversify our offense. ------------------ [This message has been edited by Launch Pad (edited December 01, 2000).]
Heypartner: Mourning trump Card. Maybe. So what. Is it not fair. I'm willing to let him play it out. Why aren't you? Why so harsh on the fella. Sure, I know, a mans gettin paid this is a buisness...Well, Shandons a Human being not a damn machine and a mother dyin' on ya can shake n' rock your whole foundation effecting all aspects of your life. Including buisness. Rudy T knows this and if you watch Shandons whole countenance on the court closely you may pick it out yourself. I'm wiilin to let him play the card out and so is Rudy T. I hope. He damn well deserves it. Alaskansnowman: All you say is true during last few games at least. I did not notice a problem last year though. To me it's not a major problem, either way. ------------------ [This message has been edited by ROCKETBOOSTER (edited December 01, 2000).]
I think to analyze the dribbling skills of a player you have take a few things into account: The game has changed a lot, there was a time (the 80s) when it was really cool do all these cool dribbles like dykes and between the legs and whatever. Now with the better defenses and the "ball carrying" rule this is a practice of the past. Nowadays players only try for one dribbling move... The basic crossover. With the way the game has been limited this is the only effective dribbling move because anyone can defend a pretty dribbler by just staying a step back and moving their feet. but the crossover is different.... a player can have good defensive positioning, move his feet, and still lose track of the ball. So the direction in the art of dribbiling is how fast one can initiate this move. The fastests crossoverers like Iverson, T. Hardaway, and Steve set the standard for all the other players. Shandon is having trouble with this move because he tries too hard, i've seen him dribble off his foot, dribble out of bounds or miss-dribble (dribbling with fingertips). This leads to a lot of bad decisions and he can't get into a groove. in my opinion he will get better with time, I think the problem is his hand eye coordination more than anything... his lack of it makes him look down a lot and he fumbles the ball because he gets nervous. Maybe if Shandon played more ping pong or tennis he could develop this skill better. I dunno, I need to see more games to make a better analysis....thats my two cents. --Rocketman ------------------
Please, no one misconstrue (sp?) my following statements, as I have the utmost respect and sympathy for Shandon. I have luckily never had to endure such a hardship, but, I know, my time will come. But I just can't believe that the reason for his bobbling the ball is that his mind is elsewhere. I highly doubt that as he drives down the floor in his top speed, he is sadly thinking of his lost mother. The man is not the greatest dribbler. He never has been. Even earlier in his career, before all of this, while he played with the Spazz, he was, as was mentioned before by several posters, a role player. Until he can create his own shots (a la Mobley, Shandon) we shouldn't expec the same output offensively as those guys. We also have to realize that Taylor is here, and he was not here last year. That is obviously going to cut down on the number of touches Anderson gets. But he DOES need to work on his ballhandling if he wants to become a more complete player. Am I wrong? ------------------ Jazzkiller
Oh, and, Rocketman-- You left out one of the best "crossoverers" in the game today: Moochie Norris. ------------------ Jazzkiller
BOOSTER, Hey, we agree more often than not, and I've had fun doing it. One of the reasons I stay away from bashing Shandon's dribbling is because many of us here respect him highly, as I do. To bash Shandon is to bash many bbs'ers respect for him. But part of my bbs experience is speaking my mind and not worrying about bi-partisan concensus and stirring things up. So take your shots BOOSTER; I'm going to. It's fun. I agree with snowman on how long we've seen this bad dribbling. Shandon's dribbling sucks not as much because he obviously hasn't worked hard on that skill his WHOLE life; Shandon's dribbling sucks because he tries things he can't do. It is called poor judgement; like an ill-advised Mobley back-flip, fade-away jumper. Everyone says Shandon is a team player and knows team ball. I agree, and I love those types of players. But my experience playing and latter practicing with players is many of those guys all practice what the coach wants their whole life, and since dribbling is deemphasized by many motion systems, they don't work on that part of the game. And many great team players fail to advance to the next level. Well being a team player with limited dribbling skills is fine as long as they don't attempt moves that require dribbling beyond their capabilities. I am fine with that. I just have little patience for him attempting dribbling maneuvers he clearly hasn't practiced enough. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited December 02, 2000).]
Yeah guys, he's a pro. He should be able to dribble like Mooch and shoot like Cat, that way we can cut Steve Francis. Come on people lets be realistic. If it was that easy to take 2 people and sqish(sp) them into one we would have had the perfect PF from the beginning of the season. But here in an imperfect world haveing Mokt starting for us is not possible. I say that to say that dribbling is not the role for SA. He is not the pg. And although he starts as sg, scoring is not even a role that he has to burden himself with everynight. I beleive SA fits his role perfectly and I got madd love for the dude... ------------------ We need to do whatever we can to keep Cat and Coop playing ball in Houston...
I think we have worse problems than Shan's dribbling (or lack thereof) he is here for two very simple reasons. 1) To defend the other teams best player(when possible,it wouldn't do to have him guarding McDyess) and 2) to take advantage of any opportunities he can find to score. After all, in the scheme of things what option is he?? 3rd or 4th? Overall, I'm pleased with how he fits in to the team. He does what is necessary to help us win. What else could you reasonably expect from him??? ------------------ Give It To Moochie! [This message has been edited by Rockets2K (edited December 02, 2000).]
Knowing his limitations, just like everyone else. Francis2K We are not saying he needs to be a better player. We are simply saying he can limit his mistakes by knowing his limitations. He must quit facing a defender while dribbling, and he must not try the Drexler spin move anymore, until he practices it much more.
Do ya posslbly think if he got maybe some post plays run for him, he might quit trying to create something that is beyond his capabilities?? I said that I was pleased with him, that doesn't mean that I'm ignoring some of his stupid mistakes.. he does need to quit tryin to be Stevie or Cat...but I believe that his value as a defender far outweighs the few mistakes he has been making...just my opinion of course. ------------------ Give It To Moochie! [This message has been edited by Rockets2K (edited December 02, 2000).]
why cant mo improve his rebounding? why cant cato improve his offense? why cant walt improve his defense? why cant bull learn something,anything, new? why cant steve decrease To's? Why cant cuttino improve shot selection? Why cant Kenny improve shooting? Why cant collier improve rebounding? Whine, whine, whine, whine... lol Come on were not the only ones with problems just look at the lakers Why cant shaq improve free throw shooting? Why cant Kobe improve shot selection? Why cant Horace play offense? Why cant Robert improve rebounding? Why cant Isaiah improve discipline? Why cant knight improve in something(right now all he is 6 fouls)? Why cant Fox stop arguing and play some defense? See even the world champion laker have problems.
