kyrv wrote:Regarding Turner, I think Doug Collins is right. He's a basketball player, why does he need to be limited to a "position" (the labeling of positions is incredibly overrated by the way).
He's a struggling rookie that would perhaps be best served learning one job/role.
It's easier to learn one position than two. That's not overrated. In particular point and shooting guard are probably not interchangeable for most teams. If he was playing 2/3 or 4/5, I'd be on board, and well, Evan probably wouldn't be complaining about that.
Do you think it is easy to learn point guard in the NBA? Do you think it is simpler than other positions, same, or more complex?
P.S. Maybe in Doug's system it doesn't matter where Evan plays, he has the same roles and responsibilities (same things to learn). I just kind of doubt that, especially when the PG position is involved.
I agree that if a rookie is struggling a coach should often try to simplify things for him. But if they aren't winning a ring this season, and in fact are far from it, I like the idea of challenging young talent.
And you're right that being a primary distributor/playmaker (notice I'm not saying PG) is the toughest thing in basketball, at any level, but if the eventual hope is for him to play such a role why not sacrifice the present for the sake of the future?
And you're correct to bring up the system Collins is running, because that is the key to Turner being asked to be ready to play different roles. In Collins system there is no traditional PG, it's more whoever gets the outlet first between Holiday and Iggy brings the ball up and initiates the offense. Even out of dead-ball situation both Iggy and Holiday have been asked to bring the ball up the court, thus each playing multiple roles. I imagine that Collins would one day like for Turner to take over Iggy's spot on the roster and thus be able to play multiple roles. And when you have multiple players capable of playing multiple roles it can be quite a potent situation as it can make it easier to constantly apply pressure on the opposing defense by presenting different scenarios that they might not be prepared for.
I'm not saying things are going great for the Sixers, as the situation is certainly less than ideal, but as a team that is going to struggle regardless (they have zero interior defense), they might as well go through some growing pains now so that they actually grow into a real team in the future.
Plus, it's not like Turner has the shot to just stand and catch-and-shoot. He needs to get better at making decisions with the ball and he needs to get better at moving aggressively without the ball, things that a basketball player at any position needs to be good at.