He doesn’t have enough isolation attempts or plays as the roll man to even qualify for the leaderboard among NCAA players (per Synergy Sports): He has the offensive profile of a scrappy role player who scores off his own energy. The Zags can run offense through every player in their rotation, a huge luxury for a college team, but that also means they all have to sacrifice, none more than Holmgren. They have another potential lottery pick (sophomore Julian Strawther) and four more guards (seniors Andrew Nembhard and Rasir Bolton, and freshmen Hunter Sallis and Nolan Hickman) who need the ball in their hands. It’s not just Timme who gobbles up his touches. Gonzaga hardly runs any plays for Holmgren. He’s turning lemons into lemonade and finding ways to be productive. Lottery Big Man 2-Point Performance Player He has a smaller role on offense than any of the big men who have gone in the top three going back a decade, but he has also been more efficient within that role: They have to play a tougher nonconference schedule than Power Five schools like Duke and Kentucky because their conference schedule is so much worse. Gonzaga has become a blueblood program that regularly gets the top recruits in the country, but it still plays in the West Coast Conference with a bunch of small private schools. But these games might be the best sample we get for Holmgren. It’s hard to compare his numbers at this point in the season to elite big men in past drafts because he has played in only 12 games. Holmgren shot 16-for-22 from 2 (72.7 percent) against them. Those numbers are padded by blowouts against teams like Dixie State and Merrimack, but Gonzaga has played four teams who have been ranked in the top 10. He’s shooting 77 percent from 2-point range on 5.1 attempts per game. Holmgren has been incredible when he has gotten to play inside. But his free throw shooting (71.1 percent on 3.2 attempts per game) doesn’t indicate that he will suddenly become Karl-Anthony Towns. He’s shooting a decent percentage (37.1) on a limited number of attempts (2.9 per game) this season. His 3-point shot is mostly theoretical at this stage of his career. Like most young big men, it’s much easier for Holmgren to play around the basket. The Legend of Chet Holmgren, 7-Foot String Bean, Has Just Begun He took three shots against Texas in a game Gonzaga won by 12. There are times when you can forget that he’s even out there. Holmgren doesn’t get the ball where he wants and never knows when he will get it. Just ask Turner, who publicly complained about it a few weeks ago. The dynamic between them is similar to the one between Domantas Sabonis, a former Gonzaga big man, and Myles Turner, in Indiana. Holmgren has to space the floor for Timme and can’t depend on Timme to set him up for easy shots. But he’s not much of an outside shooter (0.8 3-point attempts per game) or passer (2.2 assists on 2.4 turnovers). Timme is a traditional post scorer with great touch who can power his way through double-teams and dominate the vast majority of college big men. Holmgren has to find a way to make it work with him. He’s a larger-than-life figure at Gonzaga, with more skins on the wall. Timme isn’t as talented as Holmgren but that means only so much. His job is to complement Timme, a junior center who was a second-team All-American last season. Holmgren has stuffed the stat sheet, averaging 13.3 points on 62.5 percent shooting, 8.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 3.6 blocks per game, but he doesn’t have the role you would expect for a potential no. Their players don’t fit quite as well together. The Zags have already lost twice in nonconference play. This season has been more difficult for Gonzaga than last, when it started 31-0 before losing in the NCAA championship game. He took out his star freshman at the next dead ball and kept him on the bench for the final six minutes in a game they lost 91-82. The ball came to him but he air-balled the 3. The next time Gonzaga was on offense, Holmgren drifted into the corner to create space for Timme to roll to the basket. All his fellow Zags big man Drew Timme had to do was loft a simple high-low pass over the head of the defender. Chet Holmgren was posting up a guard a foot shorter than him. Gonzaga was down eight points to Alabama late in the second half of a game in early December.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |