he's had several bad games this season though

he should have left last year when he had the chance tbh

2/23/2013 8:14:52 PM

Our coach needs to know when a player is out of it and have him sit

2/23/2013 8:15:35 PM

he has had other bad games this season, that were somewhat masked if we ended up winning the game

but still for some reason people criticize the fuck out of him if he gets 1 turnover just because he's supposed to be the man

your most talented player is going to have a lot of opportunities to score as part of the gameplan, and sometimes he is gonna turn the ball over

not excusing him not always passing out of a double or triple team, or traveling, or spinning and stepping on the baseline, but the best bball players who have the ball in their hand the most tend to have the most turnovers

2/23/2013 8:24:26 PM

People don't criticize him for getting a single turnover because he's supposed to be the man.

People criticize him for getting one turnover because he has averaged like seven turnovers a game recently.

It's infuriating to have this expectation that, when he gets the ball, we're more likely to give the other team the ball than end up with points.

2/23/2013 8:31:35 PM

Quote :

"Wood, on what went wrong: “I don’t think it’s fatigue. It’s a couple other things.” Like what? “I’m not allowed to say.” Well that doesn't sound good"

He's worrying about his gf getting fat.

[Edited on February 23, 2013 at 8:33 PM. Reason : ]

2/23/2013 8:33:10 PM

Scott Wood has been dating Kate Upton?

2/23/2013 8:49:51 PM

It's an internet relationship so far, and she's come to visit him a couple times in Raleigh... I hear she's been sick recently, though

2/23/2013 9:23:42 PM

Quote :

"People don't criticize him for getting a single turnover because he's supposed to be the man. People criticize him for getting one turnover because he has averaged like seven turnovers a game recently. It's infuriating to have this expectation that, when he gets the ball, we're more likely to give the other team the ball than end up with points. "

I criticize him because he's lazy and selfish.

2/23/2013 9:33:02 PM

yes, he's had a couple games lately (including today) where he played like shit, mixed in with a couple games where he had a double double and helped us win

i just don't get all the vitriol for him...it must be because people expect him to be lebron and he's not

2/23/2013 9:34:38 PM

CJL is blamed because he's exactly like this team. Full of talent and incredible to watch when on but not able to consistently put it together. Everyone assumed he'd get it together this year and the team would as well. It just hasn't worked out. We're still ahead of schedule with Gott, so everyone needs to back off. I'll State's program now over any time in the past 20 years.

2/23/2013 9:39:53 PM

He's definitely not lazy or selfish. That's not true from what we've seen, and that doesn't even make basic sense.

But there is a problem there. I think people can be patient if he's bringing something--points, big plays, snazzy passes, energy/momentum--to the table. But if he's not bringing anything, then it's really bad, and it's different than what an "off" game is for most people.

2/23/2013 10:21:04 PM

I'm done being mad about this game. Time to move on and win out!

2/23/2013 10:22:55 PM

how does coming back to help his draft stock make him unselfish? that only works when you are a lotto pick and come back.

2/23/2013 10:46:44 PM

He is lazy, plain and simple. He doesn't want to defend - he just wants to play offense. His defensive effort is shit.

2/23/2013 11:24:59 PM

Add to that the fact that, once he gets the ball isolated in the post (or near the post), once he decides he's going to take it to the rim he takes it to the rim. Very rarely does he take it in to trouble and then dish it to an open man to make a play.

And then he ends up walking or stepping out of bounds and we're so tired of that.

Yes, CJ can put up impressive numbers. They don't look as impressive when you see how many touches it takes and how many turnovers come along with his offense. Sure, 21 points and 11 rebounds is great. But when you've single-handedly turned the ball over eight times, often leading to points for the other team, that 21 points is really only an effective 8 or 10. Not nearly where we thought CJ would be in terms of effectiveness.

2/24/2013 12:09:23 AM

Just an all around terrible loss. No positives to take away from that game at all.

Season could really end on a whimper if we don't completely turn things around starting next game.

Missing the tournament with our best team in 20 years would be unbelievable

2/24/2013 12:12:10 AM

I bitch about Leslie because he has the talent to be an All-American but because he doesn't play smart he hurts us as much as he helps over the course of the season. You don't need to be Lebron to win in college. Duke won a title with Brian Zoubek and Lance fucking Thomas.

2/24/2013 12:17:37 AM

to be fair, Zoubeck was awesome that season.


but yeah lance thomas was terrible that year and nearly cost them the title game against butler by having an all time ghastly performance in that game.

[Edited on February 24, 2013 at 1:39 AM. Reason : a]

2/24/2013 1:38:16 AM

Quote :

"Add to that the fact that, once he gets the ball isolated in the post (or near the post), once he decides he's going to take it to the rim he takes it to the rim. Very rarely does he take it in to trouble and then dish it to an open man to make a play."

This. It doesn't matter if he is double or triple teamed, he gets the ball down low and he is going up with it. I can't imagine how good we could be if he'd learn to pass it out to the perimeter.

2/24/2013 7:03:02 AM

people never expected him to be Lebron James, but they probably expected Julius Hodge, and not Courtney Fells

[Edited on February 24, 2013 at 11:34 AM. Reason : .]

2/24/2013 11:33:45 AM

It's up to Gott to stop calling isolations for Leslie. If Leslie is not scoring and turning the ball over too much out of isolations, then don't call the play.

We were playing efficient ball when we didn't isolate as much.

We would actually have a better offense if we only just setup shots for Wood, period. That's how bad the isolations have become.

A coach cannot overemphasize just how bad turnovers are. Having Tyler Lewis or Scott wood post up is less damaging than a turnover. Somehow, Gott and Leslie need to get that into their brains. Trying to make an awesome move is not worth the turnover.

2/24/2013 12:04:42 PM

Even though the box score shows 6 turnovers for CJL, he really had 8 since missing both free throws during a trip to the line is essentially a turnover for our offense

Pathetic

2/24/2013 12:33:39 PM

I also count really bad, avoidable shots with no one in rebounding position as turnovers.

So he had even more than 8.

2/24/2013 12:43:57 PM

Quote :

"He's definitely not lazy or selfish. That's not true from what we've seen, and that doesn't even make basic sense."

I agree. He's frustrating to watch because we know how good he can be when he puts it all together. But I don't think his problem is him being selfish or lazy.

2/24/2013 1:13:38 PM

Well he's either lazy and selfish or incredibly stupid and hopelessly uncoordinated. I'm gonna give him a little credit and assume it's not the latter.

2/24/2013 2:18:55 PM

here's the thing. He's an animal if his defender isn't athletic enough to stay with him. If his defender is athletic enough to stay with him, he doesn't have a fall back plan. So he just forces it which results in bad shots/turnovers way too frequently.

If he had a midrange jumpshot or if he had a thought process like a point forward where he looks to pass on the drive he'd be nearly impossible to guard. Instead teams know exactly what he's going to do when he gets the ball in isolation.

His defender takes a step or two back which offsets his greatest asset which is his quick first step. Then a help defender comes as soon as he puts the ball on the floor. This results in tons of turnovers when he goes towards the help and if he goes away from the help he often steps out of bounds on the baseline.

All of this could be corrected if he had the ability to shoot the 15 footer or if he was able to pass on drives. He possesses neither skill which makes him imminently guardable if the defense plays him correctly.

2/24/2013 2:33:37 PM

Quote :

"He's definitely not lazy or selfish. That's not true from what we've seen, and that doesn't even make basic sense. "

How can you say it doesn't make basic sense to call him selfish? A high number of "I got this, guys" turnovers seems pretty selfish to me.

2/24/2013 3:02:00 PM

I think it's pretty apparent that we are calling the isolation plays for him. I don't think it's simply a matter of him being selfish. He's taking it to the hole with authority quite often too.

The problem is that teams know exactly what he's going to do. They have a full season's worth of tape on him doing exactly the same thing everytime.

Now against San Diego State when he absolutely dominated did anyone think he was "selfish"? No, he was straight murdering them.

How about the first game vs UNC when he drew fouls on McAdoo and outright took over the game for a little while?

The problem is that teams have adjusted to him and we haven't made an adjustment back. We need to either eliminate the isolation plays, give him dump off or kick out options when the double team comes, or he has to figure out ways to draw contact and get to the line. Simply forcing it into double teams or taking jumpers he's incapable of hitting are not viable options.

2/24/2013 3:08:12 PM

Well I'd rather believe CJ is a bit selfish than believe Gott is completely incompetent.

The endlessly frustrating coast to coast failures paint him a tad selfish as well

[Edited on February 24, 2013 at 3:14 PM. Reason : ,]

2/24/2013 3:12:56 PM

Yeah ..... Leslie often gets yanked after a couple of these ill advised drives or jump shots. He'd be a pretty shitty coach to sit a guy for doing exactly what was asked of him.

2/24/2013 3:16:08 PM

I don't think his problem is the way he decides to play on the court as much as it is whatever he focuses on during practice. If Warren or Howell had his athleticism added with their skills they'd have a plan b and c. Warren would probably have plan d, e, f and g also.

He's just way too raw as a junior. Half his great moves are travels.

[Edited on February 24, 2013 at 3:18 PM. Reason : and I do think he gets lazy on D]

2/24/2013 3:17:16 PM

^ that's basically the crux of it. He's a 22 year old junior who has added nothing to his game in 3 years.

2/24/2013 3:20:33 PM

CJL is the perfect example of why the "OH he's not ready for the NBA he should come back to school" argument is not always correct.

Some athletes benefit from returning to school and improve their draft stock.

Others don't improve and completely kill their draft stock.

McAdoo was a likely top 5 pick last year. Now he probably slips out of the lottery. Exree Hipp played himself out of the first round and ended up on the Harlem Globetrotters for god's sake.

The older you get, the less room you have to improve. If your improvement each year doesn't measure up to the year older you've become you are a less enticing prospect for the NBA.


At this point I can't imagine a team taking CJL in the first round. I'm not so sure he's even worth a look in the 2nd round. The NBA is for skilled basketball players and genetic freaks. I wouldn't consider him either. His game isn't polished enough for Europe either.

He looks like a career D-leaguer who could get some burn in Israel or somewhere.

2/24/2013 3:25:18 PM

So, are we attributing this loss to Gott putting CJL back in the game in the second half when we had managed to get a 5 point lead?

2/24/2013 3:38:09 PM

He made a big jump last year after being not that good as a freshman. This year he's really stagnated. He should've gone last year but I don't know how long he wouldve lasted. Ultimately he's a 3/4 tweener that can't shoot. That's just not an NBA player.

With his athleticism he couldve made it as an energy/defense guy...but that's obviously not his specialty.

2/24/2013 4:06:50 PM

forget his offense. he's selfish b/c if he's not having a good game, he just gives up. no defensive effort. no rebounding.

i used to think fans were dumb for calling out his body language and seeming lack of effort. but last night he was hardly moving. and if he was, it was on offense like a bull in a china shop or bumbling the ball out of bounds.

if he's not getting his points, he pouts and fails.

2/24/2013 4:13:33 PM