I agree 100%, no shade and all respect to Mr Socko, but I think you’re accurate here.
In his defense tho, I would only remind everyone that this description fits MOST teams’ backup bigs, even many good teams.
Proven big production is so valuable right now, probably overvalued. Along with shooting.
To your point tho, the college game is moving back to being a little more big dominant in general, so that definitely raises the bar in terms of desired impact.
I think the big hidden change in the game that is equally as impactful is true small forwards are also making a comeback. And due to your prior need to have Eman on the floor with your two PG lineup… this only put more pressure on Sakho which was obviously compounded by the subtraction of Jwan and Francis! He was truly facing an uphill battle.
It was the same story with Eman sliding over for Cryer, but you had beasts down low to offset it. The Eman at the 3 thing also probably contributed to being so jump shot heavy. What you lose in outside raw shooting and maybe a little ball handling, you gain in versatility across both domains and free up your two true guards and two true bigs to do their thing in scramble situations. And all small forwards should be plenty capable from that corner 3 spot, that’s generally the jumpshot they train the most. (See Nate Heise in Hilton
)
Here’s the good news from what I’m seeing… I think having Chase McCarty and Bryce Jackson potentially manning the 3 spot a high level in a more traditional way takes pressure off your bigs, and Sahko would have benefited from that.
I think Sharp, as amazing and tough and strong as he was, was never a 3. He was a 2. You will benefit this year IMO from perhaps a TANDEM of true small forwards, who are better suited to hunt backcuts and help in the lob game as both attackers and distributors, as well as atheltic finishers. True guards and true bigs are usually only particularly useful as one or the other, broadly speaking. Makes it a lot easier to defend when breakdowns happen.
You see, the game is moving to a lot of short roll, high low, split and lob game looks in order to combat the hard hedge aggressive ballscreen coverage schemes the top defenses are running to perfection. These offensive wrinkles put tag defenders and goalies in a bind, and turns ball pressure into a numbers advantage.
I think the Coogs likely have that this year, and it will free things up in ways the casual fan can’t fully appreciate. You could theoretically expect more offensive impact from a “limited” big like Sahko because of it! This is where teams that don’t have the deepest pockets can maximize what they do have. It’s been really cool to see it in action on our end.
