Is J James our most important player for success?

#1
PulaskiVolFan

PulaskiVolFan

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#1
I personally believe that JJJ is the best all around player on the team. His size is a problem for teams defensively and when it comes to rebounding. He's one of the most gifted players physically that we've ever had in Knoxville, he's a big POINT GUARD and I emphasize that because he's currently playing out of position most of the game. He definitely needs to improve his scoring and his aggressiveness. I think he'll be a much better pro player than college player. Teams are about to start pressing our guards, they are going to come after Bowden and Turner and that's going to leave JJJ open in space a bunch come SEC play, how he handles that will determine the outcome in a lot of big games this year. We basically know everyone's role on the team right now except for James. I think that by the end of the year his improvement or not will play a big role in our boys success. I'd like to see him start the break off his rebounds by going coast to coast some as well.
We need some depth so adding the PG in Jan should help us some with our guard rotation.
 
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#2
#2
PulaskiVolFan said:
I personally believe that JJJ is the best all around player on the team. His size is a problem for teams defensively and when it comes to rebounding. He's one of the most gifted players physically that we've ever had in Knoxville, he's a big POINT GUARD and I emphasize that because he's currently playing out of position most of the game. He definitely needs to improve his scoring and his aggressiveness. I think he'll be a much better pro player than college player. Teams are about to start pressing our guards, they are going to come after Bowden and Turner and that's going to leave JJJ open in space a bunch come SEC play, how he handles that will determine the outcome in a lot of big games this year. We basically know everyone's role on the team right now except for James. I think that by the end of the year his improvement or not will play a big role in our boys success. I'd like to see him start the break off his rebounds by going coast to coast some as well.
We need some depth so adding the PG in Jan should help us some with our guard rotation.
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Good stuff, and you hit the nail on the head with JJJ, in my opinion.
 
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#3
#3
I hope he ends up being as good as you think he will because so far, other than being physically ahead of most freshmen, I haven't seen a lot from him offensively that makes me think he's going to be a huge contributor on the offensive end this season.
 
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#4
#4
1985Vols said:
I hope he ends up being as good as you think he will because so far, other than being physically ahead of most freshmen, I haven't seen a lot from him offensively that makes me think he's going to be a huge contributor on the offensive end this season.
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I agree with @vol30 , He reminds me of Robert Hubbs. He needs to spend extra time in the gym working on his shot.
 
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#6
#6
1985Vols said:
I hope he ends up being as good as you think he will because so far, other than being physically ahead of most freshmen, I haven't seen a lot from him offensively that makes me think he's going to be a huge contributor on the offensive end this season.
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Watch the little things he does, watch how different we look when he's not in the game. We've got to do the small things well in order for us to be successful I think and he's great at all the intangibles, other than points and I agree, I'd like to see more out of him as well. If he could rise up to 12-15 points per game we'll have a really good chance to go far in the tournament as we'd have the best set of guards in the country averaging 50 per game between them for a team with a stingy defense, a scenario that has proven successful in years past.
 
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#7
#7
tnvols72 said:
I agree with @vol30 , He reminds me of Robert Hubbs. He needs to spend extra time in the gym working on his shot.
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He's much stronger physically I think now than Hubbs ever was. He also effects the game on both ends more than Hubbs as well I think. Its's a good comparison though. He reminds me of VFL Fred Jenkins and Tn HS great Ron Mercer. I think he'll produce similar to JP Prince when it comes to effecting the game in all phases at times.
 
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#8
#8
VOLED said:
It's pretty simply. If others don't step up then there will be too many games like last night, and those won't be victories in SEC play.
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Barnes treated last night like a glorified practice. That team was never going to score enough to beat us and Barnes and staff likely knew it. Barnes did a bunch of TEACHING last night.
 
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#9
#9
1985Vols said:
I hope he ends up being as good as you think he will because so far, other than being physically ahead of most freshmen, I haven't seen a lot from him offensively that makes me think he's going to be a huge contributor on the offensive end this season.
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If you expected him to be a “huge contributor” offensively his freshman year then that is on you.
 
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#10
#10
PulaskiVolFan said:
Watch the little things he does, watch how different we look when he's not in the game. We've got to do the small things well in order for us to be successful I think and he's great at all the intangibles, other than points and I agree, I'd like to see more out of him as well. If he could rise up to 12-15 points per game we'll have a really good chance to go far in the tournament as we'd have the best set of guards in the country averaging 50 per game between them for a team with a stingy defense, a scenario that has proven successful in years past.
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If JJJ averages 12-15 ppg, we're probably a Sweet 16 team.
 
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#12
#12
Right now he’s giving 5ppg 7rpg 3apg, I agree I would’ve expected more PPG but at the same time he missed the entire month leading up to the start of the season, which is probably the most important practices. I think we will see him continue to grow offensively and probably end up around 8ppg by seasons end, which is about what I expected from him.
 
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#15
#15
top5vols said:
James will be fine. Hopes he stays to play with Springer. That would be an awesome combo.
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Right now he doesn’t look like a threat to leave. Not a diss either, I think he looks better each game, and his rebounding has been huge considering our undersized front court. He also made 3-4 super nice passes last night that we just didn’t convert
 
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#16
#16
I disagree. I don’t think he needs to be more aggressive. He’s turning it over too much as it now. He just needs to be patient and let it come to him. If there’s one guy who I think needs to “step it up” it’s Jalen. He need to be more aggressive.
 
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#17
#17
James has been just fine. Imo he’s made the most important basket of the year when he hit that when Washington was closing the gap. So it’s good to know he can make big shots

He doesn’t need to rush things he just needs to keep getting a little bit better every game. Turner and Bowden can carry the load
 
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#18
#18
VOLED said:
Maybe, but that was an awful offensive display. I thought our lack of an inside game really hurt us.
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We're gonna get exposed some inside this year no doubt, that's another reason I think JJJ is so valuable as he's generally always going to be bigger than who is guarding him, gotta take advantage of it I feel.
 
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#19
#19
1985Vols said:
If JJJ averages 12-15 ppg, we're probably a Sweet 16 team.
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He's capable but it's doubtful those will end up his numbers. I do believe he'll play big in the big games which will help us out bigtime. I thought he played great vs Washington.
 
#20
#20
JJJ is a Swiss Army knife right now. He’s not going to do the heavy slicing (scoring), and we don’t need him to. He is giving a handful of points and assists per game on efficient shooting and passing, rebounding VERY well, and playing excellent defense (has multiple steals and blocks that I can recall). He is physically very impressive and seems very composed on the court. He’s going to be a great one and is right on pace.
 
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#24
#24
He has to become a scoring option for us to be successful. I'm not talking 20 pts a game but a double digit scorer that the defense respects.
 
#25
#25
ColinS said:
He has to become a scoring option for us to be successful. I'm not talking 20 pts a game but a double digit scorer that the defense respects.
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Not necessarily. He'll need to demonstrate that he can score if defenses ignore him, but last night Turner, Bowden, and Fulkerson all hit double digits at almost the same time. Balanced scoring isn't really a problem. It was a bit if an issue the last couple if years when Admiral or Grant ran into foul trouble.
 
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