What is wrong with Estrella?

[cardvolfan]

I've kinda given up on him. It's to the point, I'm wanting to see more of Brown.

You do realize Brown only played 5 of 50 minutes last night? Estrella is incredibly valuable and if and when he gets lots of minutes, I suspect you will change your mind. You might not though, as you are definitely a super negative person. I encourage you to change, and just maybe you’ll begin to see life from a different perspective.

 

[cwbytruckers]

Every single one of these players play scared. They make a mistake and they know they are sitting. Barnes is to much like Bobby Knight when a player makes a mistake. I wish we had a younger coach that was more player friendly and not so defensive minded.

 

[cardvolfan]

Plus the refs let them be rough as H3ll and as Fishback said, A&M is bringing the physical and why not the refs cant call everything or we'd be here all night.

This quote by Fishback for all the A&M fans who said this game was horrendously called against them.

 

[Skooter]

He’s in his own head now and affecting his play on both ends. Defense has been bad. Overall awareness down. And that dunk attempt was kinda funny but yeah I think if I’m 7’0 I’m trying to break wrists on the rim at every opportunity. He doesn’t have that in him right now. May not get it but “finesse” won’t get you far. He at least prior looked aware on the court but not so much right now. Seems everything surprises him whether an opponent rebounder or someone snatching the ball from him or picking from behind. All happens in limited minutes. He’s likely pressing. Needs a sports psych and an energy drink before tipoff.

 

[LibertyVol]

He's a decent player, but he’s not the player he was hyped up to be by many on VN. He never was.

I am going to have to have to disagree here. Estrella is going to have some big games for Tennessee down the road. For some reason he didn’t have his head in the game last night. He got beat back down the floor early (Barnes yanked him cause he loafed back), missed a bunny and picked up a couple of bad fouls. I like his game. He is going to be fine.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

Wonder if his foot is giving him issues again?

He didn’t look comfortable on the court last night.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

I am going to have to have to disagree here. Estrella is going to have some big games for Tennessee down the road. For some reason he didn’t have his head in the game last night. He got beat back down the floor early (Barnes yanked him cause he loafed back), missed a bunny and picked up a couple of bad fouls. I like his game. He is going to be fine.

Offensively, he's our most gifted big man. We got to remember he didn't play for almost the entirety of last season. Too many here overreact to one game in a marathon of a season. He will be fine

 

[LibertyVol]

Offensively, he's our most gifted big man. We got to remember he didn't play for almost the entirety of last season. Too many here overreact to one game in a marathon of a season. He will be fine

And he was injured early which set him back a little. He gets healthy and gets some minutes his game might take off. He can post and he can shoot the three.

 

[vol94]

Estrella looks very uncomfortable on both sides of the floor and was benched vs. FL when he failed to get back on transition defense. Maybe its conditioning or he’s just not 100% physically- something is wrong beyond talent, imo.

Barnes may be hard on his players but all agree he loves on them, too. So maybe JP will improve as we go thru SEC play.

 

[StickMan]

You can say what you want but comparing this man to a hall of famer is just crazy

Well, of course you're right about that. If I gave the impression I was comparing his ability to McHale, that's my bad. There are only a select few that have ever played the game that can make that claim. My point was that when he's healthy and playing with confidence, his game makes me think of KM. I still say he has a very high ceiling, and if we were getting anywhere close to it, we'd be seeing a different team.

 

[StickMan]

We don’t space well, I agree there. We also don’t move the ball well. I didn’t really notice it until last night, and it’s likely a result of poor spacing and movement, but we almost never see skip passes from UT this year. We saw them plenty the last couple years. As such, we’re making it easier on the defense to guard us. If we’re not going to move the ball well on the perimeter, then we better flash someone to the high post who can distribute or score.

I want to be careful about sounding too critical of the coaching staff, but my opinion is that we only have two players that truly have the green light offensively, and that's not good. We have several capable scorers, by they're all being tentative (except for those two).

 

[Zues1]

I want to be careful about sounding too critical of the coaching staff, but my opinion is that we only have two players that truly have the green light offensively, and that's not good. We have several capable scorers, by they're all being tentative (except for those two).

We've seen this for years

 

[MinisterofDef#92]

Estrella seems to be going through the motions a bit imo. I think he believes he's arguably a Top 2 player on this team yet he get's limited minutes while watching other players make critical mistakes esp t/o's yet they keep playing. Everyone who is infatuated with Okpara finally having a good game seem to forget that he was being guarded by a 6' 8" player.

 

[livefaith]

That “dunk” attempt from nearly the FT line was hilarious. I like the aggression, but he’s no MJ. That got a belly laugh out of me.

I thought the Dr was in the house and had lost his tan for a moment. What was he doing.

But, to the original point ... 9 minutes played. We need him to do anything this year.

 

[livefaith]

Every single one of these players play scared. They make a mistake and they know they are sitting. Barnes is to much like Bobby Knight when a player makes a mistake. I wish we had a younger coach that was more player friendly and not so defensive minded.

ATMs coach reminded me of Bruce Pearl in the early days at UT. Controlled chaos that won more games than the talent and obvious holes should have allowed. 3-1 SEC even after a 2OT road loss to a ranked team that they led nearly the entire game. I was pretty impressed with his coaching. Those players were loose and bought in. Nearly pulled it off.

 

[StickMan]

Every single one of these players play scared. They make a mistake and they know they are sitting. Barnes is to much like Bobby Knight when a player makes a mistake. I wish we had a younger coach that was more player friendly and not so defensive minded.

I feel like there are two things a good coach is able to instill in his players: effort and confidence. I believe Barnes is outstanding at the former and lacking in the latter.

 

[1Big_Orange_Fan]

Estrella is a little slow, clumsy, and poor hands. He's a decent FT shooter, has that top of the key shot once a game, and the little hook shot but normally gets outrebounded and outhustled. Our other bigs are so much more athletic.

 

[hUTch2002]

I want to be careful about sounding too critical of the coaching staff, but my opinion is that we only have two players that truly have the green light offensively, and that's not good. We have several capable scorers, by they're all being tentative (except for those two).

I’m with you on being critical of the staff. I’m just sharing my opinions. Barnes is a HOF coach. I played high school ball. I’ll trust his judgment over mine. Plus, as we heard in his post game interview last night, he is teaching these kids things that they aren’t carrying over to games for whatever reason.

 

[Skooter]

I haven’t seen Barnes bench players very often for missing a shot or attacking the rim.
If you leave your feet and turn the ball over, you may as well start heading over. Same if you don’t block out or don’t get back or throw a lazy pass or if you aren’t ready to compete at a high level quickly. It’s not really a secret.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

ATMs coach reminded me of Bruce Pearl in the early days at UT. Controlled chaos that won more games than the talent and obvious holes should have allowed. 3-1 SEC even after a 2OT road loss to a ranked team that they led nearly the entire game. I was pretty impressed with his coaching. Those players were loose and bought in. Nearly pulled it off.

Almost a carbon copy of Pearl's first season

 

[BrianVol94]

ATMs coach reminded me of Bruce Pearl in the early days at UT. Controlled chaos that won more games than the talent and obvious holes should have allowed. 3-1 SEC even after a 2OT road loss to a ranked team that they led nearly the entire game. I was pretty impressed with his coaching. Those players were loose and bought in. Nearly pulled it off.

Yeah I love how A&M presses and plays defense,That coach is going to do good there.

 

[bigorangepoppa]

Didn't Estrella get injured a few games back and had to miss a game or two? Maybe he is still feeling the effects of that.

 

[CAVPUT]

Didn't Estrella get injured a few games back and had to miss a game or two? Maybe he is still feeling the effects of that.

When is he not injured? Seriously, it seems like he's had something to deal with since he arrived on campus.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

When is he not injured? Seriously, it seems like he's had something to deal with since he arrived on campus.

Certainly a concern for a big man with foot related injuries

 

[Redheads]

Estrella is what he is. Needs more physicality. The one thing he has over our other bigs is the ability to shoot from the perimeter. When he sets a high ball screen and then pops out instead of rolling the other team has to guard him since he’s made a few 3s. If any of our other posts do it, the big guy guarding them just stays in the center of the lane clogging everything up. Florida’s big guys all can shoot but didn’t bother to guard ours out there. Good gameplan. He’ll get better. Learn to go up with 2 hands to rebound also.