I love JT and I think he gets the raw end of the deal on these calls more often than not. Fouls 3, 4 and 5 today were nonsense. And, when the same contact happened to him on the other side of the floor it went un-whistled. But, this isn't a thread to rant against the officials.
I think we need to radically change the way we approach things moving forward for the remainder of 2019. We obviously are game planning as if JT is going to be available for 25+ minutes in any given game. We can no longer believe that this will happen. Accept reality and hope he figures things out in the offseason.
I'd propose going small from the get go and leaving JT on the bench to start things out. Start Santos and KP along with 3 guards. Let JT sit and watch for 4 or 5 minutes before putting him in. And, once he's in only allow him to pickup ONE, not TWO, fouls in the first half before sitting him back down. Alter your usage of JT and Nikko evenly in the first half regardless. Nikko is OK in flashes but once you know he's in for good he seems to get dominated.
Basically, remove JT from the game plan and make him a 2nd half player only. Unless he's able to play without fouling the first half by some miracle. If he's playing exceptionally and not fouling then play through him.
This game was frustrating as hell to watch. We have to adjust how we are doing things or this SEC season will be disastrous.
I think we need to radically change the way we approach things moving forward for the remainder of 2019. We obviously are game planning as if JT is going to be available for 25+ minutes in any given game. We can no longer believe that this will happen. Accept reality and hope he figures things out in the offseason.
I'd propose going small from the get go and leaving JT on the bench to start things out. Start Santos and KP along with 3 guards. Let JT sit and watch for 4 or 5 minutes before putting him in. And, once he's in only allow him to pickup ONE, not TWO, fouls in the first half before sitting him back down. Alter your usage of JT and Nikko evenly in the first half regardless. Nikko is OK in flashes but once you know he's in for good he seems to get dominated.
Basically, remove JT from the game plan and make him a 2nd half player only. Unless he's able to play without fouling the first half by some miracle. If he's playing exceptionally and not fouling then play through him.
This game was frustrating as hell to watch. We have to adjust how we are doing things or this SEC season will be disastrous.
