Rather than reading through a nine page thread which is mostly recycled arguments, I figured I'd put some extra thoughts on Pinson in this thread so that it can invite the same recycled arguments.
Let me say this first: I'm not trying to convince anyone to change their mind on Cuonzo. If you've made up your mind, you've made up your mind. You guys pay to know more than the average fan (and judging by the Twitter responses to this, kudos to you, you do) so I figured I'd share some stuff:
*First off, this was always going to happen. It surprised me more than Pinson came back this year than that he is leaving now. That's not because he hates Cuonzo or anything. He isn't a huge fan of being in school. A lot of kids aren't. It's why Phil Pressey left when he did. Barring something really surprising, this was always going to be the last year here for X. People haven't really wanted to believe us, but it was always going to be the case.
*Some will say "But he's in the transfer portal, he can't hate school that much." Being in the portal doesn't mean he HAS to go to another school. It just keeps the option open of doing so. If I had to bet money, I'd still bet on him going somewhere to make money playing basketball. Maybe not. Maybe he won't like what he hears from the NBA (I would expect he won't) and he'll decide he doesn't want to go to Europe and he'll spend another year in college. I'd be surprised, but it's possible.
*X wasn't an easy kid to coach. When things were going well, he was great. But he was very up and down both on the court and off. He's an emotional kid. I want to be clear: NONE OF THIS MAKES HIM A BAD KID. But there was always a good amount of drama. You never knew for sure which version of him you were getting in a game. And when things didn't go well, they REALLY didn't go well.
*That said, Cuonzo Martin doesn't get to escape blame here. Part of your job as a coach, in fact I'd argue the biggest part, is figuring out what each kid needs to get the most out of him you can. Cuonzo obviously wasn't able to do that with X. The fact is, you're not going to get a team full of Dru Smiths (kids who are mature, work their asses off AND have the talent to be winners at this level). Dru is probably the exception. You want to win in this league, you're going to have to deal with some drama and some personalities and some divas. You have to be able to do that. I think it's fair to say one of Cuonzo's weaknesses might be doing that. As a player, he was a nose to the ground, work your ass off guy who could take hard coaching. Not every kid is like that. You have to be able to deal with the ones who aren't, especially if you're going to win in the SEC. I'm not saying Cuonzo can't do it, but I do think it's something that needs to improve (Note, I'm not using guys like Blake Harris and Mario McKinney as examples of where he needed to do this. Those kids didn't make it here and haven't made it anywhere else...X played three years and often very well at this level. That's the kind of kid I'm talking about).
*That last sentence is important. He played three years here. The idea that Cuonzo "ran him off" is dumb. He played more years here than the average college player probably plays at a high major program these days. Also, Pinson started every game and led the team in shots and three-point attempts. It's not like he was benched regularly or reigned in over and over on the court. Did Cuonzo sit him some? He did. Usually in games he wasn't playing well. He was hard on him, sometimes publicly. But it's not like he gave up on him. (You could argue he did in the second half Saturday. Personally, I'd have played Pinson more in that game. Not because he's playing well, but because you were down eight points and you needed a guy capable of going and winning you the game. Drew Buggs isn't that guy. Buggs usually does the right things. He's a guy that's not going to lose you a game. But he's not a guy that's going to win you a game. Pinson can be that. So, yes, I'd have played him down the stretch on Saturday. But I understand why Martin didn't. And playing him more Saturday wasn't gonna mean he was staying next year. This decision was made before that, I'm very confident).
*I said all year I thought Pinson was the most important player on the team. But I wanted to see if numbers bear that out. To do that, I'm going to take Mizzou's five best wins and then I'm going to take their five bad losses.
In the good wins (Illinois, Oregon, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee (I took that one over Florida): 28.8 minutes, 19.6 ppg, 29/55 FG (52.7%), 8/20 3-PT (40% on four attempts per game), 32/37 FT (86.5% on 7.4 attempts per game), 4.0 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.4 steals per game, 2.6 turnovers/game
In the bad losses (Ole Miss X2, Miss St, Georgia, Auburn): 24.8 minutes per game, 7.8 ppg, 14/57 FG (24.6%), 2/23 3-PT (8.7% on 4.6 attempts per game), 9/10 FT (90% on 2 attempts per game), 2.6 rebounds per game, 4.0 assists per game, 0.4 steals per game, 2.8 turnovers per game
So basically, in the wins, he played four more minutes per game. He did that because he shot more than twice as well, shot five times better from three and went to the free throw line nearly four times as much while playing better defense and turning the ball over slightly less. When he was scoring and engaged, Missouri was good. When he wasn't, Missouri wasn't good. In looking at those numbers, he wasn't treated differently in the losses than in the wins. He played better in the wins so he got more time and because he played better and got more time, Missouri was more successful.
The upshot to me is that there is blame on both sides. Pinson didn't always show up. I'm sure day to day he could have done some things better. Cuonzo could have too. It's unfortunate for Missouri that BOTH sides couldn't make this work a little better because not only would they have been a better team this year, but if they'd been able to stay together next year, they'd be a better team then too.
Let me say this first: I'm not trying to convince anyone to change their mind on Cuonzo. If you've made up your mind, you've made up your mind. You guys pay to know more than the average fan (and judging by the Twitter responses to this, kudos to you, you do) so I figured I'd share some stuff:
*First off, this was always going to happen. It surprised me more than Pinson came back this year than that he is leaving now. That's not because he hates Cuonzo or anything. He isn't a huge fan of being in school. A lot of kids aren't. It's why Phil Pressey left when he did. Barring something really surprising, this was always going to be the last year here for X. People haven't really wanted to believe us, but it was always going to be the case.
*Some will say "But he's in the transfer portal, he can't hate school that much." Being in the portal doesn't mean he HAS to go to another school. It just keeps the option open of doing so. If I had to bet money, I'd still bet on him going somewhere to make money playing basketball. Maybe not. Maybe he won't like what he hears from the NBA (I would expect he won't) and he'll decide he doesn't want to go to Europe and he'll spend another year in college. I'd be surprised, but it's possible.
*X wasn't an easy kid to coach. When things were going well, he was great. But he was very up and down both on the court and off. He's an emotional kid. I want to be clear: NONE OF THIS MAKES HIM A BAD KID. But there was always a good amount of drama. You never knew for sure which version of him you were getting in a game. And when things didn't go well, they REALLY didn't go well.
*That said, Cuonzo Martin doesn't get to escape blame here. Part of your job as a coach, in fact I'd argue the biggest part, is figuring out what each kid needs to get the most out of him you can. Cuonzo obviously wasn't able to do that with X. The fact is, you're not going to get a team full of Dru Smiths (kids who are mature, work their asses off AND have the talent to be winners at this level). Dru is probably the exception. You want to win in this league, you're going to have to deal with some drama and some personalities and some divas. You have to be able to do that. I think it's fair to say one of Cuonzo's weaknesses might be doing that. As a player, he was a nose to the ground, work your ass off guy who could take hard coaching. Not every kid is like that. You have to be able to deal with the ones who aren't, especially if you're going to win in the SEC. I'm not saying Cuonzo can't do it, but I do think it's something that needs to improve (Note, I'm not using guys like Blake Harris and Mario McKinney as examples of where he needed to do this. Those kids didn't make it here and haven't made it anywhere else...X played three years and often very well at this level. That's the kind of kid I'm talking about).
*That last sentence is important. He played three years here. The idea that Cuonzo "ran him off" is dumb. He played more years here than the average college player probably plays at a high major program these days. Also, Pinson started every game and led the team in shots and three-point attempts. It's not like he was benched regularly or reigned in over and over on the court. Did Cuonzo sit him some? He did. Usually in games he wasn't playing well. He was hard on him, sometimes publicly. But it's not like he gave up on him. (You could argue he did in the second half Saturday. Personally, I'd have played Pinson more in that game. Not because he's playing well, but because you were down eight points and you needed a guy capable of going and winning you the game. Drew Buggs isn't that guy. Buggs usually does the right things. He's a guy that's not going to lose you a game. But he's not a guy that's going to win you a game. Pinson can be that. So, yes, I'd have played him down the stretch on Saturday. But I understand why Martin didn't. And playing him more Saturday wasn't gonna mean he was staying next year. This decision was made before that, I'm very confident).
*I said all year I thought Pinson was the most important player on the team. But I wanted to see if numbers bear that out. To do that, I'm going to take Mizzou's five best wins and then I'm going to take their five bad losses.
In the good wins (Illinois, Oregon, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee (I took that one over Florida): 28.8 minutes, 19.6 ppg, 29/55 FG (52.7%), 8/20 3-PT (40% on four attempts per game), 32/37 FT (86.5% on 7.4 attempts per game), 4.0 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.4 steals per game, 2.6 turnovers/game
In the bad losses (Ole Miss X2, Miss St, Georgia, Auburn): 24.8 minutes per game, 7.8 ppg, 14/57 FG (24.6%), 2/23 3-PT (8.7% on 4.6 attempts per game), 9/10 FT (90% on 2 attempts per game), 2.6 rebounds per game, 4.0 assists per game, 0.4 steals per game, 2.8 turnovers per game
So basically, in the wins, he played four more minutes per game. He did that because he shot more than twice as well, shot five times better from three and went to the free throw line nearly four times as much while playing better defense and turning the ball over slightly less. When he was scoring and engaged, Missouri was good. When he wasn't, Missouri wasn't good. In looking at those numbers, he wasn't treated differently in the losses than in the wins. He played better in the wins so he got more time and because he played better and got more time, Missouri was more successful.
The upshot to me is that there is blame on both sides. Pinson didn't always show up. I'm sure day to day he could have done some things better. Cuonzo could have too. It's unfortunate for Missouri that BOTH sides couldn't make this work a little better because not only would they have been a better team this year, but if they'd been able to stay together next year, they'd be a better team then too.
