GRIII pt. 2

I don't get the lack of love for GRIII. I will admit that he is not our best player, but when I was saying that I was not aware of how much better Stauskas would be this year. I figured Stauskas would improve, but I don't think anyone saw him having a season like this.

GRIII seems to be having a "quiet" year, but to put some things into perspective....

Per KenPom.com
Big Ten Offensive Ratings of players that use 20% or more of their teams possessions:
1. Aaron White
2. Nik Stauskas
3. Frank Kaminsky
4. Keith Appling
5. Glenn Robinson III
6. Adreian Payne
7. Noah Vonleh
8. Andre Hollins
9. Lenzelle Smith
10. Sam Dekker
11. Rayvonte Rice
12. Yogi Ferrell
13. Gary Harris
14. Zach McCabe
15. Tim Frazier

GRIII might not wow you, but he is still one of the best offensive players in the conference. He is also our best or 2nd best defender. I think Stauskas is our best player, but GRIII is still doing work.

If you don't like advanced stats (even though using Offensive Rating is much better than using common stats) and want to look at things objectively, you should drop the Charlotte (9 minutes) and Minnesota (20 minutes) games. He missed two full halves in those games... considering he plays 30+ minutes per game and in those two games combined he played 29 minutes.

If you drop the 10 points and 3 rebounds for those two games, GRIII has 226 points and 70 rebounds over 15 games. That comes out to 15.1 points per game / 4.7 rebounds per game. Combine that with his defense and it's hard to knock what GRIII is doing this year.

A final point, is his consistency. GRIII has scored in double figures in every game but @Duke, @Minneosta (injured), and vs Charlotte (injured).

I'm on board with you on this argument.

I don't really want this to be an argument. I get what people are saying... they want star players to put their teams on their back, hit big shots, etc. (ie. Trey Burke, Nik Stauskas). I can't blame people for that... Because of that, though, I think people overlook the things that GRIII is actually doing.

Lateley it woud be very difficult to argue RobinsonIII has looked pretty damn good, about what I expected earlier,

I was wrong in saying that GRIII would be our best player. Stauskas took his game to a new level.

I do think GRIII is extremely good, though.

I liked GR III's game tonight. Didn't score a lot but did well on the boards and defense. Wish he could hit his three's.

Yeah, his 3pt shooting is terrible. Either stop shooting or fix what's wrong.

Do you see what I mean about how great he is at moving without the ball? He seems to always be in great position to get a put back or backdoor lob.

He moved great tonight. I just like how aggressive he was around the basket on offense and defense. Good job on the boards. He needs to leave the threes to Nik, Spike and Irvin and stick to what he does best.

I agree. We have plenty of 3pt shooters. Maybe take 1 or 2 a game for a heat check (he seems to be streaky), but there's no need for shooting 5 threes when we have guys like Irvin, Stauskas, and Albrecht. LeVert isn't a great shooter either, but I'd rather LeVert shoot the three and GRIII crash the board than GRIII shoot the three and LeVert get back on defense.

14 points 9 rebounds is a solid game.

Here is a quick video of why I like GRIII a lot. GRIII gets his guy in the air, takes it to the whole, and throws down a huge, what I call "momentum-building", dunk. Rather than show-boating as a lot of kids would, GRIII knows to turn and get back on defense because Iowa loves to run. He turns to run, and even though Michigan isn't pressing, GRIII keeps his head up and is aware of where the ball is. A lot of guys that "get back" for defense pin their ears back and go. GRIII's awareness allows him to see Spike's steal. Right away, GRIII turns and sprints to the rim, ready for the put back. Spike nails the shot, but the little things like this don't show up on the stats sheet.

People will say "GRIII is lazy" or "GRIII plays with no motivation" because he isn't an elite scorer like Nik is. I think GRIII plays hard, but a lot of times it goes unnoticed.

I wouldn't say he is lazy or not motivated. Mi would use the word passive at times.  He doesn't demand the ball like a lot of star players.  Not that that is a bad thing,