Salley

[houstontxbrave]

I really think JL sticks with Salley because he trusts him more now then the other options. He also does decent low post defense, but it has to be an issue regarding JL simply trusting Salley right now more then the others.

JC, I am convinced he has lost a step because of his knee injury last season. He is short on his shots, never long, which tells me he is not elevating. And his lack of quickness is completely evident when he tries to guard anyone one on one. Foster went by him last night like he was a post, and when JC tried to step back and take away his drive Foster simply pulled up and shot over JC.

JC will play all season and he can not be hidden to much on Defense but he can not guard quicker more athletic 2's anymore. Warren/Wilson are going to have to step up and play the better players on the other team or we are going to have to play more zone defense.

I think JC also handles the ball relatively well since he does at times get into the lane but he has to when he is open and not defended make his jump shots much more consistantly. He is so far 18-48 from 3, 37.5% compared to close to 50% last season. I think he will end up being fine but I still am a bit worried about the number of misses.

[Braves4Life]

why does salley start?

I agree that Salley's stats are not as good as Collins at this point in the season. I am sure he is starting for a number of the following reasons:

1) He's a senior and brings maturity, leadership, and a familiarity with the system. I swear there are times that the team looks lost and clueless when some of the newbies are in and Salley is out.

2) He is probably out-working everyone in practice.

3) His defense and help defense is probably superior to the newbies, particularly Collins. Last night's game against Vandy was the first time I'd seen Collins start to "get it" with help defense as the safety valve.

That said, Salley must begin to step up and show more leadership and consistency during the game. As Collins and the newbies learn the system and gain experience Salley will be replaced in the starting line up. Ultimately, I believe that Ruff, JC, Wilson, Warren, and Collins will be the starters. Once Collins becomes more proficient as "the eraser" in help defense, our guys will be able to overplay on defense without having to worry about their being beat resulting in an easy score.

I predict we'll begin to see this team gel in the next few games prior to the start of the Valley regular season. And, quite honestly, I believe Les is thinking the same thing and is trying to get this team raedy for the war that is the Valley regular season.

[houstontxbrave]

Someone on here made a reference that there have been Pro scouts at a few of our games, most would think to watch Ruff but I am betting a lot of them are there to see Collins. 7 foot athletic and continues to improve. His minutes will increase as the season moves forward.

[Braves4Life]

No doubt! Nothing brings out the rats like a piece of 7-foot cheese