Five Takeaways: Bluff City 16u-Team Griffin 16u
Bluff City 16u returned to some normalcy this spring, after Alden Applewhite and Johnathan Lawson re-joined their peers from the 17u team. Early Friday evening their began their Dallas EYBL stop with Team Griffin 16u. Team Griffin finished with an…
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Continue ReadingBluff City 16u returned to some normalcy this spring, after Alden Applewhite and Johnathan Lawson re-joined their peers from the 17u team. Early Friday evening their began their Dallas EYBL stop with Team Griffin 16u.
Team Griffin finished with an 86-59 victory.
How did it go?
Johnathan Lawson is an amazing athlete in need of offensive direction
J Law is such a talented, long, lean, skilled young man. But he wastes a lot of possessions with very low percentage shots as he did against Team Griffin. Lawson can get a shot whenever he wants, so it comes down to…’Is it a good shot or just a shot?’ This is the area Lawson must improve the most. He will almost certainly be a D1 recruit like his three older brothers. The problems he has are not impossible to remedy and he is blessed with skill and size that most young players can’t match.
Compared to Chandler Lawson
Lawson’s game is slightly different than Chandler, in that Johnathan dominates the basketball a lot more. He will get the outlet pass and start breaks. He initiates offense in the halfcourt. In all, Lawson is capable of scoring in bunches. To be great he must choose fewer unlikely floaters and take higher percentage shots.
Solo Project
Is it best? Is it misguided? While driving to the basket is generally considered a good chance, Bluff City 16u () leans very, very heavily on one-on-one attacks. With players like Lawson, Brown, to a lesser extent Alden Applewhite, the team is capable of creating a little separation.
Again, it comes down to generating the best chance possible. If the refs are hyper-aware these are great chances. If the refs are not calling it tight, which is often the case with 16u and 15u games, then these drives too often result in empty possessions.
Kaeden Laws is one player that makes a high percentage of his shots. He is not necessarily a better shot creator, but he understands where and how he is most likely to get those higher percentage shots.
Defense Late
The best defense Bluff City’s guards played was early in the second half into the middle stages of the second half. It begs the question, ‘Why not earlier?’ With their elite athleticism this should be the primary focus. Scoring is generally not a problem for this unit. Defending is the area they struggle against the elite teams, especially in the paint where Johnathan Lawson is tasked with defending bigger, more powerful players.
Room for Optimism
Individually, the Bluff City Legends 16u players are special. Most of them can create their own shot from scratch. Together they are friendly, but they don’t seem to have much defensive or offensive cohesion. This game was played against the 2-3 zone. Facing man-to-man attackers of their ilk tend to exploit slower players. This is merely one game. Lawson and Brown are still high prospects. Laws is a wonderful, gritty player with a solid approach to the game.
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