5 UGA-Tech hoops observations: Favors, Fox and Hewitt
This wasn't a Thompkins trey, but it was certainly an emphatic deuce. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
1. Derrick Favors doesn’t look like the Derrick Favors who played for South Atlanta. There’s a reason for that. He’s being asked to play out on the floor; his best work is done down low. The shots he’s getting — he took eight apiece in Georgia Tech’s losses to Florida State and Georgia — include too many face-up jumpers. He’s not a jump shooter. He’s a power player with terrific post moves. Trouble is, Gani Lawal is Tech’s No. 1 post option, and he has developed into a good one. But Lawal and Favors don’t yet mesh. They’re not, say, Horford and Noah.
2. Tech has a history of not always getting the ball to its biggest talents. Chris Bosh averaged 9.7 shots per game his one season at Tech. Then he left for the NBA and was the fourth player taken in a famous draft. (LeBron was No. 1, Carmelo No. 3.) Projected to be the second player drafted in June, Favors is averaging 8.2 shots. When asked Tuesday if there were enough shots for both Lawal and Favors in Tech’s offense, Hewitt said, “I think so.” Asked if the two get in one another’s way, Hewitt said, “I don’t think so.”
3. Such is the level of Georgia’s talent that Mark Fox can barely buy his starters a moment’s rest. There came a sequence in the first half when this was brought into stark relief. He removed Trey Thompkins, Ricky McPhee (a former walk-on) and Dustin Ware at the same time, and the result was that the Bulldogs were left with a lineup that had no hope of scoring. One horrid possession was all it took for Thompkins and Ware to be re-deployed. Ware wound up playing 38 minutes, McPhee 35, Thompkins 32. No Tech player save Lawal worked more than 32 minutes. And the team with no depth won. This guy is doing some coaching.
4. Thompkins is twice the player he was as a freshman. Last season was slowed by an early injury and never got into shape. He’s slimmer and quicker now, and he’s a tough matchup for any defender. (Favors started against him but ran into foul trouble, which can happen to post players who are asked to defend face-up opponents.) Thompkins is big but can shoot from distance and make plays off the dribble. The game’s biggest moment was his driving three-point swoop as the shot clock was down to (almost) nothing and the Bulldogs were leading by a point. As coaches say, he made a basketball play.
5. Hewitt has worked against three Georgia coaches without building a winning record against any of them. He was 1-2 against Jim Harrick and 3-3 against Dennis Felton; he’s 0-1 against Fox. Hewitt has twice taken ranked teams to Athens and lost to the unranked Bulldogs. The frustration level in the Tech community seems at an all-time high, and the next five games — opponents: Duke, Virginia, North Carolina, Clemson and Florida State — could well determine not just the course of this season but the path of Hewitt’s future.
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173 comments Add your comment
Bradley: Hewitt’s Future May Ride on Next 5 games « Fire Paul Hewitt
January 6th, 2010
8:35 pm
[...] Bradley: Hewitt’s Future May Ride on Next 5 games Filed under: Uncategorized — Peter @ 8:35 PM Mark Bradley: 5 UGA-Tech hoops observations: Favors, Fox and Hewitt | AJC.com [...]
Dave Braine
January 6th, 2010
9:01 pm
Fire Paul Hewitt
MontyP
January 6th, 2010
9:30 pm
Who has Kentucky beat this year? Nobody any better than GT or Illinois. Oh, they beat UNC, the team that just lost to College of Charleston. UK barely beat Long Beach and a handful of other mediocre teams. Rupp Arena always gives UK a big advantage but I wouldn’t be too surprised if Georgia makes it very close or wins the game. Georgia’s strength of schedule is 88 while UK’s is 157. Not sure I have ever seen UK start a season with such an easy schedule. Go Dawgs!
FirePaulHewitt.Wordpress.com
January 6th, 2010
9:31 pm
Dave Braine (January 6th, 2010 9:01 pm EST): Fire Paul Hewitt
You said it!
col foot
January 6th, 2010
10:01 pm
does everyone notice how the AJC sports writers try to sugar coat the tech losses, it makes you want to gag. It doesn’t matter how well UGA plays they try, on their filthy sordid way to castigate Georgia. It doesn’t matter who the georgia institute of INTEGRITY loses to they find some way to heap praise on that bunch! In actuallity they are a disgrace. What kid would want to be subjected that school!!
MontyP
January 6th, 2010
10:06 pm
Turnovers and poor Poor Free Throw shooting lose a lot of games as demonstrated by GT last night and almost every year that Felton coached at Georgia. Georgia will win many more games this year just based on the fact that Fox has taken the tame to make sure they can shoot free throws and they don’t turn the ball over. On average Georgia has more assists this year than I have seen in recent seasons as well. Georgia is clearly the better coached team. As far as who has the better players, GT would clearly benefit from having McPhee on their team since they don’t seem to have a player that can hit an outside shot. Thompkins and Leslie also would start for that team. Thompkins clearly stole the show last night and took the game over. Leslie is just an athletic freak who’s ball skills are only improving every day. Watch out for him. Leslie and Thompkins certainly impressed the NBA scouts more than anybody on the Tech squad. Go Dawgs!
scott
January 6th, 2010
11:10 pm
Maybe GT players aren’t that good Mark? Just maybe? Just b/c of few of the freshman were great in HS? Doesn’t mean squat my man…gotta play the game. FINAL 4???? RIGHT??????
They lost to Dayton, UGA, and FSU at home. Do final 4 teams have these losses in the first month of college BB?
Rhetorical question, of course!
scott
January 6th, 2010
11:14 pm
Mark,
Col Foot brings up a good point, why are you and Shultz so PRO GT?
B/c its an Atlanta Paper? UGA is stil the state Univ.
At the least, you would think basic fair coverage……no?
scott
January 6th, 2010
11:18 pm
When GT BB fans point to beating Siena as a quality win, that is funny!
Mark Bradley
January 6th, 2010
11:31 pm
Ask any Tech fan if he/she considers me pro-Jackets. I believe the nickname Bark Madly, which started on The Hive, came from Tech fans who were convinced I was pro-Georgia.
GWJ
January 6th, 2010
11:47 pm
Tech fans, baseball season will be here soon!!!
hatfieldgeoff
January 7th, 2010
8:22 am
I wish Tech would hire Bobby Knight. I can see him strangling Jeff Shultz at a press conference. That would be priceless.
wreckmaniac
January 7th, 2010
11:05 am
Tech hoops is the equivalent of UGA football- all the world’s talent and no results. Hewitt should resign today.
wreckmaniac
January 7th, 2010
11:08 am
Mark: Don’t be drawn into this stupid “who do you favor” bull. Just keep telling it like it is. The truth often hurts and if this is all that hurts us, we’re too lucky and need to 1. find something to do or 2. become Ga State football fans. Any city that has lived with the Falcons and Hawks can certainly understand failure.
wreckmaniac
January 7th, 2010
11:12 am
At least in basketball you don’t blame your problems on lousy assistants. If your team isn’t performing there is only one suit to point to. At Tech, its Hewitt.
wreckmaniac
January 7th, 2010
11:27 am
I have the same question about Hewitt as I do about CMR. How do either succeed in bringing great talent to their programs ?
burdell68
January 7th, 2010
11:29 am
Mark or anyone: have you observed a Tech practice under Hewitt? I am curious as to what they – to qoute Allen Iverson -”practice”. It’s not offense,defense or free throw shooting. They have so many turnovers, they would be better off just throwing it off the backboard and playing sandlot cramdown. (In fact, Hewitts teams the last 4 years all look like they meet each other just before tipoff) Maybe they work on their substitution patterns since Hotel Hewitt has 90 substitutions a game and most coaches have 40. That must be very time consuming. Oh, and he does always look well dressed. Maybe they work on grooming. Also, do they scout other teams or have media equipment to watch film? Just curious. We have more assistants standing around than players. What do they do? Their clipboards look nice and they are well groomed also. Congratulations, Dawgs – a well coached game in which the Dawgs played their rearends off.
Mark Bradley
January 7th, 2010
11:38 am
Tech practices are closed, Burdell68. I’ve seen the open sessions teams have before tournament games, but those don’t tell you anything.
wreckmaniac
January 7th, 2010
11:42 am
TRON: Clean up your own house
1. The UGA DC hunt is the biggest joke in college ball
2. The way UGA fans treated Joe Cox and Logan Grey is the slimiest
behavior ever witnessed.
3. The discussion about getting a new hoops coliseum at UGA is stupid.
Look at the dump Duke plays in.
4. The money spent on the UGA hoops team should be given to the gymnastics squad.
5. The addition to Butts-Mehre is a waste of tax money and if its alumni funded it should be given to someone (such as a real student) who needs it.
6. Dream on about your “indoor football practice stadium” Whats that going to to for you ?
burdell68
January 7th, 2010
11:50 am
Yea, the open sessions are a joke since our guards run layup drills – like they will ever have a chance at a layup – and our bigs bet meal money on how far out they can hit a 3. Instead they all ought to shoot free throws and run tip drills until their tonques are hanging out.
Dave
January 7th, 2010
3:52 pm
Unbelievable that Tech lost to UGA. We have top 10 talent while UGA has division 2 talent. Their basktball program is a joke. Hewitt better beat Duke!
DockTer
January 8th, 2010
10:52 am
For all those GT fans calling for Paul Hewitt’s job, keep in mind that (thanks to Dave Braine) Hewitt has a 6-yr automatic rollover contract. Fire him and the cash-strapped GT Athletic Association is on the hook for a $7+ million payoff of his contract. On top of that you would have to pay a new coach a similar annual salary..
Also, wonder what Paul Johnson thought about the reward he got for an ACC championship and an Orange Bowl berth? In case you missed it, he got an additional year added to his contract.. My guess is that GTAA couldn’t afford to bump his salary.
Mark my words, someone will hire him away if GT has another good year.
A coach tells SI: Tech's big men don't play well together | Mark Bradley
February 23rd, 2010
2:24 pm
[...] or anything — we all know better than that — but I suggested almost two months ago that Georgia Tech’s Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors hadn’t yet formed a mesh. Indeed, I typed as much (at 9:25 p.m., if you care to check) in a live chat off the Tech-North [...]