Question: Is Devonte Green's offensive importance to IU's success overstated?

[IndySportsPartizan]

Hey guys, I posted this question on Twitter. But I thought it'd be a good discussion here..

 

Question: Is Devonte Green's offensive importance to IU's success overstated? In the last 3 seasons IU has played 80 games. Green led IU in scoring in 7 of them. IU is 3-4 in them. In 42 reg season B1G game, Green led IU in scoring in just 2 of those games- both Ls.

 

For comparison sake, TJD has led the team in scoring in 6 of the 15 games this season. We are 5-1 when he leads the team in scoring.

 

In the same 80 game timeframe (despite being one year younger) Al Durham has led the team in scoring 4 times. IU is 3-1 in those games.

 

In the same 80 game timeframe (despite being one year younger) Justin Smith has led the team in scoring 4 times. IU is 3-1 in those games.

 

And finally, Romeo Langford led the team in scoring over 2x more in one season (16) than Green has in his entire 4 year career (7). IU had a higher win% with Romeo leading the team in scoring (44%) compared to Green (43%).

[NCHoosier32]

well, i think we are clearly not better when Green is throwing up all kinds of shots.  clearly we are better then guys who operate closer to the basket lead us in scoring, our shot selection is probably much better.  so on one hand, we are a limited offensive team, so Green could be important from that aspect, but because he takes so many bad shots and makes so many bad decisions it cancels out.  even more importantly is if he is hurting the team with his attitude which is what it sounds like.  

[IUFLA]

8 minutes ago, IndySportsPartizan said:

Hey guys, I posted this question on Twitter. But I thought it'd be a good discussion here..

 

Question: Is Devonte Green's offensive importance to IU's success overstated? In the last 3 seasons IU has played 80 games. Green led IU in scoring in 7 of them. IU is 3-4 in them. In 42 reg season B1G game, Green led IU in scoring in just 2 of those games- both Ls.

 

For comparison sake, TJD has led the team in scoring in 6 of the 15 games this season. We are 5-1 when he leads the team in scoring.

 

In the same timeframe 80 game timeframe (despite being one year younger) Al Durham has led the team in scoring 4 times. IU is 3-1 in those games.

 

In the same timeframe 80 game timeframe (despite being one year younger) Justin Smith has led the team in scoring 4 times. IU is 3-1 in those games.

 

And finally, Romeo Langford led the team in scoring over 2x more in one season (16) than Green has in his 4 year entire career (7). IU had a higher win% with Romeo leading the team in scoring (44%) compared to Green (43%).

Good topic. Maybe. I think the 3 or 4 games at the end of last season made a lot of us think so. We knew Romeo would be gone, and Devonte seemed to be the obvious choice as a scorer to take his place.

 

[DWB]

thanx for the historical perspective ISP. I was unaware of those facts, and would have guessed DG's performance would be more significant.

Aside from his ego and "bad Devonte" tendencies, I've never thought it was a good idea to have 1 guy, be the dominant scorer for any team. Look at Marquette. You shut down Howard, you have a great chance to win the game. With Edwards being gone from PU, you have a very beatable PU team. When we relied on Romeo and Juwan to carry 90% of the load, we were easily beatable if you contained both of them.

I think it's our tendency to think that DG can really light it up, on demand, and make up for other team mistakes with he shooting ability. But in all honesty, I believe he actually hurts us more than he helps the vast majority of the time. If he made better team decisions, instead of Devonte decisions, I could live with his turnovers, because if he made good team decisions, the turnovers would abate.

Then there is the issue of his attitude. I'll leave that alone for others to comment on.

I'd be far more tolerant of Armaan taking a bunch more shots, because he doesn't force it. I'd be far more tolerant of TJD taking more mid range and longer shots, because it would be in context of the offensive scheme. Smith is far better around the bucket, as is TJD, but I'm not all that upset when Smith takes an open 3, same with Race, because they are open.

It still frosts me to no end to see DG and Al walk it up the court. We lose 5-6 seconds each possession of working our offense. Rarely does Rob walk it up. Usually it's when he's conversing with Archie when he does.