I was thinking about Jack Salt this morning. I remember that I was pretty excited about his potential and playing time early last season because of his toughness, height, agressiveness and mobility. But, from what I saw, the beginning of the end for Salt's playing time and my high opinion of his play, was watching him in person early in the ACC season at home against Clemson. Clemson's bigs were posting him up about 5 - 10 feet from the basket in the key/block area. Salt would position himself between the Clemson center and the basket, resulting in the Clemson bigs getting easy jump-hook baskets over him.
It would really be beneficial to this year's team if Jack is able to carve out at least 3-5 first-half minutes every night instead of compiling DNP's in the box score. This would help not wear down Nichols and Wilkins, give Diakite more time to develop, and not force us to play small in situations where that would not be advantageous (and, no, I'm not forgetting Reuter.) If I have one hope for Jack this off season, it's that he learns how to battle for position down low and front guys or guard on the ball-side of his man to prevent those entry passes down so low in the post. Yes, he would still be an offensive liability, but he could be put on the floor with your better scorers when he's in the game. Obviously, if he wants to get double-digit minutes, he'll need to develop some post moves and improve his free throw shooting. But getting some minutes every game could be one of those little things to make next year's team even better by keeping our bigs fresher.
Thoughts?
It would really be beneficial to this year's team if Jack is able to carve out at least 3-5 first-half minutes every night instead of compiling DNP's in the box score. This would help not wear down Nichols and Wilkins, give Diakite more time to develop, and not force us to play small in situations where that would not be advantageous (and, no, I'm not forgetting Reuter.) If I have one hope for Jack this off season, it's that he learns how to battle for position down low and front guys or guard on the ball-side of his man to prevent those entry passes down so low in the post. Yes, he would still be an offensive liability, but he could be put on the floor with your better scorers when he's in the game. Obviously, if he wants to get double-digit minutes, he'll need to develop some post moves and improve his free throw shooting. But getting some minutes every game could be one of those little things to make next year's team even better by keeping our bigs fresher.
Thoughts?
