Tavon Sledge

[marothisu]

I personally liked the kid a lot and was sad to see him go. Last night he played his first game for Iona.

Pretty good stat line for the most part:
28 minutes, 3-4 shooting, 6 points, 7 rebounds 5 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, only 1 foul..but 3 turnovers is the only negative probably.

Good start for the young man at his new school.

 

[isuno1fan]

I'm the forum category police. This topic should be under "General College Sports".

Have a good day.

 

[ISUCyclone06]

I hope he does well, but lets remember its no Big 12 caliber teams he will be playing against.

 

[CycloneErik]

Nice start for him, and that's good to see!

 

[marothisu]

I hope he does well, but lets remember its no Big 12 caliber teams he will be playing against.

Yep, but it's still D1. I'm sure if he had that stat line for us last night, we'd all be like "wow, he's going to be great in the future. Looks improved" or something.

 

[Thompsonclone]

Once a fan, always a fan. I still believe he could have been a good player for us. I was also sad to see him go.

 

[Knownothing]

If you are that short you need to be way better than everyone else. He was a good kid and he is playing on a team now where he can show his skill. I don't think he was big 12 caliber

 

[Thompsonclone]

If you have speed and can jump like Sledge doesn't that make up for the lack of height? I'm not saying he would have been a starter or anything like that but he could have been a solid player off the bench. His shot and somewhat loose handle were my only concerns with him.

 

[marothisu]

If you have speed and can jump like Sledge doesn't that make up for the lack of height? I'm not saying he would have been a starter or anything like that but he could have been a solid player off the bench. His shot and somewhat loose handle were my only concerns with him.

I agree. The guy has an amazing vertical and was very, very fast (I believe Hoiberg said at one time he's the fastest guy with the ball he's EVER seen..NCAA or NBA). The shot thing was correctable. It's not like he had bad form, just needed a little instruction over time. The handle thing, again..instruction and practice. I have no doubts that he would have been a solid contributor for us off the bench here.

 

[SpokaneCY]

If you are that short you need to be way better than everyone else. He was a good kid and he is playing on a team now where he can show his skill. I don't think he was big 12 caliber

And we just took a 5'6" guard who must have Jordan-esque skills to compete?

 

[swarthmoreCY]

I agree. The guy has an amazing vertical and was very, very fast (I believe Hoiberg said at one time he's the fastest guy with the ball he's EVER seen..NCAA or NBA). The shot thing was correctable. It's not like he had bad form, just needed a little instruction over time. The handle thing, again..instruction and practice. I have no doubts that he would have been a solid contributor for us off the bench here.

A 5-7 player that needs to work on their shot and handle? Not to be harsh, but not worth it from the program's perspective.

 

[marothisu]

A 5-7 player that needs to work on their shot and handle? Not to be harsh, but not worth it from the program's perspective.

First of all, neither were bad. His handle was because he was too fast, but I have seen a good amount on him to think that he has nowhere near a bad handle.

Second of all, same thing with his shot. His handle was better, but his shot was not bad. It's not like trying to teach RW how to sink Free Throws. He had decent form, just needed a little instruction and practice.


The guy did not need a TON of work on either, just some. There's almost nobody in the world who doesn't need work on their shot in the NCAA no matter where they are.

 

[swarthmoreCY]

First of all, neither were bad. His handle was because he was too fast, but I have seen a good amount on him to think that he has nowhere near a bad handle.


The guy did not need a TON of work on either, just some. There's almost nobody in the world who doesn't need work on their shot in the NCAA no matter where they are.

When you are 5-7, your handle and/or shot needs to be better than not bad. Being super quick with a great vertical is quickly completely negated when teams can play off of you because you are not a good shooter.

He is just not a pg. It should tell you something that he was moved to shooting guard in high school. Even if he was a good shooter, there are not a lot of teams that can handle having a 5-7 shooting guard, as you become way too small on the other end of the court. There is almost nobody in major college basketball who is 5-7 and needs to work on their shot AND handle. The time needed to maybe become a Big 12 pg is not worth the opportunity cost.

 

[Thompsonclone]

Swarthmore: The job of the coaches is to teach and help develop the players. There isn't a player on the team who doesn't need help on something. Saying it wasn't worth the time on Sledge seems kind of lazy to me. Sledge wasn't that big of a project, in my opinion. Just needed to work on some things and he could have been a solid player for us. Him not playing could have been something completely different than talent. Maybe he was slow on learning the defense or offense? We will never know the real reason why he didn't play. I wish he stuck around but it's in the past now. He is going to have a great career for Iona.

 

[CYdTracked]

After seeing Naz Long play I don't see how Sledge would have ever carved out anything more than garbage time minutes here. We're already deep at guard and that's even without Babb too right now.

 

[ISUCubswin]

I liked Tavon but...

Korie Lucious and at the time Bubu would've played over him this year
Bubu, MoJones, and Monte Morris would've played over him next year
Monte Morris would've played over him his senior year.

I realize Mo Jones and Morris weren't known commits, but I'm sure Fred knew Morris was ours.

 

[marothisu]

When you are 5-7, your handle and/or shot needs to be better than not bad. Being super quick with a great vertical is quickly completely negated when teams can play off of you because you are not a good shooter.

He is just not a pg. It should tell you something that he was moved to shooting guard in high school. Even if he was a good shooter, there are not a lot of teams that can handle having a 5-7 shooting guard, as you become way too small on the other end of the court. There is almost nobody in major college basketball who is 5-7 and needs to work on their shot AND handle. The time needed to maybe become a Big 12 pg is not worth the opportunity cost.

One of the jobs of the coaching staff is to develop players. The guy is a decent player, but he's young. Nobody comes onto a team in D1 who doesn't need help with something.

Moving from one position to the other doesn't mean that they suck at that position, it might, but it depends on who's on your team. Stephen Curry played SG in his first few years of college..why? Because there was a guy better than him at the PG position playing PG. When that guy graduated, he moved to PG. By your same logic, Stephen Curry sucked at SG because he was moved to PG.

Not everything is clear cut. You can't take one point of incomplete data and make a conclusion based off that. Now, if you had data about the entire team he was on and could show that the guy playing PG on his team also sucked, then you'd have a more complete point.

 

[mj4cy]

How did he get it so he didn't have to sit out a year?

 

[swarthmoreCY]

Swarthmore: The job of the coaches is to teach and help develop the players. There isn't a player on the team who doesn't need help on something. Saying it wasn't worth the time on Sledge seems kind of lazy to me. Sledge wasn't that big of a project, in my opinion.

No, their job is to put the best team on the court as possible. Do you know what opportunity cost is Thompson? We were going to get better by using Sledge's scholarship on someone else. Teaching and developing Sledge would not likely have the same pay-off as teaching and developing another player.
Think of giving Sledge a scholarship as a sunk cost. Move on and find someone better.

 

[CycloneErik]

After seeing Naz Long play I don't see how Sledge would have ever carved out anything more than garbage time minutes here. We're already deep at guard and that's even without Babb too right now.

I think that's the real issue. Sledge could probably have been OK, but we have a bunch of guys right now that are better than OK. Next year's incoming guards are much better than OK.

Seemed like a good guy and a decent player. There just isn't a place for him here.