Tez didn’t play well again but I disagree it has nothing to do with rotations the evidence is stark looking at performance from start of year to now
Should Mathis play over Mulcahy in your stat filled (limited) analysis??
Mathis in almost 3 years has no mid range shot, no jump stop to pass or shoot and no handle to create space to pass or shoot. Mathis thrives and gets by solely because he's quicker and more athletic than most players but without the footwork or additional work put in on this aspect of his game, he's nowhere near as complete as a player as Caleb.
I am not a coach but there are fundamentals that kids learn at a younger age and if you don't develop those items earlier, it limits what you can do against legitimate competition. Mathis has had to rebuild his entire shot mechanics and release point and has worked on his footwork to get himself balanced to shoot 3s, but he needs another offseason to get into the Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan film lab of drop step, jump stop, mid range, turn, square up and pivot, pass, create and generate space to shoot over players.
Harper and Caleb and Geo have tremendous ability to know how to pivot, turn, square and shoot and Geo has put in the work and handle to dribble and learn how to create space to shoot over a defender from 3 or from mid range.
Mathis does not offer that ability to handle the ball off the dribble, isn't efficient with his left hand as he is going to his right and will benefit by adding these layers to his game....
It takes hours, weeks, months to get that footwork, balance and form to make those plays......he probably needs to stay and work very hard this summer on also working on his handle and having his head up, so he can see teammates that are open, vs driving into open space and then just using his athletic ability to jump and then figure out how to get the ball to the hoop......he doesn't actually know how far away or how close he is to the basket (with his head down) until he jumps, then looks and tries to improvise all in one motion, while hanging in the air....which is why he misses what are seemingly easy layups....if your head is down driving to the hoop, you might as well play blindfolded.
Can Mathis improve....absolutely....
Can you correct something or shooting mechanics, 3 point shooting, foul shooting, ball handling to become am emergency backup PG all in a span of 1 off season.....?? Probably not....
He fixed the mechanics from frosh to soph year and then worked very hard on the 3 point shot, since he's a good driver, it made sense to work on the shooting aspect, since teams will play off him, knowing he's more of a slasher/driver.
He has to put the work in on the other basics, but Caleb is a more complete player fundamentally right now....those basics Caleb has eliminates the crazy turnovers and missed layups, despite Caleb not being the athlete and leader that Mathis is.
Stats and other things don't replace common sense or the eye test. Mathis starting may hide some of these gaps but if you start him, it's not over Caleb, it would be over Mulcahy.......
BUT if you remove Mulcahy, will Myles get the amount of touches he should??? Will Mathis actually see him open when he drives???
