Can anyone see Joey Baker eventually starting this year?
- Thread starter Duke Blu
- Start date
When Joey first started playing more and was red hot from outside he was not be guarded closely because nobody new of shooting ability. Now he is being closely guarded and he is having trouble getting open looks, so he is trying to drive more or is rushing his shot. He just needs to settle down and not force his shot. He will learn to get off screens better as he plays more. He must still be shooting well in practice because Coach had him starting last night!!!
OFC
OFC
He'll score 20 against W.F. Sat night I was expecting on the game thread for one of the posters to note Joey's body language at G.T. and get the transfer rumors going again I hoping that is behind us. Joey's had some good moments for us this year will have more. AOC has been a target for most of the year but look at his last night. Jav's whole career has been criticized but he did his thing last night and made some big defenaive plays and knocked down some crunch time free throws. But this board is a free board and we are permitted express our opinions within reason and judgement. I know you are just basically making an observation and your are dead on with that. Joey onlyou played 4 minutes last night and I thought he rushed an unnecessary shot and ten the turn over. I can't say that was the reason he did not go back in. Other players like Alex, Jordan, Matthew and Cassius were playing well and the chemistry was there and just couldn't find anymore playing time for Joey last night. Notice I said last night not next game. But you are the man Jwill and you know the game as well as any of us OFC
Yeah I mean Joey can really shoot it but i think from here on out he’s going to have a hard time getting open shots. Just like you said nobody knew how great of a shooter he was so they weren’t playing as tight. Now all the teams know how good he is from that area. Teams are going to put somebody who can stick on him from here on out and his problem is going to be finding separation because we all know Joey isn’t the most athletic or quickest person on the team. With that being said it is nice to have somebody on the court where the defenders know if they help on a drive they’re going to leave Joey open. So in ways he’s still contributing offensively.
I’m not sure how much of it they showed on TV last night but the minute Joey had that bad travel (and he hadn’t really even attempted much offense before that) K immediately signaled for him to get off the floor and gave him a not so tame slap on the rear and I’m not sure he came back in the game after that. You could tell by their little interaction that K had instructed him to do something last night that he just wasn’t doing (if I had to guess be more aggressive and confident on offense). I will say though, I kept an eye on him for the rest of the game and he was as engaged and talkative and supportive of his teammates as anyone else on the bench. It feels like in the two games he started he put a little too much pressure on himself and wasn’t playing like he was coming in as the 9th guy with confidence and something to prove. His attitude seems to be consistently great however, so I would expect that he won’t stay down for long.
Even though Baker is a sophomore, this is his first true taste of ACC play. As a result, he's a little rushed and his shot is being rushed a little. Once he makes the adjustment he'll be fine. I expect him to play much better at home against Wake.
IMO I think the biggest reason that Joey didn’t play more last night was because he just wasn’t having a good game in the time that he was in the game and others were. So it wouldn’t have made sense to disrupt the rhythm that others had by Joey playing more when he wasn’t having a good game. I have no doubt though that he’ll give us valuable minutes at different times throughout the rest of the season though.
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