Jensen: New faces, and more faces, boost La Salle's hopes
It was pretty obvious there was no first team and no second team on the court for La Salle during a recent practice inside Tom Gola Arena.
It was pretty obvious there was no first team and no second team on the court for La Salle during a recent practice inside Tom Gola Arena.
All three players you'd describe as Explorers point guards wore the same jersey. Leading scorer Jordan Price was on the other team. There was no way you'd call either group a starting five.
"We have mixed up our lineup every single practice," Explorers coach John Giannini said afterward. "And I have told my staff to try over the course of time to make it as equal as possible with players teaming up with certain teammates."
The goal: See who emerges as a winner in any combination, over time.
"That is starting to emerge," Giannini said.
Last season, there weren't many choices to be had at 20th and Olney. The starters were also the finishers and pretty much the in-between-ers. The lack of options added up to 9-22.
"We're just back to normal," Giannini said. "I don't look at this year as being anything exceptional. I look at last year as being the exception."
On this day, the practice group stayed together the whole time. The next day, Giannini said, it would be a different grouping.
"We tried to make it as weird as possible today," Giannini said of the matchups and the point guards staying together in particular. "We want them to learn to play with different people. Again, we want to see who can rise up regardless of who they're playing with."
He isn't looking for his players to be comfortable, Giannini added. Minutes have to be earned and there are other players ready to grab them.
"I really want minutes to depend on performance," Giannini said. "I don't want to play guys based on potential."
Giannini made another point at a Coaches vs. Cancer luncheon this week, that some of his returners are really good glue guys, important on any team, but they were needed too much for scoring last season. This year, he suggested, the roles should be better fits.
Of course, the curiosity is strongest about the new guys, the transfers who practiced last year but couldn't play. It's obvious there will be time for sophomore guard Pookie Powell, who started 11 games for Memphis as a freshman, and junior forward B.J. Johnson, the Lower Merion High grad who started four games for Syracuse as a sophomore, and junior post player Demetrius Henry, who started 48 games in two seasons at South Carolina.
Giannini on each of the three:
On Johnson: "B.J. is 6-8, athletic, crafty with the left hand, and a very good shooter. He should be a very good scorer. Now, will he be a great defender? Will he be a great offensive rebounder? Will he be a smart passer? Those are the kind of things I want him to get better at. If he gets better at those things, you have a great player. . . . A lot of it with B.J., the talent and skill level is there. He's put in the time to develop his skill. Now it's making good decisions with the ball and being relentless on offense and defense."
On Henry: "Demetrius is emerging as one of our best winners. He's a high IQ big guy who knows what to do on both ends of the floor. He makes our defense better because he's always in the right spot and he's a great communicator. He makes our offense better because he can execute a set. He's a willing screener and he's smart with the basketball."
On Powell: "What I'm really pleased about statistically with Pookie, he's our lowest turnover guy on the team and he has the best field-goal percentage for a guard. So when a guy doesn't lose the ball and makes shots, that's pretty good. The other thing he's exceptional about is on-the-ball defense. He really doesn't get screened. So I think Pookie has to learn how to play without the ball. He has to get more comfortable when he doesn't have the ball, in terms of our spacing. Defensively, his off-the-ball defense has to get better."
How are the guys who were playing all the time last season adjusting to a new reality? There's no mental adjustment yet, Giannini pointed out. Everyone plays in practice. The adjustment comes when the games begin. The simple key, he said, is that everyone puts winning first.
@jensenoffcampus