(10-15-2019 11:56 AM)Miggy Wrote: I must digress for a moment, as I’m very concerned about HC Mckie’s intention to put the ball more in Rose’s hands this year, and to have Rose both distribute the ball, and to shoot more this year, as it’s my view, both are a recipe’ for disaster, and Temple having the chance to have a very successful year.
I agree that these are areas where McKie needs to improve, but I'm a little more optimistic, because I have been following him since his freshman year, and think I understand his growth trajectory in a way that makes me more sanguine about his development.
Rose started out as a potential superstar on the team, but had some what one might call some "attention deficit" issues, or some "needing to grow up" issues. Some combination of both, but mostly attention deficit, I believe, because he has always been serious and has gotten along well with teammates.
I don't want to say that he started out as somewhat of a "primmadonna," because that would be stigmatizing him, but he has always been a virtuoso who could single-handedly win games at the drop of a hat. But, like many creative people who are not known for consistency, he could play 15 minutes and be barely visible, before suddenly catching fire.
Rose is also a very youthful person, even for his age. He is bouncy, can be effervescent, perhaps a little tempestuous at times or feisty. I don't consider him immature, because that's too severe, but "youthful" and spunky individualist or free spirit comes closer.
Now, his attention does wander, and this can affect his judgment at times. He's impulsive and gifted enough to charge the basket with gusto, but perhaps the impulsiveness has gotten him into trouble, when he arrives at the basket and can't finish or crashes, burns, or turns the ball over.
Nevertheless, he has been gradually improving in these respects over time, more or less steadily, and he seems to know that he has to work on these things so as to help the team.
Part of growing up for all of us in our 20's is consuming some "humble pie" and learning that we're not the center of the world. Beyond that, each young person has the challenge of accepting their personal limitations. In basketball, the game forces a player to become more and more of a team player, thinking less of their own statistics and more about the team's.
I know that you've been very critical of him, because he seems like the kind of guy who shouldn't be making these mistakes so far into college, but you might be able to appreciate and understand him better if you consider him to be a "gifted and talented" student.
The term 'gifted and talented,' applies to students who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields. Often, gifted students have specific developmental challenges that they need to put work into or may need assistance with.
A classic example is a young person with attention issues, who is brilliant and incredibly talented in certain respects, and might even be considered a prodigy or a young genius, but can be limited by the attention problems (being distractable, impulsive, or drifting concentration). These limitations may be with the gifted student for their entire life, but they often learn how to overcome them or surmount these difficulties over time, sometimes with educational or medical assistance in some combination.
To me, QR fits this profile almost perfectly. He is the classic "gifted and talented" student. Like many others with these traits, he can be hard to understand or even frustrating to others at times, who ask "how can such a prodigy be such a klutz sometimes?"
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If you look at him this way, you may be able to both appreciate and empathize with him as he goes through his moments of brilliance and his periodic screwups.
He's growing up, and not the same way most people do, maybe a wee bit slower than some expect, but like most other "gifted and talented" people of all ages, he is a very special person and (in this case all-AAC first team pre-season) player.
I don't want to go into detail about my professional training, I'd like you to know that I've had advanced post-doctoral training in a closely related field, so I'm not making this stuff up. I know whereof I speak about this.
So, as frustrated and impatient as you have often been, and understandably so at times, as I've also been, I hope that you might realize that the turnovers and distracted focus or seeming spaced out at times are all part of what many gifted and talented students have to deal with.
They're not lazy or crazy or stupid. They're actually more like young Einsteins, who struggle because their brains are wired differently that most peoples are. Not worse, just different.
And, yes, you would have been just as frustrated and impatient with young Einstein himself, another classic "gifted student" who struggled with boring academic routines and was always quirky and a bit on the eccentric side. His brain was different. That's why he was so amazingly gifted in some areas.
It's not easy for gifted students, because in some ways, they're in a mental world that uniquely rises above most other peoples' capacity to understand in some specific ways, and in other ways can be seen as odd or lazy or eccentric & spaced out at times.
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Having said all this, I love the guy, not knowing him, only seeing him on the basketball court. I've known a lot of "gifted" people of various ages, and have developed a special appreciation for them.
I empathize with him, too. I know it's not easy, and sometimes must be incredibly frustrating to have not only his brilliance, but also his mistakes watched by thousands of people night after night. On the other hand, I never worry about him, because he's got the right amount of moxy to shrug off the occasional glitches and is smart enough not to get excessively bummed out. Got to maintain an even keel through it all.
I see him as having most of the tools that a great player like Julius Erving had. At times, he has been just as spectacular as Dr. J. was back in the day. It's too soon to know whether he will ever be able to make a NBA team or not. He'll have a lot of work to do to get there, if he's even capable of going that far. Maybe his attention issues or physical issues will get in the way.
But he'll have an interesting professional career somewhere in the world, I think one can bet on that.
Regardless of all that, I accept him for what he is, and knowing what kinds of unique struggles he has to deal with, I enjoy watching him develop as a player. The struggles are the same kinds of struggles that every one of us has to deal with in life, because none of us are good at everything, and most of us mess up sometimes, or crash and burn in our own ways.
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Last and most encouraging point - This is going to be his most special year in college. He's first team pre-season all-AAC, and will be getting a lot of attention. It is his greatest chance to shine, perhaps that he'll ever get. He is a Senior, and a co-captain, and he is going to have to carry the team on his back to some extent, especially now that Shizz is gone.
This, in some ways, will be Quinton's team, just like last year was Alston's team in a lot of ways. So he almost certainly is going to temper his mistakes and play as responsibly as he can for the good of the team. Success depends on what he does, game in and game out; he's not a kid any more.
With responsibility comes development. Give a young person enough responsibility, and he will grow up. So I think that in some ways, we're going to see a new version of Quinton Rose out there on the court this year. Not a perfect version, but an improved version.
Passing the ball - yes it's a concern if there are too many off-target passes. But Rose was part of a unit that generated close to 15 assists per game last season, and when he is 100% "on," he is capable of making mind-dazzling passes. If he needs to make fewer passes, then McKie will definitely make needed adjustments; we can count on that.
To ease your mind on passing, just remember last season how Alston and Rose ran the offense together, and envision Scott taking on the role that Alston played. I think McKie will have Scott and Rose run the offense together this year. Few of Rose's errors on the court were due to errant passes. They were due to the crash and burn, charging fouls, losing control of the ball in traffic, being stripped of the ball, etc.