Dalcourt is a better shooter than Harper and Thomas is a better ball handler. However, Harper is better on defense than both in my view. That was needed Saturday. Players can be tested at any point in game if they have any kind of symptoms or if trainer notices any issue. Perhaps Covid was a problem for Harper on Saturday. Note I have no idea if that was a factor or not. I do know that Covid was why neither Awkuba or Thomas played on the road trip.
Mike, I will disagree with you on those comparisons. First, Dalcourt is shooting worse than Harper in both FG% and 3pt%. I know he plays a few more minutes per game than Harper so his attempts are more but from what I've seen in games, he doesn't shoot an appreciable amount better than Harper and Thomas seems to be all over the place in running the point. Neither of those guys has the jolt that Harper seems to provide and you saw it when we started him on the road trip.
Below in red is a breakdown of minutes from the UTA game that I posted in that thread.
With regards to Harper getting playing time if you look at the minutes last night it was pretty clear what they were doing with the rotation. The 2 forward spots was a 3 man rotation of Brown, Gueye and Charles, they played 75 of a possible 80 minutes. The 3 was basically all Kobe and Cadwell played a little bit too for a combined 37 of 40 minutes. The PG spot was all Wesley and Au as they combined for 40 minutes. That left Williams, Garnett, Harper, and Dalcourt to fight for time at 2 guard. Williams was clearly not setting the world on fire, they knew Garnett is pretty much only a threat with the outside shot, and Harper and Dalcourt never got the time to get in any kind of rhythm. Having that log jam at one spot isn't helping any of those guys, one reason I was suggesting try to get Williams some time at the 3 while either Kobe is taking a breather or let Kobe play some at the 4.
Saturday against Texas St. Williams had to run the point for awhile as Wesley was in foul trouble and Au just couldn't play a large amount of minutes. That was the 1st time Au had played 2 games in 3 days all year and he looked even slower than normal and really appeared to be a liability on both ends of the floor.
I will let someone who knows more than me comment on what happened with Harper officially in the 2nd half but to me it appeared similar to Charles at Coastal. Charles was still in protocol the next Thursday for the Ark St game so I don't know if we will see Harper this Thursday either.
How about we start talking about how bad Gregg Williams is. He has been a huge bust. Was supposed to be the guy after the transfers of Wilson and Russell, but he just isn't very good. Marlin was expecting and putting alot on his shoulders and its completely backfiring on him. Need to start giving Harper more of these minutes that we are giving Williams, Wesley, and Au andsee what we have in him. He can't be any worse than what we have out there right now.
A source of a source, hinted to the fact that Harper had faked an injury early in year before season , to maybe get out of running or workouts. I don’t think the staff took that too well, and it shows with his lack of playing time. Some people said it was because he could not dribble with his right hand, but if that’s the case wouldn’t we have known that before we signed him!!! All rumors hold a little weight… #GeauxCajuns
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