Aaron White Question

chuckles33

chuckles33

Active Member
I preface this with saying I really do like AW. I am interested in everyone's take.

is AW a really good player or a benefactor of FM's system. IMO he plays vey soft. In a physical game against MSU he was not effective and this has been a worry for me. I don't see him able to create much on his own. He is effective in open court and working the baseline. Is there a way to see how many of his points came off assists versus creating his own.

I don't remember too many AW posts and I wanted to find out others' take.

Not real confident, but I will be glued to the TV for the selection show.
 
It's really simple - he needs to be able to shoot a jump shot - and he can't atm.

If he can develop that it will improve his offense immensely.
 
i agree. he needs to develop some time of 15 ft jump shot. he can't continually drive the ball and put up crazy shots hoping to get bailed out by a foul call.
 
Let's point out some of his strengths:
1) He can run the floor
2) He can dunk with the best of them on this team and is a good finisher.
3) He's got a high basketball IQ
4) He's a team player and unselfish
5) He's long and understands position defense
6) He's can rebound.
7) He's versatile on defense and can be used at the point of pressure
8) He's got a very good handle for a big guy

Weaknesses:
1) Strength - he needs a few more pounds and weight work, but his frame is never going to look like Basabe.
2) Shooting - as you mentioned, he needs a mid range jumper that's consistent...and like most on this team, they need to shoot 1000's of 3's this summer.

White's got two more years of eligibility. He's going to get stronger just due to his maturation, and I think he develops that midrange game. If he does, he's going to be a handful for bigger players. Fran will exploit it.
 
If he can shoot the three consistently and develop a jump shot he will be really really good. I'm w you on a lot of these guys puting up 1000 threes a day. It will also help Clemons, Ingram, maybe even basabe continuing to work on it. The thing is they will work on it.. No doubt!! Go Hawks
 
Can't it be said that any good player benefits from the system he plays in? I hate the argument that a player is only good because he plays for a particular coach.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
Let's point out some of his strengths:
1) He can run the floor
2) He can dunk with the best of them on this team and is a good finisher.
3) He's got a high basketball IQ
4) He's a team player and unselfish
5) He's long and understands position defense
6) He's can rebound.
7) He's versatile on defense and can be used at the point of pressure
8) He's got a very good handle for a big guy

Weaknesses:
1) Strength - he needs a few more pounds and weight work, but his frame is never going to look like Basabe.
2) Shooting - as you mentioned, he needs a mid range jumper that's consistent...and like most on this team, they need to shoot 1000's of 3's this summer.

White's got two more years of eligibility. He's going to get stronger just due to his maturation, and I think he develops that midrange game. If he does, he's going to be a handful for bigger players. Fran will exploit it.
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They need to shoot them with someone in their face. You watch them in warmups and they splash everything.
 
He's a sophmore who still has to develop. That said, he's very effective as a sophmore.
 
snarf34 said:
i agree. he needs to develop some time of 15 ft jump shot. he can't continually drive the ball and put up crazy shots hoping to get bailed out by a foul call.
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My observations and I have said this for several months is yes he does not have a great three point shot and no I have only seen him take a few 15 footers off the dribble and he has made some of them, actually he looks pretty good on that move.

But, and here is the but, when he gets the ball at the arc he almost has always established his left foot as his pivot foot and he almost always either head fakes and drives to the right or just drives to the right. And so he is set up wrong to drive and get his left shoulder past the defenders chest.

I think he really needs to work on catching the ball so he can establish either foot as his pivot foot and when he head fakes he needs to be able to start his drive to the left or right in such a way that he gets his shoulder and body nearest the defender past the defender and then he is in great position.

Canning some jumpers will help that head fake also. I would love to see him shoot 40% from 3 pt range the next two years.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
Let's point out some of his strengths:
1) He can run the floor
2) He can dunk with the best of them on this team and is a good finisher.
3) He's got a high basketball IQ
4) He's a team player and unselfish
5) He's long and understands position defense
6) He's can rebound.
7) He's versatile on defense and can be used at the point of pressure
8) He's got a very good handle for a big guy

Weaknesses:
1) Strength - he needs a few more pounds and weight work, but his frame is never going to look like Basabe.
2) Shooting - as you mentioned, he needs a mid range jumper that's consistent...and like most on this team, they need to shoot 1000's of 3's this summer.

White's got two more years of eligibility. He's going to get stronger just due to his maturation, and I think he develops that midrange game. If he does, he's going to be a handful for bigger players. Fran will exploit it.
Click to expand...

I think you are overplaying his defensive abilities here - he was one of the guys earlier this year that Fran called out for defensive lapses.

He is great at anticipating passing lanes and looking for steals (because he likes to dunk)

However is overall focus on defense and complete game on defense I disagree - he gambles a lot and has lazy moments where he just sort of watches.

He is versatile on defense - I agree

His ball handling is pretty good but if he is going to be playing the 3 more then that's something else he needs to work on.

But above all else he needs to work on his J - if he could be a threat from mid range to 3 pt range he could get defenders to come out on him and open up those drives he wants.
 
He needs to get on the offensive glass and get some putbacks early to get himself involved in games. He's a rythym player and when he mixes it up early grabbing boards, getting to the line, etc......that's when he plays well. When he's running around the perimeter just being a ball reverser, he never gets involved and that's when he struggles.
 
He still is growing into his body. There are very few guys as long as Aaron. Sure he could bulk up and become a pure PF type. But if he stays closer to where he is and develops some of these perimeter elements you are talking about, he will be unstoppable in CBB.

He will be able to pull up and shoot over anybody or go around them and finish over anybody.
 
For all Aaron's strengths that he has; it is his weaknesses that are making him disappear in games against really good teams. He runs very well in the open court and is built for an uptempo game.

He doesn't post well, shoot the ball well from outside 5ft (he has hit some big shots, but overall just look at his 3pt % and it tells the story) and is an inconsistent rebounder.

That said, he is a sophomore who is caught in-between positions right now because Basabe has turned the light back on.

Things White has to improve upon:
1. Ball handling - he can't take a smaller guy off the dribble even with his size advantage.
2. Get a baseline jumper - that shot will forever be open in Iowa's offense; once he can hit it consistently then he can pump fake and do what he does best...dunk.
3. Get over 30% from 3pt range.
4. Block out more effectively and use two hands when rebounding the ball

I think he has improved defensively tremendously as we have went through the season, he understands positioning and helps from the backside very well without getting lost in space.
 
He's a great player for this team and system. Can he get stronger and improve in alot of areas absolutely. The way he shoots is ugly to me. It's not smooth and that may be why he is inconsistent with it. You look at how Dekker shoots and that's the type of jumper you love to see from a guy that is a similar type of player. By the time a basketball player is over 20 yrs old and has played as much ball as White has it's really really tough to tweak let alone change their shot. It's muscle memory and that comes with the tons of shots he's already taken. I'm not going to bash White he's a leader plays hard doesn't complain he's everything a coach asks for out of a player and he's a big reason this program has turned around and will continue to. Does that mean he's as good as he can be? Of course not. I bet you he spends as much time in the gym working on his game as anyone this off season though.
 
I do agree with a lot of what's been said here. That said, he was also battling some kind of elbow injury on Friday, per pregame reports. The fact he put up 5 shots against MSU was surprising. The fact he had ZERO rebounds was absolutely mind-blowing.
 
I really do like what White does. If he could start to knock down the jumper better it would vastly improve his game. Right now, he is a finesse player rather than a banger. I don't want to say that he is similar to Basabe, because they have really different games. But it took Basabe a while to be able to get physical inside, and he seems softer than some forwards in the league still. I actually don't think White needs to be able to bang inside, the best way for him to improve is to expand his offense outwards. He shouldn't be missing some shots as poorly as he has this season.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
Let's point out some of his strengths:
1) He can run the floor
2) He can dunk with the best of them on this team and is a good finisher.
3) He's got a high basketball IQ
4) He's a team player and unselfish
5) He's long and understands position defense
6) He's can rebound.
7) He's versatile on defense and can be used at the point of pressure
8) He's got a very good handle for a big guy

Weaknesses:
1) Strength - he needs a few more pounds and weight work, but his frame is never going to look like Basabe.
2) Shooting - as you mentioned, he needs a mid range jumper that's consistent...and like most on this team, they need to shoot 1000's of 3's this summer.

White's got two more years of eligibility. He's going to get stronger just due to his maturation, and I think he develops that midrange game. If he does, he's going to be a handful for bigger players. Fran will exploit it.
Click to expand...
This says it pretty well.
 
I think at this point he is a good player with a lot of room for improvement. His ceiling is not limited and he's got to work on his free throws late in the game, his strength, and his three point shot.

He's got the potential to be a 1st round pick if he works on those areas.
 
Herkyalert said:
I think at this point he is a good player with a lot of room for improvement. His ceiling is not limited and he's got to work on his free throws late in the game, his strength, and his three point shot.

He's got the potential to be a 1st round pick if he works on those areas.
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NWIH
 
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