Mays or Smart?

I going with:

Waters
Smart
Days
E williams
Reid

#championship

I hope it’s Smart.

I’ve never seen anyone miss more layups than Mays.

Can you link where he said this? Not doubting you personally. I've seen this posted numerous times, but don't recall him saying it.

Mays is a pretty good player. Before last season he developed a good 3pt jumper and benefits from playing off ball.

He is also probably the best on ball defender we have returning. Smart is gonna be a legend but I think he will benefit with the ball in his hands more than off ball.

I think we’ll see some guard heavy lineups early in the year.

Smart will start every game as long as he’s at LSU. Which may only be one season. Do you understand the talent he is? You say “Mays had a pretty solid season”. Smart is one of the biggest recruits to ever commit to us. I’m not sure people are ready for his talent level.

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although he penetrates very well, he doesn't finish.

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that’s what she said

It doesn't matter, Mays smart and waters will rotate pretty evenly all the minutes at the 1 and 2

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Waters Smart Williams Reid Williams

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This has the potential to be a dominant defensive lineup but the offensive spacing would be pretty bad.

I can’t see Wade putting three non-shooters on the floor. Unless I’m underrating how well Naz can shoot

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Mays struggled last year finishing through contact. I really hope that is his main focus this offseason.

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And here we go again with this fallacy. Below is something I posted a few days ago in the Sampson thread regarding this topic and the main topic of this thread; but the thread had reached its end.

Mays’ ability (or inability) to "finish at the rim" and "playing out of control" gets overblown. And I'll admit, I was one of those fans who has said that about him in the past. But as Thunder said (in the other thread), we tend to focus on something when a player has had a run or string of doing it, disregarding the several games after where the problem doesn't exist. The myth of Mays not finishing comes from the first 7 games in conference play last year, where he had a string of horrible games in that aspect (33% bad). However, we forget that he was nearly 75% in non-conference play at finishing at the rim, which is an elite level stat. Plus, the next 5 games after those bad conference ones, he was 87.5% finishing and continued at a high percentage through the remainder of the season. So Mays is not as bad at finishing as most fans think he is (myself included at one time) and he will likely see another increase in shooting percentage this year with continued focus and practice on it.

Here is the trap that I believe most fans fall into when evaluating basketball players. A few posters have said that they feel Smart is the better all-around player compared to Mays. However, when most people make this kind of statement and the statements used to back it up, it is in reference to their offensive game, never mentioning the defensive game or ability to rebound on both sides of the ball. Thankfully some in this thread haven’t made that same mistake. When looking at the offensive game, it is likely Smart does have the better all-around game compared to Mays, although I'm not sure that can be said at this present moment. But Smart certainly has the higher ceiling. I don't believe I read much on Smart as being known for his defensive prowess or rebounding in high school/AAU ball. Does he have the athletic ability and work ethic to become good at defense, I certainly believe he does; but comparatively at this moment and time, you cannot dismiss the fact that Mays has 2 years of starter level experience playing in the SEC compared to Smart's 0. Mays was averaging nearly 2 steals/gm towards end of season last year (equal to that of Waters who was near top of the conference) and becoming a dependable defensive player. He also rebounds well for a guard on both sides of the ball (over 4 per game as noted above).

At the end of the day, offense was not LSU's problem last year (they were 3rd in PPG and 6th in FG%), nor will it likely be an issue this year. Defense was the problem and is something that will need to be corrected this year. Experience and a willingness/desire to be a strong defensive player is what makes a team great at defense, not just athletic ability. We all believe Wade has found players that possess that desire to be good at it; but the experience to be great still has to be developed for the new players. This is what will likely put Mays in a position to start over Smart, especially at the beginning of the season, b/c Mays has the experience, offensive game, defensive game, and rebounding to make him a truer all-around player at this point. But as has been said many times on here, Mays and Smart likely finish the season averaging around the same amount of minutes/game; so it doesn't really matter which of them starts.