Azubuike back affects Dedric Lawson's stat sheet

Dok was good and it was great to have him back but it changes Lawson's role. Dedrick goes from consistent 20/10 double doubles to an 8 point, 4 rebound performance. I hope they can get a rhythm of playing together where they are both able to play at their highest level.

My favorite KU team has always been 1986. HCLB had 5 guys capable of scoring big . If I recall Calvin, Ron, Danny and Greg all score 30 or very close at some point. Archie also had big games and Cedric could score.

Who it would be was decided by match-ups,mainly what the defense gave us. It somebody was hot and guarded by option #4 he got a big number.

We are almost there. Doke or DL will almost always have a favorable match-up. Grimes or Vick or DD will almost always have a guy who closes out slowly either because he has a long was to run or because he is the third quickest guard the opponent has..

Find that soft spot and exploit. This could be fun..

You're right Dr. We saw this every game prior to Dok's injury. Lawson hasn't shown the mid-range game I thought he would have, and which would be lethal with Dok underneath. Lawson has been most effective close to the basket, with room to work.

With Dok just camping down low, there's no room for Lawson, and it showed yesterday.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, Dok is a world class dunker. His post moves are average at best. He has zero game outside three feet. He's a horrific free throw shooter. And so far he stifles Lawson's game. He works really hard, and He's fun to watch against an Eastern Michigan team with no one to guard him. But when better teams collapse on him we're going to be challenged unless Lawson finds a mid range game and/or Grimes and others open up the outside shooting.

One of my favorite teams as well. Self says Dedric is the best passing big man he has seen. But that 1985 team had THE 2 BEST big men passers and ball-handlers I have seen at KU. Danny and Calvin were both excellent ball-handlers and passers. Between them they had over 650 career assists. Not bad considering both were go-to scoring options. Both were sort of "point forwards". Calvin was the better passer of the two though, finishing his career with an A/TO ratio of an amazing 1.57 as compared to Danny's 0.87. Dedric actually reminds me quite a bit of Calvin, although at this stage I would take Calvin over Dedric but it would be close to 50-50. Considering Calvin's game was mid-range and most of his time was before the 3-point shot and he shot a career 53.4% from the field. He was a smart, skilled player with average athleticism. Thanks for reminding me of that team. That was an incredible team. 4 big-time scorers who averaged 13-17 points per game with Cedric running the show and dishing to all four. Kellogg could shoot and pass, Calvin could shoot and pass, Danny could shoot and pass and Greg could shoot. Actually, for a 7 footer, Greg could pass okay as well. That was a special KU team.

You remember more details than I. I recall Calvin shooting from the top of the key , and dunking. Ron seemed to have the corner shot. He got a SI cover that season or the year before.

Danny as a soph started playing like an eventual NPOY. Archie doesn't get hurt and we beat Duke and Pervis has something to be nervous about.

Two things will happen, I predict:

1.) Grimes WILL come alive and will do so soon. That will give us a legitimate additional outside threat. If Dok and Lawson are clogged up in the paint, we can score with kickouts to him or Vick.

2.) Dedric and Dok will balance each other out. If you double Dok, Lawson will score. If you pick up Lawson, he'll dump it to Dok. Granted, Dedric will do better if he can develop a mid-range shot, which I think he will.

While the role of a typical 7 footer in the NBA has changed and might not help Dok's value at the next level, for MOST of the teams we'll face between now and March, there's just not an easy answer to stopping him. Even the "foul Dok" plan is a gimmick that we'll likely not fall for again this year. Barring situations where both Lawson and Azibuike are both in foul trouble or otherwise benched, we'll be just fine against most of the Big 12.

We have arguably had no one better at managing the paint than Landen Lucas. He was a true artist in managing the paint. The difference between Udoka and Landen is Udoka is generally the first scoring option and Landen was not usually a scoring option at all. Few plays were run for Landen. But since we have the benefit of calling plays, Udoka could be a double threat. If he had Landen's skills at paint management, he could be lethal at facilitating Dedric on plays called for Dedric and he is already pretty lethal at plays called for him. If he can master that, we will be unstoppable.

Article about this issue after the OU game
www2.kusports.com/weblogs/smithology/201...ubuike-more-than-ca/