#defendtherock

There really was only one way to respond to the shellacking the Edge received on Tuesday, and that was to come out firing on Thursday, washing off the sins of an awful performance with a barnstorming show. Behind some blistering early shooting, a greatly improved consistent defensive effort, and the ball movement that was lacking on Tuesday, the Edge came out to a sixteen point lead at halftime.

Although the shooting cooled off notably by the end of the half, there was a notable lack of forced Carl English...perhaps because he was in foul trouble for much of the half. Similarly the fact that all three refs were different for this game was likely not inconsequential in the turnaround. The big difference though was in the way the team played - as a team, not as individuals.

Halifax has a pair of quality scorers in Mike Poole and Terry Thomas, and solid playmaking and leadership from Cliff Clinkscales. The play of these three, and sharp shooting from the former two, brought Halifax back strong and within nine at one point, but the game completely lacked any sort of flow as the refs were whistle-happy all night.

As the fourth quarter closed both teams looked to be spent and neither could buy a bucket. The old nemesis of defensive rebounding reared its head again, but Halifax couldn't make the extra chances count. Even with a parade to the foul line on both ends (and questionable calls both ways), a spirited and effective full court press and too many missed free throws from the Edge, Halifax just ran out of time.

It’s been on my mind for a while, but last night’s humiliating spanking at the hands of the Halifax Hurricanes was all the proof I needed to confirm my suspicions. The method and depth of the capitulation of the team combined with the obvious shortcomings told me everything I needed to know.

The problem with this team is Carl English.

In these parts, that sentence is almost treasonous. You do not attack Newfoundland sportsmen in front of Newfoundlanders, especially not when they are playing for their hometown team. Last season, Carl was the driving force behind much of the success of the Edge and carried us (with help from a very strong supporting cast) to the playoffs. 

We don’t have last year’s Carl. Despite saying in the off-season that he was in the best shape of his life, Carl has not found his shot all year. Worse yet, he has forced shot after shot and been the ball stop that he was all last season, without the points to mitigate it. Worst of all though, the Edge is just a better team when he is not on the floor. That’s the most damning thing here: our former star player is actively hurting his team. 

Carl is no longer the star on this team, Glen Davis is. He’s not the best shooter, Jared Nickens is. Dez Lee has been consistent and a creator, Maurice Jones more dynamic, Jerryn Skeete and Glen Davis as popular if not more so. There will always be a place for the hometown hero on this team, but the time has come for him to realise that it might not be as the starter and primary focus right now. At least not until his prodigal shot stops being profligate.

Last night was not his fault. Not entirely, at least. As a team the Edge was cold from deep, but kept firing away. The refereeing was abysmal. Tempers flared. The team fought valiantly in the third quarter with some of the best defence I have seen at any level, but an inability to do that at literally any other time was their downfall. That and woeful rebounding and shot selection. 

Perhaps the most unforgiveable crime was the performance in the last five minutes of the game. Elsewhere on social media, I called it a shameful performance. After Halifax went on their run in the early 4th the Edge just looked like they wanted to go home. Fans know we're going to lose games. We know we're going to get blown out. That's ok. Those games happen. What isn't ok is playing like you don't care. You can't give up. That's not what the fans pay to see. Frustration, anger, disappointment...all valid. Show some passion, show some pride! The letters on your chest MEAN something to the fans, and if nothing else they mean a paycheck to you. At least play like you care.

Ah, the classic trap game. With Carl English out (DNP - OLD) after an emotional weekend series and another game tomorrow night, facing a team playing well, a loss would have shocked nobody. Instead the Edge came out firing; essentially everything they tried offensively worked and the shots were falling early. The final score actually did not reflect how dominant the Edge was, jumping out to an early lead and slowly building on their advantage to lead by over 30 at one point. A flurry of garbage-time threes from the Five made this look closer than it was.

Dez Lee is still on fire - I don’t know what Dez has been eating over the past couple of days, but I hope he has a lot of it. At times he looks like he can score at will, hitting from outside and cutting through defenders with ease. As great as the offensive explosion has been, he has not slacked off on the other end of the court. Long may it continue.

We rebounded! - At the start of the second half I noticed Dez Lee and Obi Oleka stretching on the court, possibly doing yoga. Dez exploded as we know, but Obi had sixteen rebounds tonight for the double-double. Keith Wright also had the double double on a night where everything went right in the paint.

Glen Davis rounding into form - Fifteen minutes tonight for Big Baby, along with the leadership and cheerleading we need from him. He has amazing court vision for a big man too. Davis is several levels above anyone he will face in this league, and once he is in game shape this team will be hard to beat. 

Better flow - With Carl English out, the team had a totally different feel to it. As good as Carl can be on his night, he is a ball stop. Without him in the game the team is more of an “everybody eats” offence, which better allows us to find the man with the hot hand. I don’t want to say the team is better with Carl sitting, but tonight they looked unbeatable.

Shooting touches returning - Dez Lee might be grabbing the attention right now, but it’s important to note that Diego Kaplan is also on fire right now, He had 16 tonight, going 4-6 from long distance. Jared Nickens also got out of his shooting slump, albeit in garbage time, which will be important going forward.

Sat-nah - Sorry big man, but you need a lot more work to be effective even at this level. Satnam got extended minutes tonight and was able to show some flashes of offensive aptitude, but he is still lumbering on defence and almost completely immobile. He can’t rebound and doesn’t even get the “pylon effect” rebounds you would expect from a man who is 7′3 and bulky. Glen Davis is always talking to him, and at times the whole bench was yelling at him to get a hand up, but still these rookie mistakes continue.

Edge Drops Second Straight at Home - And It Was Ugly

Well if they weren’t watching before, they certainly are now. Moncton came to our house, trashed the basement, drank our parents’ booze and snuck out the back door when the cops showed up. For our part the Edge looked confused on offence and lost on defence, could not adapt to Moncton’s style of play, and could not find any consistent scoring.

As bad as last night was, tonight we saw what happens when Moncton keep defending well and their shots drop. We had no answer for anything they tried, even though two of their starters and best scorers from Friday (Billy White and Nick Evans) were in foul trouble all night. The stifling, hands-everywhere defence was still there, and they seem bought in enough that I fully expect to see Moncton in the finals on this form. 

Again today Coach Plumb could not get his team through the stifling perimeter defence. With three point guard capable of giving you minutes, he didn’t go to the two-PG lineup anywhere near enough to try and penetrate through and beat them off the dribble. On the few occasions we did go to the hole, we had success...assuming we didn’t miss the layup, which happened on at least four trips. Carl English however had precious little of that, going 2-11 on the night and being shut down by two defenders most of the time he sniffed the ball. There was no adaptation, no recognition, no experimentation. Moncton gradually pulled away and never seemed like losing the lead they built even with the foul trouble. 

One factor we cannot control is the officiating. A whopping 66 fouls were called today, and both teams were in the bonus before the six-minute mark of the third quarter. There was even less flow to this game than Friday’s outing, and that was in part due to the ticky-tack calls with which the officials seemed so enamored. Poor refereeing has been a familiar problem with our home games, and sadly nothing has changed this season.

Meanwhile, this St. John’s team needs a real wakeup. Coach Plumb’s promised ultra-fast offence is not happening. Moncton had one more shot than the Edge, but four more offensive boards, and a fast offence should have left the Edge with far more shots. Being at the game I can tell you that many of the Edge’s shots were in the last five seconds of the shot clock, normally after several head fakes and extra passes that really didn’t need to happen. Of the 15 turnovers we had on the night, I would estimate at least nine of them were due to passes that were too fancy or moves that were too pretty and got nowhere. Some of that will go away as the team learns about itself and the players learn where their teammates will be and where they like getting the ball, but for now they need to simplify on offence and take the good shot instead of looking for the perfect one.

Edge Drop Home Opener as Magic Exploit Every Weakness

Box Score

I really, really hope the rest of the league was not watching. 

In front of over 6000 fans just aching for a reason to blow the roof off, the Edge fell behind early in the second half and, despite a spirited fourth-quarter run never really looked like a team that deserved to win. Moncton game out with an aggressive, handsy defensive scheme that put pressure on perimeter handlers, switched on every screen and denied good looks to the Edge, a team built to shoot from outside. Only woeful first-half shooting by the Magic prevented this from becoming a blowout. As it was, it was an ugly and largely forgettable game that would have done little to persuade first-time spectators from becoming long-term fans. 

There was a lot that didn’t work for the Edge. Carl English showed a lot of rust, hitting his first shot (and the game’s first points) but then having an awful night, shooting 25% from the floor and 20% from outside. He realised too late that his shot was not falling, and forced too much in the early going. He did finish with 5 assists but could have doubled that had he switched to creator mode a little earlier. 

Dez Lee somehow only saw 21 minutes in this one, despite a pretty nasty nose injury to Junior Cadougan and the off-night for Carl and Jared Nickens. The defence and ability to challenge shots that Dez provides would have been a welcome boon to a team that struggled to contain Moncton’s penetration in the third quarter, and seemingly had no answer to the dribble-kick schemes that Magic head coach Joe Salerno employed. Dez has the versatility to switch on to the Magic bigs (especially Billy White, who killed them all night) and at least hold them at bay long enough for help to arrive.As it was our interior defence got carved up as Satnam Singh and (to a lesser extent) Keith Wright flashed help to the perimeter shooters far too often and got beaten off the dribble. 

Diego Kapelan needed more run, and more shots. Coming off a 21-point outing against Windsor and showing why he has been so respected around the world as a scorer, Kapelan took 5 shots in 18 minutes and was largely invisible all night. Coach Plumb went to him over Jarryn Skeete at the point when Cadougan went down, and it didn’t work at all. Skeete finally got some minutes and immediately got both the crowd and the team to lift their heads, leading to the run that made this game closer than it deserved to be.

The real key to that run was another guy who had an overall bad night, Guillaume Boucard. I really like his game, but last night he had so many fumbles and lost balls (five turnovers, but that number ignores the dropped passes that he was able to recover) that I wondered if he was using a new moisturizer on his hands. Nonetheless, his one-handed posterization of Wayne McCullough was the sole true highlight of the game for the Mile One crowd, and sparked a run that brought the Edge within 3 at one point. Unfortunately some clutch time turnovers and an inability to find the basket put an end to that idea.

One major discrepancy that needs to be addressed is the paint. With only a couple of true bigs we can expect to get outrebounded most nights, but a 4-13 shortfall on the offensive boards and 17 fewer shot attempts cannot continue. The promised up-tempo offence did not materialize, largely due to Moncton’s defence, but also because it’s hard to break out when the opposing team has the ball! For further proof, the Magic outscored us 56-32 in the paint. Again, a stat we expect to lose on nightly but one that needs to be closer. 

I hope it was a question of learning his team still, but Coach Salerno severely outcoached Doug Plumb last night. Every substitution the Edge made, Moncton knew what changes to make to their game to adapt. At one point I saw McCullough call out to his coach “big man’s in, do we want to five up?” as soon as Satnam hit the floor. The preparation was clearly there, and it showed.

It’s getting closer! As the flurry of signings slows down and November 18 creeps closer and closer, we are left to try and figure out what we have with this version of the team and what we still need to find. One thing I don’t need to find is tickets; you can bet I locked in my season ticket renewal as soon as I could last season. Look for me in row 5 behind center court all season long!

Returning players

Carl English - The team begins and ends with Carl. Reports from the off-season say that he is feeling better than he has in years, having had his first extended time off in several years. The reality of basketball in Europe is that you often go from team to team to play ball as long as possible in the year. Carl had the better part of 8 months to recuperate and rest his body, and he’s laser-focused on taking the extra steps that eluded him and the team last year. The success of the Edge will in large part be driven by Carl’s success and his ability to find the balance between leading the team and dominating the ball.

The team looked its best last year when Carl was option one but the ball moved around and found options two thru five with regularity. At the end of the clock he was there if needed to create his own shot. Where the team struggled was when Carl was not feeling it or was being stymied, and the plan did not change. He needs to be better at passing out of the double-team and at anticipating the trap this season, and with the names around him who can score he also needs to spread the love a lot more. I fully expect him to lead the team, if not the league, in scoring this year, but he needs to be getting more than 3.6 assists per game. That said, only Alex Johnson averaged more at 4.9 APG for a team that did not specialise in ball movement last year.

Desmond Lee - To the new basketball fan, Des Lee’s impact might not have been obvious last season. He scored at a decent rate, rebounded pretty well for his size, and generally didn’t provide much flash. To leave it there would be to ignore the biggest benefits that Lee brings to the team: effort. In a league where true big men are rare, Lee can guard one thru four effectively from the shooting guard position. His hops and energy level make him a solid rebounder, and he has both a willingness to get dirty and busy hands. Lee averaged 6.1 rebounds and a steal per game while also chipping in for 10.7 PPG. His game is the kind that doesn’t always transfer to the stat sheet though, and he will be needed to provide that situational contribution this season as well. 

Two things about Lee really seemed to improve over the course of last year: his three-point shooting and his off-ball movement. His ability to get himself open is obviously valuable, but those movement skills are even more important on the defensive end to get around screens and stay with his man. Watch him on defensive sets and see his ability to quickly adapt to what the opposition is running. The only player in the league who I saw do more talking to his teammates on D was Shaquille Keith, a player I would dearly love to have here. 

Jarryn Skeete - If ever a player was made for this city, it’s Jarryn Skeete. A fan favourite from early in the season, Skeete will be back to provide the shooting (an impressive 41% from 3 last season, which improved greatly in the back half), court vision and highlight reel plays that he gave us last season. Nobody who was in the building for this ridiculous layup against the River Lions will ever forget it (skip to 1:58 to see it)

Skeete is very likely to see his minutes diminshed from where they were to end the season. Alex Johnson and Coron Williams are gone, but Maurice Jones is all but certain to start at the point and youngster Drew Cushingberry looks to be exactly the kind of point guard you want on a team with Carl English camping on the three-point line. Skeete could see some play in two-guard lineups at the off-guard if that’s something Coach Plumb decides to try at some point, but otherwise We may well see less of the crowd favourite. 

Will they or won’t they?

The talk of the town right now (or at least, the Edge fans in town) is whether or not Charles Hinkle is returning to the Edge. 

Hinkle was essential to the team last season, forming a potent two-edged threat with Carl English that made our team the most dangerous three-point threat in the league. The fans loved him, the talent was definitely there, but Hinkle’s play dropped off a cliff in the playoffs and his inability to adapt to the defensive schemes that London threw at him was a large factor in the series loss. 

Before signing Guillaume Boucard, the interest in bringing Hinkle back was high within the team. However the price he wanted was higher, and an agreement was not reached. I understand another conversation has happened, and a decision from Hinkle is imminent, but by all accounts the dollar value has dropped since the initial offer. Hinkle is a volume shooter who can go off, but showed a tendency to rely on that shot even when it wasn’t falling and at the expense of his solid slashing game. When he did take the ball to the hole he was effective, but those times were generally when his shot was already falling. From the looks of the roster as of today, Hinkle would see a decrease in time were he to come back. That seems unlikely to sit well with someone who was a bona fide star last season, so I fear we may have seen the last of Hinkle Hoops on the Rock.

With Coron Williams and Ryan Reid signing elsewhere in the world and Alex Johnson’s rights being traded, the player I most want to see back in St. John’s is Wally Ellenson. Wally did it all last season, and was my favourite player by the time the playoffs ended. A former high jumper of some renown, Wally contributed shooting, rebounding, and that ever-popular “intangibles” thing that saw him diving on the floor for loose balls and changing shots with his insane vertical. He wasn’t the best player on the team, but for me he was the sort of glue guy off the bench that every championship team needs.