justducky0 wrote:Its not debatable? Damn, who made you all powerful basketball person? You probably support gun control too you freaking communist
You lost me there at the end, but I was with you for the first couple sentences.
I don't think Tony is as soft as he's made out to be. You'd think he was Ian Crosswhite just reading the posts here. He finishes at the hoop with authority and battles on defense *when he gets fired up.* He looks a bit indifferent at times to me, though.
Passive is more like it. This last game Tony was aggressively blocking shots, grabbed a few rebounds, and taking the ball to the hoop with authority. I sat there thinking why doesn't this happen every game?
If he plays with that level of aggression for the remaining games, this team can make some noise in the tourneys.
being soft doesn't mean you can't throw it down with authority. when i, and everybody else, call tony woods soft it's referencing the fact that he's a god awful rebounder and he gets pushed off the block far too easily for a 6'11 giant. notice, too, how he rarely muscles the ball inside for an easy bucket; and virtually never does it against anyone who is as tall/good as he is. instead, he dances around and picks up a traveling charge, or attempts that five-foot floater of his.
being soft also doesn't mean you're a bad basketball player. lamarcus aldridge is soft, and he's now a multiple all-star. woods, obviously, doesn't have a tenth of aldridge's skill, but he's not a bad basketball player. he's got skill. he's just soft.
oregontrack wrote:being soft doesn't mean you can't throw it down with authority. when i, and everybody else, call tony woods soft it's referencing the fact that he's a god awful rebounder and he gets pushed off the block far too easily for a 6'11 giant. notice, too, how he rarely muscles the ball inside for an easy bucket; and virtually never does it against anyone who is as tall/good as he is. instead, he dances around and picks up a traveling charge, or attempts that five-foot floater of his.
being soft also doesn't mean you're a bad basketball player. lamarcus aldridge is soft, and he's now a multiple all-star. woods, obviously, doesn't have a tenth of aldridge's skill, but he's not a bad basketball player. he's got skill. he's just soft.
Excellent post. Woods is very athletic but seems to hate contact. Having a bunch of uncontested dunks doesn't mean that a player is tough. The main thing that bothers me about Woods is that he's an absolutely atrocious rebounder. He has terrible instincts and doesn't box out for rebounds.
“If everybody in this room just want to be real with themselves, this game could have went either way,” he said. “We turned the ball over a lot. We beat ourself. Just be real with yourself right now. We beat ourself.”
-Jameis Winston after Oregon's decisive 59-20 victory over Florida State in the Rose Bowl
oregontrack wrote:being soft doesn't mean you can't throw it down with authority. when i, and everybody else, call tony woods soft it's referencing the fact that he's a god awful rebounder and he gets pushed off the block far too easily for a 6'11 giant. notice, too, how he rarely muscles the ball inside for an easy bucket; and virtually never does it against anyone who is as tall/good as he is. instead, he dances around and picks up a traveling charge, or attempts that five-foot floater of his.
being soft also doesn't mean you're a bad basketball player. lamarcus aldridge is soft, and he's now a multiple all-star. woods, obviously, doesn't have a tenth of aldridge's skill, but he's not a bad basketball player. he's got skill. he's just soft.
I'm not sure if you are replying to me or Kyle. I think we pretty much agree, but I am saying that when Woods plays with that intensity and aggression he isn't nearly as soft. Granted he was playing against a 400 pound dwarf. He has had two or three games this year like that, where you just wonder where that guy has been.
woods had that run in the second half where he was fed the ball properly and worked his way in for a couple very impressive dunks... which i suppose does speak for being aggressive on that end of the floor, but he still had one rebound in 29 minutes of basketball, making him the 7th leading rebounder on the team on thursday. that's my problem with him. he's almost exclusively around the basket, but never seems to come down with the board. that's why he's soft. he doesn't fight for anything.
he's never had a double digit rebounding game. ever. kazemi gets double doubles by accident easier than woods can haul in five a game.
To me, soft post players are guys like Crosswhite, Jay Anderson, Brian Helquist, Mitch Platt, Matt Short, etc. They were bullied whenever they were on the court in every aspect of the game. Tony isn't the best big man in the world or anything, but he's the best shot blocker we've had in recent history and he finishes well around the hoop. I think that's all that's being asked of him. He isn't a good rebounder at all, but as a shot blocker he's never in position to grab the easy defensive boards.
I have no problem criticizing his play, but I don't think he's as soft as he's being made out to be here.
