Realistically, I don’t mind him bag chasing. His NBA future is questionable at best, and you need to secure the money when you can.
That being said, I do hate that aspect of college sports. With Bidunga specifically, I don’t think Self was ever going to feature him in offensive sets because Self knows what Bidunga is capable of. Conversely, Flory thinks he’s good enough to be a one of the top options on offense.
I don’t hate the fresh start for him, and I do wish his time at KU went a little differently.
From Self’s point of view, he can get similar production out of Reeves and Mbiya at half the cost. I think both sides were okay with this.
Over those 3 years he shot 40.5% from the field. 39.2% last year with Kansas. He’s just very inefficient. He does have some good qualities to his game but he’s high usage low efficiency.
He isn’t a great shooter, it’s his beyond the arc number that are really bad. But he can score, pass and rebound and I think his defense is on par with his offense. Not saying Council is a future final four mvp - but Elliot Cadeu lead Michigan with fairly similar numbers 41% 10 ppg 2.7 rebounds. You can win with a bunch of guys like him.
His 2 point percentage was 42.4% last year, so it’s not just that he is not good at shooting 3s (except against nc state). Regarding your point about Cadeu, well yeah if you put Council on last year’s Michigan team instead of Cadeu it would still be championship level but Mbaya is not Mara and Dawes is not Morez.
I’m as poised a fan profile as can be to say outlandish cadeau slander just for the hell of it, but ain’t no way I’m going to claim I’m a viable replacement… for the MVP of the NCAA tourney….who started every game for the ultimate champion team and was a central piece to their offense all season.
Let alone saying I’d be a viable replacement while intentionally trying to throw games and lose.
Michigan would have won maybe 10-15 games if I played cadeaus minutes all season. And for those games Yax would have put me on his back while running around to clear space.
I could be an ex high D2 player, in which case I wouldn't embarrass myself on the court with D1 players.
Or, as my username suggests, I may be a fan of an opposing school, and I was being just a little sarcastic, except for the part that I would actually try to throw the game.
PS, I am an ex NAIA player, and my son played D2, I know exactly how much better all those D1 players are than me. And it's a lot better.
He's also probably been asked to do too much. Last year it seemed like him and Flory were the only guys who wanted to play aggressively, the other guys were mostly passengers.
He just can't really be the first (and ideally second) option
My personal opinion is that he is an alpha whose personality and playing style is not fit for being a role player. Everything about him wants the ball in his hands and his leadership style is leading from the front, not leading from the bench.
I'm as low as about any KU fan on Melvin because of his shooting, but it seems like you are just making things up right now. Literally yesterday at team media day:
"Melvin said he wants to earn his role on this year's team. He's fine coming off the bench behind TK/Blyden. He is just happy there are players who can take some minutes off his plate."
And Self has already said he's not starting Council for the exhibition game tonight.
Whether or not he can be an effective off-ball player on offense, we'll see. But if he just plays defense and takes open shots when he gets them, he can be a winning player. This year's KU team doesn't need him to have the ball in his hands all the time, because Stokes/Blyden/TK can all handle the ball and initiate the offense.
The percentages of his shots from 3 vs from 2 have been very very similar each of his 3 years of Division 1 basketball. It is way more 2s than 3s already. He already did the things you like and that he is good at. It’s remarkable how his stats are so similar each year across 3 different teams and 3 different levels. You are suggesting that he become a role player and that would have a positive outcome for the team, and I’ll admit it is possible that could happen, but he has a long history of extremely high usage and inefficiency and no history of low/medium usage or efficiency. Trying to change his role to low usage probably won’t work out imo.
I can see self reducing his minutes to head off any possible eligibility issues that he might have anyway. Also to be fair to the people he recruited first.
That's really one way to do it. I also saw council being overutilized last year because Darryn was MIA.
Maybe he's still inefficient, but I'll hope for a completely different utilization.
I honestly agree with basically everything you’re saying about him in this thread other than the eval on his overall impact. I worry he puts a ceiling on our offense and that he will struggle to find an efficiency smaller role. You’re especially right that he’s an inefficient shooter, but hear me out on this… he truly is the best inefficient player I’ve ever seen. I know many fans love to say “he’s way better than his stats” about their fav player who can’t shoot, but Council really does embody that.
Of all D1 players the past 5 years, Council has the best RAPM (all-in-one player impact metric) of any player that shoots as awfully as him (5th percentile).
if you're the guy who takes all of the low shot clock shots for your team every year you're not going to be as efficient. i'm not saying he is an all american or anything but his assist and turnover rates have always been good to really good and just having a guy who has the ability to get a shot off in some of those late clock situations is valuable
As i said earlier, he has some good qualities to his game. I also understand why fans of a team he is on would love him because he is a dawg, he puts everything he has into trying to help his team win. I don’t deny any of that.
Council is lightning fast. Extremely competitive. He's big and very strong for a pg. He can push the ball and will protect it (good handles). In a more limited scope he will be very solid.
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u/cenels03 Louisville Cardinals • DePaul Blue Demons 1d ago
We're getting a fight Wednesday night, aren't we?