Given their NIT berth in 2004, the season wasn't a failure for the Rams, but there
was an impression that they could manage to do better than seven wins in the conference.
The midseason acquisition of Scott Hazelton didn't really help as much as it should
have, because (surprise!) Baron didn't play him enough. Inferior players
statistically like Terrance Mack and Marcel Momplaisir took away minutes at the four
for Hazelton. Thankfully, Baron did lean heavily on Brian Woodward, Dawan Robinson
and Dustin Hellenga, who were their best options at guard by far.
However, for all the bellyaching in the 2004-2005 season about losing Robinson and
not being as good as this team, it should be noted that this team wasn't exactly
gangbusters. Seven conference wins put them firmly in the middle of the A-10, which
hasn't been a power conference since the days of Marcus Camby.
This season was a glimmer of what would soon besiege the Rams. The good (not great)
guard play covered for a horrible bench and subpar frontcourt production. Most people
thought it would be a down year for the Rams, and things only snowballed when Robinson
and Wise went down and the freshmen couldn't pick up the slack.
Woodward had essentially a mini-version of Hazelton's 2005 season. However, 2004
was a stronger year for the A-10, and he wasn't quite as good of a rebounder and
couldn't get his shot as easily. Both were incredible at getting to the free throw
line though. Woodward had high rebound numbers for a guard, but he also played a bit
at the three. Woodward's gross PER lags a bit behind Robinson's because he missed two
games - one for punching an Xavier player in the mouth. Woodward should be commended
for sticking it out at URI despite playing on some truly horrible teams.
At this point, it's worth asking what exactly the Rams will get from Robinson during
the 2005-2006 season. He was idolized during the lost 2004-2005 season, but he wasn't
exactly an incredible player in 2003-2004. He was behind Woodward in everything but
usage rate (Robinson can create good looks for himself easily), turnover ratio and
gross PER. However, there is a sort of "double gain" at work when he comes back; his
own production is good, and the production he's replacing is downright bad.
There's no guarantee that Robinson will play though, since his injury was nasty
enough for him to miss the entire year. I know little about sports injuries, but
players far better than Robinson have had problems coming back from stress fractures.
If he does play, he probably shouldn't be playing the point. Both Lucky and Sullivan
put up better assist numbers than Robinson. Shifting him to the two would clearly
designate him as the Rams #1 scoring option and allow Lucky and Sullivan to concentrate
on setting up Robinson and Daniels.
During the season, many were disappointed with the lack of an impact Hazelton had,
but he was actually the third-best player on the Rams. He had a solid rebound rate,
he could score and didn't have problems getting his own shot. His bad stats (assist
and turnover ratio) weren't out of line with what you would expect from a midyear
transfer adjusting to a new team and league.
Regardless, in a theme to be repeated in the next season, Baron didn't play him nearly
enough minutes. Hazelton averaged a shade under 20 minutes per game, when he should
have been playing around 30. Small things like this add up and can make the difference
between a winning and losing A-10 record.
Not a bad sophomore year, but nothing great either. Once again, Mack felt the Baron's
minute crunch, playing only 11 per game, less than Jon Clark (15) and Marcel
Momplaisir (18), and about equal with J.R. Moore (10). Adding up their contribution
plus Chris Holm's (6) gives you an extra 49 minutes to distribute to between more
deserving options at the 4 and 5, such as Hazelton and Mack. Although he's not very
tall, Mack does have the bulk and more importantly offensive ability to man the 5.
It's not so much that Hellenga himself was a tremendous player, but he had value
because of the weakness of the players behind him. Hellenga was infuriating to watch
when he launched contested 17-footers or fastbreak 3s, but he was clearly better than
Steve Mello, Randy Brooks and Tyrese Sullivan.
What value Hellenga himself possessed was in his ability to avoid turnovers and create
shots. Hellenga combined a high usage rate with a low turnover rate, which is something
you normally only see in elite level players. Unfortunately, he never did learn the
concept of shot selection, resulting in a low overall shooting percentage. The reason he
managed to avoid turnovers was adhering to the Dallas Mavericks philosophy - Shot it
before you can turn it over.
He also wasn't much of a rebounder either despite being 6'6" and playing forward a lot.
However, his numbers might be influenced by Woodward, who sucked up a lot of rebounds.
Despite his shortcomings, Hellenga racked up a good gross PER because Baron realized he
was the one of the better options at the two and three and played him about 29 minutes
a game.
Wise is a decent player, but his injury probably didn't have much impact on the Rams
during the 2004-2005 season. Hazelton and Daniels both deserved minutes at his position
unless he made significant strides during the offseason. Wise is a high energy guy who
plays defense well and finishes, but he doesn't have much of a jumper. He's great as
a sixth man, but he's not someone you want to consistently start because of his lack
of an offensive game.
Moore showed a glimmer of promise his freshman year, but all signs of this vanished
in 2004-2005. In 2003-2004, Moore was a decent rebounder and could finish inside,
but had problems getting his shot, ranking 113th out of 118 players in usage rate.
He ranked below average in other categories too, and regressed from season to season.
This will surprise some people, since they probably thought Marcel had a worse year
when he played more. However, it's easy to forget that Marcel was a horrible player
on the offensive end. He couldn't get his own shot (usage rate), he turned the ball
over (turnover ratio) and didn't score that much when he did shoot (PSA). Still,
he wasn't a bad guy to have on the bench, since you could count on him for some energy
and team spirit.
Again, it's not Clark's fault Baron played him so many minutes. Clark looked like
he was trying hard, and could be seen practicing before games a lot, but it just
didn't add up to solid production. He put up an amazingly good PSA, but this is
probably a fluke - He didn't take many shots, as evidenced by his usage rate, and
when he did shoot it was mostly dunks and put-backs.
As a small side of trivia, I once lived in a house that Jon Clark had lived in. I've
also heard he likes the Toronto Blue Jays, and speaks of the glory days with Devon
White and Cito Gaston.
Not a great player, but it's rare for a walk-on to really make an impact at a D-1
school, so kudos to Steve. It's even rarer for a walk-on to outperform a scholarship
player at the same position (Randy Brooks). Mello didn't really do anything well,
as even his usage rate was more the result of him being forced to shoot when the
scorers left the game. When he did shoot, it wasn't at a great percentage, and his
passing skills were also lacking - he was only slightly better than Marcel.
His numbers are a bit skewed because he played so little, but Holm still showed a
shocking inability to score and avoid turnovers. His rebounding rate was stellar,
but it's generally easier to improve rebounding than something like catching passes
and learning to shoot.
It's almost impossible to put up a negative PER, but Randy missed enough shots and
turned the ball over enough to do it. He's the only player to have ever been outperformed
by the immortal Jeff Kalapos.
Note: Jeff Kalapos and Tyrese Sullivan did not play enough minutes to qualify.
