Based on DP’s comments last night, I think he now has enough of a sample size to reach the same conclusion so many of our board posters already have: that whatever dominance Reuter has shown in practice over the past year was far more a function of our lack of bulk/experience in the paint than his superiority.
I don’t think DP was lying or purposely exaggerating when he kept talking about how Reuter was destroying Calixte and AJ every day in practice. I think that was actually happening. Hence, the first-team all-conference comment.
After watching him play 8 games against a variety of opponents, I think the disconnect was that Reuter’s lack of quickness, elevation and overall athleticism were covered up to a large extent by just playing against his own teammates.
Just guessing here, but I could see DP giving Reuter time to knock off the rust in game situations, figuring it would take some time for him to start beasting on other teams like he does to Calixte and AJ. The simple truth is Reuter isn’t the guy we all thought we were getting.
He’s a skilled offensive player, but he isn’t physical enough, despite his bulk, to play the majority of our minutes at the 5. He doesn’t throw his body around, is an average rebounder at best, too slow on defense and lacks the athleticism to play a finesse game.
DP’s comments at the start of the press conference likely were a thinly veiled message to Reuter — coaches do this stuff all the time — that we’re gonna need him to keep being a good leader and not sulk on the bench because a good chunk of his minutes are now going to Calixte.
I don’t know that Greg will ever be a guy who we can feed in the post consistently, but that’s not really what we do anyhow. He can finish around the rim, goes to the glass aggressively and is 1,000 times better defensively. Those things are what we have to have from a big in DP’s system; anything else at this point would have to be considered gravy.
