Welcome Otis Livingston

[masonjoe]

That post by Petey about Otis makes no sense , I'm guessing he doesn't watch games. Thanks for making a one of our more well known supporters think our fan base is full of morons.

 

[G M U]

I think Petey Buckets has had some fairly accurate assessments of our team/players. I wouldn't dismiss Peteys assessment of Otis, but would chalk this up to a parent defending their child. No one is necessarily wrong or right, just one minor criticism on a minor facet of a great players game that's getting slightly misconstrued.

 

[G M U]

That post by Petey about Otis makes no sense , I'm guessing he doesn't watch games. Thanks for making a one of our more well known supporters think our fan base is full of morons.

You guessed wrong

 

[Herndon]

FWIW, i've actually found Petey to have a pretty keen eye. He tends to be one of the posters I pay attention to when he posts.

 

[Pablo]

Petey,

If you're reading this, let's hear from you about these tweets.

 

[Petey Buckets]

So a couple weeks ago the By George guys said they liked my posts on the boards and asked if I wanted to do post-game recaps on their site in the same style. I said sure, that sounds cool, would love to be a part of it. Apparently lots of people read those and today Otis's dad is yelling at me on twitter. Life comes at you fast.

My recaps for By George are even more obnoxiously long than my posts here, so here's the blurb that is upsetting people for some reason:

– Otis had a fantastic showing once again. He showed excellent touch in the mid-range, hit two of three from deep, and was even feeling so good about himself he tried to dunk (tried). His improvement this season has been great, both in terms of his ability to command the offense, and the development of his own mid-range game. The thing that consistently concerns me is his decision-making in transition – he likes to put his head down and go hard to the basket even if he doesn’t have numbers, and he ends up throwing up wild shots and hoping for foul calls. He also doesn’t see trailing shooters because he’s not looking for them.

I think that's a fair assessment and I'll stand by it. First, I go out of my way to say that Otis is awesome. Next time I might add that I love him very dearly so there's no confusion. Second, it's not supposed to be a comprehensive evaluation of Otis as a player. The format of the post should make that clear but maybe it doesn't. As far as the critique, I'm basically saying Otis makes bad decisions in transition. I've said it before and I'll probably keep mentioning it for as long as I think it's a tendency of his. My family came to the PVAMU game and even my dad, who hasn't watched a second of Mason basketball all year, said something to the same effect when Otis tried to go 1 on 2 on a fast break early in the game.

Here's the whole article, so you can read the other instances of praise being heaped on Otis: http://giantkiller.co/ByGeorge/2016/12/23/peteys-bucket-of-knowledge-2/

I don't want to speak for Otis's dad, but the way he reacted makes me think he read those last two sentences to imply that Otis is *selfish*. I believe it's clear that's not what I meant, and would of course be a dumb and inaccurate critique of the way Otis plays. I'll say that I have the utmost respect for both Otis and his father, I love that Otis is a member of George Mason Basketball, and that we're lucky to have him representing our university, and I'll leave it at that.

Where I want to go from here:
- Pray that Relvao's dad doesn't read it.
- Make it really clear that I spend a lot of time and money on Mason basketball every year, even through the Hewitt years, and I want to see every Mason player succeed on the court and far beyond.
- Keep writing recaps for By George, with honest assessments of player strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, and whatever else pops into the old noggin.
- Beer summit with Otis's dad next time he's in town.

I hope you all enjoy your holiday, we beat the ever-loving shit out of vcu, and we can put this all behind us.

 

[stimes]

So a couple weeks ago the By George guys said they liked my posts on the boards and asked if I wanted to do post-game recaps on their site in the same style. I said sure, that sounds cool, would love to be a part of it. Apparently lots of people read those and today Otis's dad is yelling at me on twitter. Life comes at you fast.

My recaps for By George are even more obnoxiously long than my posts here, so here's the blurb that is upsetting people for some reason:

– Otis had a fantastic showing once again. He showed excellent touch in the mid-range, hit two of three from deep, and was even feeling so good about himself he tried to dunk (tried). His improvement this season has been great, both in terms of his ability to command the offense, and the development of his own mid-range game. The thing that consistently concerns me is his decision-making in transition – he likes to put his head down and go hard to the basket even if he doesn’t have numbers, and he ends up throwing up wild shots and hoping for foul calls. He also doesn’t see trailing shooters because he’s not looking for them.

I think that's a fair assessment and I'll stand by it. First, I go out of my way to say that Otis is awesome. Next time I might add that I love him very dearly so there's no confusion. Second, it's not supposed to be a comprehensive evaluation of Otis as a player. The format of the post should make that clear but maybe it doesn't. As far as the critique, I'm basically saying Otis makes bad decisions in transition. I've said it before and I'll probably keep mentioning it for as long as I think it's a tendency of his. My family came to the PVAMU game and even my dad, who hasn't watched a second of Mason basketball all year, said something to the same effect when Otis tried to go 1 on 2 on a fast break early in the game.

Here's the whole article, so you can read the other instances of praise being heaped on Otis: http://giantkiller.co/ByGeorge/2016/12/23/peteys-bucket-of-knowledge-2/

I don't want to speak for Otis's dad, but the way he reacted makes me think he read those last two sentences to imply that Otis is *selfish*. I believe it's clear that's not what I meant, and would of course be a dumb and inaccurate critique of the way Otis plays. I'll say that I have the utmost respect for both Otis and his father, I love that Otis is a member of George Mason Basketball, and that we're lucky to have him representing our university, and I'll leave it at that.

Where I want to go from here:
- Pray that Relvao's dad doesn't read it.
- Make it really clear that I spend a lot of time and money on Mason basketball every year, even through the Hewitt years, and I want to see every Mason player succeed on the court and far beyond.
- Keep writing recaps for By George, with honest assessments of player strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, and whatever else pops into the old noggin.
- Beer summit with Otis's dad next time he's in town.

I hope you all enjoy your holiday, we beat the ever-loving shit out of vcu, and we can put this all behind us.

I feel your assessment of Otis was very accurate. He will try to force things at times. I have seen him go 1 on 3 , put his head down and try to make a play not looking to see who's trailing. This is a maturity issue, and as he gets older he will make better decisions. Bottom line here is the kid is playing great, and he's fun to watch!!

 

[Pablo]

I feel your assessment of Otis was very accurate. He will try to force things at times. I have seen him go 1 on 3 , put his head down and try to make a play not looking to see who's trailing. This is a maturity issue, and as he gets older he will make better decisions. Bottom line here is the kid is playing great, and he's fun to watch!!

This sums up how I feel. Otis is certainly one of the best and most exciting PG's since I've been a Mason fan. You're talking about a player who is on pace to finish 2nd to Curtis McCants in career assists at Mason so there is no question how good and unselfish of a player he is. But, he's young and still maturing so Petey Buckets' constructive criticism is not unwarranted.

Frankly, I think that it's great that Otis' father who's a respected former player and NYC TV sports director uses twitter to express his avid support for the team. But, while you certainly expect him to passionately defend his son, IMO, he crossed to line in this case. He should have taken the discussion offline as Petey respectfully suggested.

 

[gmutom]

Well said, Petey. I don't think you need to justify your comments, because they are your opinion. You made it abundantly clear you are a fan of Otis' game, so there was nothing malicious at all about what you wrote.

If I do have one criticism, it's that you wrote the blog under a fake name. I kind of get that for screen names on a sports message board, but you should own your comments if you are going to write a blog that analyzes the good and bad of a player's game. It's a lot easier to be critical when there is no personal blowback.

Anyway, my two cents. Keep up the great analysis.

 

[MasonGrad01]

Is it really necessary to drill down and nitpick guys like that against a team like Prairie View? Save it for games against teams that aren't lower 330+.

 

[Pikapppatri8]

There is nothing wrong with making an objective technical evaluations about performance.

I guess I am so thankful to be able to watch a Mason team bring the ball up in a manner that doesn't fill me with anxiety or make my sphincter go into clutch spasms.

Agree he does make some aggressive moves but he will refine with experience - having said that when I see him bring the ball up I feel warm and good inside.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GSII]

Why didnt Petey write this stuff on The Virus? Jesus, we could of canned him earlier. Btw, Happy Birthday Jesus!

 

[Pablo]

I.C. Retweeted
Kyle Phipps ‏@K_Light13 3h3 hours ago
Kicked my day off with a nice word from Otis @Slimm_4 ! #BreakingTheChains

 

[Jack Strop]

One thing that many of us "coaches" may be missing here is perhaps Coach Paulsen wants Otis to be agressive going to the rim. Dave may be thinking that's how a player with Otis's talents hones his skills—via experience. Whether he makes an acrobatic shot and gets the roll, serves the sweet dish, clanks the ball under the rim, gets a snack-down under the trees, hands the ball to a defender, knocks the ball off his knee out of bounds, or is blind to the perfect trailing alley-oop—it all gets reviewed on video and coached up later. Coach P tells Otis to get to the rim and learn how to make those shots or serve the dish, and get better each time doing it.

That's why I pay very little attention to player assessments on this board. Unless one of us is there during video breakdowns and coach-player meetings then we don't know what Coach is trying to teach and what those motivations are. Otis Sr. might be all jacked up because Otis II's team coaches are telling his son one thing and the "Masonhoops Coaches" are telling him something in opposition.

 

[Pablo]

One thing that many of us "coaches" may be missing here is perhaps Coach Paulsen wants Otis to be agressive going to the rim. Dave may be thinking that's how a player with Otis's talents hones his skills—via experience. Whether he makes an acrobatic shot and gets the roll, serves the sweet dish, clanks the ball under the rim, gets a snack-down under the trees, hands the ball to a defender, knocks the ball off his knee out of bounds, or is blind to the perfect trailing alley-oop—it all gets reviewed on video and coached up later. Coach P tells Otis to get to the rim and learn how to make those shots or serve the dish, and get better each time doing it.

That's why I pay very little attention to player assessments on this board. Unless one of us is there during video breakdowns and coach-player meetings then we don't know what Coach is trying to teach and what those motivations are. Otis Sr. might be all jacked up because Otis II's team coaches are telling his son one thing and the "Masonhoops Coaches" are telling him something in opposition.

This "coach" is guessing that Coach Paulsen was not happy with Otis' dunk attempt.

 

[Jack Strop]

This "coach" is guessing that Coach Paulsen was not happy with Otis' dunk attempt.

Neither was I. Maybe Coach Paulsen was unhappy that the ball didn't get flushed!

 

[gmujim92]

Neither was I. Maybe Coach Paulsen was unhappy that the ball didn't get flushed!

Especially because Otis is easily capable of dunking even at 5-11.

I think he got caught up in the moment on that one and forgot until he was right at the rim that the sensible play is to just lay it in. Counts for two points either way.

Still, I will take Otis' energy every day of the week and twice on Sunday. The kid's love for the game is obvious and infectious. We're beyond lucky that he's a Patriot.

 

[Pablo]

Marquise Moore Retweeted
Jon Rothstein ‏@JonRothstein Dec 25
George Mason sophomore Otis Livingston has a combined 21 assists and five turnovers in his last five games. Has had big hand in 10-3 start.

 

[Petey Buckets]

One thing that many of us "coaches" may be missing here is perhaps Coach Paulsen wants Otis to be agressive going to the rim. Dave may be thinking that's how a player with Otis's talents hones his skills—via experience. Whether he makes an acrobatic shot and gets the roll, serves the sweet dish, clanks the ball under the rim, gets a snack-down under the trees, hands the ball to a defender, knocks the ball off his knee out of bounds, or is blind to the perfect trailing alley-oop—it all gets reviewed on video and coached up later. Coach P tells Otis to get to the rim and learn how to make those shots or serve the dish, and get better each time doing it.

I agree with you here. Maybe Dave thinks finishing hard and fast at the rim is a skill Otis can develop, and he doesn't want to inhibit it. Maybe he's resigned himself to living with a certain amount of bad decisions from such a young team. Maybe he doesn't see it as a bad decision at all. No way to know unless you ask him, which I haven't had the pleasure of doing, and probably wouldn't anyway since there would be a million other things I would want to ask him about that are more important. This caveat applies to any sort of talent evaluation, even from insiders, since no one is actually inside the coach's brain. To paraphrase a couple other posters on this thread: it's a minor criticism of a great players' game, it received way more attention than it ever deserved, and we're beyond lucky to have Otis as a Patriot.

According to my new favorite website hoop-math.com, we're actually pretty good in transition, so maybe what I'm seeing doesn't jive with reality. We have a 63.1% eFG% in transition, 43rd in the nation. The caveat is that we only take 20% of our shots in transition, which is 227th in the NCAA. So we're highly effective on low volume.

Switching gears - Otis's shooting is much improved from last year. Some numbers:

2015: 51.3 TS%/46.2 eFG%, 53.4% shooting at the rim, 33.9% shooting on two point jumpers, 35.4% from three
2016: 60.5 TS%/55.2 eFG%, 61.1% shooting at the rim, 48.1% shooting on two point jumpers, 38.6% from three

So Otis's offensive efficiency leap isn't attributable to only improving one facet of his game - he's finishing better at the rim and shooting better from all over the floor. He's turned himself into a very well-rounded offensive player and that's a big part of what makes us dangerous.

 

[GMUSig03]

Otis' dad is the last person that should be criticizing anyone about what they say about Otis.

Petey, ask Otis' dad to describe how he talks to Otis DURING games, both at home and on the road (specifically LaSalle last year). It was flat out embarrassing how he talked down to Otis and was so ridiculously critical of him, yelling at him during game play.

Everyone sitting around us in the stands kept looking at each other like - "Is this guy for real? who would talk to a player like that, much less their son?"

He's not as audible at home games since his seat is much further back.