I was wondering if anyone else here agrees with me

[Nickwayne87]

That it's time to commit to Fred VanVleet and make him the starting pg of this team. He's no longer playing "timid" or "scared" while at the same time not being quite as aggressive as he could be. I feel he has better basketball instincts than a Malcom Armstead already and is no longer intimidated by the D1 level. I also feel if coach committed to him as "the guy" he'd play more aggressive and be even better. If he started starting now by the postseason (if when the shox get there) the gap between his and malcom's natural talent would be more apparent and everyone will see he should've been starting. I agree he wasn't ready at first but I feel he is now. I feel that Cle, Nick, and him will lead this team to great heights next season.

[tropicalshox]

Not here.

[1972Shocker]

First of all let me say that I don't believe that Malcolm played very well against Charleston Southern. That said I do not think Fred is ready to take over the reigns as the starting point guard.

[WuDrWu]

Agree with Trop. Love Fred's potential, but it's not even close right now. It's Mal's team.

[CBB_Fan]

What we need now is leadership. Malcolm is our only starter that is still uninjured, and we need him to be the leader. Regardless of how talented FVV is, we cannot hand control over to a freshman PG in a time of team crisis.

Maybe it could be considered if we weren't plagued by injuries, but right now consistency and leadership are more important.

[Nickwayne87]

What we need now is leadership. Malcolm is our only starter that is still uninjured, and we need him to be the leader. Regardless of how talented FVV is, we cannot hand control over to a freshman PG in a time of team crisis.

Maybe it could be considered if we weren't plagued by injuries, but right now consistency and leadership are more important.

This kind of answers my question even after I break down what i'm really saying.....not that fred is better than malcom overall right now but that i feel he's progressed enough that the gap is closer and could handle the team and a more expanded role and learn faster and maybe by the end of the year be able to REALLY tap into his potential. Just that he'd learn faster and gain confidence if he was starting and playing more minutes but I see what you're saying with injuries

[Rixtoy1]

I have followed Fred since he commited to WSU and think he has a great future. We have seen glimpses of his capabilities and potential - really fast hands, very smart as a defensive help under the basket, and I think one of his greatest assets is his vision. When he clears the ball to go downcourt I start watching what is way ahead of him - sometimes he makes very long passes which are spot on to players breaking down court.
But, you are right - he still seems not comfortable being himself - if he misses a jump shot, you can see the hesitation to take another - several times I thought he should have taken the open look Thursday night, but passed it up. He does seem more comfortable now driving to the bucket, but finishing isn't as easy as it was in high scholl with the skill down there defensively.
Like him or not, Jake Odom is really adept at the drive and kick out - I expect fred to be there by the end of the year.

[proshox]

MA had a bad eighty minutes, but most players have. He brings a lot more to the table and just needs to clean his play up.

[GoShockers89]

Malcolm's defense is usually outstanding (Tennessee was an exception to this, no doubt). FVV is an average Division 1 defender at this point, which is actually quite good for a freshman. The comparison is still not even close at this point though.

[newshock1234]

Fred's time will come

[kcshocker11]

For this year MA is our man with FVV getting plenty of sub time

[SB Shock]

vv.JPG

This is a comparison of the Fred and MA Prouty (a metric that 1979Shocker publishes that attempts to measure overall contribution in a game).

Observations:

1. Armstead on Average is "B" level, VanVleet is "C"
2. Armstead has shown he is capable of playing at high level "A" - 36% of the games
3. VanVleet max capability has been limited to C+/B-

I think Fred has to improve his game consistently in the B+/A range before you can really have this discussion. What really has made this discussion possible is not Fred raising the level of his game (though I think he is getting better, just in slow progress), but Armstead has had two poor games in a row where Fred has been better.

[moshock]

MA has played well when he keeps his pie hole shut and doesn't try to do too much. His on the ball defense is outstanding and his ball handling is outstanding.

FVV is definitley the future here and the future looks very bright. My question is - who is FVV's backup next season?

I'm suprised that we don't have a juco pg coming.

[jcdshocker]

My only issue with Malcolm is he needs to learn what a good shot is and only take good shots. He takes a lot of bad shots. However he has made some clutch bad shots.

[shoxlax]

MA has played well when he keeps his pie hole shut and doesn't try to do too much. His on the ball defense is outstanding and his ball handling is outstanding.

FVV is definitley the future here and the future looks very bright. My question is - who is FVV's backup next season?

I'm suprised that we don't have a juco pg coming.

Bowles and Baker will be his backups.