I want to "like" this 10 more times. It's not just Ben. Everyone outside of Cousins, Gay and Collison could benefit from more passing.
And those guys would benefit if any of their other teammates passed better than a high schooler.
We constructed a horrible passing lineup, and then are surprised when it can't pass?
I'm going to give a rough estimate of how how well our guys are as passers/creaters for others, relative to their position, on a 10 scale.
We have:
Cousins 7/10 = one of the most skilled center passers, but asked to do too much, and resulting in so many turnovers
Thompson 4/10 = he can pass. His skills are ok. He rarely does, and can;t handle.
Gay 5/10 = maybe a 3 or 4 before arriving here. Middling passer, and not very willing. He's tried more this year though/
Ben 3/10 = still a poor ballhandler, but able to make a nice pass occasionally when it set up cleanly
Collison 5/10 = mediocre creative PG. Not horrendously selfish, just does not create many easy shots.
Landry 2/10 = notorious black hole
Williams 2/10 = if it weren't for the passes on the break to Ben it might be a 1 if you call him a SF. As a PF rates slightly better.
Stauskas 4/10 = and I'm being kind with that 4, based more on summer league/college potential than anything he's done as a pro.
Evans 3/10 = obviously not a passer or handler, but smart enough to every once in a while make a nice pass
Sessions 3/10 = probably some ok skills, but always essentially a gunner, and has been horribly shaky with the ball this year
McCallum 4/10 being kind here. Essentially looks for his own, does not create many easy shots. A nice pass occasioanlly.
Hollins 1/10 = simply not part of his game at all
There, that's our wonderful passing team. And gee what a shocker it hasn't matched our golden era teams, when we probably had there or four guys who would have been 8/10, 9/10, even 10/10, and then a bunch of supplementary personnel. Not matter what the scheme is, we are as far from a pass happy bunch as you could assemble even if you tried.