AROUND THE NATION
July 7, 2010
Was staying in school even an option for Sylven
Landesberg?
This feature also appears on
FoxSports.com
Now that the NBA Draft is over (and thankfully along
with it the torrent of mock drafts), the "Kid
shoulda stayed in school" crowd can now survey the
landscape and make scapegoats out of the early
entrants who weren't lucky enough to be selected.
There's nothing like the smug assurance of a good "I
told you so," especially from the schadenfreuders
who get a nice rush out of seeing somebody fall
short of a goal.
When the last selection was made and Virginia's
Sylven Landesberg hadn't been called, I knew he'd
get his fair share of derision. Sure enough, that
was the case, like the following from Paul Woody of
the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
"Landesberg was the best player on two bad Virginia
teams. He had high hopes and big dreams.
No one expected Landesberg to say at Virginia four
seasons. But he should have remained for his junior
year.
Instead, he has become the latest cautionary tale
for young men who are certain of their basketball
ability but somehow in this interconnected, wired
world miss important cues."
This is a situation that on the surface might look
extremely cut and dried to most people. Guy declares
for draft, guy doesn't get drafted, guy is an idiot.
But in regards to Landesberg I think it's a little
more complicated than that. In his two seasons at
Virginia he had two coaches, being recruited and
signed by Dave Leitao but ending his time in
Charlottesville under the tutelage of Tony Bennett.
Not every player is lucky (or in some cases unlucky)
enough to play for the same coach during his entire
college basketball career. Regimes can change, and
as a result, players have to adjust. Landesberg was
no different than anyone else in that regard.
But I'm not certain that the change was one that
really benefitted Landesberg's development as a
player. The system installed by Bennett was
radically different than that of Leitao, as
evidenced by statistics like possessions per game.
In Leitao's last season as coach, the Cavaliers
averaged 68 possessions a game. In Bennett's first
season, that number dipped to 63 a game.
A difference of five possessions a game might not
sound like a lot, but that's a huge difference in
the game of basketball. I'm not knocking Bennett's
slower, more deliberate pace at all because the
guy's been a pretty successful coach. But from the
standpoint of the player in question, was it
benefitting Landesberg?
It's not easy to discern from the numbers because
under Bennett, Landesberg didn't necessarily digress
from a statistical standpoint. He took more 3's and
made a higher percentage than he did his freshman
year (38.3% vs. 31.4%). Also, his free throw
percentage went up and he averaged a half a turnover
less per game.
Upon closer inspection, though, he did take a half
step back in some very key areas. He averaged a full
rebound a game less under Bennett and saw a dip in
his free throw attempts (6.6 a game in 2008-09 vs.
5.1 a game in 2009-10).
As a freshman, I thought Landesberg's strength was
the ability to, at 6'6", create his own shot, a
trait that's not easy to find in shooting guards
that size. The guy's actually a smooth operator with
pretty advanced ball handling skills.
Playing in Bennett's system, Landesberg saw far
fewer opportunities in transition than he had under
Leitao. Also, he was utilized far more in pick and
roll situations than he had been his freshman year,
thus becoming much more of a jump shooter. Less time
near the rim explains the dip in rebounds and free
throws.
I'm not going to pin the change in the way he was
utilized totally on Bennett's philosophy, though.
Let's face it, with little in the way of interior
impact players, opposing teams could just pack it in
on Virginia and dare Landesberg to shoot over them.
Whether it was a system he was ill fitted for or a
lack of talent around him, Landesberg couldn't play
to his strengths last season. A player like him
thrives when he gets to put the rock on the floor
and create his own openings. From the standpoint of
developing for the next level, he really needed to
be afforded more opportunities to get to the rim.
And that just wasn't happening.
Some will argue that the fact that he basically
stopped going to an art class and drew an indefinite
suspension from Bennett was proof that he (A) wasn't
cut out for college in the first place and (B) had
his mind made up on entering the draft long before
he announced his intentions.
Who knows, maybe the guy was a little starry eyed
with dreams of NBA riches fluttering through his
head. But although he might never cop to it, I don’t
Landesberg had a option than the one he chose.
First off, why stay and toil in a system that
doesn't allow you to accentuate your strengths as a
player? Secondly, while Bennett did do a solid
recruiting job this offseason, there's no guarantee
that Landesberg's junior year would have seen him
surrounded by a dramatically better Virginia team.
Sure, he could have transferred out to another
school, but that would have involved sitting out a
whole season before playing again. Granted, being on
scholarship somewhere and improving your game is a
better option than going undrafted, but a lot of
stuff can happen in two years. If he shreds his knee
getting ready for his senior season, then all bets
are off.
As I see it, these are the choices he had laid out
for him:
(A) Take chances on NBA Draft
(B) Play another season in a system that's not
getting me ready for the NBA
(c) Transfer, sit out a season and risk injury
before the next opportunity to be drafted comes
around
In hindsight, we can all agree that the choice he
made didn't really work out the way he planned it.
But now step into his shoes BEFORE the draft. Of the
choices listed which one would you have made? See,
it's not always as simple as, "Kid shoulda stayed in
school."
John Stansberry is in his thirteenth season as
a senior writer for collegeinsider.com. Check out
John's blog
LonelyTailgater.com.
EMAIL JOHN |