June 19, 2014

Aaron Craft - Aaron Craft is the Derek Jeter of basketball, universally lauded by every broadcast team that ever took to the sport and universally loathed by everyone other than fans of his team precisely because of this undue love. He is lauded in his way basically for his effort, but also because of the perception of IQ this gives off. He 'plays the game the right way', 'knows how to play the game', and of course, he 'does whatever it takes to win'. As long as whatever it takes to win is within his very limited skillset.

Craft is known for his physical, tenacious defense. He moves he feet well, uses his strength and bodies up everyone, with a terrific motor, good hands, good anticipation and the relentless desire to be an absolute pest. He is relentlessly aggressive and never seems to run out of energy and hustle, which is the guaranteed way to win the hearts and minds of observers disdainful of everyone who doesn't do this. He gets away with things others never could in the process, and does dirty things at times, but it's all a part of the package. It's also pretty much all of the package, because offensively, Craft offers little. He is certainly a willing ball mover and a pass-first point, and boasts decent passing vision at times. But he is also thoroughly undynamic, rarely penetrates the first line of the defense, and is more steady than probing. And his own scoring skills are lacking - the unathletic and undersized Craft does very little in the paint, and is a poor shooter both off the dribble and off the catch.

By moving his feet quickly and being really annoying to his opponents, Craft has won over the very types of people who make the sort of decisions he is now faced with. But the NBA has mostly moved on from its Eric Snow, Kevin Ollie and Rick Brunson days. Craft is too small, slow, unathletic and undynamic to make it as an NBA defensive specialist point guard. You have to be Patrick Beverley to do that now. And Aaron Craft is no Patrick Beverley.

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March 16, 2011

Freshman point guard Craft is an incredibly mature and high IQ player for his age. He's a good ball handler who doesn't dribble into trouble, a good passer with strong court vision who doesn't throw it away often, a very good defender who has good hands, instincts and timing without committing a huge amount of fouls, and a capable shooter and finisher with very judicious shot selection for one so young. Craft is the team's only point guard, save for some pseudo point guard moments by Lighty and Buford. Buford is a natural scorer, and a good one, armed with two types of shot - the three pointer, and the right handed floaty hook thing from five feet out. His defense and decision making have improved over his career as a Buckeye, as has his scoring efficiency, now up to 47% from the floor (and helped in no small part by the talent around him). Buford does not look or take contact, is not a great athlete, nor is he much of a ball handler, yet he has developed into an efficient and increasingly reliable role player. There's more than a dribble of Wayne Ellington about him in terms of both his body type and style of play. And Wayne Ellington now plays in the NBA, so that must be interpreted as praise.

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