For better or worse, Brian Boesch is pretty much devoting his radio show tonight to ripping Groce about Cooper's shot selection.

He's used the phrase "bad coaching" a few times.

He noted that Groce replied snidely yesterday to another reporter's question about this whole long leash/green light issue.

Color Boesch not in Love's camp on this one. I do think he's getting ideas from this board, though, especially Dragon.

Well, hopefully DJ will transfer to some place that will appreciate him.

Come on man.

If DJ is not taking our shots, who will? I think some are not seeing our other options.

Some people love the sound of their own voice. 

There is good and bad with a player like DJ, and you have to live with some of the bad. The young man is a play maker, he makes things happen, and as I've stated he at 25' is better than our other options.

Stop being a hater!  Constructive criticism is not welcome.

He made the first one, which was a bad shot, and he pushed his luck with the second one. He admitted afterward that he probably should have driven to the hoop. It's a learning process. Of course, he makes some bad decisions, but I'm pretty confident he'll get better.

I know he's got to feel a ton of pressure because other scoring options are limited. But our best offensive opportunities are when he takes two people with him to the hoop, leaving someone else open, or when only one guy goes with him, and he gets an open shot of his own. He did that a lot, but I'd like to see even more. I think Coach Groce and the staff will communicate this and I think to some extent, Cooper already understands this.

The bottom line here is that without the ball in DJ's hands, we are seriously offensively challenged.  If the result of him having the ball is an occasion "OH S^%$!" 3, then I'll live with that.  

I assume folks want us to come down late in games and "run the offense" and get a good shot for somebody rather than come down and have DJ drive the lane for a runner or shoot a 3.

I don't mind giving the ball to your best player and letting him try to win.  Especially when you don't have another guy on the team who is very good at getting a shot off on his own.  I'll repeat what I said in another post:  Sayles, Hall, Freeman, and Kellog (our entire G/SF group) took a combined 2 non-three-point-shots in 55 minutes against Miami. 

Late in a game, when you need to tie it up quickly and leave enough time for another chance or to foul and get the ball back, you are pushing it to be running whole offensive sets over and over to get someone an open spot up 3.

It feels like some are using the Miami game to pain a wide brush about Cooper.  

I remember just one game ago Cooper getting Kellog a wide open look to beat Robert Morris at the buzzer.  I assume the Boesch guy spent an entire show applauding that.....

To me, it is more a discussion of how we can better use our best player to make our team better...Because right now we kind of suck.  If you're all cool with that, then let's just keep going with thew same approach because if sucking is your goal, it sure is working fantastic.

You guys have blown our criticism way out of proportion.

I think some people read criticisms of DJ's shot selection as an indictment against DJ, when in reality (at least speaking personally) it is much more of a coaching issue than a player issue.  DJ is doing what the coach lets him do.  It is on Groce to reign Cooper in a little bit.

As for other scoring options, I will again say that I think that some of the guys on the roster would step up if we were running and properly executing the right offense.  Part of the reason that Kellogg, Hall, and Rico Johnson haven't displayed an ability to create their own shot is the fact that they haven't been put in a position where they have the freedom to do so on a regular basis.  Instead, the system has them hanging out on the perimeter as spot-up shooters most of the time. 

Alternatively, if we really only have one viable scoring option this year, then that falls squarely on the shoulders of the coaching staff.  By year three we should not be in a position where having a 28% 3 point shooter jacking up questionable treys is your best offensive option.  If that is really the best we can do, then we really need to be asking why John Groce recruited three wings capable only of shooting spot-up jumpers in the same class...