UAAP Season 84

[IPC]

He confirmed, but that was for S83. Honestly hoped one of him, Javi, and Ricci went to the draft. Wanted Javi (for his development) and Ricci (for my sanity) to put their names in.

He had a lot of dumb moments in S82. He somewhat looked like a headless chicken at times.

[dubidub]

He had a lot of dumb moments in S82. He somewhat looked like a headless chicken at times.

After that international caliber alley oop dunk, it was pretty much downhill for Ricci.

[TheNatural7]

After that international caliber alley oop dunk, it was pretty much downhill for Ricci.

He was used as lead guard too much and he went to his version of the sidestep way too much. Ricci feels like the type of player to decide his move and stick to it. He, like Kobe, could be a good sidepiece, but he has the star mentality.

For players playing 15+ minutes, Ricci was (note that this is out of 56):
56th in GameScore
55th in per minute box production
56th in relative True Shooting%
42nd in Points Per 100
30th in Box Creation (open shots created for teammates)
7th in Adjusted TO% (as in 7th worst)


All of this while being 17th in Offensive Load and 2nd highest on the team (usage, but also considers passing volume). For a guy who lived by attacking the rim, he was 52nd in Free Throw Attempt Rate and sandwiched between Melecio and Ahanmisi, 2 of the biggest gunners in the UAAP (also barely above Comboy, Torres, and Tuffin). This was probably because he avoided contact with his sidesteps.

He was given the keys and when he was on the floor, the game ran through him. He didn't deliver. This could be small sample size, a spacing issue, a team construction issue, or maybe his S80 was an anomaly created by a system that catered to his strengths.

[dubidub]

He was used as lead guard too much and he went to his version of the sidestep way too much. Ricci feels like the type of player to decide his move and stick to it. He, like Kobe, could be a good sidepiece, but he has the star mentality.

For players playing 15+ minutes, Ricci was (note that this is out of 56):
56th in GameScore
55th in per minute box production
56th in relative True Shooting%
42nd in Points Per 100
30th in Box Creation (open shots created for teammates)
7th in Adjusted TO% (as in 7th worst)


All of this while being 17th in Offensive Load and 2nd highest on the team (usage, but also considers passing volume). For a guy who lived by attacking the rim, he was 52nd in Free Throw Attempt Rate and sandwiched between Melecio and Ahanmisi, 772 of the biggest gunners in the UAAP (also barely above Comboy, Torres, and Tuffin). This was probably because he avoided contact with his sidesteps.

He was given the keys and when he was on the floor, the game ran through him. He didn't deliver. This could be small sample size, a spacing issue, a team construction issue, or maybe his S80 was an anomaly created by a system that catered to his strengths.

Dude, the stats you cite are awesome haha where do you get those!? Looking at those stats, it seems like he is one of the worst rotation players in the UAAP which is flabbergasting.

I really find Ricci's decline puzzling. Honestly, I don't think it's because of a star alpha dog mentality. He also played with other bigger alpha dogs in La Salle and yet he meshed well with them. I dunno if it's because the coaching staff doesn't know how to utilize him or if he's too distracted with offcourt nonsense to the point that his basketball skills have regressed.

[Jay P. Mercado]

Let's learn to appreciate Ricci's under the radar defense. In the latter part of S82, Ricci showed his ability to be a defensive stopper - quite unusual especially coming from a star - but he has the chops to be a great perimeter defender. He struggled mightily fitting into Bo's free-wheeling system, but somehow, he learned what role he can play to contribute to UP's cause.

[TheNatural7]

Dude, the stats you cite are awesome haha where do you get those!? Looking at those stats, it seems like he is one of the worst rotation players in the UAAP which is flabbergasting.

I really find Ricci's decline puzzling. Honestly, I don't think it's because of a star alpha dog mentality. He also played with other bigger alpha dogs in La Salle and yet he meshed well with them. I dunno if it's because the coaching staff doesn't know how to utilize him or if he's too distracted with offcourt nonsense to the point that his basketball skills have regressed.

Borrowed formulas and adjusted the stats for pace myself.

I think the real Ricci is somewhere between S80 and S82. He also has too much self confidence. Adjusting din to Kobe and Juan probably took a bit (Juan is a different story and he was bad too). Kobe did well when he was alone. UP almost beat Beda (63-65) in the PCCL and Ricci had 27 (although 15 of his points were from 3 and one game shooting is often noisy). Probably a lot of factors talaga, but I don't think it's specifically with how he was used because he had all the freedom and all the leeway in the world.

He's also a player I would describe as not being portable or scalable in that he doesn't play well with others. He doesn't fit on a team with other good players as most of his skills require the ball in his hand and this creates conflicts and redundancies with other good teammates. Adding Ricci with a bunch of good individual players is at best additive or at worst subtractive. Compare that to having a team revolve around him (or have him as the main perimeter option together with a good big), he raises the floor of the team and his value is multiplicative.

We can see this in his effect in the UAAP (redundancies and reduced efficacy) and his effect in the Beda game without Kobe, Bright, Juan, and Javi (he almost led a depleted UP against Beda without Nelle and Doliguez).

[IPC]

Let's learn to appreciate Ricci's under the radar defense. In the latter part of S82, Ricci showed his ability to be a defensive stopper - quite unusual especially coming from a star - but he has the chops to be a great perimeter defender. He struggled mightily fitting into Bo's free-wheeling system, but somehow, he learned what role he can play to contribute to UP's cause.

Yeah, he defended well in UP's last S82 game. If he learns to embrace that role, he can make a better name for himself. Two-way player who can score and defend. That's valuable, especially if he thinks about going abroad.

College ball, ideally is either developing players, playing within a system, or both. Teams will draft you for your potential anyway. Hopefully this mindset will be prevalent across the UAAP.

[dubidub]

Borrowed formulas and adjusted the stats for pace myself.

Solid! Would you happen to have stats on UPs win shares and +/-?

I guess you make a good point about redundancies. During his rookie year, he played alongside Teng, Montalbo, Melecio, and Torres. But not much was expected from him. His sophomore year, DLSU's big 3 of Melecio, Rivero, and Mbala, had clearer and more defined roles. The outside shooter, the slasher, and the inside operator. I still think he's scalable as shown during his soph year.

In UP, the biggest redundancy to Ricci was Kobe. Let's say Manzo and JGDL replicated Melecio while Bright was Mbala. Javi naman mostly played as a spot up shooter so he shouldn't have had an effect on Ricci's performance. Maybe it would have been better to stagger the minutes between Kobe and Ricci.

[TheNatural7]

I think @ompongski posted the +/- stats on Twitter (personally don't bother with +/- over a small sample size and without more data) and I haven't bought the book which details how to compute for WS and individual ORTG.

On scaling, UP had a bunch of ball dominant guys: Bright, Kobe, Juan, Ricci, and Jun needed the ball in their hands to create offense (Bright being the least ball intensive, but most productive). These players also didn't have off-ball chops (Bright is the best, then Kobe).

For a player to be scalable, spacing (shooting + off-ball movement), passing, and finishing are necessary. Ricci isn't the best cutter in the world and his jumper is spotty. His passing is pretty bad and so is his decision making. Next to guys like Kobe (capable cutter and passer, but poor shooter), Juan (good shooter, but needs the ball in his hand), and Jun (PG who is an average shooter and not an off-ball threat), there is a bit of an overlap in skillsets.

I think Ricci and Juan struggled the most because Kobe was the absolute focal point of the team, but Kobe is a flawed first option and Ricci and Juan aren't capable off ball options. The Ricci as a primary ballhandler/point of attack experiment also failed (this caused even more redundancy and Juan struggled whenever he played with Ricci). Given that Ricci's teammates were not the best scaling guys, his performance dipped (but it dipped way more than I thought it would). UP had the 5th best offense last season despite its firepower. Now, if the UAAP season lasted 30 games instead of 14, maybe they could have figured it out. But, we work with what we have and they couldn't.

[Sikatrix]

I think @ompongski posted the +/- stats on Twitter (personally don't bother with +/- over a small sample size and without more data) and I haven't bought the book which details how to compute for WS and individual ORTG.

On scaling, UP had a bunch of ball dominant guys: Bright, Kobe, Juan, Ricci, and Jun needed the ball in their hands to create offense (Bright being the least ball intensive, but most productive). These players also didn't have off-ball chops (Bright is the best, then Kobe).

For a player to be scalable, spacing (shooting + off-ball movement), passing, and finishing are necessary. Ricci isn't the best cutter in the world and his jumper is spotty. His passing is pretty bad and so is his decision making. Next to guys like Kobe (capable cutter and passer, but poor shooter), Juan (good shooter, but needs the ball in his hand), and Jun (PG who is an average shooter and not an off-ball threat), there is a bit of an overlap in skillsets.

I think Ricci and Juan struggled the most because Kobe was the absolute focal point of the team, but Kobe is a flawed first option and Ricci and Juan aren't capable off ball options. The Ricci as a primary ballhandler/point of attack experiment also failed (this caused even more redundancy and Juan struggled whenever he played with Ricci). Given that Ricci's teammates were not the best scaling guys, his performance dipped (but it dipped way more than I thought it would). UP had the 5th best offense last season despite its firepower. Now, if the UAAP season lasted 30 games instead of 14, maybe they could have figured it out. But, we work with what we have and they couldn't.

UP will have less of a problem without Juan and Manzo but even with the replacements, pretty sure Cagulangan is ball heavy, not sure about Dowd though. The path is still there for more usage for Ricci.

[Silent Killer]

Torculas may yet stay in UP. The wing spots will be open after 84, once Ricci and Javi play out their final year.

Yes, Kobe has announced that he'll stay.

no news yet for kobe if he stays or not..

[thatweirdguy]

The biggest problem with UP is that there is that basketball is played with only one ball. Almost all their players needs the ball in his hands and aren't good interested in doing anything else. And they just added a bunch of crocs. Even the less heralded guys Calimag were trigger happy in HS

[Sikatrix]

The lost season means teams like La Salle, Ateneo and UP have too much talent for 16 spots. Hope the kids are loyal, everyone will be itching to play once able and then to be told to wait another year. Ouch

[Tuck]

UP didnt have enough shooting and mediocore defense.

GDL’s are their only above average shooters.

Tungcab,Ricci,Kobe,Manzo are all players you would sag off

[dubidub]

I think @ompongski posted the +/- stats on Twitter (personally don't bother with +/- over a small sample size and without more data) and I haven't bought the book which details how to compute for WS and individual ORTG.

On scaling, UP had a bunch of ball dominant guys: Bright, Kobe, Juan, Ricci, and Jun needed the ball in their hands to create offense (Bright being the least ball intensive, but most productive). These players also didn't have off-ball chops (Bright is the best, then Kobe).

For a player to be scalable, spacing (shooting + off-ball movement), passing, and finishing are necessary. Ricci isn't the best cutter in the world and his jumper is spotty. His passing is pretty bad and so is his decision making. Next to guys like Kobe (capable cutter and passer, but poor shooter), Juan (good shooter, but needs the ball in his hand), and Jun (PG who is an average shooter and not an off-ball threat), there is a bit of an overlap in skillsets.

I think Ricci and Juan struggled the most because Kobe was the absolute focal point of the team, but Kobe is a flawed first option and Ricci and Juan aren't capable off ball options. The Ricci as a primary ballhandler/point of attack experiment also failed (this caused even more redundancy and Juan struggled whenever he played with Ricci). Given that Ricci's teammates were not the best scaling guys, his performance dipped (but it dipped way more than I thought it would). UP had the 5th best offense last season despite its firepower. Now, if the UAAP season lasted 30 games instead of 14, maybe they could have figured it out. But, we work with what we have and they couldn't.

Since Kobe and Ricci will be among the most tenured players in the team, perhaps UP's gameplan would now be more cateres towards their styles. Before, I always thought that Manzo held on to the ball too long and their most effective halfcourt play was dumping the ball to Bright.

They are also getting more outside threats like Jordi, Tamayo, and Calimag so that may open up the paint for Ricci and Kobe to penetrate. I am also assuming that Diouf is a much better defender and shot blocker and could result to more fastbreaks which should bode well for Ricci and Kobe.