Post by bballfan72031 on Sept 9, 2005 17:31:10 GMT -5
UO alum Skillz showing improvement
When Converse selected Fresh Skillz with the 16th pick in the inaugural City Slam Draft, there was a lot of talk about him leading his team to near the top in the league. Scouted as a "4 A" player by Converse, some thought that he may be a superstar for years to come. However, his first couple of games weren't pretty.
Skillz began the season shooting 15-41 from the field, not reaching any "skills achievements" in the first two games*. Converse lost both of those games by a combined 37 points, and people began to question whether he was anything more than an average starter, or worse. But after Converse's Week 3 win over Adidas, fans have started believing in Skillz again.
Skillz scored 36 points in the game, while shooting at a PSA of 1.50. This included a couple of key second-half three-pointers in Converse's come from behind 121-119 victory. This one game alone brought him up near 25 points per game and 50% Field Goal Shooting.
A key to Fresh's new found success may have been his switch to full-time starting shooting guard. As just 17 years old, he was having a hard time starting the offense at the point, and his role hadn't really been decided yet. As a 2 guard, he can focus on scoring while being a secondary distributor, and this gives him time to learn Converse's complicated offensive sets, as he'll probably continue to play backup at point guard some. Skillz agrees with this thought.
"I feel a lot more comfortable now than I did at the beginning of the season," he said. "I think the team really is getting used to their roles now and gelling. We're really becoming a unit, and we're gonna be dangerous."
Converse's coaching staff agrees, and are apparently very pleased with Skillz's progress. They say that they expected him to struggle a bit at the beginning, and they're fine with that. He's been coming in before and after practice every day to work on his jump shot, and it definitely seems to have paid off.
Still just a young pup, Fresh Skillz has a lot to look forward to. And so do the Converse fans.
*"Special achievements" are tallied when players score certain numbers of points, rebounds, assists, steals, or blocks in a game. Skillz scored 19 points in each of his first two games, just short of the 20-point mark.
