Shannon Mruzik
Small Forward
Offensive Game:
Shannon is offensively raw. He's
developed the ability to hit lay-ups, and can hit a jumper
on occasion, but offensively, he's still raw. He has a
bit of a tendency to drift on his shots from range.
He'll get more than his share of offensive rebounds.
His weaknesses, however, are related to guard skills, which
are, for the most part, deficient.
Shannon's passing is a beginner's passing.
He'll make good chest passes, although sometimes with too
much pepper on the ball, but his bounce passes are very
spotty. He likes to throw bounce passes before making
explosion moves, and as a result, they're short, high, and
wild. Most of his bounce passes have topspin on them.
His flip passes are also unprecise. And he's spotty
about using his passing as well, tending to focus on a
drive.
Energy is the strength of his game.
He can tire you out if you try to chase him.
If he puts his head down and barrels
toward the goal, he'll be effective offensively. If
not, he won't.
Defensive Game:
Well, you can see the last name at the top
of the page clear as day, so if you've played around my
group of friends ever, you know what it means. If you
haven't, then let me explain: Shannon is the latest,
and perhaps finest, in the line of "dirty
Mruzik defenders." (Emphasis on dirty
is completely intentional.)
Shannon will reach, grab, bump, push,
slap, body-check, under-cut, and otherwise foul repeatedly.
He works hard to get in position, and intentionally
over-plays his man. You can score on him if you want,
but your body will pay a price.
Shannon is incredibly scrappy and has
excellent strength for his size. His defensive
footwork needs some work, and his speed can be either a
strength or a weakness depending on which position he's
playing. He's a good rebounder for his size.
He won't get you lots of steals, nor will
he block lots of shots, nor will he play textbook defense,
but he'll rough you up, and make it hard to play your game.
The Mental Game:
Shannon is a typical beginner in that he
over-analyzes and under-accounts. His natural
inclination is to think that if something is good hockey
strategy, it must also be good basketball strategy.
Since I know nothing about hockey strategy, I cannot say for
sure if that's true or false, but I can say with certainty
that Shannon's grasp of basketball strategy is weak.
Shannon doesn't exactly live on an island,
mentally, but the assumptions he makes in team play that
involve team help often fail to account for what happens on
other players' islands. He's not a guard - he doesn't
have the distribution mentality - and he's undersized for
the power positions, so he tries to apply a hybrid logic,
which doessn't really work.
At his best:
...he is a pounding, physical force with
an improved drive that can help offensively and impact the
game defensively.
At his worst:
...he is an offensive exploitation point
trying to guide a lethargic offense who can be overpowered
on the defensive end.
Strategy for playing with him:
To use Shannon effectively, you need to
focus him on the things he does well: picking and
screening, cutting, attacking the basket off of a pass, make
the easy pass. You need to keep him away from the
things he does poorly - shoot from distance, dribble on the
perimeter, make entry passes in advance of a cut.
Defensively, you need to keep control of him so as not to
anger opponents and let the game get out of control.
You need to keep him aware offensively, and confined to the
role of complement. And let him run; he does
better at a faster pace.
Strategy for playing against him:
Slow Shannon down and keep him on the
perimeter. Be aware to block his shot, and expect
contact. Isolate him on the interior, and use his
aggressiveness and tendency to over-play against him.
On the perimeter, keep the pace slow, and exploit his bad
tendencies. Force him to be an outside shooter on one
end, and force him to play a guard's game on the other.
Don't try to beat him one-on-one from the perimeter unless
you're willing to take a hit. Finally, for the sake of
general pace of the game and sanity of the other players,
only call the most egregious, ridiculous fouls that he
commits on the perimeter - otherwise, every play you're
involved in will end in a foul call.
Comparable Pro: Eduardo Najera
Last updated: June 18, 2008
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