Slumping Shipp
Bruins wing Josh Shipp is 0 for his last 20 from 3-point range and shied away from taking 3-pointers in Saturday's win against Oregon. But he said his confidence remains high.
On one possession midway through the second half he began to shoot, then in mid-shot decided to dribble. The possession culminated with Russell Westbrook making a 3-pointer from the left corner, and Shipp said his decision not to shoot had nothing to do with his 3-point rut.
"The (defender) closed real hard and I didn't think I had to shot,'' Shipp said. "I didn't think I had time to get it off so I put the ball on the ground."
He may say that but it seems pretty obvious he is thinking twice before launching. That's not good for a shooter. We're going to need his shots to start falling if we want to do some damage in the post season.
His mantra through the rest of the regular season should be catch and shoot, no hesitation. It may be my imagination but it appears that he's altered his shot a bit, the ball used to in front of his face before the shot, now he starts down low. At any rate, his mid-range shooting isn't hot either.
Shipp will be fine. This is way overblown.
Glad you didn't title this thread "Shinking Shipp."
Kuddos to Josh Shipp! Yes, he's in a slump (and I agree that he will come out of it). But knowing that, he's focused on doing all the OTHER things his team needs from him - defense, deflecting passes, making the extra pass, just playing very solid ball.
Ucla needs to grind it on offense when there's no clear breakaway because that forces the game into a possession-by-possession game in which defense, power and effectiveness pay off rather than hot outside shooting. That's tournament bb and Ben Howland builds his teams to play that way. When Josh leads the team in scoring, that's NOT necessarily a very good sign. He is playing with outstanding maturity - and those shots will come when he takes just the really good ones.
Same with Collison and Westbrook - the threes come when taken in rhythm out of the offense. Beyond that, take your time, move the ball to deform the defense, and look to get the ball inside to Love and make the offense work off of that and we have a definite shot at a NC this year
Great points barrya!
I agree, Shipp is playing well, just cold from outside right now. That is what I love about Howland's style of basketball - defense and hustle. Those are two things that you can always control, whereas, hitting shots - sometimes that is just out of your control. But, when it does happen, if you continue to play defense and hustle, you are still contributing to the team and can win!