Kaleb Joseph rode the pine quite a bit on Saturday. Like a lot.
The Syracuse basketball program’s newest, freshman point guard played just 19 minutes Saturday in the Orange’s 69 – 57 loss against St John’s. Averaging close to logging 37 MPG in SU’s previous four contests, Joseph was pretty much non-existent.
Boeheim was not shy to explain why K-Jo 2.0 was absent for almost the entire second half:
‚ÄúHe’s gotta learn that he’s a point guard and not a 3-point shooter. And he’s gotta play defense,” Boeheim said.¬†
Now to be fair: Joseph took a grand total of just five shots. All of his attempts, though, were heaved from behind the arc. He reassured himself on his shot selection by saying, “I wouldn’t shoot them if I didn’t think they were good.”
The shaky performance caused Joseph to slowly but surely warm up to reporters postgame, as his initial responses to the press were simple hand gestures and slight mumbling. K-Jo is typically a high energy presence in the locker room, whether it’s an Orange win or loss. Certainly his limited showing Saturday afternoon frustrated him.
Joseph obviously needs to learn not every night is going to be his night. Not questioning is maturity level of any sort, but the way his psyche level tilts could determine many of Syracuse’s outcomes on the floor.
Remember, Joseph was part of two crucial mistakes in SU’s loss to Michigan last Tuesday. Add Saturday’s bench-fest sitting next to Coach Boeheim in a highly-contested, non-conference battle. At that point, all Joseph could have done in his stint on the bench was to be supportive of his teammates.
Boeheim ought to be careful with this. Just with the eye-test alone, Joseph’s passionate heart and drive to be successful have their soft spots. Joseph was just genuinely sad he was benched for shots he wouldn’t have taken if he didn’t think they were good.
Boeheim has already hammered some of his players this year, like Michael Gbinije for not playing well enough or downgrading Chris McCullough’s draft stock, which was not a direct shot at McCullough more of his general prognosis of early NBA draft boards.
The Joseph-Boeheim relationship remains in the works. It all falls back on Boeheim’s issue of time. He’s said this team needs time. Well, maybe unlike other freshman point guards from the past, Kaleb Joseph needs a bit more time. No one’s perfect, but Boeheim better not thicken early-season losses. Live with 5 and 3, but don’t live with losing Joseph’s competitive spirit.
Posted: Brendan Glasheen
5 responses to “No Point: Boeheim Must Be Careful with Kaleb Joseph’s Psyche”
JB was absolutely correct to bench Joseph.
He has sat down Roberson, BJ, Gbinije already this season…Patterson too.
Joseph may have “competitive spirit” out the wazzoo. But he needs to show PG
IQ and abilities by limiting turnovers and getting back on D. Otherwise, his next
seat on the bench won’t be next to JB, but about 5 seats further away.
Orange in VA – well you know they’ll need Joseph to be any good down the stretch. I have no issue with Boeheim benching him but he’s gotta be careful. I hear him on defense, joesph was subpar. But to tell Kaleb to be more aggressive one day, then say he’s not a three point shooter is a bit condescending. Aggressive obviously doesn’t mean fire up dumb shots. Attacking is the better word. Joesph needs to do attack more, without turning the ball over too.
This is big time basketball. Joseph has notlayed well. He takes poor shots. He takes bad passing angles. He dribbles too much. He hasn’t been that good against press. He has too many silly turnovers. Now he can take solace in that a pretty good PG – Sherman Douglas – didn’t light it up his freshman year. Joseph has been asked to do too much too soon. That is not his fault. Even MCW got to watch his frosh year. I’m sure JB and the staff have had tht conversation with him. Right now, team is better off with Gb and Patterson getting more minutes. He just doesn’t look like he is ready for he big boys. Who knows, Caleb may actually provide spark off the bench.
Al I completely agree he doesn’t look ready and he is due for 1-3 dumb turnovers a game. I’m not really sure of his main strength. He has shown times of pushing it in transition but in the half court game he has less than impressed. I definitely agree with the Patterson gbinije comment. I think cooney is playing really sub par too I’m just ready for Malachi Richardson honestly the last shooting guard (sorry southerland) this program has has is Andy rautins. Howard could immediately get in the Pg discussion and then Lydon and Diagne along with obokoh and coleman will help fill in for the losses of rak and mcullough
Brendan,
I think a distinction must be made…being aggressive and 3 pointers. If a forward is to be aggressive, it means take the ball hard to the rim and crash for rebounds. For a PG to be aggressive means to breakdown the opposition’s defense= drive and dish= pretty much the opposite of settling for 3s. To say we will need Joseph down the stretch, I would answer we need someone who gets back on D, plays good D, limits his turnovers and breaks down the opposition when given the opportunity. Whether that’s Gbinije or Joseph it doesn’t matter…we just need somebody!!