People love to pile on Hopkins and say we should play White and Copeland more, but let's really look at what they bring. Hop has the best deficiency rating on the team at 94. White and Copeland come in at 99.2 and 104.8 respectively. Hop's total rebounding percentage is 15, while White and Copeland come in at 8.8 and 7.3 (BTW, Hop's O rebounding percentage is at 12.2 while White's is at 1.7). Hop's block percentage is a stellar 10.1 while White and Copeland are 3.5 and 3.2.
Look, there's no doubt that White and Copeland are better options on offense, but it's easy to say their offense makes up for what you lose defensively without actually looking at defensive production. There is a huge difference between Hop's production on defense AND rebounding than theirs. So it comes down to what you value. Gtown always has favored defense and rightfully so. But it makes more sense this year when you have scorers like DSR and Josh to put the defensive guy in more.
I understand people want to see them play more but they are already playing plenty (especially White) and do you really want to lose games along the way just for growth especially when the margin between tourney and not is so thin? Yes, White and Copeland will both be better than Hop SOME DAY. But we are talking about who is more useful for the team right now.
Look, there's no doubt that White and Copeland are better options on offense, but it's easy to say their offense makes up for what you lose defensively without actually looking at defensive production. There is a huge difference between Hop's production on defense AND rebounding than theirs. So it comes down to what you value. Gtown always has favored defense and rightfully so. But it makes more sense this year when you have scorers like DSR and Josh to put the defensive guy in more.
I understand people want to see them play more but they are already playing plenty (especially White) and do you really want to lose games along the way just for growth especially when the margin between tourney and not is so thin? Yes, White and Copeland will both be better than Hop SOME DAY. But we are talking about who is more useful for the team right now.