Florida State Basketball: Early look at what Caleb Mills brings to Seminoles

Offensive Weaknesses

After reading the last section of this article, I imagine that you are asking yourself, what holes could possibly exist in Mills’ versatile offensive game? And well, while Mills doesn’t have many weaknesses on the offensive end of the floor, he does have a few that may cause some problems for him at Florida State if they don’t get corrected.

While I am encouraged that Mills is confident in his ability to make tough shots, I don’t love the fact that Mills sometimes settles for below-average mid-range jumpers when his momentum between-the legs-dribble move, basic right-to-left crossover, in-and-out crossover, etc., don’t get him all the way to the basket. When Mills suits up for Florida State, he will have to choose flexibility over comfort when his defenders are a step ahead of him (and his big-time moves don’t get him all the way to the rim).

To put it simply, Mills’ field goal percentage during his redshirt freshman season (when he was fully healthy) would have been higher than 38.5% if he had turned to plan B more often after witnessing the failure of plan A. It is perfectly fine to construct a plan before you decide to make your move offensively, but if that move fails to triumph you shouldn’t automatically fall right back into your comfort zone (which for Mills is resorting to putting up a contested pull-up jumper).

If Mills manages to be more flexible when a clear lane to the basket isn’t available, and kick the ball out to one of his teammates (and then relocate) before he gives himself a chance to eye a challenging jump shot, he will be able to shoot 44.8% from the field (which is what he shot this year in four total games) or higher through 30+ games next season. The bottom line is, Mills is too talented (as you now know after learning about his offensive strengths in the previous slide) to make decisions that will solely benefit the opposition.

I also noticed that when Mills had to deal with a decent amount of contact around the free throw line area, he would sometimes get bumped off his spot, and lose all of the momentum that he had gained when he started to attack the rim. As I mentioned earlier, Mills doesn’t have much of a problem getting to the rim when he freezes his defenders with his hesitation or gets them to turn all of their attention toward a screen, but when they are able to bump him (because he is unable to do those two things) he becomes a little rattled.

If Mills wants to become the strongest offensive player that he can be at Florida State, he must be more willing to spin-off of his defenders once he gets bumped, which will demonstrate that contact doesn’t faze him. Implementing this move will also make Mills a more dangerous playmaker because it will give him the ability to put instant pressure on the second level of defenders, and make quick decisions based on how he is being defended.