Florida State Basketball: Early look at what Caleb Mills brings to Seminoles
Defensive Weaknesses
Life is all good and well when Mills is able to sniff out a screen before it even gets there, but everything changes the second Mills is blindsided by a powerful screen from an opposing team’s big man. For whatever reason, Mills struggles to execute a simple technique that helps guards get around ball screens swiftly.
When guards are unexpectedly hit with a screen at the top of the key, for example, they are supposed to take one long step around the screener’s closest foot immediately. If the screener is setting a screen on the opposing guard’s right side the opposing guard should step around the screener’s right foot, and if the screener is setting a screen on the opposing guard’s left side the opposing guard should step around the screener’s left foot, and then cut off the ball-handler.
I think that because Mills instantly panics when he does get screened, he drops his right or left foot (depending on the direction of the screen) and runs straight into the screener. This is something that Mills must correct at Florida State because it is a flaw that will force the big men on his team to either hedge harder than they were planning to, or switch onto the ball-handler (who may have blazing speed) and have to work extra hard in order to contain him (unless they are used to guarding speedy guards out on the perimeter).
In addition to that, Mills is fine when he doesn’t have to cover as much ground on his closeouts, but when he has to travel a longer distance after his team failed to secure a defensive rebound (and he is further away from the perimeter) he doesn’t always have the same success.
Mills’ issue in this area stems from the fact that he waits too long to chop his feet, which puts him at a disadvantage when his opponents put the ball on the floor. If Mills is able to improve in this area at Florida State, he will be able to minimize the amount of paint touches that his opponents get during his longer closeouts.