Kentucky is on a three-game winning streak, and Denzel Aberdeen has played a crucial role in that. The 6-foot-5 guard is averaging 18.3 points per game during that period, and Kentucky head coach Mark Pope credits a lot of Aberdeen’s success to his decision-making.
“I think he did a great job of taking what was there. He did a great job,” Pope said Tuesday. “His reads were elite. I thought they were really good. I thought there were times when he got the ball out of his hands quickly and then ended up getting back. There were times where he was pretty relentless.”
Aberdeen’s recent hot streak epitomizes a trait that Pope has been stressing to his team. He wants them to be intentional with decision-making.
“It’s about making the decision-making about what’s available. His ability to get in the lane and be patient and let the play actually develop, in a lot of cases, it developed a little bit for him,” Pope said. “To patiently probe in the lane and let things develop, I thought, was elite. We’re hoping to see more of that.”
Giving Kentucky Time to Operate
Decision-Making isn’t just a key trait for Denzel Aberdeen, but for Kentucky’s entire roster. You can see it on and off the floor, with Mark Pope even highlighting his recent chess matches with Jayden Quaintance.
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“For us, it’s an important concept because what it does is it takes really hard, almost impossible reads, and it just gives you more time to make them,” Pope said. “I’m making some progress with JQ [Jayden Quaintance] on the chessboard, which I’m really proud of. I’m not going to brag too much in here, but I did win a game recently, which has been a long time coming. When you’re working on the timer, you don’t have time to calculate every possible move that’s going on. You’ve got to go right now and go instinctually. That can get you in harm’s way sometimes.”
During a 40-minute game, you only have so much time to make decisions. However, Pope said that time can be extended with smart play.
“You buy yourself time on the court by physically being intentional to buy yourself longer for the defense to reveal its hand,” Pope said. “That’s actually the greatest skill in decision-making. You actually make way faster progress if you buy yourself more time to make a decision than you do if you just try to try and practice making decisions quicker. It’s important at every level. It’s really important in the league, also.”
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