Welcome to Pitt Basketball Summer School. A look at individual Panther players and what they need to do to get better — and by extension make Pitt a better team for the 2011-12 season. Brought to you by SilverPanther in NYC.

Intro:
Today we look at 2010-11 First Team All-Big East senior guard Ashton Gibbs, the Panther’s leading scorer for the past two years. Did you know he practices shooting a lot? Also, he’s a snazzy dresser.

What he gave us last year:
Well to begin with, 522 points or about 17 per game. He shot 47% from the field and 49% from beyond the arc. 89% at the line. I’ve heard people call him a 1-trick pony in an almost pejorative sense, but his 1-trick happens to be the ability to shoot accurately from anywhere on the court. Ashton Gibbs is just a flat-out great shooter. He has no preference for a particular spot, can shoot off a pick, flat-footed, or stop and pop. I just don’t recall Jason Mathews having the ability to shoot like this. There were games when Ashton was quiet, when he was off, and when he was just completely marked. But in Pitt’s 28 wins, he was usually a key factor- and often THE factor.

While not a flashy ballhandler, he managed to be a deft one, capable of bringing the ball up the court and pass it off to Wanamaker in Pitt’s slightly unconventional 1-2 guard setup. Occasionally Pitt did run into some problems when teams brought hard or even nominal pressure on Gibbs all the way up the court. He would handle it without turning the ball over, but the offense lost time on the shot clock, and thus, the ability to run more screens or set-up shots. Still, Ashton is typically of steady and deliberate hands. He rarely made a mistake pass or took an ill-advised shot. He’s a shooter, not a gunner. And he rarely forces an issue. Last year he showed more athletic ability than in the past by mostly getting craftier through the use of stutter steps, pump fakes, and occasional lateral slides. He’s not far behind Sam Young’s pantomime ball fake, except that Ashton uses it to get the defender off his feet and then throws himself into it for a shooting foul- whereas Young used it to get by a defender.

Defensively, Gibbs takes a no-risk approach. He’s fundamentally sound and tries to use his feet to stay in front of his man. He rarely reaches in and rarely even commits a foul. Other than positioning, he doesn’t provide much on help defense. Obviously, what he lacks is speed, quickness, and the athletic jumping ability to make him an above average defender. He will always lack that lock-down capability. The team could often compensate for this with more aggressive athletic wing defenders in Wanamaker and Brown. But occasionally Gibbs would get isolated and burned. In the end, with Ashton, we assume the trade-off of a steady, competent, low-risk-taking team defender and a deadeye shooter.

Summer School:
It was said that between his sophomore and junior seasons Coach Dixon tasked Ashton to become a better athlete. This is wholly possible through conditioning, weightlifting, plyometric drills, etc. And Gibbs did seem to have more moves and more fluidity to his movement than as an underclassman. Now, after testing the NBA draft waters, I’m sure that the same athletic imperative was made clear to him in regards to this summer between his junior and senior seasons. In order to make it at the next level, Ashton will have to do a better job of getting by people, making his teammates better, and by doing a better job of staying in front of people on defense. The shooting we know is there, but his body control and court vision will need to get better as Ashton reconciles his personal career goal with his important role on Pitt. He’ll be playing in a more natural position than in past years and will still have a green light to shoot. It’s just that, for Pitt’s sake, the buck cannot always just stop at him. Last year there were a number of late shot clock violations or unfavorable throw-up shots that resulted in critical turnovers. His ability to break open or create a shot off the dribble or find a teammate in the face and body of the man marking him, will be a key indicator of how far the hard work, he is sure to be putting into his game, is paying off.

It goes without saying that any more improvement in his athletic prowess will pay dividends in his game. Offensively, it will allow him to create for himself, fight off defenders, shoot off-balanced, and make more aggressive, foul drawing, moves to the basket. More time at the free throw line would be nice. Defensively, he can improve his 1-on-1 game, including chasing around screens. But let’s face it, he’s not going to come out of the summer with anymore particular grace, finesse, and quickness. It will most likely be improvements in his craftiness and abilities to play off the attention he gets from his accurate shooting…and a lot more hard work.

Conclusion:
If we presume Woodall to start at the PG spot and Gibbs to play his natural SG, then we will have a small, potentially “defensive challenged” backcourt. Wanamaker and Brown are no longer around to pick up the athletic wing guards we’ll face in the Big East and whether Lamar Patterson, JJ Moore, or one of the freshman are capable of handling a tough defensive role and being on the court late in games is a big question mark for Pitt next season. Will it mean that Dixon switches to more zone as he did late last season? Will it mean that Gibbs switches back to the point in favor of someone other than Woodall in the backcourt?

On the more optimistic side, another year like last year and Ashton Gibbs will shoot his way into the top 10 all-time Pitt scorers, a possible All-American candidacy, and a lot of thrilling wins. I have never let my eyes deceive me regarding his athletic abilities nor ignored his statistical success against the high level of competition Pitt regularly faces. But I sat courtside under the basket at MSG for the St. John’s game and came away more impressed than ever with Ashton as a ballplayer. Ok, maybe not as an elite athlete, but he didn’t just hit shots off of screens in that game and the St. John’s guards were no defensive, nor athletic slouches. He’s not just a 1-trick pony. He can flat out score. It will be interesting to see how far all his hard work and determination will drive both Pitt’s fate this year and his professional fate beyond.

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