In Reply to: I wonder if our speed and quickness … posted by mikeo on October 30, 2025 at 22:54:50
Cronin has 5 guys (Dent, Clark, Bilodeau, Dailey, and Brown) who can shoot. He has a point/lead guard who is quick, fast, can break down defenses, create his own shot, and run an open floor attack. The other four guys, from what I can see, seem to have above average to below average speed and quickness with the exception of Clark who appears to be very quick.
If the Bruins need to overcome their lack of a viable 5 (if that turns out to be the case), IMO, it's going to come from Dent's ability to run the open floor, get himself to the hoop, and breaking down defenses to give the shooters open looks and not from an overall quickness and speed.
The Bruins have a lot of guys who run the floor which means they can get down court under control but not necessarily with overwhelming speed. The advantage is Dent can get down court quickly and because of his threat he draws attention and gets other people openings on the break.
A successful break doesn't necessarily require overall speed (although it does help) but does require players who can run the floor under control, who can make good decisions and take care of the ball, can spot up under control and hit the shot, and can finish at the rim.
From what I can see, I think the key here is for Cronin to unleash Dent and let him do what he does. He's going to make mistakes and that's going to be Cronin's challenge. In the past he has held a short leash on players, pulling them out quickly for lapses and mistakes. He can't do that with Dent. From the two exhibitions games it appears that Cronin realizes that this team's fortunes mostly rest on Dent's ability to be Dent and seems to be giving him a lot of freedom.