Simmons pleased with Wildcats’ progress
When November arrives and the start of El Dorado's 2017-18 basketball season begins, the familiar faces of Daniel Gafford, Czar Perry and Ryu Unice will not be there.
With the loss of three standout seniors, Wildcats coach Gary Simmons has spent this summer tinkering to see exactly what type of team he will have, and if the past few months are any indication, the Wildcats will be a team that prides itself on its marksmanship from downtown.
In three games at a team camp at Louisiana Tech, Simmons said the Wildcats hit nearly 40 3-pointers.
El Dorado also participated in a team camp at Dumas where the offense continued to shine.
"We played really well," Simmons said. "We averaged 76 points per game at Dumas, and it was 18-minute running clock halves. I know one of the days we went down, we played two games and we hit 33 threes in two games. We have turned into a run-and-gun, kick-out, share-theball, shoot-the-three team. We really have. Brenden Johnson and Joderrio Ramey are still catching balls off the rim, so we're still having our dunks, maybe not as crazy like Czar and Daniel like to do."
With the graduations of Gafford, Perry and Unice, the Wildcats have been more balanced in their scoring.
"The kids have done a good job of just feeding off of each other," Simmons said. "It doesn't seem to bother them who scores. They're getting to know each other. Our scoring hasn't let down, it's just a bunch of people are doing it now. We're a very different team, but the results are still the same. We're still pushing the ball hard, we're playing good defense. We started working on a matchup zone this summer to compliment
our man defense."
Simmons said that Johnson and Ramey, both juniors, have been the team's leading scorers, ranging around 18 to 20 points per game, but the Wildcats have had several players enjoy solid summers.
Alex Boone, a junior, has shined while also practicing with the football team.
"He's had a really good summer," Simmons said. "He goes to football practice every morning and works hard for them, but he's missed maybe one practice with us and has been at every team camp this summer. That's tough for a football kid to do that, but he's done that, and he's looked really good this summer. He had a good stretch subbing for Daniel at the end of the year, but he's had a really, really good summer and he's played a lot of AAU."
Simmons also singled out senior Kyle Jordan for the way he has shot the ball this summer, as well as junior Mason Lockhart.
Brendan Simmons, a sophomore, has become another sharpshooter for the Wildcats, drilling 14 threes in two games at one team camp while alternating between starting and coming off the bench, according to the El Dorado coach.
Perhaps the biggest development the Wildcats have had is their ability to share the ball.
"That's the thing. They do have a lot of confidence right now," Simmons said. "The chemistry between these kids is as good as it's been. Some of older kids like Czar and Dee Stewart came and watched us, and they agree. They like playing together. They get after each other a little bit, but they don't go overboard with it. They expect a lot out of each other, but they all know that it takes a whole group to get it done. I haven't seen the extra passing like this since I've been here. Sometimes they over pass it trying not to be selfish. That's good stuff. B.J. and Joe do a good job of breaking people down off the dribble and make those young kids feel good. Right now, we're having a good time with it. Attendance has been good. We've had a lot of our young kids that have gone to football practice and have come in the afternoon and worked with us."
Given their performance this summer, Simmons believes this year's team could be better from downtown than last year's squad that reached the state finals.
"I've told people this, and they've kind of looked at me funny when I first say it and then we talk about it and our coaches agree that if we continue to shoot the ball like we have right now over the course of the season, we think we'll shoot the ball better from the 3-point line percentage-wise than we did last year," Simmons said. "It's not that our guard play is just better than it was last year, it's that we don't have a lot of kids that it's their game to come down like Czar and Ryu did and pull up and fill it. The majority of the threes that we have shot have been off of pushing the ball and kicking it out to the shooter."
Although the season may be several months away, Simmons has been happy with the Wildcats' development.
"We've worked really hard this summer on trying to develop some of these younger kids," Simmons said. "A lot of them had 20 or 30-game AAU schedules this summer, so most of the kids we've got coming back with the exception of two or three of our seniors have played a lot of basketball over the summer."