Cardinal coach wants da Silva to get greedier
College basketball players work just about every day on shooting, dribbling, rebounding, passing, defense — the fundamentals of the game. But what about intensity? Is it something they can practice and develop?
Yes, says Stanford head coach Jerod Haase, an extremely intense player when he was at Cal and Kansas. And he’d like one of his best players, sophomore forward Oscar da Silva, to play with more consistent fervor. To practice intensity.
“He’s developing (his intensity), and he understands how important it is,” Haase said. “It’s like how you would work on improving your shot or your dribbling or your knowledge of the game. It’s something that has to be addressed. If I need to yell and scream at him a little bit more, I can do it.”
Da Silva agrees it’s something he needs to work on — “to be aggressive and bring some things to the table for our team throughout the entire game. That’s what I’m struggling with a little bit right now.”
In many games, the 6-foot-9 German seems content to let forward KZ Okpala and point guard Daejon Davis take the offensive initiative, either by shooting from the perimeter or driving to the hoop. Haase wants da Silva to get greedy.
“Until he has a consistency about his approach, his attitude and a consistency to his greediness, he’s not going to have a consistent performance,” he said. Haase wants him to have “more fire in his belly.”
Thursday night in Seattle would be a fine time to stoke that fire. Coming off their first Pac-12 win, against Arizona State, the Cardinal (8-8, 1-3) face Washington (12-4, 3-0) and its formidable 2-3 zone defense. The Huskies are 8-0 at home.
Getting off to a strong start would be especially important for da Silva. He’s fourth on the team in scoring at 10 points per game and second in rebounds (6.2 per game) — numbers that are steadily improving. Two-thirds of his points come in the second half.
“That’s probably not a great thing, to be honest,” he said. “It shows I need to come out more aggressive” from the tip-off. “I definitely want to score in both halves and score more.”
That ties in with the issue of consistent intensity. Da Silva had just two points and four rebounds in a foul-hampered performance Jan. 6 against USC. Against Arizona State two games later, he had 21 points (on 9-for-11 shooting) and 10 rebounds.
Da Silva would love to play for Germany in the 2024 Olympics and play in the NBA. He ticks off the German players in the NBA. Beyond Dirk Nowitzki, whose stellar 21-year career in Dallas is winding down, he pointed to Moritz Wagner and Isaac Bonga of the Lakers, Daniel Theis of the Celtics, Maxi Kleber of the Mavericks, Isaiah Hartenstein of the Rockets and Dennis Schroder of the Thunder.
To join them someday, da Silva knows he needs to diversify his offense beyond his three-point shooting. “We talk about losing himself in the game,” Haase said. “Don’t get caught up on if the three-point shot goes in or not. It’s not just threes. It’s getting the excitement on the defensive end, and the offense will start to click.”
That said, da Silva may need to hit some threes against the Huskies’ vaunted defense, spearheaded by 6-5 guard Matisse Thybulle, last year’s Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
Da Silva said he enjoys playing at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle. “It’s really loud,” he said. “It gets you going. I’m convinced we can beat that team if we don’t turn the ball over and we get good shots.”