Another step forward?
Malik Reneau’s development from his freshman to sophomore seasons was one of the lone positives in an otherwise rocky season for Indiana. Alongside dynamic big man Kel’el Ware, Reneau developed as a passer, defender, and finisher in the paint last year.
It’s clear that neither Reneau nor his coach Mike Woodson were content with the progress he’s made so far. Physically speaking, Reneau appears to be in the best shape of his life, lean but imposing enough not to try to back down in the paint.
What’s less clear is just how much time he’ll be spending in the paint this season. His new front court partner, Oumar Ballo, is not the kind of stretch center that Reneau had next to him last year in Ware.
While Ballo won’t demand as many paint touches as Ware did, he doesn’t have any perimeter game to speak of, so the paint could get crowded with the two of them out there.
Concerning as this may sound given Indiana’s recent spacing issues, there are a number of reasons to think that Woodson is not counting on such a post-centric offense.
First of all, he’s been saying since the Spring that he envisions Reneau doing “some things differently this year”. Ahead of the Tennessee scrimmage, Woodson reiterated that he wanted Reneau to take more 3-pointers to open things up while Ballo is on the floor.
Reneau wasn’t a high volume shooter from deep last year, but made 33.3% of his 45 attempts, and showed some flashes, including going 2-4 from 3-point range against Kansas. With better shooters around him and less pressure to create offense for himself, we could see both his percentage and attempt numbers go up.
Secondly, Woodson has expressed that Reneau and Ballo may not share the floor together as often as perceived this year.
There’s also Reneau’s occasional inability to stay on the floor due to foul trouble. In his increased role last season, Reneau fouled out six times, with increasing frequency towards the end of the season.
Logistically speaking, Woodson is not going to be able to play two bigs as much as he has in the last two seasons for the reasons listed above. Unless Langdon Hatton is ready for a bigger role than I anticipate, Reneau and Ballo will both see a good amount of run at the center spot.
This puts Reneau in an interesting position where he’ll see more center minutes than he has before – even as Ware’s primary backup, he only saw 6% of the center minutes for Indiana last year – while also being expected to be more of a presence on the perimeter.
Statistically speaking, I still see Reneau getting most of his points in the paint, whether they come off drives from the perimeter or in the minutes when Ballo is on the bench. I still think we see a higher volume of 3-pointers from him this year though, especially since it would help increase his pro potential exponentially if he developed into a true perimeter player.
When it comes to his perimeter play, Reneau’s passing has to be accounted for. He formed a tandem with Ware last year and spent plenty of time looking for ways to get the ball to his frontcourt running mate.
If that passing takes a jump, Reneau will open up the floor in a way that lifts the offensive ceiling even higher.
The good news is that Reneau will not be as central to the offense as he was last year as he takes time to adjust to this new role. There are guards around him that can create from the perimeter if he struggles to, and Ballo will clean up the glass on both ends for big chunks of the game.
If Reneau can take another leap in his development, this is the ideal scenario for his development. He won’t be depended on as much, allowing him to develop his perimeter play in a complimentary role rather than as a focal point.
Let’s hope he can be the stretch four Woodson seems to want him to be.