Marcus Georges-Hunt Must Find the Balance Between Scorer and Playmaker

The biggest takeaway from Georgia Tech’s 80-73 win over the Georgia Bulldogs was that Marcus Georges-Hunt has the potential to put together a huge season this year.

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You might have thought he was going to have to be a huge scorer this season while Tech figured out where their offense was going to come from.

But after seeing how Charles Mitchell was able to control the block area and how Quinton Stephens looked confident with his shooting stroke versus UGA, Georges-Hunt might be able to take on a role that is even more important than being a big-time scorer.
The role of being a playmaker.

There is a difference between being a scorer and being a playmaker when it comes to basketball.

We all know what a big-time college scorer looks like. Jimmer Fredette, Doug McDermott, Kemba Walker– these players filled the hoop up with shots from all over.

Georges-Hunt’s game looks as though he has the ability to create buckets for the players around him ad still get his points with his skillset.

Marcus Georges-Hunt showed that he has an ability to drive the lane and penetrate while making defenses collapse in the process.

That ability is going to create the openings to make interior passes to post players like Charles Mitchell, Demarco Cox and Robert Sampson. It will also make opportunities for kickouts to the perimeter for open shooters.

Of course, he will also be able to look for his offense when he needs to off of penetration, however, a big part of him getting points off of his penetration will be drawing fouls and knocking down free throws.

Being able to get to the line for five attempts against UGA was a thing of beauty. The 1 of 5 shooting left a little to be desired.

This is not to criticize his free throw shooting because you can bet the farm he shot 100 free throws a day after that performance–but hitting three or four of those would have given him 14 or 15 points.

The four rebounds were strong, and there is no reason to believe that he can’t grab four or five boards per contest.

Where MGH might have an issue is finding the balance between being the all-around playmaker and putting on his scoring hat.

There are going to be games where he is going to have to find his offense early and often because teammates might be in foul trouble or, he may also have a favorable matchup where he can take advantage of the player that is checking him.

That is going to be where that old cliché line, “letting the game come to him”, will come into play.

The bottom line is this. Marcus Georges-Hunt’s role on this year’s edition of Yellow Jackets basketball should be similar to the role that ACC fans saw Lamar Patterson play with the Pitt Panthers last season.

Patterson was able to drop 17 points, five rebounds and four assists on the stat sheet for the Panthers.

No one is saying that he should put up that many points, but MGH should be able to bring one of the better all-around games to the floor in the ACC.

Points, rebounding and assists should be stuffed on the stat sheet by the time a game is finished. Averages of 14 points, five rebounds, and five assists are not out of the question at all.

Those numbers are very possible and will make Georgia Tech a very tough team to beat all year long. They could possibly make Marcus Georges-Hunt an All-ACC performer.