Do you rely on the frontcourter to determine the outcome?
Lots of variables in that, the speed and pace of the court, the
skill of the other players, front and back in the game, etc etc,
my general opionion is that I love to have a backcourter who can
throw winners, but I'll more often than not settle for one who
can keep the team in the game. There are of course exceptions,
Miami as it currently stands, I dont think there are that many
good backcourters on that roster, and I think that Irastorza is
well above all the rest of them (unless Elizigi has a hot basket,
when he's catching well I put him on about the same level).
Are some fronts/backs just bad doubles players?
I dont know about "bad" doubles players, but there are
some who are certainly much better singles players than they are
doubles players, and vice versa. Generally I think its the frontcourters
who are more of "singles" specialists, usually guys
who have a big right side for the chic chac who can play in the
middle of the court for singles and let the right side dictate
play.
Are there certain pairs that just can't do it?
Always, at every fronton, sometimes, its a matter of guys who
just dont fit together well style wise, a frontcourter who likes
to drift back to the middle of the court and a backcourter who
likes to sneak up for example (ie. see Rekalde/Cisneros and their
poor showing in the last Dania vs. Miami challenge). Sometimes
its just 2 guys who dont like each other very much and dont communicate
or just flat out dont want to be on the court with each other,
going back aways, Beheretche and Lance at Dania couldnt stand
each other, and it was obvious any time they were paired together.
There's also the reverse of that, players who fit very well together
and are better as a team than they were as individuals or with
other partners, for me, a good example of this was back when Lavell
was on the Dania roster, he and Beitia were both mediocre to bad
late gamers at the time, but both players threw very hard, and
were better when a point was played at a fast pace, when they
played together they were both throwing smoke all the time, and
they increased the pace of points to their liking, made alot of
nice scores on those 2 as a team.
Do some backs take control, to the detriment of the team?
Yes, and some of them drive me crazy doing it, particularly backcourters
who like to play with their rebote and let alot of bad balls over
their head. Some backcourters, because of lack of power or offense,
let themselves get pinned along the back wall in an endless cycle
of them throwing back shots that dont get past the frontcourter,
or loopy left sides that end up in easy pop up rebotes, this happens
to even backcourters who I consider good, Osa at Dania for example.
Again, there is a flip side, the rare backcourter who can dictate
play with his power and shotmaking ability, for my money, Atain,
when he was healthy, was the best Ive seen at this.
Who are the great doubles players? Why?
Well, with the exception of some singles specialists who live
off of their big serve, generally speaking the great doubles players
are also the great singles players. The only guy who really comes
to my mind as a great doubles player who also isnt at least a
very good singles player right now is Arregui, obviously in his
case, thats because singles takes away his biggest weapon, which
is the stolen serve. A great serve stealer is obviously a very
nice quality to have in a great doubles front. Among backs, I
like the backs who play smart, nothing drives me crazier than
a back trying to throw a kill shot at a terrible time in a doubles
point that I need to go my way to cash. In a back, I like the
guys who make the catches and keep the ball on the other backcourter,
guys who throw alot of cut offs to the front or who continually
throw easy pop up rebos wont see that much of my money riding
with them.
As far as the part of this thread dealing with Miguel, I think
his success in singles may be as much about how bad the rest of
the crop in Dania's game 2 is rather than how good Miguel's singles
game is. He's not a bad singles player, but I dont see alot about
his game that Id call particularly outstanding for singles either.
