Player Profile: Omar Calhoun

Looking Back: It couldn’t have been a worse season for Omar Calhoun. He was coming off a shoulder injury that limited him throughout the summer and he had to shake off the rust during the preseason. He looked really good in those early games but when it came to game time against better talent, he just couldn’t get anything positive going. With each brick, turnover, or defensive lapse, his confidence sank which led to even more mistakes. Whenever a shot did go in, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief that he was finally getting back on track, but he could never sustain any momentum and put two consecutive positive plays together. With each poor outing, Kromah and Samuel began eating into his minutes until he only played sparingly which didn’t give him much of an opportunity to break out of his awful slump. It all added up to a lost year for him and a major step back in his development.

The Good: It has to be his resilience. For a player to go through what he had last year and just continue to fight through it shows his heart and toughness. He has the tools, it is there on tape, but he just couldn’t get a break. He has a good handle, has the ability to knock down jumpers, and plays solid defense. He just needs the confidence that he can make a positive impact on the court.

The Bad: It is easy to lay blame on a wide variety of his game simply because he had a horrible season, but if there is one aspect of his game that he needs to get better at it is his jumper. It is quick but the release is all wrong and over his two seasons it has proved to be inconsistent and streaky. Now this is tough to ask of a player to do. To change something like their jumper is a long and arduous task and a gamble. There is no telling if it will truly work out for him, but right now, his release isn’t working and something has to change. He also needs to know how to make other contributions if he isn’t scoring. That means attacking the glass, causing havoc on defense, and getting to the line.

Looking Ahead: It can only go up from here, right? He is healthy and will have an entire off season to work on his game, get bigger and play, play, play. If he can figure out how to get to the line two or three times a game then it would drastically help his game. What he lacked is confidence and to see a few baskets drop for him early in the game might pay huge dividends for him. Hopefully he can get back on track because this upcoming team has a plethora of young and hungry guards that will be nipping at his heals for some playing time, but for now there is no telling which Calhoun will show up this upcoming season.