AWJS

AWJS

AWJS is an acronym commonly used by the writers at Storming the Floor. It stands for Annoying White Jump Shooter. This may be one of the most redundant phrases in the English language.

The initial question is "Why are they so annoying?". The answer lies in the fact that the standard-issue AWJS has a very limited offensive arsenal. He is too slow to drive the lane, not strong enough to post up, and therefore rarely starts. The most common common exception being that an AWJS can almost always crack the starting five at Duke, where they tend to also display significant defensive skills (e.g. "floor slapping" or "taking the charge").

"Why are they so white?". Honestly, nobody knows. There are certainly other skin tones to be seen on hot-shooting bench jockeys, but it's typically a whiter shade of pale camping out behind the three-point line. We feel almost certain that Adolph Rupp is to blame for this.

"Why are they so jump-shooty?". As previously mentioned, the average AWJS lacks both the foot speed and the strength to exploit DI defenses. Assuming he also has no discernable point-guard skills, that leaves the three-point shot as the last refuge of the AWJS. To compound his annoyingness, he will almost always find his open shot as a result of constant motion in the offense. He takes advantage of double-teams inside, or runs his man through a series of picks until he's wiiiiide open.

The AWJS is a conundrum, however. You hate him when he's getting his twelve minutes a game at the expense of your team. But he's usually beloved by a home crowd, who will chant his name when their team's offense begins to get bogged down by zone defense. In fact, another accurate name for the AWJS would be Designated Zone Buster.

Examples

Dave Sieger: University of Oklahoma Forward 1985-1988. Sieger canned seven treys in the 1988 national championship game to nearly beat Kansas.
Robbie Hummell: Purdue
Jon Scheyer: Duke
Jimmy Baron: Rhode Island
J.J. Redick: Duke
Anyone with the surname Korver

Notable Exceptions

Reggie Miller: UCLA
Jodie Meeks: Kentucky

Links