22-23 Team Discussion

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Queens_NYC said:
He's one loss away from the likely end of his college career. I assume he was just being nostalgic.

He's projected to be a borderline lottery pick in 2022 NBA Draft.
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Ah, gotcha. Didn’t realize he was playing that well.
Saw a few games early to mid season but none
since.
 
Viktor Lakhin will stay in Clifton next season per his (very heartfelt) Instagram post/poem.

First piece of great news this offseason.
 
A little while back (few days to a week) Wes was on the radio with Mo Egger and said he expects a couple spots to open up and hopefully no more. Mason transferring was one of those spots, which mean one more spot is probably going to open up.

I'm assuming that spot is going to be DDJ or Saunders. It could also be MAW, but I doubt it. Saunders is probably waiting for DDJ to decide.

We seem to be looking for an veteran upgrade at PG/SG. But again, the exact player type we want in a guy likely hinges on if DDJ or Saunders is the guy who transfers. The other position we are looking at is C/PF, but that is probably going to be a younger guy who isn't guaranteed minutes.

I'm guessing we have a little while more to wait. The highest rated players (our top choices) are probably waiting to see if teams currently in the NCAA tournament want them and what the situation would be at other places. We aren't going to be all that appealing to a lot of top players given that we are still in the American and don't look like a lock for the NCAA tournament next year. It will be a matter of finding a player we like who also wants to come here and my guess is that will take a little while.
 
skyblade said:
A little while back (few days to a week) Wes was on the radio with Mo Egger and said he expects a couple spots to open up and hopefully no more. Mason transferring was one of those spots, which mean one more spot is probably going to open up.

I'm assuming that spot is going to be DDJ or Saunders. It could also be MAW, but I doubt it. Saunders is probably waiting for DDJ to decide.

We seem to be looking for an veteran upgrade at PG/SG. But again, the exact player type we want in a guy likely hinges on if DDJ or Saunders is the guy who transfers. The other position we are looking at is C/PF, but that is probably going to be a younger guy who isn't guaranteed minutes.

I'm guessing we have a little while more to wait. The highest rated players (our top choices) are probably waiting to see if teams currently in the NCAA tournament want them and what the situation would be at other places. We aren't going to be all that appealing to a lot of top players given that we are still in the American and don't look like a lock for the NCAA tournament next year. It will be a matter of finding a player we like who also wants to come here and my guess is that will take a little while.
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This is my biggest concern about finding an upgrade - especially in the frontcourt.

Koval/Ado graduating frees up ~30 minutes of playing time/game at the 5 spot but you'd expect for a good chunk of that to be allotted to returning players (Lakhin & Ody in particular).

With so little PT to guarantee, I'm not sure if we can even attract a player of Ado's pedigree over this coming offseason.

We're likely looking at a player like Koval again who is coming from a much lower level of competition and is only strong in a few areas (blocking shots & not turning the ball over) and is mediocre-to-average everywhere else.
 
Assuming DDJ leaves, we're currently 2 deep at every position, but we're also not great at any position. So while playing time might not be an easy sell, any good player can provide an upgrade.

I have no idea what to expect from the portal this year. I'd say every position, experience, and skill level are possibilities.
 
Saunders has entered the transfer portal, most likely means DDJ is staying.

I don't expect any more movement of players into the portal at this point. I also don't expect an upgrade at C/PF, I think Wes is happy with Ody/Lakhin and will be looking for a younger player to compete with them, but who could easily end up spending a lot of time on the bench and be a backup in case of injury.

I do expect us to go hard after a 1 to 2 year star transfer PG. I think DDJ, the transfer and MAW will average pretty much equal minutes as we run a 3 guard rotation. Whether or not we can get a star transfer is another matter, as I've said we don't seem to be in a great position to entice a top transfer.
 
Queens_NYC said:
This is my biggest concern about finding an upgrade - especially in the frontcourt.

Koval/Ado graduating frees up ~30 minutes of playing time/game at the 5 spot but you'd expect for a good chunk of that to be allotted to returning players (Lakhin & Ody in particular).

With so little PT to guarantee, I'm not sure if we can even attract a player of Ado's pedigree over this coming offseason.

We're likely looking at a player like Koval again who is coming from a much lower level of competition and is only strong in a few areas (blocking shots & not turning the ball over) and is mediocre-to-average everywhere else.
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Why do fans always scream this? No decent player in their minds going be afraid of Ody or Vik taking their minutes. I don't won't a player if he doesn't see he'll be best player on team!
 
If DDJ comes back it's only play PG. He was better for team when he chased rebounds and got others involved. Wes ran the worst offense I ever seen for DDJ.
 
TheLivingLegend said:
Miginiss?
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Somebody on another forum (247 I think) posted a McGinnis instagram PM in which McGinnis stated he was staying. I know random internet poster isn't the most reliable source of info, but he has no reason to make things up (that I know of). Also McGinnis would have to sit out a year if he transfers, so that gives him incentive to stay.
 
skyblade said:
I'm not shocked that they are leaving in a respectful manner giving thanks to the current coaching staff.
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It is interesting tho... I can't say I'm all that shocked.

Be curious where this goes. I think brannen a better xo's guy... Wes obviously a better players/people guy.
 
TheRealMick said:
If DDJ comes back it's only play PG. He was better for team when he chased rebounds and got others involved. Wes ran the worst offense I ever seen for DDJ.
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I agree. We can't do another year of MAW at PG and DDJ at SG. It makes for bad offense and bad defense. I would rather they share PG duties with only 40 minutes combined between them. MAW has shown he isn't a 20+ min caliber player at a high level. I'd rather run with Skillings than MAW again.

PG: DDJ/MAW
SG: Skillings/McGinnis
SF: Newman/Reed
PF: Davenport/Hensley
C: Ody/Vik

Any position can be upgraded with a transfer if we can find one. I'd prefer another 6'7"+ guy who can score inside and rebound (Like Payton Sparks or Kalu Ezikpe).
 
We were already a bad shooting team, and we just lost 2 of the 3 players who were above 33% from three. Davenport is the only decent shooter left. Hopefully Skillings or McGinnis can shoot. Or we need to add reliable interior scoring.
 
sedziobs said:
I agree. We can't do another year of MAW at PG and DDJ at SG. It makes for bad offense and bad defense. I would rather they share PG duties with only 40 minutes combined between them. MAW has shown he isn't a 20+ min caliber player at a high level. I'd rather run with Skillings than MAW again.

PG: DDJ/MAW
SG: Skillings/McGinnis
SF: Newman/Reed
PF: Davenport/Hensley
C: Ody/Vik

Any position can be upgraded with a transfer if we can find one. I'd prefer another 6'7"+ guy who can score inside and rebound (Like Payton Sparks or Kalu Ezikpe).
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I disagree that any position can be upgraded. Wes may not promise playing time, but I don't think he's going to recruit over a guy like Newman, Davenport or even Ody for that matter. Ody has two years left, he didn't transfer here to be put on the bench next year. I can see Wes bringing in competition (like Sparks, who looking at this numbers isn't that different from Ody/Lakhin), but not bringing in a senior whose just going to most of the minutes at center. Sets a bad precedent to bring a guy in and then not give him a chance.

I think next years minutes at least to start the season will look something like:
PG: Transfer (20 minutes)/MAW (20 minutes)
SG: DDJ (25 minutes)/Transfer (5 minutes)/Skillings or McGinnis (10 minutes)
SF: Newman (25 minutes)/Hensley (10 minutes)/Skillings (5 minutes)
PF: Davenport (20 minutes)/Hensley (10 minutes)/Reed, Ody or Lakhin (10 minutes)
C: Ody (15 minutes)/Lakhin (15 minutes)/Transfer (10 minutes)

MAW/DDJ isn't bad defensively, by pretty much all measures MAW was our best defensive guard and DDJ wasn't far behind. Over on 247 someone posted Synergy grades and both MAW and DDJ graded out as excellent.

The big issue is offense (where only Davenport graded out as better than good on Synergy). But if we get another guard to take some of the load and improvement from other guys, MAW may be able to fit in as a 3-and-D PG.
 
skyblade said:
I disagree that any position can be upgraded. Wes may not promise playing time, but I don't think he's going to recruit over a guy like Newman, Davenport or even Ody for that matter. Ody has two years left, he didn't transfer here to be put on the bench next year. I can see Wes bringing in competition (like Sparks, who looking at this numbers isn't that different from Ody/Lakhin), but not bringing in a senior whose just going to most of the minutes at center. Sets a bad precedent to bring a guy in and then not give him a chance.

I think next years minutes at least to start the season will look something like:
PG: Transfer (20 minutes)/MAW (20 minutes)
SG: DDJ (25 minutes)/Transfer (5 minutes)/Skillings or McGinnis (10 minutes)
SF: Newman (25 minutes)/Hensley (10 minutes)/Skillings (5 minutes)
PF: Davenport (20 minutes)/Hensley (10 minutes)/Reed, Ody or Lakhin (10 minutes)
C: Ody (15 minutes)/Lakhin (15 minutes)/Transfer (10 minutes)

MAW/DDJ isn't bad defensively, by pretty much all measures MAW was our best defensive guard and DDJ wasn't far behind. Over on 247 someone posted Synergy grades and both MAW and DDJ graded out as excellent.

The big issue is offense (where only Davenport graded out as better than good on Synergy). But if we get another guard to take some of the load and improvement from other guys, MAW may be able to fit in as a 3-and-D PG.
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I would want to set a precedent that we are going to play to win and we will bring in whatever players let us put the best possible team on the court. The draw for attracting/keeping players should be that they will play for a winner, not that they can start.

We have lots of tweener players that can be moved around. I don't see any spots where we couldn't bring in an upgrade and shuffle everyone else around to where everyone is still playing decent minutes.

I just can't agree on MAW/DDJ defense. MAW alone is good, especially on a PG. I think he struggles some against taller wings, so it becomes a problem when he's out there with DDJ. I think DDJ was just bad. Teams would iso him and Davenport especially in late game situations. We had no answer. I still don't really trust overall defense stats, preferring to stick to proxy stats like block+steal. But on EvanMiya DDJ was 8th on the team on defense. MAW was 4th.

Our defense was on a down trend all year long. In the last 10 games we were 116 on offense and 170 on defense. We didn't have a single AdjDef below 90 after Feb 1, and the only games below 95 were heavily adjusted against Houston. Without adjusting, we gave up at least 1.08 points per possession in every game except a pair against USF. Before Feb 1, we held every opponent except X and Memphis under 1 ppp. Defense is definitely an issue. And since we're running a liability out there in Davenport most of the game, we can't afford another one on the court at the same time. But we're trying to do that with DDJ (in my opinion).
 
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