HBoroughJay wrote:Realhoops wrote:HBoroughJay wrote:Are we assuming we will attack the transfer wing market fairly hard? Next year could be pretty rough if we don’t get some help on the wing.
Will it? Are you assuming nobody in the roster will be as good as somebody you see out there in the transfer portal?
I am. Safe to say losing Ballock/Mahoney/Jefferson and relying strictly on AOC and Jones is not going to get us very far.
Not saying they aren’t solid pieces, but come on is there really an argument here?
Well . . . we are going to also add in the guys who were unable to play this year, and we are also going to add in the freshman -- including one of the best shooters in high school basketball this year in JC, plus Miller and Nembhard. So it's not just AOC and Jones. And Shareef has also shown an improvement in that area. And we haven't heard what Marcus is doing yet (likely gone, but we don't know that yet).
Obviously losing Ballock / Mahoney / Jefferson / Zegarowski suggests losing a lot. But it depends a lot on what you mean by "wing" in this -- are you looking for outside scoring? Ability to pull up and score attacking the paint? Defense?
I mean, Mahoney has been great defensively this year and has been solid in that pull up game, but he has not been very good from the outside. DJ doesn't even shoot from the outside very often. And Mitch is constantly being bashed in game threads for not taking enough shots. Do I think AOC, JC as a freshman, Rati, Shareef, etc., can all together replicate this year's outside threat -- actually, maybe yes. Not last year's, for sure.
If you mean getting into the paint and scoring, then it's primarily DJ that we are losing. Neither Mahoney nor Mitch actually does that much. Again -- can Jones, AOC, etc., replicate the scoring punch there? Maybe? Not sure it's a given that we can't be capable in that department.
And consider this -- what if Bishop decides to leave? If THAT happens, we suddenly have only Kalkbrenner to play the 5. So is it a given we don't need to consider a big 4 / small 5 at least? What if there's an injury to one of those two bigs? Who fills that role on the current roster?
I just don't know that it's a given that the current roster for next year is screaming for adding yet another wing over a bigger body, potentially. Maybe, but maybe not.
Plus, I'm holding out hope that Mitch might decide to pull a Nate Watson and play another year and he just hasn't said anything yet, and that Marcus decides that there is potential to keep the Jays highly competitive through the growth of all the young/new players next year so he stays, too. Really unlikely, I know -- but if . . . well then that changes the equation a lot too. Just a lot still up in the air right now, to me.
I think everyone is just completely ignoring the potential of Rati and Modestas, plus JC and Miller as scorers in the freshman class.