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Let's build out the rotation for next year

puertorricane said:
How many scholarships do we have, can we add more than one transfer?
I think wong returns and becomes the team leader along with Miller.
We get Curbelo as a transfer and add Reneau to an already talented class.


PG Curbelo/Joseph/Filippos
SG Wong/Beverly/Poplar
SF Miller/Jakai/Jovanovich/Watson
PF Walker/Casey
C Aire/Reneau
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If the right one comes along, they will make space
 
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hotshot said:
Can't disagree but ... I have NOT given up on Walker yet. He came to the game late, iirc, and with more expected from him next season, he may yet rise to the occasion.

Anyone notice Walker was voted "Sixth Man of the Year" in the ACC? Guess some others value him a bit more highly than we tend to do.
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Walker showed flashes again this season. But it seems like every time he turns the corner, he reverts back and has a stretch of terrible games. I still have hope this staff can get him to improve. Part of the issue is he's a tweener, though. He's too small to be an effective 4, and he's too bad of a shooter to be a 3. He also doesn't have a good feel for the game. But let's hope L and co can work wonders with him over the offseason.
 
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hotshot said:
Can't disagree but ... I have NOT given up on Walker yet. He came to the game late, iirc, and with more expected from him next season, he may yet rise to the occasion.

Anyone notice Walker was voted "Sixth Man of the Year" in the ACC? Guess some others value him a bit more highly than we tend to do.
Click to expand...
Not sure where you got that info but Walker was not the 6th man of the year. It was Cleveland from FSU. Walker nominally tied for second but that was with 6 votes while Cleveland had 52 votes

theacc.com

ACC Unveils 2021-22 Men’s Basketball Awards

Wake Forest graduate forward Alondes Williams has been chosen as the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and Demon Deacons head coach Steve Forbes is the ACC Coach of the Year, highlighting the 2021-22 All-ACC Men’s Basketball Team and award winners.
theacc.com theacc.com
 
puertorricane said:
How many scholarships do we have, can we add more than one transfer?
I think wong returns and becomes the team leader along with Miller.
We get Curbelo as a transfer and add Reneau to an already talented class.


PG Curbelo/Joseph/Filippos
SG Wong/Beverly/Poplar
SF Miller/Jakai/Jovanovich/Watson
PF Walker/Casey
C Aire/Reneau
Click to expand...
One if Gak and Wong come back next year. Both are expected to go pro, which would mean up to three scholarships available.


I'd love for us to get Reneau & Kugel and a transfer. If we can't get both, then get two transfers. Another BIG, a shooter/scorer, or another PG.
 
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genxcane said:
Not sure where you got that info but Walker was not the 6th man of the year. It was Cleveland from FSU. Walker nominally tied for second but that was with 6 votes while Cleveland had 52 votes

theacc.com

ACC Unveils 2021-22 Men’s Basketball Awards

Wake Forest graduate forward Alondes Williams has been chosen as the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and Demon Deacons head coach Steve Forbes is the ACC Coach of the Year, highlighting the 2021-22 All-ACC Men’s Basketball Team and award winners.
theacc.com theacc.com
Click to expand...
Thought I heard Packer and Durham say that. Maybe he was a nominee?
 
Gables Canes said:
Walker showed flashes again this season. But it seems like every time he turns the corner, he reverts back and has a stretch of terrible games. I still have hope this staff can get him to improve. Part of the issue is he's a tweener, though. He's too small to be an effective 4, and he's too bad of a shooter to be a 3. He also doesn't have a good feel for the game. But let's hope L and co can work wonders with him over the offseason.
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He thinks he's a three point marksman but numbers say otherwise. He CAN run, jump and jam. At 6'9, would love to see him commit more to hitting the offensive glass. Rebounding is about positioning. I'd like to think our staff can clarify his role better (forget the 3 point shooting) and work with him on getting better leverage inside.
 
hotshot said:
Thought I heard Packer and Durham say that. Maybe he was a nominee?
Click to expand...
Yeah, he was among those receiving votes but it was one clear winner and a bunch of people clustered way behind the winner. Honestly I was surprised to see that but I looked it up after your comment. He is a quality guy to have on the team but needs a lot of work on his shot. Like others said here, good guy off the bench.
 
Gables Canes said:
Walker showed flashes again this season. But it seems like every time he turns the corner, he reverts back and has a stretch of terrible games. I still have hope this staff can get him to improve. Part of the issue is he's a tweener, though. He's too small to be an effective 4, and he's too bad of a shooter to be a 3. He also doesn't have a good feel for the game. But let's hope L and co can work wonders with him over the offseason.
Click to expand...

Teaching him how to dribble wouldn't hurt
 
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Kam impressed me with his growth. 2 years ago he was just a jag to me. He played himself into a possible second round selection.

My hope is that Jordan, Walker and Wong can level up next year(If Wong comes back) in the same manner. Walker has the athleticism to be pretty good.

We must get a pg from the portal. I've got to say, I wasn't impressed with Poplar or Joseph. These are some average looking players.
 
ALLoverCANE said:
"I don't know too many people ever that has regretted staying in school another year" is such a fan thing to say lol.

A few guys on the football team that I bet regretted it: Jaquan Johnson, Mike Jackson, Mike Pinckney, maybe even Shaq Quarterman. All of those guys came back, the team had a bad season, and they didn't improve their draft stock.

I think Wong should come back, but I think it's pretty biased to think there's never any risk to coming back to school, vs. leaving when your stock is at its highest (even if it's not that high).
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I hope he comes back selfishly, but i think he should go try to play in Europe and make some money. I don't think he's an NBA player and to come back to try to improve to be a d-league guy is pointless. Go work on your game while you get paid somewhere in Europe.
 
Walker needs to watch a lot of film from Waardenburg and try to take over that role.
Lots of screeining up top for the guards, the ocassional open three, hit the offensive and defensive glass.
And with his athletic abilitic he can become an even better shot blocker.
 
A key factor in rotation/roster makeup will be what Coach L decides to do schematically. If he decides to stick with the 5-out on offense bc of how difficult it was to defend all year long, then I see Beverly having an important role. Beverly is elite in transition, an excellent finisher at the rim, and very opportunistic in forcing steals on defense.

Personally, I would love to see us go after a traditional big in the transfer portal who is willing to run the floor which would give us diversity schematically on offense. Having that traditional big would allow us to switch bw 1-3-1, 4 out, and 5 out. We lost games this season bc of how one-dimensional we were scheme-wise on offense. You're gonna have off-nights shooting the ball and having a guy under the rim who you can dump it to and let him go to work takes a lot of pressure off guards whose shots aren't hitting.

Wong, Miller, Beverly should start. Transfer portal targets should be a 5-man, a stretch-4 who can challenge and compete with Walker for minutes, and a true facilitating PG who can control pace of game like we've had in years past with Larkin, Rodriguez, and Moore, all of whom were transfers. I trust Coach L's evals at that position.
 
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CliftonCane said:
A key factor in rotation/roster makeup will be what Coach L decides to do schematically. If he decides to stick with the 5-out on offense bc of how difficult it was to defend all year long, then I see Beverly having an important role. Beverly is elite in transition, an excellent finisher at the rim, and very opportunistic in forcing steals on defense.

Personally, I would love to see us go after a traditional big in the transfer portal who is willing to run the floor which would give us diversity schematically on offense. Having that traditional big would allow us to switch bw 1-3-1, 4 out, and 5 out. We lost games this season bc of how one-dimensional we were scheme-wise on offense. You're gonna have off-nights shooting the ball and having a guy under the rim who you can dump it to and let him go to work takes a lot of pressure off guards whose shots aren't hitting.

Wong, Miller, Beverly should start. Transfer portal targets should be a 5-man, a stretch-4 who can challenge and compete with Walker for minutes, and a true facilitating PG who can control pace of game like we've had in years past with Larkin, Rodriguez, and Moore, all of whom were transfers. I trust Coach L's evals at that position.
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I highly doubt we run the same offense next given we'll have more size and we lack a big with the passing skills that Sam has
 
puertorricane said:
Walker needs to watch a lot of film from Waardenburg and try to take over that role.
Lots of screeining up top for the guards, the ocassional open three, hit the offensive and defensive glass.
And with his athletic abilitic he can become an even better shot blocker.
Click to expand...
The best part of Waardenburg's game is his passing out of the top of the key once we run pick and rolls or fake handoffs. We can run so many back cuts cause he can pass perfectly to the guys. But i haven't seen a single game where I felt Walker could do that kind of job passing. Not to mention the shoting, which I always felt Sam did too little of for a guy who shot pretty well.
 
I think L said we're looking to the portal for 3 guys. I don't know what that means about Wong.
 
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Centers
---Favour Aire - INCOMING - Class of 22

Forwards
---Deng Gak - Class of 17
---Anthony Walker - Class of 19
---AJ Casey - INCOMING - Class of 22
---Danilo Jovanovich - INCOMING - Class of 22
---Christian Watson - INCOMING - Class of 22

Guards
---Jordan Miller - TRANSFER - Class of 18
---Isaiah Wong - Class of 19
---Harlond Beverly - Class of 19
---Wooga Poplar - Class of 21
---Bensley Joseph - Class of 21
---Jakai Robinson - Class of 21

One definite spot, perhaps more (and I'm not going to limit the conversation to Wong/Gak, as others could transfer out).

1. IF IF IF everyone came back, and you only could take 1 from the Portal, I think you have to prioritize PG. While Miller/Wong/Beverly can handle the ball, they are all primarily scorers. Neither Poplar nor Joseph was spectacular in Year 1, so you would prefer to have a steady, experienced guy at PG. Yes, you flex Gak to C at times (he IS listed as a F on our roster, that's why I put him where I put him), so this team would play the same basic style next year as we had this year. UNBELIEVABLY young at the F spot, as Jakai Robinson barely played and 3/4 of our incoming class are forwards.

2. IF Gak leaves, you have room for a PG and you would think you'd have to go PF as well, because you have Anthony Walker and then 3 true freshmen.

3. IF Wong and Gak leave, you have to go PG, PF, and then a G/F who can score a lot of points. I'm not saying you wouldn't get points out of the starting combo of Miller/Beverly, but none of the guys from 2021 have shown the ability to score points yet.

All of this being said, I really don't know where Wooga or Jakai stand (mentally) with this past year. The team succeeded but they didn't play much. I'd definitely see Bensley returning.

Just because of numbers, and years of experience, I think you have to prioritize a PG first (we could live without a great center under our current system), a PF who could flex up to C occasionally, and then a wing G/F who can fill the basket.
 
So us the absolute max 13 scholarships? Really want Wong to come back. Feels like they need a transfer C and PG but would love to somehow get Reneau as well...
 
gacaneaddict said:
I wish Wong would come back.

First he can get his degree more than likely.

Second you only get college ball once, and when it's over it is over. I don't know too many people ever that has regretted staying in school another year.

Third, with him back and adding a talented PG to run offense he will get even more looks to score possibly make another tourney run.

Fourth improve as a player. He is currently a 6'3 Guard who doesnt shoot the 3 that well.
He could really work on his shot this off-season try to get to 34-37% from 3.
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Wong has 3 years in, odds are he's extremely close to finishing as is, due to guys taking summer classes.
 
chris2183l said:
So us the absolute max 13 scholarships? Really want Wong to come back. Feels like they need a transfer C and PG but would love to somehow get Reneau as well...
Click to expand...


Yes. 13 is the cap.

If Wong has the year (next year) that McGusty had, it will have been well worth it to return.

Currently, I don't see him getting drafted. Sure, D-League, overseas, etc. But if he gets some NIL money at UM, he offsets that salary situation. I tend to believe that guys spending one more year at a Power 5/returning Elite 8 team would have a better shot of impressing than guys who spend a year in the D-League would, at least on a statistical/numerical basis. There have been a couple of D-Leaguers who have hit the lottery, but it's far more likely to get drafted with another year in college ball.
 
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