I know it's early and we have plenty of this season left. But I'm sitting here thinking of how we can build on the positives we're seeing while addressing the major weaknesses of this roster. Roster construction is a big part of the problem we've had this year and we've got to do better next year. We absolutely can't have only one PG. We've got to be able to have 2 or 3 good to great shooters on the court at all times. We need a couple of reliable go to scorers more than we need 10 equal guys. And with it looking like we're not going to get any impact freshmen (or maybe any freshmen at all), we're going to need to rely on some substantial continuity along with very targeted portal additions. Let's say we definitely lose Quaintance along with Oweh and Aberdeen. I would also let Garrison walk away unless he takes a pay cut - he's not worth what he costs. And I'd let Dioubate walk away, he's just not a good fit for Pope and for what we need on the roster. That frees up a lot of money.
Take that available money and spend whatever we have to on two main targets - a stud scorer to replace Oweh (who can shoot) and a stud stretch 4. I'd bring back Lowe instead of trying to go for THREE homeruns in the portal, but bring in a backup point guard out of the portal. Start Lowe, Portal stud, Kam, Portal stud, and Moreno. Your backups are Portal pg, Chandler, Noah, Jelavic, Garrison/Portal C. Hawthorne and Potter add depth. If JJ will come back cheap enough, do it, but don't spend too much when we can't count on him to back up the PG and is at best 2nd reserve wing behind Chandler.
Lowe with 3 shooters/scorers around him can be good enough at point, and I'm really high on Moreno's future. Kam can be a very good role player starter. The key here is we need two portal additions to be our two best players. That's the only way I see that this works, and to me it's worth it to go all in on getting those 2 guys and then budget out what you have left. What I don't want to see is lots of guys leaving and us again trying to piece together an entire team out of the portal without any true studs. Give up on the broad distribution of minutes and play a few great players as much as they can handle. Sell them this in the recruiting pitch - see how much Oweh and Aberdeen are playing now? That's your role, 30+ mpg, go to guys on offense. A pass first pg to set you up and role players to spot up from three around you.
Thoughts? Can we make this work? Can we keep together enough of this roster to have the continuity we need?
Take that available money and spend whatever we have to on two main targets - a stud scorer to replace Oweh (who can shoot) and a stud stretch 4. I'd bring back Lowe instead of trying to go for THREE homeruns in the portal, but bring in a backup point guard out of the portal. Start Lowe, Portal stud, Kam, Portal stud, and Moreno. Your backups are Portal pg, Chandler, Noah, Jelavic, Garrison/Portal C. Hawthorne and Potter add depth. If JJ will come back cheap enough, do it, but don't spend too much when we can't count on him to back up the PG and is at best 2nd reserve wing behind Chandler.
Lowe with 3 shooters/scorers around him can be good enough at point, and I'm really high on Moreno's future. Kam can be a very good role player starter. The key here is we need two portal additions to be our two best players. That's the only way I see that this works, and to me it's worth it to go all in on getting those 2 guys and then budget out what you have left. What I don't want to see is lots of guys leaving and us again trying to piece together an entire team out of the portal without any true studs. Give up on the broad distribution of minutes and play a few great players as much as they can handle. Sell them this in the recruiting pitch - see how much Oweh and Aberdeen are playing now? That's your role, 30+ mpg, go to guys on offense. A pass first pg to set you up and role players to spot up from three around you.
Thoughts? Can we make this work? Can we keep together enough of this roster to have the continuity we need?
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