Lineup

[OttoinGrotto]

Jackson?

Buddy's real name.

We're rolling with it. It's a thing now.

 

[Ceerqqq]

The big question is who is our 6th man Quincy or griff?

I'd say that if Quincy demonstrates he can reliably make open threes at like a 35% rate, he might very well start. JB wants that 3rd 3pt shooter in the lineup at crunch time.

 

[orangedave]

Buddy's real name.

We're rolling with it. It's a thing now.

Seems pretty silly to me when the whole basketball universe knows him as Buddy. Should we also refer to his dad as James Arthur?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Seems pretty silly to me when the whole basketball universe knows him as Buddy. Should we also refer to his dad as James Arthur?

Yes.

The silliness is the purpose.

 

[721Comstock]

Yes.

The silliness is the purpose.

Theodore “Mookie” Jones concurs.

As does Antonio “Scoop” Jardine.

Now we have a quorum.

 

[jgeorge322]

Seems pretty silly to me when the whole basketball universe knows him as Buddy. Should we also refer to his dad as James Arthur?

Thats a poor analogy because everyone would know exactly who you are talking about

 

[billsin01]

I'd say that if Quincy demonstrates he can reliably make open threes at like a 35% rate, he might very well start. JB wants that 3rd 3pt shooter in the lineup at crunch time.

I'm with you and think Guerrier could potentially be a decent threat from deep based on what his high school film suggested, but I don't know that we'll see that this year. Dude made 3 threes total last year (at a 12.5% clip) and shot under 61% from the line. Beyond that, I don't have his shot distribution from last season, but I'm going to venture a guess that the vast majority of his field goals came in the paint.

who knows what difference a year can make, particularly if he is healthy now, but how reliable he is from three seems to be a pretty big *if* based on what we saw.

 

[Sherman20]

its the same story every offseason... last year the talk was guerrier was a one and done. i don't think he scored outside of the paint the entire year. offseason breeds optimism.

On the other hand, lots of people were excited about JG3 and his potential immediate impact, and if anything he exceeded expectations. So it cuts both ways. Lydon is another one that many people thought could be an immediate contributor (and some people doubted him) but he also exceeded exceptions.

 

[pfister1]

its the same story every offseason... last year the talk was guerrier was a one and done. i don't think he scored outside of the paint the entire year. offseason breeds optimism.

Especially true when the prior season ended with a win.

 

[pfister1]

Seems pretty silly to me when the whole basketball universe knows him as Buddy. Should we also refer to his dad as James Arthur?

And yet CJ came to be known as Thickburger and Cooney was Shaky Potatoes.

 

[jordoo]

And yet CJ came to be known as Thickburger and Cooney was Shaky Potatoes.

Shaky potatoes was probably my favorite board nickname. Unfortunately for Trevor he started out shooting so well that year with Ennis that he was likely pressuring himself to live up to unrealistic expectations. Still he played hard and rounded himself into a players that could contribute even when the three ball wasn’t falling.

There were also multiple games in his career where the ACC announcers couldn’t seem to figure out what his name was and called him three or four different variations in the same game.

 

[Niastri]

Ditto.

Q will definitely get at least 20 mins a game, somehow, but Marek starts, and probably also still plays more 5 than any of us would prefer.

When we play teams with big goofy centers who can overpower Sidibe anyway, I hope the counter is Dolezaj at center. He is very good at drawing fouls and could do more damage than he gives up when such big goofy centers try to guard him.

The big problem is when he has to play center for extended stretches when we have literally no other options... That won't be the case this year.

Give Marek a few possessions to see how it goes. If it didn't work, sub in one of the other backup centers.

Our best five might be Richmond, Boeheim, Griffin. Guerrier and Dolezaj, even if it means Marek out of position, again.

 

[General20]

When we play teams with big goofy centers who can overpower Sidibe anyway, I hope the counter is Dolezaj at center. He is very good at drawing fouls and could do more damage than he gives up when such big goofy centers try to guard him.

The big problem is when he has to play center for extended stretches when we have literally no other options... That won't be the case this year.

Give Marek a few possessions to see how it goes. If it didn't work, sub in one of the other backup centers.

Our best five might be Richmond, Boeheim, Griffin. Guerrier and Dolezaj, even if it means Marek out of position, again.

That's a really interesting line up. I'd love to see it in select spots (and I think we will).

I agree with you that the ability to play Marek at the 5 is a positive so long as Boeheim can pick and choose the times we wants to use that option.

It was only a negative last year because we had to play Marek at the 5 for half (sometimes three-quarters) of the game against every opponent including the ones well equipped to exploit the mismatch.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Seems pretty silly to me when the whole basketball universe knows him as Buddy. Should we also refer to his dad as James Arthur?

You'd prefer JA?

 

[Todoubled23]

Shaky potatoes was probably my favorite board nickname. Unfortunately for Trevor he started out shooting so well that year with Ennis that he was likely pressuring himself to live up to unrealistic expectations. Still he played hard and rounded himself into a players that could contribute even when the three ball wasn’t falling.

There were also multiple games in his career where the ACC announcers couldn’t seem to figure out what his name was and called him three or four different variations in the same game.

legendary when those potatoes held up

 

[althea]

Shaky potatoes was probably my favorite board nickname. Unfortunately for Trevor he started out shooting so well that year with Ennis that he was likely pressuring himself to live up to unrealistic expectations. Still he played hard and rounded himself into a players that could contribute even when the three ball wasn’t falling.

There were also multiple games in his career where the ACC announcers couldn’t seem to figure out what his name was and called him three or four different variations in the same game.

The genius of the name "Shaky Potatoes" was it's complete lack of any discernible meaning. No metaphorical meaning, no irony, nada. Just 2 random everyday words thrown together to create a masterpiece.

 

[Niastri]

You'd prefer JA?

Ja, baby, Ja

 

[reedny]

This looks close to what I think it’ll be. I believe Girard is gonna lose minutes to Richmond as the season wears on because we really need a player who can attack the rim (we already have shooters). Girard probably averages 25 and Kadary 20. I think Griffin and Guerrier will be closer in minutes played. I’d say 30 for Griffin and 25 for Quincy.

I think Jesse Edwards or Frank Anselem could maybe get 5-8 mpg but probably not in many of the big games, barring Sid or a Marek foul trouble.

Agree Girard's minutes will come down - Richmond doesn't get sped up and gives us an immediate threat to get to the rim or dime one of our shooters. I wouldn't even be surprised to see a crazy small-ball lineup of Kadary, JG3, Buddy, Griffin and Merek.

But back to reality of the ACC, I have a different take at forward. The whole point of bringing in Anselem is to have a physically-capable guy to spell Sidibe so that Merek doesn't have to play OOP . Sure he can play the middle in spots. But the majority of the time in conference games we'll need him at PF and not sitting on the bench with 4 fouls. Guerrier is a capable rebounder, but since he's limited offensively I don't see his minutes ballooning. At SF, I expect Griffin to be a good player. But a healthy Bras brings more size and good outside shooting - assuming his legs are healthy enough to play defense and rebound. With that assumption this is how I see it:

Guard Rotation: JG3 30; Buddy 33; Kadary 17.
Forward Rotation: Merek 28-Guerrier 18; Griffin 25-Bras 9
Center: Sid 27; Anselem 13

 

[721Comstock]

Agree Girard's minutes will come down - Richmond doesn't get sped up and gives us an immediate threat to get to the rim or dime one of our shooters. I wouldn't even be surprised to see a crazy small-ball lineup of Kadary, JG3, Buddy, Griffin and Merek.

But back to reality of the ACC, I have a different take at forward. The whole point of bringing in Anselem is to have a physically-capable guy to spell Sidibe so that Merek doesn't have to play OOP . Sure he can play the middle in spots. But the majority of the time in conference games we'll need him at PF and not sitting on the bench with 4 fouls. Guerrier is a capable rebounder, but since he's limited offensively I don't see his minutes ballooning. At SF, I expect Griffin to be a good player. But a healthy Bras brings more size and good outside shooting - assuming his legs are healthy enough to play defense and rebound. With that assumption this is how I see it:

Guard Rotation: JG3 30; Buddy 33; Kadary 17.
Forward Rotation: Merek 28-Guerrier 18; Griffin 25-Bras 9
Center: Sid 27; Anselem 13

I *heart* the idea of Earl - if healthy.
That said - you know how Boeheim do.

Marek averaged 33+ mins last year, which was actually limited by his foul troubles.
Barring injury, a Senior Marek is gonna avg 30+ (but 28 isn't worlds off from that)

Q was limited by injury (and not being able to buy a shot early), and still averaged 20+/game as a Frosh.
Assuming his rehab goes well, he's another guy I don't see getting fewer minutes (but again, 18 isn't far off)

Eli basically played All The Minutes last year, only limited by injury for a few games.
While Griffin isn't gonna average ~38 like Eli did, he'll almost certainly also be north of 30.

So, my math for the Forwards looks more like 30/20/30/0.
Sorry Earl.
You know (personally) how Boeheim do.

I do agree that I would LOVE to see Kadary carve out 12-17 mins from the G spots.
(A little) less is more from Joe & Jackson.

 

[reedny]

I *heart* the idea of Earl - if healthy.
That said - you know how Boeheim do.

Marek averaged 33+ mins last year, which was actually limited by his foul troubles.
Barring injury, a Senior Marek is gonna avg 30+ (but 28 isn't worlds off from that)

Q was limited by injury (and not being able to buy a shot early), and still averaged 20+/game as a Frosh.
Assuming his rehab goes well, he's another guy I don't see getting fewer minutes (but again, 18 isn't far off)

Eli basically played All The Minutes last year, only limited by injury for a few games.
While Griffin isn't gonna average ~38 like Eli did, he'll almost certainly also be north of 30.

So, my math for the Forwards looks more like 30/20/30/0.
Sorry Earl.
You know (personally) how Boeheim do.

I do agree that I would LOVE to see Kadary carve out 12-17 mins from the G spots.
(A little) less is more from Joe & Jackson.

All very well-reasoned. My numbers certainly could be off. For one, I didn't factor in G's injury (although I did with Bras). My thinking with Guerrier is: he's stuck at the 4 (rebounding, put-backs and the occasional MR jumper), the same spot as Merek's - which I expect Merek to be occupying more instead of playing center. Second, as to Griffin ... I think he'll be good. But > 30 mpg is a little high when there's an able back-up (which I think there is with Bras). But we're pretty close. Thanks for your take.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I *heart* the idea of Earl - if healthy.
That said - you know how Boeheim do.

Marek averaged 33+ mins last year, which was actually limited by his foul troubles.
Barring injury, a Senior Marek is gonna avg 30+ (but 28 isn't worlds off from that)

Q was limited by injury (and not being able to buy a shot early), and still averaged 20+/game as a Frosh.
Assuming his rehab goes well, he's another guy I don't see getting fewer minutes (but again, 18 isn't far off)

Eli basically played All The Minutes last year, only limited by injury for a few games.
While Griffin isn't gonna average ~38 like Eli did, he'll almost certainly also be north of 30.

So, my math for the Forwards looks more like 30/20/30/0.
Sorry Earl.
You know (personally) how Boeheim do.

I do agree that I would LOVE to see Kadary carve out 12-17 mins from the G spots.
(A little) less is more from Joe & Jackson.

Yeah, I see this going one of two ways. Earl's gonna be one of those dudes that rarely plays, probably looks pretty good when he does, giving us the joy of proclaiming that he's been "Boeheimed," but is the in case of emergency break glass forward.

Way #2 - it doesn't matter because we don't play.

 

[721Comstock]

Yeah, I see this going one of two ways. Earl's gonna be one of those dudes that rarely plays, probably looks pretty good when he does, giving us the joy of proclaiming that he's been "Boeheimed," but is the in case of emergency break glass forward.

Way #2 - it doesn't matter because we don't play.

Sadly - yup.

Hope he sticks around and is Senior DirtySouth2.0 for us next year.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Gonna be interesting to see how no OOC play could affect the rotations.

Can anyone remember a worse month of Syracuse Basketball than November 2019? We weren't that bad rest of the year.