Class of 2024 PF/C Petar Majstorovic (Serbia) SIGNED TO SYRACUSE (8/16/24)

[orangefog]

From never happening to playing lots of minutes in a week

What a country.

 

[General20]

1. if you think we will go the entire season with only lampkin and mcleod at center...I think youre dreaming. as such, it is better to play all 3 centers throughout the year instead of playing petar in a late season emergency for the first time, rusty without any chemistry.

2. 2021 nattty champs baylor had a 5 guard rotation...went 9 deep...2022 10th man averaged 4 mins a game

3. guys like westry and choppa are going to play this year 100%...mastrojvic has a good chance of playing a lot of minutes this year too

4. JB liked small rotations...red doesnt seem to ...its not required...the zone requird it bc every player needed to be micro-coached on it

5. if players show they arent up to it and not as good as the others...then yeah...they wont play...and that likely will happen but theres also the chance that doesnt happen...and if so...those guys should just play no minutes, imo

That Baylor team started 4 guards, so going 5 deep isn't actually all that much. Those 4 starters were seeing a lot more court time with only one back up than 2 starters would with 2 back ups. They also only had 2 losses all year and blew out almost every team they played so it was easy to be deep. But when it mattered they only went 8 deep. In the national championship only 8 guys played more than a minute and that game wasn't close they played walk ons that last minute. As the year goes on and games get tight almost every team tightens the rotation to under ten guys. I've never seen a team play more than 10 in an important competitive game. NBA teams don't even do that in the playoffs

 

[billsin01]

i think 10 is the minimum...i think all of the players will play a role this year...and should be able to get time.

Not a chance. No team anywhere has played 12 guys in meaningful games on a regular basis. That loaded UK team we played in the ‘96 title game had nine guys who got some run in the NBA, they pressed all game and they still only played 10 with any regularity. And that’s the outlier of all outliers.

 

[billsin01]

That Baylor team started 4 guards, so going 5 deep isn't actually all that much. Those 4 starters were seeing a lot more court time with only one back up than 2 starters would with 2 back ups. They also only had 2 losses all year and blew out almost every team they played so it was easy to be deep. But when it mattered they only went 8 deep. In the national championship only 8 guys played more than a minute and that game wasn't close they played walk ons that last minute. As the year goes on and games get tight almost every team tightens the rotation to under ten guys. I've never seen a team play more than 10 in an important competitive game. NBA teams don't even do that in the playoffs

This is the key — when games matter the rotation is always shorter.

 

[billsin01]

1. if you think we will go the entire season with only lampkin and mcleod at center...I think youre dreaming. as such, it is better to play all 3 centers throughout the year instead of playing petar in a late season emergency for the first time, rusty without any chemistry.

2. 2021 nattty champs baylor had a 5 guard rotation...went 9 deep...2022 10th man averaged 4 mins a game

3. guys like westry and choppa are going to play this year 100%...mastrojvic has a good chance of playing a lot of minutes this year too

4. JB liked small rotations...red doesnt seem to ...its not required...the zone requird it bc every player needed to be micro-coached on it

5. if players show they arent up to it and not as good as the others...then yeah...they wont play...and that likely will happen but theres also the chance that doesnt happen...and if so...those guys should just play no minutes, imo

A few thoughts here:

1) 4 mins a game isn’t a rotation guy. That’s a guy who is doing a lot of mop-up duty

2) playing guys because you’re concerned about injuries doesn’t happen because if those guys aren’t as good they could cost you a couple close games early. We don’t have that kind of margin. We’re going to be playing to win from minute 1. So guys will get some opportunities — I agree, lots of guys who could conceivably play a role — but playing a third center would only happen if that guy is good enough to play and forces his way onto the floor. And even then, he likely takes one of the other guy’s mins.

3) westry may have a big role but if he’s that good it’s coming at someone’s expense. Like I really like cuffe and I’m hoping Moore is a really good player — but if westry is 100 percent healthy and he’s as impactful as many believe he could be in that scenario, then it will mean one or both of those guys are effectively on the bench.

4) guys need to play good team defense. It’s the thing that killed us the most last year. JB was stubborn and had some strange PT decisions at times, but man or zone, guys need to be on their game defensively. I don’t think was just JB’s system.

 

[IthacaMatt]

This is the key — when games matter the rotation is always shorter.

Yes, but that doesn't happen usually until later in the year.
A coach has to find out what he's got first, before you whittle it down.

 

[billsin01]

Yes, but that doesn't happen usually until later in the year.
A coach has to find out what he's got first, before you whittle it down.

Agreed -- it just seems like those games happen earlier and earlier as talent across hoops seems to have leveled a bit. We've had a dogfight with Colgate three years in a row, Cornell doesn't feel like a gimme necessarily, we've got some games against legit high majors early ... there's just not a whole lot of time to figure it out. I'd guess we see a fair amount of mixing and matching unless some players make significant leaps (bell, starling, Cuffe, Westry, McLeod -- the last two based on health) or arrive and are clearly ready to play immediately.

 

[CardiacCuse]

A few thoughts here:

1) 4 mins a game isn’t a rotation guy. That’s a guy who is doing a lot of mop-up duty

2) playing guys because you’re concerned about injuries doesn’t happen because if those guys aren’t as good they could cost you a couple close games early. We don’t have that kind of margin. We’re going to be playing to win from minute 1. So guys will get some opportunities — I agree, lots of guys who could conceivably play a role — but playing a third center would only happen if that guy is good enough to play and forces his way onto the floor. And even then, he likely takes one of the other guy’s mins.

3) westry may have a big role but if he’s that good it’s coming at someone’s expense. Like I really like cuffe and I’m hoping Moore is a really good player — but if westry is 100 percent healthy and he’s as impactful as many believe he could be in that scenario, then it will mean one or both of those guys are effectively on the bench.

4) guys need to play good team defense. It’s the thing that killed us the most last year. JB was stubborn and had some strange PT decisions at times, but man or zone, guys need to be on their game defensively. I don’t think was just JB’s system.

i get where everyone is coming from and we could very well see a short rotation

but thats not the way this roster has been designed at all...i see red taking a page out of leonard hamiltons book...who plays more than 10 guys often

i like that the roster is potentially so deep...with many mix and match options...but i think if the rotation gets short and there are a bunch of players on the bench that think they deserve to play...it could get ugly...like it apparently did behind the scenes last season

remember quadir bumping red??

i want the team to have deep rosters...how to make that happen? play a lot of players

if they use a short rotation this year - i dont think they will - it will make it hard to recruit a depp roster mving forward

i think red wants deep rosters just based on how this roster is put together

i dont think there's a single player on this roster who cannot contribute...i expect all 12 to play a role this year. i hope thats what happens.

if that means some guys average 5 minutes...fine...thats light years better than 0, imo.

and on the NBA point...i think the recent olympics showed that the NBA and America doesnt know everythig about basketball...steve kerr showed that all the talent in the world means nothing...scraping out wins vs lowly teams. thats NOT the formula we should copy. the NBa has become a caricature of basketball...only the supreme talents of guys like lebron and steph can compensate for the void in american nba coaching, imo. the foreign coaches are much better. clearly. given they can hang with the us with the talent they have.

so lets not follow the NBA ok?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Agreed -- it just seems like those games happen earlier and earlier as talent across hoops seems to have leveled a bit. We've had a dogfight with Colgate three years in a row, Cornell doesn't feel like a gimme necessarily, we've got some games against legit high majors early ... there's just not a whole lot of time to figure it out. I'd guess we see a fair amount of mixing and matching unless some players make significant leaps (bell, starling, Cuffe, Westry, McLeod -- the last two based on health) or arrive and are clearly ready to play immediately.

Absolutely right. We still have to win these games!

 

[Orangezoo]

Agreed -- it just seems like those games happen earlier and earlier as talent across hoops seems to have leveled a bit. We've had a dogfight with Colgate three years in a row, Cornell doesn't feel like a gimme necessarily, we've got some games against legit high majors early ... there's just not a whole lot of time to figure it out. I'd guess we see a fair amount of mixing and matching unless some players make significant leaps (bell, starling, Cuffe, Westry, McLeod -- the last two based on health) or arrive and are clearly ready to play immediately.

Nothing can be taken for granted but we should be facing lesser versions of many of the squads this year. For the first time in a while Colgate doesnt have a bunch of seniors to plug and play and then lost their best player to Gonzaga via the portal. Youngstown lost some 5 or 6 seniors from last years team that won over 20 games. Lemoyne is still getting their feet under them in D1 but did outperform expectations last year. Albany and Bucknell look weak again this year.

Cornell is easily the best of the small conference opponents and will be a legit challenge with returning many quality guys.

The first five games including the exhibitions will be key for evaluation and tinkering.

 

[General20]

i get where everyone is coming from and we could very well see a short rotation

but thats not the way this roster has been designed at all...i see red taking a page out of leonard hamiltons book...who plays more than 10 guys often

i like that the roster is potentially so deep...with many mix and match options...but i think if the rotation gets short and there are a bunch of players on the bench that think they deserve to play...it could get ugly...like it apparently did behind the scenes last season

remember quadir bumping red??

i want the team to have deep rosters...how to make that happen? play a lot of players

if they use a short rotation this year - i dont think they will - it will make it hard to recruit a depp roster mving forward

i think red wants deep rosters just based on how this roster is put together

i dont think there's a single player on this roster who cannot contribute...i expect all 12 to play a role this year. i hope thats what happens.

if that means some guys average 5 minutes...fine...thats light years better than 0, imo.

and on the NBA point...i think the recent olympics showed that the NBA and America doesnt know everythig about basketball...steve kerr showed that all the talent in the world means nothing...scraping out wins vs lowly teams. thats NOT the formula we should copy. the NBa has become a caricature of basketball...only the supreme talents of guys like lebron and steph can compensate for the void in american nba coaching, imo. the foreign coaches are much better. clearly. given they can hang with the us with the talent they have.

so lets not follow the NBA ok?

I think we are all in agreement that Red will play a deep bench. I just think 12 in the regular rotation stretches the word deep past it's breaking point.

I do agree with you that all our guys will be capable this year. No projects. Which is great. I just think 2 or 3 of them will be 'break glass in case of emergency' types, and not guys who play every game. And one maybe two will be situational guys who play but don't play many minutes.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

i think 10 is the minimum...i think all of the players will play a role this year...and should be able to get time.

There are only 200 minutes to go around, vs 240 in the NBA. If the top 5 average 28 minutes, that leaves 60 minutes a game to share.

 

[CardiacCuse]

I think we are all in agreement that Red will play a deep bench. I just think 12 in the regular rotation stretches the word deep past it's breaking point.

I do agree with you that all our guys will be capable this year. No projects. Which is great. I just think 2 or 3 of them will be 'break glass in case of emergency' types, and not guys who play every game. And one maybe two will be situational guys who play but don't play many minutes.

theres a pitfall to playing so many guys...you can end up playing the wrong combos at the wrong time...more complexity can lead to higher chance of strategic error

would be interesting to see a mathcup based approach where the starters and rotation changes based on matchup but I dont think any team in ncaabb (or nBA) does that

i do think we will get a natural hierarchy that emerges and sorts it out somewhat

but i think with such a deep roster...theres alos a high chance for disgruntlement...has to be finessed


im assuming red told the guys similar to what he was saying last year...(just didt quite work out) deep team everyone plays...

the worst scenario for me will be players on the bench who should be playing more than the starters...and with a deep team, its a real possibilty...

i thought reds rotations first year were not a strong point (even though he was handcuffed severely at times)

for example, when a player was hot (like chris bell) ...and only getting a half of action. red did kinda figure it out a bit as the season wore on...but there were a lot of headscratching minutes distributions as well.

if most or all of the players are ready to contribute this season...how red divvies up playing time will be a crucial factor. lots of options...but also lots of chances to get it wrong.

 

[BigNastyJon]

theres a pitfall to playing so many guys...you can end up playing the wrong combos at the wrong time...more complexity can lead to higher chance of strategic error

agreed. This was one of boeheims arguments to playing a short bench and I don’t think he was wrong.

 

[jordville]

 

[RF2044]

I think we are all in agreement that Red will play a deep bench. I just think 12 in the regular rotation stretches the word deep past it's breaking point.

I do agree with you that all our guys will be capable this year. No projects. Which is great. I just think 2 or 3 of them will be 'break glass in case of emergency' types, and not guys who play every game. And one maybe two will be situational guys who play but don't play many minutes.

Is that in response to the post I made earlier?

What I said is that we have 12 guys who can play, which is atypical for how our rosters are generally constructed. Guys who might be 9, 10, 11, etc. in that group are guys who would be squarely in the rotation most other years. And that it's been since 2012 since we had a roster that deep.

But even in 2012, we didn't play all 12. For example, at the end of the bench that year, MCW was a guy who almost transferred out because he was frustrated by lack of PT. Having guys who are capable of being contributors is different than finding a rotation that uses them all.

I don't expect us to play 12 guys. But having that depth is good, because you never know when an injury might pop up, etc. Also makes practices more competitive.

 

[General20]

Is that in response to the post I made earlier?

What I said is that we have 12 guys who can play, which is atypical for how our rosters are generally constructed. Guys who might be 9, 10, 11, etc. in that group are guys who would be squarely in the rotation most other years. And that it's been since 2012 since we had a roster that deep.

But even in 2012, we didn't play all 12. For example, at the end of the bench that year, MCW was a guy who almost transferred out because he was frustrated by lack of PT. Having guys who are capable of being contributors is different than finding a rotation that uses them all.

I don't expect us to play 12 guys. But having that depth is good, because you never know when an injury might pop up, etc. Also makes practices more competitive.

Was not in response to you. I agree with that.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Majstorovic committed to SU more than two months ago and then began the laborious process of completing and filing paperwork to be eligible to play college basketball.

Rumors that Syracuse had signed a European prospect lingered throughout the summer. Orange coaches kept Majstorovic’s commitment under wraps, said SU assistant coach Brenden Straughn, until they were certain he would meet freshman requirements and were confident he could get here by the start of the school year.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Interesting note from the article is that Dan is now coaching the centers. I wonder what positions Griff and Brandon are taking?

 

[pwong]

Interesting note from the article is that Dan is now coaching the centers. I wonder what positions Griff and Brandon are taking?

Straughn is guard group, Griff is wings group

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Straughn is guard group, Griff is wings group

Excellent, now we know who to blame unconstructively.

 

[JDubbin]

Excellent, now we know who to blame unconstructively.

CoaCH EnGelsTad CanNot TeACH ThE cENTer PoZition UnLess Hee's An Alll-NBa HaLL of FAmeR BiG MAn WhO PlaYEd ThE PoSZitION HiMSElF!!!11!!!1

 

[cuseallday]

Guys, just an FYI, Donna's piece on Petar is a subscriber-exclusive story!

 

[OttoinGrotto]

CoaCH EnGelsTad CanNot TeACH ThE cENTer PoZition UnLess Hee's An Alll-NBa HaLL of FAmeR BiG MAn WhO PlaYEd ThE PoSZitION HiMSElF!!!11!!!1

He's too short to coach big men.

 

[jordville]

His KD’s are hurting in the 2nd pic…