Class of 2019 PG Dakota Leffew (GA) Portal to Georgia

[OttoinGrotto]

It's been an interesting week. There were a bunch of posts saying, "Why don't we get experienced portal guys from smaller schools instead of P5 bench guys." Now, "Why aren't we getting guys from P5 schools?"

Lol people are dumb.

 

[djcon57]

It's been an interesting week. There were a bunch of posts saying, "Why don't we get experienced portal guys from smaller schools instead of P5 bench guys." Now, "Why aren't we getting guys from P5 schools?"

Link? I didn't see that mentioned.

Unless Harvard is P5 now?

 

[Cuse House]

I think overall these three guys are an improvement. We will have better maturity, rebounding, toughness, and shooting. Not sure about the defensive end until I see them play. Like the player additions, not sold on the new coach yet.

 

[tptcuse]

Link? I didn't see that mentioned.

Unless Harvard is P5 now?

No link and I almost worded it differently. I was paraphrasing.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Leffew, Davis, Lampkin. EXPERIENCE

Yeah, that's good. I would still like to add either Gayle or Rooths.

 

[IthacaMatt]

It's been an interesting week. There were a bunch of posts saying, "Why don't we get experienced portal guys from smaller schools instead of P5 bench guys." Now, "Why aren't we getting guys from P5 schools?"

Absolutely! I am officially on the "experienced lower league guys" over P5 guys who were bench players or injured. I am not overwhelmed by 2 out of the 3 guys, to be honest. I like the center. The other guys don't super impress me. We still need a slasher / 3 point shooter to play SG/SF. Gayle or Rooths, and I would be ok.

 

[djcon57]

No link and I almost worded it differently. I was paraphrasing.

Ok, let me re-word.

Can you link a post with similar verbiage that is suggesting we should be going after P5 players?

I honestly haven't seen one, but I could have missed it.

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

So here is my final thought on Mack. Syracuse stayed in it and has shown they can be in a position to compete monetarily. I don’t think they have unlimited funds and Mack began to cost more than he is actually worth. Dickinson was the best player in the portal and Kansas did nothing.
Basketball is a team sport and a GOOD point makes it better but the value of Leffew is stronger considering the monetary cost.

 

[IthacaMatt]

So here is my final thought on Mack. Syracuse stayed in it and has shown they can be in a position to compete monetarily. I don’t think they have unlimited funds and Mack began to cost more than he is actually worth. Dickinson was the best player in the portal and Kansas did nothing.
Basketball is a team sport and a GOOD point makes it better but the value of Leffew is stronger considering the monetary cost.

Just like Fantasy Football. There's a budget. You can blow too much of it on stars, and not have enough to build out a full roster. Just look at these NBA "Super Teams", 2 or 3 stars on crazy deals, and ten other guys on veteran's minimums, rookie contracts, 2 way deals or midlevel exceptions.

I really like the center. I respect that the plays inside the arc and does the things well that Chris is weak at, but I would have liked a guy who was more of a slasher / shooter, rather than more of a PF type. We need that, but we also need more flair aside from just Chris Bell on the wing. You can't count on Westry's health, so you need one more body - Gayle, Rooths, or somebody else.

 

[djcon57]

Just like Fantasy Football. There's a budget. You can blow too much of it on stars, and not have enough to build out a full roster. Just look at these NBA "Super Teams", 2 or 3 stars on crazy deals, and ten other guys on veteran's minimums, rookie contracts, 2 way deals or midlevel exceptions.

I think it's fair to note this was the same general tone we received last year about Jesse...when he turned out to be the main piece we needed this year.

But I understand the general concept and agree with you

 

[grepal]

It's been an interesting week. There were a bunch of posts saying, "Why don't we get experienced portal guys from smaller schools instead of P5 bench guys." Now, "Why aren't we getting guys from P5 schools?"

"You Can't please everybody, so you've got to please yourself"

 

[anglerman]

He’s visiting this weekend

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

I think it's fair to note this was the same general tone we received last year about Jesse...when he turned out to be the main piece we needed this year.

But I understand the general concept and agree with you

They were caught off guard with Jesse last year. Didn’t expect him to get that much and they were still navigating international aspect. That’s not the case now. Georgetown is looking to become competitive and is sitting on money. I am sure there are other schools doing the same.
IMO this is a choice of adding MULTIPLE good older players and not starting with a negative balance fund wise for next year.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Absolutely! I am officially on the "experienced lower league guys" over P5 guys who were bench players or injured. I am not overwhelmed by 2 out of the 3 guys, to be honest. I like the center. The other guys don't super impress me. We still need a slasher / 3 point shooter to play SG/SF. Gayle or Rooths, and I would be ok.

there are also a bunch of P5 players who put up stats in the portal too...its not like all of the p5 players in the portal were rejecteby their former teams

but I agree that lower league players over p5 busts is probably a better bet

 

[tee1222]

Aside from all the Pepe Lepieu jokes I am too lazy to sift through...
Le Ffew
Le Proud
Le Marines

 

[Jasoncuse]

Aside from all the Pepe Lepieu jokes I am too lazy to sift through...
Le Ffew
Le Proud
Le Marines

 

[tptcuse]

Ok, let me re-word.

Can you link a post with similar verbiage that is suggesting we should be going after P5 players?

I honestly haven't seen one, but I could have missed it.

I'm not going to search, but there were posts alluding to getting experienced players from smaller schools with strong stats. We appear to be on the verge of getting as many as three of those guys this week.

Here is my edited version: "It's been an interesting week. There were a bunch of posts saying, "Why don't we get experienced portal guys from smaller schools instead of P5 bench guys." Now, "Why aren't we getting guys from P5 schools better portal players?"

 

[IthacaMatt]

I'm not going to search, but there were posts alluding to getting experienced players from smaller schools with strong stats. We appear to be on the verge of getting as many as three of those guys this week.

Here is my edited version: "It's been an interesting week. There were a bunch of posts saying, "Why don't we get experienced portal guys from smaller schools instead of P5 bench guys." Now, "Why aren't we getting guys from P5 schools better portal players?"

That was me. I was beating that drum back in February and March, when I put together 2 or 3 lists of the kinds of guys I'd like to see us target. This was well before the portal opened.
People thought it was a stupid exercise, but I enjoyed looking for guys I thought might fit our needs.

 

[djcon57]

I'm not going to search, but there were posts alluding to getting experienced players from smaller schools with strong stats. We appear to be on the verge of getting as many as three of those guys this week.

Here is my edited version: "It's been an interesting week. There were a bunch of posts saying, "Why don't we get experienced portal guys from smaller schools instead of P5 bench guys." Now, "Why aren't we getting guys from P5 schools better portal players?"

Yeah the only reason I make a stink is as we saw with the JG3 “not belonging” saga. When you say the board says something enough, it becomes truth. So I’m just going to start pointing out when that’s not the case so we can’t retcon these scenarios.

Nothing personal against you. Always love your posts.

And I was one that want the smaller school guys over P5 bench guys. Still do

 

[tptcuse]

Yeah the only reason I make a stink is as we saw with the JG3 “not belonging” saga. When you say the board says something enough, it becomes truth. So I’m just going to start pointing out when that’s not the case so we can’t retcon these scenarios.

Nothing personal against you. Always love your posts.

And I was one that want the smaller school guys over P5 bench guys. Still do

That's how I feel about the "everyone hated JG3" posts, so I get it.

 

[SigChiChef]

Mount St. Mary's to Syracuse.

That is an enormous jump. Can someone please find a similar situation where a kid from the #25 ranked conference ended up being a huge contributing factor (30+ mpg) for an NCAA at-large caliber team?

Grant Nelson Nd st. Summit league #25 this year.
Alabama

 

[Jake]

Leffew visiting this weekend

“Visiting”…lol. Unless something goes terribly wrong, both are signing.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

“Visiting”…lol. Unless something goes terribly wrong, both are signing.

They're "visiting" University Village on E Colvin to pick out rooms.

 

[OmahaCuse]

Grant Nelson Nd st. Summit league #25 this year.
Alabama

Baylor Sheierman Creighton

 

[Melancer46]

I'm not going to search, but there were posts alluding to getting experienced players from smaller schools with strong stats. We appear to be on the verge of getting as many as three of those guys this week.

Here is my edited version: "It's been an interesting week. There were a bunch of posts saying, "Why don't we get experienced portal guys from smaller schools instead of P5 bench guys." Now, "Why aren't we getting guys from P5 schools better portal players?"

The bolded is fairly debatable and where I guess the disconnect is. Everyone keeps mentioning that Dalton Knecht came from a small school too; the difference is he was very good in his conference and suffered basically no drop off when his team faced better competition. Davis and Leffew on the other hand completely crumbled against better opponents.

Davis' reliance on mid-range shooting doesn't really lend itself well to scoring efficiency to begin with, but he was okay in that regard overall. Against top 150 opponents though, his efficiency fell off a cliff to Justin Taylor/Benny Williams territory. I think we can maybe explain this away based on the fact that similar to Maliq, he was being played out of position at C, and unlike Maliq, he was really the center of Delaware's offense so he didn't have the luxury of just patiently waiting for good looks to come to him. Davis is obviously very short for a C and isn't the most explosive guy out there, so I imagine he didn't deal well with the length that better teams could throw at him. All in all, I'm fairly optimistic that with a reduced role and playing in his proper position, he'll be solid. And in the very least, we literally didn't have any playable forwards/centers off the bench last season so he has to be an upgrade by default.

Up until this season, Leffew had more turnovers than assists in his career and is ever so slightly in the positive now. He's never been a very efficient scorer either despite being a pretty good 3 point shooter; he takes a lot of mid-range jumpers and doesn't shoot them very well and doesn't draw many fouls so those two things have generally weighed his efficiency down. And against top 150 opponents, his scoring efficiency craters; his TS% in those games would have put him above just Peter Carey on this year's roster. Having said that, like Davis, an optimistic outlook can potentially excuse some of that. He's never played PG and wasn't intended to be the PG this past season either; he was forced into the role when their starter got injured. All of his games against top 150 opponents were either back when he was an off-ball guard or very early in his transition to PG. It's entirely possible that he got better/more comfortable by the end of the season and would have fared better against those opponents if he played against them again. We simply don't know for sure. Also entirely possible that with better teammates, there will be less attention paid to him and therefore, he'll be able to get higher quality shots. I'm a bit skeptical of that because he wasn't even the go-to guy on his team two years ago when most of his games against decent competition occurred and also because we're presumably bringing him in to be a scoring PG; he's going to be the focus of the defense more often than not even if his teammates are better than they were at Mount St. Mary's.

Anywho, we just have to trust Red and Co. and hope for the best. If Leffew were coming in to be our combo guard 6th man, I'd be really happy with both of these additions. Penciling him in as our starting PG with no real backup in case he struggles worries me, but it is what it is. If he ends up being an awesome starting PG, it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong about someone.

Edit: Wow this ended up being a lot longer than I intended lol.