Class of 2023 PG Naithan George (Ontario/AZ) TRANSFERRING TO SYRACUSE (4/4/25)

[Sherman20]

Finished second in the ACC as a frosh. First as a sophomore. Has a legit chance to lead the country in assists. Great to see us beating out schools like UNC and Texas for players again.

Love it! I imagine that him and Kingz are gonna be so good for JJ. They’ll open up things a lot. Now Red needs to go find a defensive guru assistant coach at the Final Four this weekend.

 

[CU44SE]

I like that he does a little bit of everything. Stuffs the stat sheet. If you look at the last 5 championship pg’s only two of them shot over 35% from 3. I want a PG that is going to lead the team. Get them in the right spots. Make the right decisions.

I also like his size.

Shooting just about 34% from 3 is not bad and you only expect it to keep improving.

However, 39% overall from the field last year is very concerning. Not efficient at all.

 

[SimonSays]

Simon knows best.

 

[SanDiegoCuse]

I stop to clean the house for an hour and we get the point guard I wanted! Going back to cleaning for another hour so we land a top Center.

Seriously, huge win for the coaching staff! Great pickup.

 

[Sbucketball]

Much much better job so far compared to the last few years of the portal and NIL.

If we want to return to form, we need to beat out top programs for recruits. Good work.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Any more "Nates" available in the portal? Collect'em all!

 

[Biaxtar]

Much much better job so far compared to the last few years of the portal and NIL.

If we want to return to form, we need to beat out top programs for recruits. Good work.

100%. A lot better when the players are coming from mostly p5 programs.

 

[Digger]

I guess he wasn't impressed with the Atlanta hip hop scene?

Huge get. Especially with UNC and Texas being involved. No clue exactly how interested they were but a great sign for our financial situation. Get a legit 5 and another piece or two and I'll be as excited for the program as I've been in a long time (Probably already am).

 

[Wrinkle]

I think that is quite a feat to do that at Georgia Tech. They were 12th in the conference in scoring and 13th in shooting% so with a more efficient team I could see that number go higher.

That's one way to look at it. Or he didn't move the needle whatsoever despite his assist numbers

 

[Sherman20]

Unless we are at war with Canada!!!

lol I was thinking the same thing. So depressing, actually.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

This is solid. Legit point guard.

 

[orangefog]

That's one way to look at it. Or he didn't move the needle whatsoever despite his assist numbers

We got a true PG, cheer up, Deb.

 

[44Wallace]

Wow! Amazing.

Truly is. This is a great pickup. I truly believe, aside from center issues, that the Mintz-less Girard teams were held back due to no point guard. A talented, true point guard immensely elevates a team like no other position. Now guys like Kingz can focus on perimeter shooting and slicing the lane, and same with JJ. Freeman, Anthony and White can expect to do their thing as well since we won't be in a Jaquan Carlos situation where his defender slacks off him and provides help to other defenders. Such a huge commitment. P*ss off on this one UNC.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Melancer46]

Regardless of what I think about George the player, it is nice to see that Red is able to close a high-priority target and get him to come to Syracuse. That is a big change from last year. So that is a massive step in the right direction. Starting Center and another 6th man type wing type player and we are good to go.

Easy to nitpick these guys but there's really no comparison between who we're bringing in through the portal this offseason vs. last IMO.

 

[newmexicuse]

Wow, now we got the bones of something good going on here.

Three solid gets from the portal, our two top players coming back, and a very talented frosh class.

Still need another stud big.

The possibly biggest key that nobody is talking about will be whether or not Donnie returns at 100% and can make a jump from a really nice frosh to a true ACC caliber star with next level potential.

We will also need at least two of the frosh to be precocious and to be solid rotation players.

Red now has some solid pieces. I thought many on this forum were too hard on him. Next year will be the real test to see if he can be a good coach.

 

[CbusCuse]

We're back baby!

 

[SUFaninNJ]

Great. This guy is the shortest guy on the entire roster.

 

[Orangezoo]

I am not going to go into much of this anymore because it will shine and negative light on our new PG and don't want to get much more into because he is our guy now but

#1 player in OBPR is Cooper Flagg (measures the offense value a player brings)
#1 player in DBPR is Joseph Tugler (Houston). Flagg is second Richmond was 6th (Defensive Value)
#1 player in BPR, which is combo of both is Flagg and number 2 is Broome (who happen to be 1/2 in national player of the year talk) (Overall Value) (Claude 306 overall George 819 overall)

But George is our guy now. New year new start new hope. A year older more improvement. Let's go.

The experience and development factor weighs heavily here. That doesn’t mean anything is guaranteed but it does factor into projecting out impact, when also paired with fit. Time will tell.

 

[23Zone]

That is the only chart that is trending up today LOL

 

[djcon57]

These advanced stats mean nothing to me and probably many other people on here. No pressure but if you can illuminate and put in context, that would be helpful.

I thought a lot of coaches tend to be somewhat skeptical of advanced stats because they favor players with lower usage. And the +/- also has huge flaws.

'Dude's on another level': How Nikola Jokic quietly became a defensive analytics darling

From kicked ball violations to memorizing plays, Nikola Jokic has elevated his IQ to become one of the league's best defenders.

www.espn.com

Here's a good article that will help you

 

[djcon57]

This is a big time signing. We desperately needed a PG the last 4 years. Kudos to the team up there for getting it done. Having him for possibly 2 years is fantastic too.

 

[RM32]

I guess he wasn't impressed with the Atlanta hip hop scene?

Huge get. Especially with UNC and Texas being involved. No clue exactly how interested they were but a great sign for our financial situation. Get a legit 5 and another piece or two and I'll be as excited for the program as I've been in a long time (Probably already am).

I’ve seen a lot of pissed off UNC fans in the comments on X, saying Hubert whiffed on another one. Nice to be on the other side of that exchange this time

 

[orangefog]

Wow, now we got the bones of something good going on here.

Three solid gets from the portal, our two top players coming back, and a very talented frosh class.

Still need another stud big.

The possibly biggest key that nobody is talking about will be whether or not Donnie returns at 100% and can make a jump from a really nice frosh to a true ACC caliber star with next level potential.

We will also need at least two of the frosh to be precocious and to be solid rotation players.

Red now has some solid pieces. I thought many on this forum were too hard on him. Next year will be the real test to see if he can be a good coach.

I am probably a fool, but I expect JJ to be a different player next year. I believe he can fix his shot. He had better form in high school. I think he can improve that by shooting a TON of shots this summer. Also, he needs to work on his left hand. And, obviously defense. That sounds like a lot, because it is. But, this is his last shot. He has the ability, he just has to work his butt off.

 

[pearl31]

So backcourt set then I spose