Pick Your Roster Weaknesses for Year 3

[CardiacCuse]

So it seems like Syracuse cannot create a perfect roster in the current climate (due to budget, current state of program, etc.)...and we should all just accept that.

In Red's 1st 2 seasons, there have been significant and highly limiting roster weaknesses, imo.

Year 1 (No PG, poor rebounding, no post offense, poor defense, bad 3 point shooting, no true Center, bball IQ)
Year 2 (1 on 1 defense, no rim protection, inconsistent and low % from 3, PG play,backup center, very low bball IQ)

The staff addressed the rebounding issue and the post presence and tried to address the PG issue from year 1 to year 2. The defense was already problematic but got a lot worse, imo. The 3pt shooting disappointed, though it seemed it wouldve been better on paper than it turned out to be. The goal was to outscore teams and it didnt work at all.

I say all this to argue the following: there will be holes and weaknesses on the year 3 roster.

What "roster holes" should the staff be okay with?

 

[atlanticuse]

Well if we could coach around holes it would be less off a problem.
Need better conditioning and ways to maintain a lead.
We won’t beat top-5 teams. Need to be strong enough to win against 15-50 ranked teams.

 

[Cuse_NYC]

Probably shooting?

 

[TinyManInside]

how is "crappy perimeter shooting" not an option? I mean, it seems like our plan is to return a 27% three point shooter as our starting SHOOTING guard.

 

[Cstate]

how is "crappy perimeter shooting" not an option? I mean, it seems like our plan is to return a 27% three point shooter as our starting SHOOTING guard.

1,000,000,000,000,000%

 

[MikeSU02]

how is "crappy perimeter shooting" not an option? I mean, it seems like our plan is to return a 27% three point shooter as our starting SHOOTING guard.

It’s this, exactly.

 

[Melancer46]

how is "crappy perimeter shooting" not an option? I mean, it seems like our plan is to return a 27% three point shooter as our starting SHOOTING guard.

To be fair, the poll is about what weaknesses we SHOULD be okay with and I'm guessing basically nobody would say shooting is one we should be okay with. Does feel pretty inevitable though.

 

[721Comstock]

how is "crappy perimeter shooting" not an option? I mean, it seems like our plan is to return a 27% three point shooter as our starting SHOOTING guard.

I’ll also humbly submit -

Below replacement-level coaching and roster construction.

We will have roster holes because Red & staff have shown they don’t know how to evaluate their own talent, nor portal talent, so they can’t fill holes in a roster because:

they don’t even know what they are.
they can’t land the talent needed to fill the biggest / most crucial ones.

And even IF they could do those things, they’ve also shown they have no ability to create an identity on O or D,
or to coach up the players we do have.

 

[23Zone]

How is not having a high functioning point guard that can shoot, dribble, create, play solid D, and most importantly be a leader not an option

 

[Niastri]

I’ll also humbly submit -

Below replacement-level coaching and roster construction.

We will have roster holes because Red & staff have shown they don’t know how to evaluate their own talent, nor portal talent, so they can’t fill holes in a roster because:

they don’t even know what they are.
they can’t land the talent needed to fill the biggest / most crucial ones.

And even IF they could do those things, they’ve also shown they have no ability to create an identity on O or D,
or to coach up the players we do have.

I think a lot of the roster construction problems last season came from Chris Bell collapsing. He has a very good sophomore year.

He was a bad defender, didn’t rebound, tended to get very hot or cold. But he did the most valuable thing in the game at an elite level.

If Bell had incrementally improved, or stayed the same level of player, the roster would have looked way better. Myself, and several other regular posters, believed Bell would successfully make that improvement and become a slightly more well rounded player.

Lampkin, Freedman, Bell, Starling and Transfer Point Guard looks like a legit tournament starting five.

There is no excuse for failing to get a point guard, but that’s a recruiting error, not a roster construction error.

On the topic of Westry and McLeod being injured all season I’m kind of ambivalent, but that can’t be laid entirely at Red’s feet.

Freeman and Starling getting injured? Definitely not, but hugely impacting.

The roster was also supplemented by veteran mid majors with low ceilings, but high floors. Davis, Taylor and Carlos, along with Majstorovic and Cuffe was a decent bench. They weren’t intended to be other than depth, but got dozens of starts between them.

Red’s roster construction wasn’t as dubious as all of you are suggesting, unless he know ahead of time we weren’t getting the same Chris Bell as the previous year.

 

[Hopkins16]

1,000,000,000,000,000%

As a shooting guard, is it really necessary to shoot threes if that’s your weakness? Why not rely on your strengths, in the case of JJ, floaters, short jumpers, layups, mid-range jumpers. The only time he really should be looking to shoot a three is if the clock is expiring, and he has no choice. Before college and the NBA got 3 pointer happy, most 2 guards relied on the various ways of scoring that I just mentioned. This is where coaching comes in. Running sets to play to your players strengths. JJ has demonstrated in a few games this year his dominance when he played to his strengths.

De Rozan (for instance and as a model for a SG who is not a 3 point threat) is one of the best active shooting guards in the league and a great scorer but averages 1.1 threes per game.

 

[RF2044]

Shooting and Point Guard facilitation have to be 1A and 1B.

And those are two glaring limitations in modern college basketball.

 

[Niastri]

As a shooting guard, is it really necessary to shoot threes if that’s your weakness? Why not rely on your strengths, in the case of JJ, floaters, short jumpers, layups, mid-range jumpers. The only time he really should be looking to shoot a three is if the clock is expiring, and he has no choice. Before college and the NBA got 3 pointer happy, most 2 guards relied on the various ways of scoring that I just mentioned. This is where coaching comes in. Running sets to play to your players strengths. JJ has demonstrated in a few games this year his dominance when he played to his strengths.

De Rozan (for instance and as a model for a SG who is not a 3 point threat) is one of the best active point guards in the league and a great scorer but averages 1.1 threes per game.

I agree . If JJ Starling shot only open threes, his percentage would increase dramatically.

 

[CardiacCuse]

how is "crappy perimeter shooting" not an option? I mean, it seems like our plan is to return a 27% three point shooter as our starting SHOOTING guard.

i wanted to add more options but couldnt figure out how to add more than 4

 

[CardiacCuse]

Shooting and Point Guard facilitation have to be 1A and 1B.

And those are two glaring limitations in modern college basketball.

so the weaknesses you are ok with are shooting and point guard faciliation?

this isnt pick your PRIORITIES

its pick your weaknesses

because there will be blood

 

[orangecuse]

As a shooting guard, is it really necessary to shoot threes if that’s your weakness? Why not rely on your strengths, in the case of JJ, floaters, short jumpers, layups, mid-range jumpers. The only time he really should be looking to shoot a three is if the clock is expiring, and he has no choice. Before college and the NBA got 3 pointer happy, most 2 guards relied on the various ways of scoring that I just mentioned. This is where coaching comes in. Running sets to play to your players strengths. JJ has demonstrated in a few games this year his dominance when he played to his strengths.

De Rozan (for instance and as a model for a SG who is not a 3 point threat) is one of the best active shooting guards in the league and a great scorer but averages 1.1 threes per game.

I've generally considered DeRozan more in the mold of a small forward vs. true shooting guard type. The teams he's been on, for the most part, with his excellent versatility, etc. have utilized him as such. The position can be somewhat interchangeable, but FWIW, he's listed as a small forward throughout his stellar professional career.

I don't think any NBA GM, etc. would say a "model SG" is one that isn't a three point threat.

 

[Hopkins16]

Granted that a SG today is most likely expected to be a 3 point threat, if your best SG is not that, and you don’t have better options, then you have no choice but to work with his strengths. A lot of the SGs in the portal analyzed by our posters have fell short of a good 3 point percentage. If we cannot get a sniper we have no choice but to minimize 3 pt shooting in our offensive schemes.

 

[RF2044]

so the weaknesses you are ok with are shooting and point guard faciliation?

this isnt pick your PRIORITIES

its pick your weaknesses

because there will be blood

Misread your original post.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Granted that a SG today is most likely expected to be a 3 point threat, if your best SG is not that, and you don’t have better options, then you have no choice but to work with his strengths. A lot of the SGs in the portal analyzed by our posters have fell short of a good 3 point percentage. If we cannot get a sniper we have no choice but to minimize 3 pt shooting in our offensive schemes.

thats a tough one...teams without 3 pt shooters are in a bind, generally

kiyan is a good shooter from all of his game tapes I have seen...and I think JJ was hampered by the hadn injury this year

seems very key that the PG portal add can shoot 3s

I also like donnie as a shooter too...he can knock them down

maybe a stretch center that can shoot a la the spanish center on Pitt could also be a target

i wouldnt say design a team without 3pt shooting...i think the rest of the roster needs to have some shooting ...and that wont be that hard to accomplish (although it is true that most of the portal players arent great shooters, it seems)

IF the PG pickup is a great shooter it will solve a lot of issues, imo

 

[Melancer46]

thats a tough one...teams without 3 pt shooters are in a bind, generally

kiyan is a good shooter from all of his game tapes I have seen...and I think JJ was hampered by the hadn injury this year

seems very key that the PG portal add can shoot 3s

I also like donnie as a shooter too...he can knock them down

maybe a stretch center that can shoot a la the spanish center on Pitt could also be a target

i wouldnt say design a team without 3pt shooting...i think the rest of the roster needs to have some shooting ...and that wont be that hard to accomplish (although it is true that most of the portal players arent great shooters, it seems)

IF the PG pickup is a great shooter it will solve a lot of issues, imo

FWIW, Kiyan is around 30% from 3 the last two years and 74% at the FT line. He's an efficient scorer in general but hasn't shot it well from 3 (but sometimes in their younger years it's the attempt rate that indicates shooting prowess more than actually making the shots and he does attempt them a lot lol).