If they land 3 starters out of the portal who can beat out the current players- that would be quite the haul. Personally, I'm not seeing it. More like 1 starter and depth options.
Top needs in transfer portal?
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If they land 3 starters out of the portal who can beat out the current players- that would be quite the haul. Personally, I'm not seeing it. More like 1 starter and depth options.
I did say potential. I mean capable of starting.
I think we may well have a non transfer point guard.
The three is the only absolute opening.
Why is the 5 not open? While Fede and the twins were a nice story in a Cinderella year, none of them showed me enough that that there shouldn't be an attempt to improve the talent there.
Looking at what the coaches are known to be seeking via the portal (at least so far) does include them looking at beefy 5s. At least two have been mentioned. So, the coaches apear to agree with you.
What they do not seem to be aren't looking for are point guards. They would appear to be happy with Dior Johnson backed by true freshman J. Lowe.
Thus, it looks like--
Priority (1) = Wings who can shoot the 3-ball.
Priority (2) = A post player with bulk and strength to backup Fede.
If no players currently on the Pitt roster enter the portal---It appears that the coaches are likely to fill the 3 remaining open ships with two 3-ball shooter wings and one post player with muscle to back up Fede. This would allow the twins to play their more natural face the basket 4/3 game.
1. SG Lazar Stefanovic (Utah)
Height/weight: 6-6/185Year: Sophomore
High school: Sportska Gimnazjia (Serbia)
Good size and good stats, closer to Serbia here than in Utah. He'd have many places in Pittsburgh to get plenty of home-cooking as well.
I would treat Dior as an extra scholarship until the season actually begins and be shocked if he lasted the entire season. Has he ever stays somewhere 2 years in his life? You absolutely cannot win relying on guys like him
Yeah, your hope with him has to be that he's done a lot of growing up over the last 8-10 months. But you can't be relying on that.
OK then you have to figure out who your PG is. Is it Jaland Lowe or do you go get someone in the portal and if Dior is here, that's just a bonus.
Do you think Pitt has a chance at landing Girard and what are your thoughts on his impact next year? Interested to hear your thoughts because you are always blunt @BballinsiderfromPitt
Pitt needs to recruit or have transfer in 1s, 2s, 3s and 5s. They need to putt some meat on the bigs, Hinson can shoot the 3 pretty well but is average at the rest of his game and sometimes lazy, other then that. ???? Pitt lacks the ability to rebound both ends bigs are weak
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1-2-3-4
The 5 is fine
Need Santos or Jeffress to transfer - preferably Santos
We need to replace our 4 experienced transfers
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Other than Hinson there’s not a position on Pitts roster that can’t be improved . I’m sure this isn’t news to the coaching staff .
Pitt needs to add physicality to the roster at every position. If only the twins and Fede could add 15-20 lbs of muscle !
They also could use a couple of experienced guards/ wings who have 3 Pt skills . Can’t rely on Dior and the freshman to carry the load .
I’ve also got a feeling we’re going to see a much stronger and more capable Wil Jeffress next season .
Pitt needs to add physicality to the roster at every position. If only the twins and Fede could add 15-20 lbs of muscle !
They also could use a couple of experienced guards/ wings who have 3 Pt skills . Can’t rely on Dior and the freshman to carry the load .
I’ve also got a feeling we’re going to see a much stronger and more capable Wil Jeffress next season .
With 4 scholarships now, this is how I am selling to transfers:
- We have 1 guaranteed starter (Hinson). 4 available starting jobs
- Center - come show us you can rebound, defend, and score a little, and beat out Fede
- shooting guard - we don't have anyone, job is yours
- small forward - great chance to be the starter, only have Will Jeffress there
- point guard - Dior Johnson will be here for 1 year if that. Come compete for the job
I think with Santos gone the best course of action for the four open scholarships (in no order of priority) are:
1. A depth 5 to give you insurance if Fede or Guillermo gets hurt.
2. An athletic slasher type who can get to the basket and defend - think a guy to replace Nike’s skillset. The kid from High Point or a kid like Westry or Rice would be nice fits here.
3-4. Two shooters, ideally one who can be a secondary ballhandler alongside Dior and one who can just knock down shots - think general replacements for what Nelly and Elliott brought to the table. Girard would be a fantastic fit for what Nelly gave us.
1. A depth 5 to give you insurance if Fede or Guillermo gets hurt.
2. An athletic slasher type who can get to the basket and defend - think a guy to replace Nike’s skillset. The kid from High Point or a kid like Westry or Rice would be nice fits here.
3-4. Two shooters, ideally one who can be a secondary ballhandler alongside Dior and one who can just knock down shots - think general replacements for what Nelly and Elliott brought to the table. Girard would be a fantastic fit for what Nelly gave us.
It's pretty simple now with four spots.
Get an experienced PG and two SGs/wings. Fourth spot is probably for a younger/depth 4/5.
Get an experienced PG and two SGs/wings. Fourth spot is probably for a younger/depth 4/5.
Need that 4/5 to be someone who can come in and either beat out Fede or split minutes with him. Fede cant rebound
From guys we are listed with, 4 guys for each scholarship
J.Cook, J.Epps, DJ Horne (not contacted? - J.Bynum, P.Alexander, A.Curbelo, N.Fernandez)
D.Dunn, D.Jones, C.Mills, Girard
M.Stute, Z.Austin, P.Johnson, J.Withers
C.Ledlum, M.Domask, B.Selebangue, M.Amish
J.Cook, J.Epps, DJ Horne (not contacted? - J.Bynum, P.Alexander, A.Curbelo, N.Fernandez)
D.Dunn, D.Jones, C.Mills, Girard
M.Stute, Z.Austin, P.Johnson, J.Withers
C.Ledlum, M.Domask, B.Selebangue, M.Amish
Maybe Fede struggled to rebound because the guy at the #4 was absolutely no help, let alone the other starters.
My weekly required post of reminding everyone Fede played at an top level offensively last year. GDG was also good on offense.
So are you bringing in someone to block their development?
If you're looking at backup 5s that can improve defensive rebounding it's Russel Tchewa (USF), Abou Ousmane (UNT) and Dishon Jackson (WSU).
Fede averaged 5 rebounds a game in 23 minutes. His problem was more the last 3 games.
He's not a bad rebounder, and when you have a guy who likes to block shots they often take themselves out of rebounding position. He needs to get better at recognizing when to go for the block and when he needs to maintain position.
Mo Gueye had a DR rebound rate of 19.1 with a block rate of 9.2 at Pitt.
Fede had a DR rebound rate of 13.3 with a block rate of 7.9. And he is a center. And his ACC conference only stats were worse.
He is bad on the defensive glass because:
1) He doesn't box out anywhere near well enough.
2) He isn't strong enough and maybe poor conditioning played a part in that as the season went on.
3) His hands simply fail him to snag rebounds, as the ball bounces off his hands into another players arms.
4) This goes with point 2. He is no where near physical enough, and is way too passive on the defensive end. He struggles to get adequate positioning when the shot is going up because of poor awareness.
5) Lastly, he was exposed badly by any team that could pull him away from the basket with a post player that could shoot the 3. Because not only did he fail repeatedly to close on the 3 point shooters like in the Virginia Tech game for example, his recovery to rebound under the basket was also poor because often times he found himself trapped in poor positioning either to defend or to rebound.
Fede is going to get better and has a great attitude. But let's not pretend like he doesn't have serious defensive rebounding issues. His partner behind him in Diaz Graham also had a 17.4 DR rebound rate with a 7.4 block rate, which is almost the same block rate as Fede. So the defensive rebounding was significantly better with Diaz Graham than it was with Fede. Which means the issue is Fede.
Mo Gueye was a 24 year old senior with significantly more experience than Fede. Let's give Fede some time before leaving him for dead as a defensive rebounder.
And your extrapolating a guy who played 12 minutes a game as a comparison. I love GDG, but nobody has weaker hands than him. He's playing volleyball half the time he's going for a rebound. Although, he does get after it better than Fede even though he's just not strong enough to bang.
And your extrapolating a guy who played 12 minutes a game as a comparison. I love GDG, but nobody has weaker hands than him. He's playing volleyball half the time he's going for a rebound. Although, he does get after it better than Fede even though he's just not strong enough to bang.
Diaz Graham replaced Fede as the full time starter in the ACC Tournament and the NCAA tournament.
These were the stat splits in those games when Fede wasn't even in the picture and Graham was the full time starter.
Against:
ACC Champion Duke - DR rebound rate- 24, block rate- 0
Mississippi State- DR rebound rate- 14, block rate- 5
Iowa State- DR rebound rate- 23, block rate- 12
Xavier- DR rebound rate- 9, block rate- 9
Pitt won 2 of those games against NCAA Tournament teams, and Graham snagged 8 rebounds in 3 of those games.
And I know people like to pick on Graham because of his frame and muscular build. But those stat splits above are far and away better than what Fede had been doing. And those 4 games were against NCAA Tournament competition.
GDG has weaker hands then Fede but he has more coordinated hands than Fede.
Because you're intermixing defensive rebounding rate and total rebounds. In one case you're only looking at defensive rebounding and another you want to talk about total rebounds.
Pitt got run off the court by Duke and GDG had 4 defensive rebounds in 28 minutes, yet his DR rebound rate was the highest in those 4 games, simply because there weren't rebounds to be had. Iowa St and Miss St destroyed Pitt on the offensive glass, but you only want to focus on DR percentage.
Pitt was outrebounded in 3 of those 4 games by 160 to 133 total.
Not slamming GDG, simply pointing out selective stats are sometimes flawed.
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Pitt simply needs to find a guy that just has the natural instincts of where the ball is going like Justin C , Nasir Robinson or a Jerome Lane , whether he plays the 3 /4/5 .
Fede made great strides as a player last season , but has a long way to go . Theres no reason to believe he won’t continue to improve . He needs to get stronger , have better court awareness ( which comes w experience ) , catch the ball better and be more assertive on the offensive end of the court . I expect hm to improve all areas of his game .
Both twins need to add bulk to be effective the entire season , you can’t get knocked down 10 times a game an entire season without getting injured . There’s no doubt they’re living in the weight room . A lot of upside there .
Fede made great strides as a player last season , but has a long way to go . Theres no reason to believe he won’t continue to improve . He needs to get stronger , have better court awareness ( which comes w experience ) , catch the ball better and be more assertive on the offensive end of the court . I expect hm to improve all areas of his game .
Both twins need to add bulk to be effective the entire season , you can’t get knocked down 10 times a game an entire season without getting injured . There’s no doubt they’re living in the weight room . A lot of upside there .
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I think Fede has really good hands. Really good.
I think both twins play tougher (a lot-tougher than they look). They might not clear out space and cleanly rebound, but they certainly hold their ground, willingly take a hit and get fouled while rebounding. That sometimes is even more effective.
We don't need another five. Maybe a strong four that could give some minutes at the five in a pinch.
I think both twins play tougher (a lot-tougher than they look). They might not clear out space and cleanly rebound, but they certainly hold their ground, willingly take a hit and get fouled while rebounding. That sometimes is even more effective.
We don't need another five. Maybe a strong four that could give some minutes at the five in a pinch.
They should all reach out to Gary McGee and do whatever he did in-between his freshman and sophomore seasons.
