2024 Transfer Portal Thread

#3,784
#3,784
bleedingTNorange said:
Fwiw sounding like Awaka may be back in the boat 🤷🏻‍♂️
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That's the best news I've heard. Awaka is a guy who knows our culture & system and he's tough.
He was 3rd on our team in effeiciency rankings on the season while being our 8th guy in minutes. Even had more win shares for our team than Mashack and Gainey - and win shares usually go up the more you play but he played significant less minutes....yeah fouls, but give this guy 24 to 26 minutes a game and he is a double double on average kind of player give or take a point /rebound... He was a go-to guy to start the games in Team USA U19 with a stacked roster of great players and he is proven... When NBA scouts came to Tennessee beginning of last season to check out Julian Phillips, NBA scouts left impressed by then freshman Tobe Awaka saying they are going to be monitoring him. If Awaka returns we all "should" be happy. Bc in no way should that scare off 6'10 bigs like JCJ or Milicic bc they complement each other. If Awaka returns TN is in great shape. Being efficient matters 🤪
 

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#3,785
#3,785
JCP201 said:
People crying about Awaka--he did fantastic in the tournament-- We wouldn't have went as far as we did without him. He's also got two more years.
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I'm good with Awaka coming back, but saying he has two more years just means he can portal shop himself again after next season. These young men will continue to use the portal to look for raises.
 
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#3,786
#3,786
goadfish said:
Gainey reminds me a lot of jordan Bowden. Both have pretty shots, both are great athletes, but both seem to lack the it factor for consistent offensive play.
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I wish Gainey was as good as Bowden. He was a very good complementary player, great defender, better athlete than Gainey and probably should have shot the ball more than he did. When he got to his senior year, he became primary focus on offense which was very uncomfortable for him and his perimeter shot efficiency just fell apart but still managed 13 pts per game. Gainey would be a competent starter if he could get his 3 pt FG% up around 36%. I think that's possible but would like to find more talent at 2G.
 
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#3,787
#3,787
turbovol said:
Huh: my take on Gainey was that his defense was pretty strong but his shooting was simply not good enough. He shot 36 percent for
the season--which is better than I thought. However, at least 60 percent of his shots were from the 3-line--and his 3-point shooting
was 29%.
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My perspective on Gainey was totally different. I don't think he was a bad defensive player by any means. That being said, he is the type of player offensively that needs time and shots he didn't get that. If you have a player that scores you 4-6 points a game and holds his matchup to 4-6 points under their average that's an 8-12 point player. If you have a guy that scores 12 a game but his matchup is scoring 4-6 over average you have a 6-8 point player. Gainey was a - box +/- guy. I a larger sample size I think he would be better but I'm not sure Barnes would put a guard on the court who's neither elite defensively nor defensively. All-season a select group were hating on Santi and JJJ because of a lack of offensive output. But Santi was playing great defense all season and made timely shots. He was a + defensive guy so was JJJ and any offense they produced was gravy. That's the system Barnes played this year. With Aidoo gone.. I'm seriously worried. I do not see many 2 way players in the portal and that's what we need. We are not gonna get lucky and get another Knecht that was a once-in-a-lifetime lottery win. Elite offensive players will not gravitate to this system. Not because that won't work but because Barnes is a real man's coach. He is not gonna sugarcoat or be lax on players even his best offensive player he is gonna demand effort on defense. I am not sure how many of you are aware of Gils Arena a show by Gilbert Arenas. He was one of my favorite NBA players and I love his attitude to this day and his understanding of the game. But if I made a team I wouldn't have him anywhere near it. He is today's players about themselves. As a player that's the right attitude to have, can't argue that. As a fan, hell no, I want guys that love the game and want to win above all else. Thats dead. Barnes will end up having to go out like Saban. I think we got him 5 years too late.
 
#3,788
#3,788
Awaka is a banger--he's muscle in the paint--and you need a couple of guys who can bang or you'll get banged in the paint
by other teams.

Aidoo had a good season--much improved, losing him is not good--but when he faced a center as tall (or taller)
than him, and bigger/stronger, he struggled. You need height and talent and /size/ to be truly effective in the paint.
 
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#3,789
#3,789
pimo1 said:
My perspective on Gainey was totally different. I don't think he was a bad defensive player by any means. That being said, he is the type of player offensively that needs time and shots he didn't get that. If you have a player that scores you 4-6 points a game and holds his matchup to 4-6 points under their average that's an 8-12 point player. If you have a guy that scores 12 a game but his matchup is scoring 4-6 over average you have a 6-8 point player. Gainey was a - box +/- guy. I a larger sample size I think he would be better but I'm not sure Barnes would put a guard on the court who's neither elite defensively nor defensively. All-season a select group were hating on Santi and JJJ because of a lack of offensive output. But Santi was playing great defense all season and made timely shots. He was a + defensive guy so was JJJ and any offense they produced was gravy. That's the system Barnes played this year. With Aidoo gone.. I'm seriously worried. I do not see many 2 way players in the portal and that's what we need. We are not gonna get lucky and get another Knecht that was a once-in-a-lifetime lottery win. Elite offensive players will not gravitate to this system. Not because that won't work but because Barnes is a real man's coach. He is not gonna sugarcoat or be lax on players even his best offensive player he is gonna demand effort on defense. I am not sure how many of you are aware of Gils Arena a show by Gilbert Arenas. He was one of my favorite NBA players and I love his attitude to this day and his understanding of the game. But if I made a team I wouldn't have him anywhere near it. He is today's players about themselves. As a player that's the right attitude to have, can't argue that. As a fan, hell no, I want guys that love the game and want to win above all else. Thats dead. Barnes will end up having to go out like Saban. I think we got him 5 years too late.
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You make good points about how strong defensive players can get short shrift from fans even they are not scorers. And we got strong defense from Santi and JJJ. They were both a bit too reticent this year on the offensive end--and JJJ never reached his full potential in my mind because he didn't use his strong body to get to the rim enough--but they were of course valuable.

The college game is sadly sliding toward the NBA style--there were a lot of very high-scoring games last year--but there still a lot of old-school coaches in college basketball. UConn, for one--they've got blue-collar coach and blue-collar mentality, mostly. We beat Alabama twice owing mostly to our defense. If you don't play defense, and play it hard, you're at the mercy of your shooting.
 
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#3,793
#3,793
GoodTimeVol said:
Lost in all of this is the fact we need to find a rim protector to replace that role for Aidoo, I heard Igor has that in his bag can anybody confirm?
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Igor is not a rim protector. He is an excellent defender and is usually good for about a block per game at his position. But he does not live inside, so to characterize him as a rim protector would be inaccurate.
 
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#3,795
#3,795
CLT MAN said:
Igor is not a rim protector. He is an excellent defender and is usually good for about a block per game at his position. But he does not live inside, so to characterize him as a rim protector would be inaccurate.
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1.1 per game had him ranked in the top 200 this season. Aidoo averaged 1.8 a game.
 
#3,796
#3,796
CAVPUT said:
If that can be coached, why did his fouls nearly double this year with only one extra game? Sorry, but this is pie in the sky, wishful thinking. We need a guy we can count on and who can give us more consistent production. Hope I'm wrong, but I suspect we'll be complaining about his fouls and not being able to stay on the floor again next year.
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I would be very happy to have Awaka back. I really do think given his standing in the rotation, knowing that he was only going to be getting 10-15 minutes per game behind Aidoo, he just played too aggressive and tried to do too much in the limited time he was on the floor. If he knows he is being asked to play 20+ minutes per game, I bet he backs off to a certain extent. His role was to come off the bench with energy and that he did without fail. Just overzealous in my opinion. Doesn't mean he won't ever get into foul trouble next year at times but Estrella is going to get solid minutes regardless.

This year it is easily arguable that both Awaka and Mashack deserved more minutes than they got. In 18 games, Awaka had 2 fouls or fewer.
 
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#3,797
#3,797
MoCo_Vol said:
1.1 per game had him ranked in the top 200 this season. Aidoo averaged 1.8 a game.
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The Charlotte 49ers played 15 home games this year and I attended 14 of those games. I personally witnessed how good he is offensively and defensively…how he works to get open off the ball offensively and how he works to get defensive position…he is great at anticipating ball movement when he is on defense. Again he is an excellent defender at the strength 4, but his 1.1 blocks per game at that position do not make him a rim protector. As I stated in another post, he is my favorite Charlotte player over the last 10-12 years. love how the guy plays on both ends of the court. But defensively, as good as he is, his game does not meet the definition of a rim protector.
 
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#3,800
#3,800
CAVPUT said:
Not sure about the "plenty of talent in the back court" assertion. No backup for ZZ. I've said my peace about Gainey. Mashack is a stud defender but offensively? Not so sure. I kind of see Carr as a 3 spot guy and while he's got potential, I'm not sure what we can expect from him over a season. Outside of those guys, I'm not sure what we have in the back court. Can't hang your hat on the incoming freshman. By most accounts, he's a year or maybe 2 from being a serious contributor. We need help everywhere.
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This is some realistic realism. There is nothing wrong with pie in the sky posts but there is nothing wrong with these types of posts either. I don't know how anyone see our roster and say we're good in the back court, or front count right now for that matter.
 
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