Does chasing another big imply the staff doesn't expect Jayce to be able to step in as the main man next season? Or does it say more about Lahat's readiness for next season? Not sure what to read into this development.Originally Posted by UtahsMrSports
I think it just means we have very few bigs. It's just Johnson, Thioune, and Battin right now.
Yeah, but this past season we went with only Johnson and Collette. Jokl doesn't really count. We didn't even use him. In this era of small ball, how many bigs do we need?
Ive got to be honest and admit that i have not watched anything beyond a few highlights of this kid, but he seems to be not all that different from Jayce. I think that given Jayce's foul troubles and occasional ankle issues, it would be wise to have another reliable guy to police the lane.
Even in this era, I'd say the answer is "as many as we can get." We had plenty of times this season where we were in trouble due to injury/foul trouble.
Okay, but why this guy? He appears to be redundant to Jayce. He is not a 3-point threat and neither is Jayce. By comparison, Villanova won another championship using exactly one guy 6-9 or better, Omari Spellman. In fact, they don't have any guys bigger than 6-9 on their entire roster.
Why this guy? Cuz he's interested. I'm sure we'd prefer the highly regarded PG who just committed to Georgetown.
If he's meant to replace Jayce off the bench, it's good for him to have a similar game.
How many of the sweet 16 teams had no one taller than 6'9" on the roster?Villanova won another championship using exactly one guy 6-9 or better...In fact, they don't have any guys bigger than 6-9 on their entire roster.
Yeah, maybe 20 years ago that would have been good. Not now.
We ended up with Rawson playing the 5 quite a bit, Seeley some and I swear I recall Utah playing with Tillman as the tallest player at some point. So in other words, just because we left ourselves short on usable bigs last year doesn't mean we should repeat the mistake. I'd echo Mr's point about Jayce and issues with fouls and his ankles. You add this kid so that you have Jayce and Topalovic as your primary centers, Thioune mainly as a forward but swinging a little to center if needed (and ready) and Battin also there in case Lahat isn't ready. I think that's the right amount of players at that spot.
I agree with your post, but I think these two names should be reversed. I'm pinning my hopes on Battin as a starter.
To be clear, I expect more of Battin as a freshman overall, but I expect it to be at the 4 position primarily, maybe exclusively. If Lahat is ready to contribute my completely uneducated guess is that he'd get minutes at center before Battin does due to his length, but that Battin would get more total minutes overall. Clear as mud, right?
The kid is pretty polished.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote