There is a long standing argument that goes on around here about recruiting top tier talent that are likely early draft entrants vs. recruiting guys that can be 3 or 4 year contributors.
First off, I think there is a very complicated balance, and that in any given year the correct answer to that equation may be different. There is a balance between talent and chemistry/leadership. Max talent doesnt always equal best possible team.
In the long run, I think you ultimately have to get guys that will be here a few years, and then try to plug in the 1 year talent to fit needs. I think particularly at the SF position, if you can get a game changer there, it is huge for a team.
When I look at us this year, I see some interesting things. I think that we have the guard talent this year that we have all been yearning for since we lost RussRob Chalmers and Rush. We are deep and talented. Ironically, we can't pair that backcourt up with a frontcourt like the Morri and Aldrich. Seriously. If we had those guys this year it would be nuts.
Where I think our issue right now is that Self has always been one to bring along his big guys slow. I can't think of any bigs, really, that didn't struggle early. Embiid probably was the best, but even he had growing pains (literally and figuratively).
To me, the answer is simple. We aren't targeting the right bigs. We spend most of our time each year recruiting MAJOR talent in the post. And we have gotten some of it. But Embiid for one year doesn't touch the impact that guys like the Morri or TRob made. Or for that matter, Darnell Jackson or Cole Aldrich. The long term impact of those guys on our roster was huge.
In my mind, for our bigs, we need to have a class (2016, maybe?) That has 2-3 guys who are top 30-60 talent (meaning they have the size and athleticism) but are probably not early entrants. Our long range guys right now are Lucas, Mickelson and Traylor. Jamari has been huge, but he always should have been a 15-20 minute energy guy off the bench. He is too short. Lucas isn't athletic enough to be at the top tier. Mickelson...I'm not sure. He maybe has the potential to have a Withey-esque breakthrough.
I really hope in the next couple years, we start making it a point to early identify some guys like this. Buy the time they are sophomores they will be big impacts, and we get to keep them long range. We only have 1 player in that category right now. In the past we have had a stable of bigs that were all athletic enough, tall enough, skilled enough and experienced enough to hang with anyone. I want to get back to that.
First off, I think there is a very complicated balance, and that in any given year the correct answer to that equation may be different. There is a balance between talent and chemistry/leadership. Max talent doesnt always equal best possible team.
In the long run, I think you ultimately have to get guys that will be here a few years, and then try to plug in the 1 year talent to fit needs. I think particularly at the SF position, if you can get a game changer there, it is huge for a team.
When I look at us this year, I see some interesting things. I think that we have the guard talent this year that we have all been yearning for since we lost RussRob Chalmers and Rush. We are deep and talented. Ironically, we can't pair that backcourt up with a frontcourt like the Morri and Aldrich. Seriously. If we had those guys this year it would be nuts.
Where I think our issue right now is that Self has always been one to bring along his big guys slow. I can't think of any bigs, really, that didn't struggle early. Embiid probably was the best, but even he had growing pains (literally and figuratively).
To me, the answer is simple. We aren't targeting the right bigs. We spend most of our time each year recruiting MAJOR talent in the post. And we have gotten some of it. But Embiid for one year doesn't touch the impact that guys like the Morri or TRob made. Or for that matter, Darnell Jackson or Cole Aldrich. The long term impact of those guys on our roster was huge.
In my mind, for our bigs, we need to have a class (2016, maybe?) That has 2-3 guys who are top 30-60 talent (meaning they have the size and athleticism) but are probably not early entrants. Our long range guys right now are Lucas, Mickelson and Traylor. Jamari has been huge, but he always should have been a 15-20 minute energy guy off the bench. He is too short. Lucas isn't athletic enough to be at the top tier. Mickelson...I'm not sure. He maybe has the potential to have a Withey-esque breakthrough.
I really hope in the next couple years, we start making it a point to early identify some guys like this. Buy the time they are sophomores they will be big impacts, and we get to keep them long range. We only have 1 player in that category right now. In the past we have had a stable of bigs that were all athletic enough, tall enough, skilled enough and experienced enough to hang with anyone. I want to get back to that.
