Clayton returns!

I am not holding my breath on Walter becoming a better defender. It didn’t happen in his first three years, and so it’s unlikely to happen now. But I do think our perimeter defensive and defensive toughness will be bolstered by Martin.
And his presence alone will alleviate some pressure on Clayton and Richard, who really struggled at times.

 

Agree. And we will be in much better position to not have that pairing on the floor as often. I love both guys, but together… some real defensive weakness.

 

Yeah point per offensive and defensive possessions are much better stats than points allowed. An uptempo game is always going to allow more points than a lower tempo one. It only matters the differential in your offense vs. defense.

 

A lot of weight on Aberdeen's shoulders next season. He has skills but replacing Pullin is a HUGE ask. He does have a lot of pieces to work with, though.

Added in edit: That is assuming we run traditional offensive sets. We could run some high post offense with Haugh and that is fairly easy to put in or some triangle offense but that is a lot harder to teach. That would take some of the decision making load off of whoever is our PG.

Or we dominate the defensive boards and fast break most of the time so we hardly ever play a half court offense. I like our personnel in a "scramble mode" game.

 

I still not think they start together and play a lot together, but I am also confident they are better defensively. Both should be good on that end, especially Clayton. He is too physical, athletic, and competitive not to be good defensively.

I also think the improved defense in the paint will clean up their lapses.

 

I’ve watched the duration of Clayton’s career, and … for the reasons you mention…. have always been baffled by his defensive shortcomings.

 

Walter is a decent defender.

 

I'm sure we are going to give Martin a shot at starting PG, he didn't transfer here to come off the bench

 

this has been debated, and I’ve been of the opinion that he will not be a starting pg; or really a pg at all for us. I figure we will let him operate out of the ball screen, but that may be the extent of his primary on-ball duties.

TG has since made comments that suggested similar…

“… it doesn’t necessarily mean he is gonna be the main point guard or anything like that. But we are confident in his ability to play out of the ball screen a little bit more. At FAU last year… and they were very good obviously… he was more of an off ball spacer, scorer. And we want to give him more of an opportunity to get downhill in our ball screen action… make more plays for himself andothers.”


I do think Martin will start, however.

 

Clayton
Martin
Richard
Condon

these 4 will definitely start barring something drastic like an injury or something. The 5th starter will be determined by practice is my guess.

Martin is being paid big nil money and Condon turned down a 7 figure deal to go back home to play professionally. We know about Richard and Clayton as well.

Should be an entertaining team that if they can play with pace, keep turnovers reasonable and defends to their capabilities should make a tourney run. If we get big improvements from Condon, Haugh, Aberdeen then maybe a sweet 16 run could happen.

Lastly, something that isn’t discussed too much is also the impact of improvements from our coaching staff. Mainly TG. While I’m a fan of his and think he has done a good job here overall, there is no doubt he can be better and our team could see more success because of it. Let’s hope everything comes together and we have another exciting season.

 

Projected starting lineup (per ESPN)

Walter Clayton Jr. (17.6 PPG)
Alijah Martin (13.1 PPG at Florida Atlantic)
Will Richard (11.4 PPG)
Alex Condon (7.7 PPG)
Reuben Chinyelu (4.7 PPG at Washington State)

 

For me I care less about who starts vs who plays the most minutes. If Chinyelu is one of the 5 players who plays for the most minutes I would be surprised. He really needs to make a huge leap as a player to get even 20 minutes a game next year.

 

If Condon and Chinyelu start, they're scoring a lot more than 12 or 13 points combined. Limited minutes = limited result.
Plus I expect Sam Alexis to start or come off the bench and score in double digits.

 

If he can give us about what Handlogten did last year (5 and 7 in 19 minutes), I will be happy. Anything more than that is a surprise.

 

For perspective, last year's Gator starters averaged 63.7/game. It's a good bit more than 54.5, but as player mentioned, Condon's & Ruben's #s should go up a good bit.

 

I heard you, haha

 

I would be happy with that as well. I do believe he is behind on both ends of the court compared to Handlogten after his frosh year. And that’s saying something considering how undeveloped Micah’s offensive game still is. However, I never believe in putting limits on players. It’s up to him and how much work he puts in.

The Gator coaches are higher on him than I am. I will admit that. They also know the player much better. Hoping they nailed this one, but I am concerned with what I see in terms of playing with balance/ a good base. Watch his highlights and how often he is fading away from the basket. As big as he is, if he learns to play with a better base and improves his feel then I get the upside. I know they feel he will be a good lob option on the ball screen action and the threat of that could open up some outside shooters.

 

Can't speak to that. What I can say is that, analytically speaking, he had almost identical productivity to Handlogten, and he did so on a better team against better competition. He strikes me as a more defensively minded, less offensively effective player. But I don't see him as a starter. Far prefer him coming off the bench behind Condon, then playing a handful of minutes alongside Condon in our double post look. Both Haugh and Alexis seem further ahead of him right now.