Xaivian Lee (G) Commits

Lots to break down with this commit and his fit with the team/schemes, but what I love initially is the number of experienced ballhandlers we will have. That was sort of a question coming into this year, with Clayton and Martin having no real collegiate experience at the one, Aberdeen having played few minutes through his first two years, and Klavzar arriving late and being new to the US/collegiate game. Obviously worked out just fine, haha, but we definitely had to run a lot of our stuff through the bigs to free up those guards at times. Lee is more of a "prototypical" point guard in that he distributes the ball at a high rate (36% assist rate--99th percentile!), in addition to getting his own shot. He may be our best passer since Chiozza, and his size/skill set is a lot closer to Pullin and, going back a bit, Calathes.

But the combination of Lee, Aberdeen, and Klavzar is exceptionally interesting. Lee will be on the ball the vast majority of the time, which means Aberdeen and Klavzar can mostly be secondary ballhandlers with limited stints at the one--roles they proved very effective at least year. They can both play on the ball or off the ball. Defensively, this isn't the strongest rotation in the world, but, at least matchup-wise, Aberdeen is an underrated defender who can defend the 1 through the 3 and can be put on the best guard. When he is off the court, Lee's height means he can at least defend the bigger guard. Also, the fact that Aberdeen won't have primary ballhandling responsibilities means he will have a little more energy (mentally, if not physically) at the other end of the court.

Lots of question marks with this team still. Shooting is one. We lost by far our three best perimeter shooting guards, and if Haugh plays the 3, he won't have as many easy looks against bigs helping on guards or down in the paint. Maybe that's a reason for the possible AJ Brown take. Perimeter defense will be another question. Lee was top two on his team in most defensive categories (BPM, rating, win shares) the last two seasons, but he is taking a major step up in competition, while Klavzar had his struggles on that end and Haugh has barely seen the floor at the 3.

But the portal isn't closed yet, and this staff has a pretty good handle on how they want the pieces to fit. They have also done a good job of adapting to personnel all three years here. Assuming Condon and Haugh are back, our rebounding and rim protection will be at a high level again. And the offense should still be where it was in 2023-24 (higher tempo, lower turnovers, strong offensive rebounding, balanced scoring). Give me a top 20 offense and a top 20 defense each year, and we will be very good.

 

By whom? That would be the case if people were slotting Lloyd and Ingram in over him. Staff loves Brown, but he is still an unknown. Incredibly athletic, has a nice lefty stroke, can get to the rim and finish, but we don't know much about his defense, rebounding, ballhandling/passing, court awareness, etc.

If I were a betting man, I would say he is on the Aberdeen trajectory: Probably on the edge of the rotation as a sophomore with more opportunities to play in the non-conference slate or when injuries hit during league play, then is in position to press for starter's minutes as a junior/senior. But so much depends upon who else we bring in at those spots, who stays when they aren't getting minutes, etc.

 

Watched some Lee highlights and I’m sold!

 

Sounds like a guy who wants to be a Gator, not just go to the highest bidder.

 

Yep. We're not always going to get guys like that. Lee will be his own man, and will be quite a bit different than both Martin and Clayton. He can succeed here, though, and I'm already looking forward to those high assist numbers.

 

It's always nice for me to see some Canadian content on the team! It looks like Golden is rebuilding just fine so far, hopefully Condon and Haugh return as well!

 

^ It seems so.

I suppose an NCAA Tourney coach would have to juggle in both getting his team prepared to play for their next opponent while also trying to build the roster of his next team which is what happened with Coach Golden and others.

“I’m chasing a larger goal”: Junior star Xaivian Lee commits to national champion Florida Gators

 

The replies from the St Johns fan to Neil in that thread are wild. We just won the chip and he is wanting to talk about last year.

 

What are the "wild NIL tales" he is referring to? Sorry, I don't tweeter

 

St Johns crowd is claiming we paid lee 2.5+.

 

Disagree. I think Brown gets 20+ minutes next season. We'll see.

 

move the portal to after the draft

 

If we have to adjust to be late to the portal and win the national championship every other year, I’d be ok with that.

 

Lee had me at “opportunity cost”.

That young man is clearly paying attention in Econ.

 

I wholeheartedly agree they need to delay the start date of the portal. We’re at a serious disadvantage compared to the early departed schools who had a 2-week head start on us. It’s like trying to get a prom date the night before the prom

 

I can relate to that! The older I get, the harder it is to find a date for the prom.

 

Frankly, I don’t want us to be a St John’s team that builds through the portal every year. Neither does Golden. If you are recruiting, developing, and retaining quality players, you only need 2-3 portal takes a year. Those guys are going to wait, if they are interested in playing here. Chinyelu committed April 18, Martin committed April 24, Clayton committed April 11, Pullin committed June 8, Samuel was April 16, Handlogten was April 10, Richard was April 9–every single one of those came after the Final Four.

What could really hurt us is not a two-week delay recruiting the portal, but the prospect of kids leaving their names in the draft and not knowing until late May. Zero chance we could have replaced Clayton last year, or Condon and Haugh this year. Maybe a June portal isn’t such a bad idea, haha. Problem with that, ofc, is the travel season is in full swing, so our coaches are on the road recruiting.

 

There will likely be some grads enter after graduation in may or june. There will probably be thousands of players from this window still sitting in the portal too.