Next Year’s Big Men & Playing Time
Next year’s basketball team will have more 4s and 5s than Sooner binary.
This is a problem. A good problem.
So let’s conjecture unfairly as to which of them might be transferring or redshirting and which will be making many two point dunk shots on gametracker.
First, the possible return of Damion James - this year’s 4 - shouldn’t matter. His return is contingent on Barnes’ commitment to refine his NBA SF skills, specifically his handle and the ability to take people off of the dribble. He’s playing 3, even if he’s not totally there yet. If he doesn’t return, Justin Mason plays in a three guard set and we mix it up with some occasional zone with three bigs. This gives us eighty minutes + to distribute amongst six dudes.
That’s just not happening. Concievably, we could lose an eventual All-Conference level guy to transfer.
Most teams are thrilled to have four legit bigs; we’ll have six. Barnes can’t make that work without the aid of transfer, redshirt or both. Connor Atchley and Gary Johnson are the only two guys that I’m reasonably sure about. The other four all have the potential to go elsewhere or sit out a year out to develop (save Hill).
Connor Atchley is a known quantity. You know his resume: 6-10 230, he provides experience, shot blocking, good team defense, range from the three point line, and a surprisingly nifty and underutilized post game. Connor is arguably the most improved player in Longhorn history. He’ll get even better, particularly if he can come to understand that his unselfishness can actually be a form of selfishness when it robs our team of a good shot. His shot. Assert thyself, Connor. You’re a personality and clutchness transplant away from being Christian Laettner lite. Minutes: 25
Gary Johnson had an injury riddled season - ticker worries, broken schnozz, bum ankle - but he showed a great deal of intensity and effort when he was well. Dude has heart - pununintentional. He’s an undersized power forward with a some ability to play snippets of small forward if we can protect him in a zone. He’s a capable defender and his offensive game is just beginning to manifest itself, but it’s all 15 feet in right now. He’s a legit 6-7 240 and his quickness will give bigger players problems if he can learn to consistently take the ball to the basket instead of shooting a horseshit fadeaway. Over the course of his career, I’d like to see him develop a real back to the basket game. Minutes: 20
Alexis Wangmene is a long 6-7 240, aggressive, raw, promising, and attracts fouls like cashmere collects lint. Redshirt? Maybe. Transfer? Maybe. R.C Buford’s reading of the tea leaves will be critical. I like Alexis and hope he sticks around. His free throw form suggests a stroke not yet fully realized. This guy could be anything. Minutes: 0-15.
Clint Chapman played very little, but in his minutes he played very well. He’s 6-10 240 and still growing into his body. I’m not entirely sure what his game will be about when he matures, but it’s clear to me that he’ll develop a varied game that will serve as a nice complement to any other big man on the court. Back-to-basket, face up jumpshot, set 3. He could become an upgraded Atchley. Redshirt? Maybe with an injury. Transfer? I could see it. Minutes: 0-15.
Dexter Pittman may have turned a corner during tourney play. He’d be hard to miss coming around a corner. He’s a rebounding machine and he gets any position he wants under the goal. He’s also still learning his body and defensive lateral movement. I pray that he can get it together because Big Dex giving us 15-20 minutes per game in the low blocks at 8 ppg and 8 rpg would be monstrous. Shirt? No. Transfer? Possibly. I hope his tourney minutes encouraged him and made an impression on Barnes. Minutes: 0-15
Matt Hill is a 6-10 245 pound X-factor after sitting out last year with an injury. Barnes claims that Hill would have played extensively this year had he been healthy. He certainly has size and strength and would be an interesting defensive asset paired with Atchley. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him pulling down a productive 15 minutes per game. Would his likelihood of transfer depend on his ability to call last year a medical? Minutes: 0-15
Your thoughts?
April 4, 2008 at 1:25 am
Funny on the transfer ideas: I can’t see any of these guys leaving. That’s probably a lack of imagination on my part, but in my defense, I don’t see a Mike Williams or Dion Dowell among our remaining big guys.
I can easily see Chapman becoming a poor man’s Raef LaFrentz.
April 4, 2008 at 5:43 am
How do we distribute sufficient playing time at two spots to six guys?
April 4, 2008 at 6:05 am
Good thoughts, Scipio.
Damion James needs to play the 3 for his sake and our’s. It’s nice when the player’s and the team’s goals are in alignment.
Connor, he’s a mismatch at the 4 with his ability to float to the perimeter. We should use him in the high post next year to take advantage of all his tools, and to maximize our ability to get the ball into the low post. If DJ leaves, we’ll need to manufacture easy buckets and our high/low should help replace our high screen game. One pet peave with Connor is his running hook bullshit. With his size and ability to take bigger players off the dribble, he needs to attack the rim and get to the foul line. Gary Johnson attempted the same number of foul shots as Connor did for the year. That shouldn’t happen.
I think Gary Johnson’s a tweener, and I mean that in the NBA sense. In college, he’ll have the ability to be a Byron Houston, Corliss Williamson type. He’ll be both a back to the basket and face up guy based on matchup. He’ll need his fifteen foot game to draw bigger players away from the goal so he can take them off the dribble and body them.
Chapman can be special. I didn’t realize how athletic he was until I saw him up close in Reliant. He’s already the most well rounded offensive post player on the roster. He needs ten pounds of lower body muscle to be able to maintain position in the low post on offense and keep from being pushed under the bucket on defense. He’s your Laetner if he gets stronger.
Wangmene, he needs some weight to overcome his lack of height. Like you, I can see offensive game than his stats wouldn’t indicate. He had two nice post moves vs. OU in the conference tourney.
Pittman, I’ve got a bet with a friend that he’ll be a first rounder. The way he handled Robin Lopez reminded me of a story I read about a scout going to see Jerry Stackhouse play for the first time in an AAU game. Stackhouse went up against Randy Livingston before his 9 knee surgeries. Livingston so thoroughly dominated Stackhouse, off the dribble, posting up, defense, offense, you name it, that the scout left the game doubting if Stackhouse was even a take for his club. Dexter’s game wasn’t nearly as dominant, but I think he made him some money vs. in the tourney. I’d love to see some concerted effort to establish him in ballgames next year.
Hill, I don’t see it. Size wise he’s fine, but I never saw flashes from him the way I see flashes from the other young bigs. I don’t know that Matt believes that he can play at this level.
April 4, 2008 at 6:36 am
As for your second question, it depends on DJ. If he’s gone we have a bit of an identity crisis. We’ll need to make James the focal point of the offense at the 3 which means you’ll see more baseline screens to free him for scoring looks. And if your bread is buttered running the baseline with your 3, you have to have a low block post presence to exploit out of position hedging big men. James is playing 30 minutes a night.
Atchley is a no brainer 4 because he does so much offensively. He gets 30 minutes as well.
Big Dex is my starting 5 man. He’s perfect for a baseline screen game where he can hover around the low blocks. Give him 20 minutes and he’ll get you 15 and 8 every night.
The others all depend on improvement in the off season. I’d like to see GJ continue to develop a perimeter game so he can even slide down to play some 3 to spell James.
April 4, 2008 at 7:28 am
A little birdie told me yesterday that Abrams will be testing the NBA waters. I asked them to ask A.J. if he could name any 5′10″ shooting guards in the NBA.
April 4, 2008 at 8:04 am
Hey this is crazy, but: what if - for like 5/10 mins per game - James played the 2 spot with GJ at the 3(assuming his face up game improved) and Connor - Dex at the 4 and 5 respectively.
The rotation minutes for the whole game could be split along these lines:
5 spot is split between Dex/Connor/Chappy
4 rotates Chappy/GJ/Wingman/Connor
3 rotates James/GJ
2 rotates Mason/James
1 rotates Balby/Mason
AJ comes off the bench for catch and shoot 3s.
Maybe that’s too much to juggle. I dont know.
April 4, 2008 at 8:08 am
I just remember Memphis killing us with their size, and for once it’d be nice if we had a lineup that went 6-2, 6-7, 6-7, 6-10, 6-10.
April 4, 2008 at 8:19 am
doog, this time last year I didn’t think there was anyway in hell James would play a lick on the perimeter much less as a 3 man. You never know. If he plays at the two it’d put tremendous pressure on Mason. Also, you’d almost have to have Atchley in the game as a third perimeter shooter, because against that line-up opposing teams would zone a good bit of the time.
April 4, 2008 at 10:52 am
Great stuff, Scip.
Trips - I’m glad to see your thoughts on Chappy. He came in and made some very confident offensive moves during the tournament. Rapid ascent up the learning curve from just the beginning of the year. Since defense is just hard work, strength and want to, it’s good to see the polish on the O already. I look for big things from him.
The Dexter thing is hilarious. That guy is a player. Do you think with more Todd Wright, he can get off the floor a bit quicker? He’s obviously an immovable object on the block and has such good hands but if he can get up more quickly and a bit higher, he could be an All Big XII guy. I realize time and gravity are conspiring against him but I’ll hold out hope since he’s already demonstrated a serious work ethic.
I love Gary Johnson. Kid was so snake bit this year and just kept coming. He showed up against Memphis and also showed an ability to score vs. bigger, more athletic guys. Channeling PJ Tucker around the goal. I look for huge things from him next year.
Matt Hill – Who knows. The Barnes comments are encouraging.
April 4, 2008 at 11:05 am
I agree with CJD that although y’all make fair points re the logjam for minutes I don’t see any transfers (unless they’re encouraged, but Harrison Smith said Rick doesn’t do that without reason). Pittman would have been my only guess, but he did see some significant minutes post-season. Still I wonder if it wouldn’t behoove him to be somewhere where he could conceivably play 25-30 minutes a game. Wangemene had the same PT complaints, but again had his chances post-season. I’m not certain how I’d feel if he left; I see the potential but he also seems to possess a Muoneke-like temper.
Also, when doing the math - Atchley is a senior and I don’t think we’ve got anyone in the next class or two as it stands now that would compete with these guys, so the minutes issue could solve itself.
April 4, 2008 at 11:07 am
Abrams and the NBA in the same sentence is just comical. Unless he’s referring to the Norwegian Basketball Association.
April 4, 2008 at 11:12 am
I can’t see Pittman transferring away from Barnes and Todd Wright.
April 4, 2008 at 11:23 am
I’d love to keep all of them, obviously.
Remember though: six guys. Two of them have clear roles and minutes established - Atchley and Johnson.
Now you have 30 minutes to distribute to 4 guys. And keeping them happy?
That’s just not happening.
April 4, 2008 at 11:44 am
Redshirt Chapman, if he’ll do it. He could have used it this year, IMO. That’s a start.
April 4, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I just don’t see where Matt Hill’s minutes come from next year unless he improved drastically (without playing). Don’t know if he will transfer, but Barnes is more than willing to flat out not play a guy on the roster.
So it might only be Pitmman, Chapman and Lexi fighting for those last 30 minutes that don’t go to CA and GJ. 10 minutes each to be adjusted for whose playing well, has good matchups etc etc.
April 4, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Also, Johnson can spell James at the three. As long as CA is in the game, you could have Johnson plus one of the bigs down low and let CA float around on the perimeter where his shot keeps people honest.
You could steal some minutes that way for GJ at the three even if he doesn’t develop an outside game. You would have to zone for the most part obviously.
April 6, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Kansas gives 30 minutes to Rush & Chalmers, 25 to Jackson & Arthur & Collins & Robinson. Kaun gets 17. If you take our “sure” 30’s down to 25’s, it frees up quite a bit. No reason that shouldn’t happen if we actually return everyone.
Memphis gave 28 to Douglas-Roberts, Rose, and Anderson; 25 to Dorsey & Dozier; 15 to Mack, Taggert, Kemp, and Allen; and 10 to Robinson.
UNC gave 33 to Hansbrough, 31 to Ellington, 28 to Ginyard, 25 to Lawson, 22 to Green, 21 to Thompson, and 15 to Stephenson, Frasor, and Thomas.
UCLA gave 35 to Collison, 34 to Westbrook, 33 to Shipp, 30 to Love, 29 to Mbah a Moute, and 15 each to Mata-Real, Aboya, & Roll. Keefe got 12, Dragovic 9. In conference play, the key players got even more minutes.
Texas played DJ 37, AJ 36, Mason 33, James 31, Atchley 27, Johnson 17, Wangmene 10, Pittman & Chapman 7 each. Though the issue may have been guard depth (Smith & Lewis?), with the bigs we had and James’ developing skills, there should have been more distribution of minutes even this year. Take our 3 guards down to 25-30 each and you’ve got extra minutes. If you do go with a big 3 (Damion/Gary or Damion/Conner) then you’ve got 15-20 minutes left per man on all the bigs.
If you want to throw a wrench in things, imagine everyone coming back and add Tyreke Evans into the mix.
April 6, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I should add–that’s a problem I wouldn’t mind having.
April 6, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Not sure what happened, but apparently my long post that preceded the odd comment above disappeared. In short, every other Final Four team did a much better job of distributing minutes–particularly the top 2 teams. Do the same next year (25-28 for the stars, 10-15 for everyone else), develop Gary & Damon on the wing, and maybe Conner in spots, and you’ve got a championship-caliber team.
Toss Tyreke Evans or Ebanks in and then you’ve got issues with minutes–but, as stated above, that’s a problem I wouldn’t mind having.
April 12, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Summer camp could make a big difference for Chappy, Dex, and Wingman. All three have the potential to make the jump into the starting lineup. Chappy needs better footwork, floor sense, and hands. Dex needs stamina and positioning. Wingman needs strength and a reliable offensive move. Without these improvements they are destined to be role players. Transferring will not help.