Yeah, I saw it as well, but (at least to my knowledge) that was a rehash.
But hey, if he still wants to come?........
A Closer Look at Best Available Big Men in the Portal
- Thread starter andrew jones
- Start date
But hey, if he still wants to come?........
True, I have been informed within the last hour that the center they are really eyeing is Danny Wolf out of Yale.
I don't know anything about Wolf, but I am a little disappointed that their primary target is not Kalkbrenner (I know he's not in the portal yet).
I never thought that Jalen Washington would become a polarizing player, lol.
Yep. He and the Stanford Big are both on the radar, although there's a big push for the latter to return to Palo Alto.
Agree completely!
Why do fans so quickly forget what they should already know? Jalen initially injured that knee 1/2/2020, in his soph high school season, came back and played thru his Jr season and some summer circuit but the knee was not right, he had constant pain, very stiff, MRI showed in addition to meniscus damage the ACL was "loose". It was to the point that he could not play on it, had the surgery re-done that forced him to miss not just his sr season of high school but the off season after his senior season as well. Many don't realize that in addition to all of this, he missed all but 7 games in his soph high school season with a shoulder injury. Basically the ONLY season the kid was able to play full for the whole season was his freshman high school season.
I consider him not even to the level of a re-class freshman, most re-class freshmen get to play 3 full seasons of high school ball and summer circuit after each season, Jalen had little of that, none really after his freshman season and that summer. For a re-class kid, it isn't his age that matters, it is how much playing time he has had before getting to college, how much prep time, how much learning time a kid has before getting to college, that is the difference maker. Jalen didn't even check in to a game for us until we had played 10 games.
RE-class freshmen are behind regular freshmen because they have less playing experience, duke fans learned that with Proctor last season, we learned it with Cadeau this past season did we not? But coming to UNC Jalen Washington was far behind even re-class freshmen, at least 2yrs behind and they didn't have to deal with rehabbing a serious knee injury from 2 separate surgeries. I am not asking for pity for him, he neither wants or needs that but some darn understanding would be nice, especially from UNC fans? I would consider Jalen as no more than a double re-class and maybe even a triple one, far less develop time than even Cadeau had.
Yet folks expect him to come in this season and play like Amondo, like a 5th year senior, they don't even realize how Mondo played as a freshman that was not hurt prior to coming to UNC, he could catch the darn ball, he would fumble it if ya handed it to him, he developed over his time with us. He, like Jalen, showed flashes of what would come but he had to learn and develop and was fortunate to be able to walk straight in to a starting slot at UNC with major minutes, the opposite of Jalen's path.
You can not look at what Jalen produced this season and call it a book on him, limiting him to 8mins a game was a mistake my opinion and that will not change. You have to look at Jalen as to what he may develop in to rather than what he was this past season. To many seem un-willing to consider this but those that know this game understand exactly what I am saying, they see his real value.
Even the chappell poster that can't seen to find enough words to scream how bad a player Jalen is has to admit that maybe he can shoot some. LOL But to explain let me ask, when was the last time UNC had a kid 6'9", that shoots jump shots out past the 3pt line that effortlessly, that picture perfect, that also had a 7'5" reach? Those guys grow on trees do they? If they do kindly let Hubert know where the tree is so he can pick a few more!
As I shared with gary, in a post I was really so pissed as I wrote it my fingers wouldn't work right (not pissed at gary, pissed at what he was having to respond to), I don't know if Jalen can or should start next season. I think what gary was saying was that if we got no major guy from the portal to replace Bacot that the job would not just default to Jalen but that it would not be nearly as bad as many feel it would be and I agree. I am expecting this off season to be one we see a major up-tick on Jalen's game, some thing akin to a freshman to soph bump. I think he has the ability to be our starter no matter who we would bring in but does that show thru next season or does it take another season for him to finally get there? I am excited to see how he develops going in to next season, I under no circumstances want to see him leave us nor should any Tar Heel fan!
I like the way I have seen Wolf described, like Luke Maye with 4 more inches!
Dang, he’s only a sophomore. Logged some pretty good stats and a few bad games, but once again he’s young. Cool
What I am wanting to see is 16-20mins from the kid and I really want some of those minutes to be at the 4. I think at 16mins a game he would be a consistent double digit scorer and will have multiple 20pt+ games. Let's say we lose Ingram to the draft, who do we know we have that starts at the 4? It would have to be JWash or JWit, no matter which started, the other gets big minutes. Maybe you saw more in High's game than I have, maybe you expect more early from Brown than I do, I am not expect basically anything from either next season.
Yeah, I watched 2 of their games this season and he struggled inside vs quality D1 size, but dangerous PnP spot-up guy for sure and has good ball skills.
OK, so gonna dream a little bit but imagine this kid or the Russian kid on the floor together with Jalen, 2 bigs that are solid PnP guys out to trey point land! With Cadeau there to find them, with a guy like the Tyson kid squaring up, and the raw athletism of either Jackson or Drake as cutters? OMG! LOL
Better dream about switching to zone defense if that happens. Wolf getting bullied at the 5, Washington getting absolutely destroyed trying to guard perimeter forwards, Tyson who is not a very good defender as a wing, a freshman playing the other wing, and Cadeau defending the point. Every other ACC team is licking their chops at that lineup.
C'mon man. Getting overwrought much?
First, Tyson would likely be brought in as a complementary piece for offensive firepower, as opposed to a definite starter (and BTW, IF Ingram returns he would prefer to showcase more at the 3 next season).
Second, if Wolf and Wash were on the floor together, I imagine Wolf would be the 4 --- and with a summer of footwork and strength improvement there's no reason Wash can't be a decent post defender at the 5.
And finally, EC is already a pretty damned good defender at the 1 and will only get better with a season of experience under his belt.
Wolf wouldn't be much better at defending perimeter forwards than Washington. He's a 255 lbs 7-footer. The modern stretch 4 is just a tall small forward. They'd blow by Wolf or Washington with ease. They'd lose Wolf or Washington around screens without breaking a sweat.
And yes, there are plenty of reasons why Washington could struggle defending the 5. The most obvious being his entire sophomore season where every strong or fat center, regardless of height, easily pushed him under the basket. We don't need a "decent post defender." We need an anchor in the center who doesn't get bullied on defense.
Not overwrought. Just posting a very real and accurate response to the previous poster's dream lineup. His dream lineup would be terrible at man to man defense. I honestly can't believe there are still people who want to see JWash defending the 4. That part was the truly mind-blowing part. I get that he likely has never seen Wolf or Tyson play, but he just watched a full season of Washington demonstrating how terrible he is trying to play defense outside of the paint.
Look, during his first couple of years Mando was nowhere near the defender that he worked himself into, and JWash has only recently been able to gain strength and weight. How about we don't jump to premature conclusions on a kid who can give us an offensive dimension we haven't seen here in a long time.
How about we don't ignore game film that clearly demonstrates a player's obvious limitations just because you're in love with his jumpshot?
Fair. And again, I don’t like doing it because that guy is the worst, but @DaveChapelle made a great point. Hubert should go get the best big out there (or 2) and if Washington ends up winning the job over whomever we pick up, then so be it. If going out and getting the 1 or 2 best bigs in the portal scares Washington off, well, thems the breaks.
Of course I would prefer to have home grown talent so to speak. But that era of college basketball is over. We have entered the portal usage era.
Danny Wolf really struggled against top 100 opponents this past season.
8 games, 33.8% 2PT percentage, 28% 3PT (7/25)
Watched his tournament game. He's a terrific passer for his size. I'm not sure if that translates to UNC. I don't know if he'll draw doubles against ACC bigs. But he definitely can pass for his size.
Cade Tyson was less efficient than in his conference games but still shot it well against T100 competition
9 games, 44% 2PT percentage, 40.4% 3PT
For comparison, Paxson Wojcik was pretty significantly less efficient against top 100 teams 2 years ago
7 games, 53.3% 2PT percentage, 29.3% 3PT
Conference: 14 games, 58.6% 2PT, 40.3% 3PT
It isn't everything. They would play with different players but I think those numbers are more transferrable than season numbers.
8 games, 33.8% 2PT percentage, 28% 3PT (7/25)
Watched his tournament game. He's a terrific passer for his size. I'm not sure if that translates to UNC. I don't know if he'll draw doubles against ACC bigs. But he definitely can pass for his size.
Cade Tyson was less efficient than in his conference games but still shot it well against T100 competition
9 games, 44% 2PT percentage, 40.4% 3PT
For comparison, Paxson Wojcik was pretty significantly less efficient against top 100 teams 2 years ago
7 games, 53.3% 2PT percentage, 29.3% 3PT
Conference: 14 games, 58.6% 2PT, 40.3% 3PT
It isn't everything. They would play with different players but I think those numbers are more transferrable than season numbers.
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And let's ignore the chance the kid could improve his deficiencies. Let's go ahead and label him since there's zero chance he could get better at anything.
I agree with this, but to write Washington off at this point is premature, and a big mistake IMO. He can absolutely contribute on some level.
Any player could get better. That doesn't mean UNC coaches should put the fate of the program and their careers all on the shoulders of a guy who is currently terrible on defense. Get UNC caliber starters and let Washington try to beat them out for playing time.
I never said that, all I'm saying is that JW has value to this team, whether it's starter or back up for 20 minutes per game. You seem to proclaim he has no value to the team moving forward, and if that's not the case, you have a hard time communicating it, you bash the kid non stop.
No, i criticize the fans who want to hand him a starting spot he clearly isn't ready for yet. I do so by pointing out factual evidence of where his game currently stands.
I like Washington a lot. But playing at Carolina is a privilege. When you agree to play at a school with the basketball pedigree of North Carolina, nothing is owed to you. If HD believes he can improve a position through the portal, any position for that matter, I hope he'd do so. If competition scares JWash off then Carolina wasn't the place for him. If HD ever becomes reluctant to improve his roster because he feels like he owes something to his bench players; North Carolina will get left behind by the other heavy hitters of college basketball.
I 100% agree with this, but Chapelle goes out of his way to bash the kid. He may not ever be the guy, but he absolutely has a role on this team, provided he chooses to stick around. Chapelle acts like the dude is hot garbage, which may in fact may be DC looking in the mirror.
Horseshit, you criticize JW every chance you get. In reality, you are probably worth much less in real life than you think Jalen is worth on the court. FACTS!
I'm going to take this out of context and say that David Khari Webber Chappelle is one of the greatest comedians of all time. But to your point, I wasn't disagreeing with anything you had to say about JWash. I agree with you for the most part. His skillset as a guy who's 6-10"/6'11" has a place in any modern offense in the country. I just wanted to chime in and provide a different point of view that I think HD has adopted as a traditional Carolina coach with a modern flair.
With all due respect to both WWJD and Bacot, he (Bacot) will not be that hard to replace as I don't think he was all that special in any significant part of his game as a UNC 5 as his offensive skill set was simply not that good. Great ambassador for the UNC brand but relatively unimpressive as a player as compared to a lot of the bigs in NCAAMB this year and years past. Not hating just objective and purely my opinion.
- A guaranteed double double against high major competition.
- Set the UNC rebounding record in 4 years.
- Strong enough to hold his own defending most centers, while also being agile enough to switch onto perimeter players late in a shot clock and get a stop.
- Good enough that most teams designed their defensive game plan around stopping him, often with double teams, for the past 3 seasons.
- Career 55.2% field goal
- 78.1% on Free Throws this year
- The #1 player in the transfer portal last year was Hunter Dickinson. A player that has gotten his butt whooped every single time he's ever played against Armando Bacot.
- 3rd team All American the past 2 seasons, and should have won ACC Player of the Year in 2022.
-Almost drug a dysfunctional team to the 2022 national championship on a bad ankle.
I've seen Jalen play since middle school. He was the #1 or 2 freshman coming in to high school in the nation. He could slash to the basket and moved very well with great size. Then the knee issues came.
Some here were adamant that it was just a "botched" surgery, that was now fixed by a proper surgeon and would be ready to step right in as a freshman by mid season, good as new. Somehow that same poster, now says you couldn't expect anything earlier, it's like his freshman year now.
Jalen is having to learn a totally different game then he played, totally. He is painfully slow laterally, a strength before. He improved a good shot after the first knee into a deadly stroke, but sadly because the other parts were no more.
He works his ASS off and is a top of his class, great attitude worker, but his game is having to do a 180 from what he developed as. I would not count out big things, but he is a project at this point. Trying to feel out a niche with his post injury limitations. I'm rooting for him.
Some here were adamant that it was just a "botched" surgery, that was now fixed by a proper surgeon and would be ready to step right in as a freshman by mid season, good as new. Somehow that same poster, now says you couldn't expect anything earlier, it's like his freshman year now.
Jalen is having to learn a totally different game then he played, totally. He is painfully slow laterally, a strength before. He improved a good shot after the first knee into a deadly stroke, but sadly because the other parts were no more.
He works his ASS off and is a top of his class, great attitude worker, but his game is having to do a 180 from what he developed as. I would not count out big things, but he is a project at this point. Trying to feel out a niche with his post injury limitations. I'm rooting for him.
With all due respect to you, I could not disagree with you more about Bacot. Not sure what more he would have had to do to earn your respect. He may not have been the style big you prefer but "relatively unimpressive" is coo-coo clock when describing his play while at UNC.
I wish he had redshirted his freshman year. But I'd guess missing so much time already, he wanted to get back on the court and play.
I don't know that I'm the poster who said JWash would be able to get starter level minutes by now, but I sure as heck thought he would. Nobody can anticipate how someone will heal and they especially can't foretell when they will recover the various mental aspects of the game (Instinct, confidence in repaired limbs, rotations, positioning, etc)
I SAW a vastly improved player who still has a ways to go. He will need to coninue working his tail off to get a stronger base and re-learning to trust his wheels! He will need to study the game and relearn those natural instincts that allow you to react without slowing down to think. BUT I SAW flashes of a steep learning curve; a potential rim protector; a potential force inside who can slam it in your face; and a very pure stroke! I'll say it again: I expect him to get starter level minutes next season!
Who gives a crap if naysayers disagree with my speculation!
(I wonder if they know they are simply speculating to....hmmm)
I SAW a vastly improved player who still has a ways to go. He will need to coninue working his tail off to get a stronger base and re-learning to trust his wheels! He will need to study the game and relearn those natural instincts that allow you to react without slowing down to think. BUT I SAW flashes of a steep learning curve; a potential rim protector; a potential force inside who can slam it in your face; and a very pure stroke! I'll say it again: I expect him to get starter level minutes next season!
Who gives a crap if naysayers disagree with my speculation!
(I wonder if they know they are simply speculating to....hmmm)
I thought our starting 4 and 5 this past year would have been GG and J Wash.
It is so hard to prognosticate out beyond a year in today's College game.
You are very critical of every player on our roster, rarely if ever do you say anything positive about any of our players, while claiming that Sean May is your BFF? But for Jalen Washington you seem to have nothing but contempt for the kid or anyone that dares say a positive thing about him. I have watched the game threads, nothing but negativity from you and that is hard to do concerning a team that won the ACC regular season and 29 games. It is actually amazing, that you loaded up so much negativity for a kid that played 8mins a game yet led us in field goal %?
I have decided to do something that I actually didn't think I would ever do, today, just a minute ago, I put the poster dave chappell on ignore. As many heated situations as I have found myself in on these boards this one poster I find myself in no way wanting common ground with and he not worthy or in my view able to have reasonable discussion. So I have banished him from my view... #trash dumped.
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