North Carolina Adds Jae'lyn Withers From Transfer Portal
North Carolina added another piece in the transfer portal, and it should be a familiar face for Tar Heel Nation.
North Carolina Adds Jae'lyn Withers From Transfer Portal
- Thread starter andrew jones
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Pleasant surprise. Most of the noise seemed to surround Ingram. Not that they are the same player, but they were often being discussed here at the same time.
Do we still have a good shot at Ingram, or are we less interested now?
Do we still have a good shot at Ingram, or are we less interested now?
I think we want Ingram, Withers is more a 6th/7th man given his turnover and defense issues.
Not super excited about this because I just don’t know much about him. The fact that he was a middling player on a terrible team doesn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy about it. But I’ll give the staff the benefit of the doubt here and hope he was just poorly used at UL and attribute his pedestrian performance thus far to poor culture there.
Get Ingram through the portal, Cadeau to reclass and sign Mgbako and I’m feeling very good about next year.
Get Ingram through the portal, Cadeau to reclass and sign Mgbako and I’m feeling very good about next year.
Yea, I'm on the fence about this one. I get some Pete Nance vibes. Not the positional mis-fit. But Nance shot an uncharacteristically high percentage from 3 as a senior at Northwestern and everyone thought that would carry over, when in reality, Nance was more of the shooter he was his first 3 years at Northwestern.
Withers had one really bad 3PT shooting season 23.4% and one really good 3PT shooting season 41.7%. So which one is he?
Him being more of a natural stretch 4 should help the fit organically. But I'm on the fence about it. Like Nance, will have to see whether the 3PT production was real or not.
As of right now, our starting 5 is probably: RJ, Wilcher, Wojcik, Wither, Bacot?
Right now, that's an NIT starting 5.
Nance's back injury ruined his season.
I already posted the tweet showing that Withers was a better jumpshooter than anyone on our roster last season.
Right now our only confirmed starters are RJ and Bacot.
I see Withers as a good backup. I dont see him as a starter. We have 4 positions left to fill if we want to. I think they have to aim higher for the next 4.
Withers is a better fit at the 4 next to Bacot than Washington is, and would be our starting PF if the season started today. He’ll be a senior and can shoot the 3, I like the pickup. Let’s add Ingram and Cadeau next 📝
Washington's future is at the 5 spot. He doesn't have the mobility or athleticism to defend anyone outside of the paint. Heck UVA put Vander Plas at Center and Washington got absolutely roasted trying to guard him on the perimeter too.
Until proven otherwise, expect Washington to only guard guys who never leave the paint.
Oh my, where to start? LOL
I am not on the fence, this is a really good get for us, he is a stretchy 4 that moves so much better than Nance did and much more athletic over all. Nance to me was a bit plodding, especially for what you look for in a stretch 4. I am not saying Withers is Manek like as a shooter but he is more in the mold of what Bacot has expressed he wants to play beside.
News flash guys, Withers did not shoot great as a freshman, stop the presses, hold the headlines! LOL Kid shot a better 3pt % than ANYONE on our team did last season AND he is a athletic stretch 4 that is 6'8" and weighs in at 235lbs and you have a fence post up your butt? LOL
Nance was a 5 trying to pass as a stretch power forward, Withers is a 4 trying to be a 4 that can stretch as well, one guy played out of position and one is now being brought in to play his natural position.
If we started next season and had no more players, which is not going to be the case and we know it isn't, my starting line up would be Seth or more likely Wilcher at the point, Rj at the 2, Dunn at the 3, Withers at the 4, and Bacot. Seth, Jalen, Wojik, and High would all get solid PT. If we get Ingram I have him starting at the 3 and Dunn has a PT problem. And of course if we get Cadeau that changed up my whole back court look as well as who backs up who.
Welcome to the Family, Mr. Withers!
We know who to Lean On!
We know who to Lean On!
I didn't take Withers' freshman year numbers. The 23% 3PT year was his sophomore season and his 41% was last year, his junior season. The two seasons where his shooting numbers have the biggest sample size too. And I mentioned already that I think him being a natural 4 will organically make things better, relax.
My point is I'll need to see what kind of shooter he is in game action. If he's a 40% 3PT shooter, obviously this is a significant upgrade that will make this team a lot better. If he's closer to a 30% 3PT shooter... Well, we'll need to get some production and efficiency elsewhere. I don't really care that he shot a better percentage last year than anyone on our roster did. First off, I hope so. None of our guys last year made any shots other than RJ. Second, that wasn't my point either.
My point was he had two years of volume shooting sample size. One year, he shot 23%. The other he shot 41%. So I'm curious which percentage he is more likely as a shooter. The 73% FT shooting last year and his 70% career FT is sort of in the "no-man's land" FT shooting percentage. Manek shot 70% from the FT line with us, but was obviously an elite jump shooter. Nance shot 82% from the FT line with us, but was a pretty poor jump shooter. I'm just trying to figure out what kind of shooter Withers truly is. That's why I'm on the fence.
But again, I think being a natural 4 will organically make things better (which I've indicated before). Another thing, I've admitted on other threads that I may have a problem with looking into a player's previous team's success too much. That may be going on here. Hopefully he's a really good player that didn't fit into a really bad team last year.
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I will say though... Love how he can go left and finish with his left. Seems like a pretty skilled player for his size.
First off Jung, if I didn't mess with ya you would think something was wrong! LOL
Do I think this kid is a 40% 3pt shooter for us, no, I don't but I do think he can be a 35% guy and that is pretty sporty for what we need from a 4. But I think we can reasonably say that he should be closer to the player he was last season than the season or 2 before, we call that a kid developing their game, assuming they are playing in their natural position and the sample size is ample.
Bottom line it is about how a kid fits to what a team needs, Brady Manek was not on any NCAA AA teams but he fit what we needed, I think this kid fits area of need.
Do I think this kid is a 40% 3pt shooter for us, no, I don't but I do think he can be a 35% guy and that is pretty sporty for what we need from a 4. But I think we can reasonably say that he should be closer to the player he was last season than the season or 2 before, we call that a kid developing their game, assuming they are playing in their natural position and the sample size is ample.
Bottom line it is about how a kid fits to what a team needs, Brady Manek was not on any NCAA AA teams but he fit what we needed, I think this kid fits area of need.
If he's a 35% 3PT shooter it will really help us. Even if he turns out to be a 0 shooter, I think he has enough skill to help us more than last year's players. Puff couldn't dribble, Nance couldn't dribble, Bacot can't dribble. Withers looks like he can handle it a bit and he's comfortable handling.
Agreed he fills a need.
If Cadeau reclasses I think everybody’s shooting percentages will go up. They will be able to get shots off with less hand in their face because the ball will get there when it’s supposed to.
Coach Davis is doing a nice job with restocking our roster. I just believe that all of the hard work will pay off next fall...
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