KJ Lewis has entered the transfer portal

[|ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ|]

Tyran Stokes is undecided last I heard.. Not sure he would come and be our "Derik Queen" though.

Speaking of Derik Queen, I'm sure Tom would wake up from his Portal coma if that dude hit the market. Maybe he'd have a tastier sales pitch to serve up the 2nd time around.

[arxpert]

Tyran Stokes is undecided last I heard.. Not sure he would come and be our "Derik Queen" though.

Speaking of Derik Queen, I'm sure Tom would wake up from his Portal coma if that dude hit the market. Maybe he'd have a tastier sales pitch to serve up the 2nd time around.

Queen will definitely go Pro. Top 12-18 is where I think he lands unless someone overpays/reaches.

Like OKC with their massive treasure chest of picks doing a consolidation maneuver to grab 1 talent they really want.

I am hoping the Wizards get a 2nd 1st round pick and are able to land Queen. The Baltimore kid staying close to home. Wiz are the worst team by far. I actually think that Auburn or Houston would have a chance vs the Wiz U-25 Team. Considering both of those teams have high Average Ages. I think Auburn is over 23 years old for their whole team average.

The NBA is not really a league for too much year-to-year parity. It takes a lot of time and luck for teams to get "good". Whoever lands Flagg (or Captures the Flagg) will have a Franchise Altering player though.

[WILD]

https://x.com/247HSHoops/status/1907192984921108631?t=Fv_uNCCOJB78Yx2Ch2nXmA&s=19

[mvpreed2]

Carter is actually good though. Compared to Dalen Terry who got himself taken 16? or 18? due to his measurables alone... he barely plays much on a bad team.

KJ Lewis has no shot to be a great NBA player. He is not 5'6" with a 7'2" wingspan or anything. He isn't going to get to the rim much. Can't create his shot.

Maybe he can play like a Marcus Smart or Caruso defensively, but he can't be relied on for offense.

Carter can do it all. He will shine in the NBA. I hope he stays and plays with Peat desperately. Henri is a great prospect too. I hope he is purchased back.

I don't know if Tommy is prepared for what the landscape of NIL is now. He shifted more toward HS Recruits with a Phenomenal CORE in place (without Love, Townsend)... But now he seems to be getting rugpulled losing Lewis, Henri and Stephen (SO FAR.... so far..... keywords... SO FAR).

I can see Sean Miller poaching a guy like KJ Lewis. That's a Miller player 100%. Henri is too.

Scary times ahead for a little bit.

We don't have the best player coming next year which is Darryn Peterson (Kansas)... not AJ Dysbanta (BYU) --- Both Big12 btw...

Tyran Stokes is undecided last I heard.. Not sure he would come and be our "Derik Queen" though.

Jayden Quaintance? Is he an option? lol.

Missing on Alijah Arenas is a big deal now all of the sudden. Can he be flipped?? American Greenbacks is all Gilbert cares about.

1. I won't be accepting any Chicago Bulls slander.
Our front office just woke up from a several year nap.
Give us a break alright?

2. I never saw Lewis as an all-around NBA guy.
I know some on here has said he was 6'5?
He does not look bigger than 6'3 on my TV.
My point is he is not big enough to be given the keys to a NBA franchise.
Yes, his best bet is to try be a POA defender.

3. The NIL landscape has every P4 coach in a stranglehold.
There are always going to be someone that wants a pay raise, and the coach is going to have to figure that out.
I was not shocked to see Lewis leave, but Veesaar not going overseas surprised me, and Stephen leaving also shocked me.
If you want to have a consistent program?
You better start trying to recreate those Wright Villanova squads by having a handful of 3-5 year prospects and sprinkling in some high-end OND type prospects to raise the floor of the program.

4. If you want to believe what I heard on a podcast?
Lloyd chose Burries over Arenas by stop recruiting Arenas.
This is funny because a few weeks prior, he says that Arenas/Peat are priorities and Burries is going to the highest bidder.
(Arenas commits to USC)
Now, Lloyd stop recruiting Arenas because of all that comes with him, and Burries is now a can't-miss prospect.
#BearDown

[arxpert]

1. I won't be accepting any Chicago Bulls slander.
Our front office just woke up from a several year nap.
Give us a break alright?

1. I am thoroughly jealous the Bulls acquired Giddey for pennies on the dollar (Caruso). That should hold you over. As a Wizards fan my goals were for my FO to acquire Giddey and Dyson Daniels. Too bad they don't listen to me. Daniels averaging 3.1 steals per game!

2. KJ Lewis wouldn't be able to guard SGA at all. He really could only make it as a defender from my POV. Marcus Smart couldn't stop anyone over 6'3" either so we agree there too.

3. The "Nova Core" as I describe those guys is probably an anomaly now. A.J. Dysbanta is being paid 5 million by BYU next year to come in for a season.. up to 7 million which I presume has to do with staying longer. 5 million is the base pay and biggest NIL deal ever. No idea how BYU found the money... oh wait... I do.. sadly those collection buckets.... (#1 overall prospect --- though I think Peterson is better going to Kansas...)

---> Watching the McDonald's All American Game tonight... the West is basically ALL Big12 players. It will be BEDLAM next season for Superstars on Superstars. Coaching will be the difference. And yes, Henri had me Shook actually. I felt like he was going to return. I really hope Carter returns. I think it will be about 90% going pro, 10% chance he stays. I am just sad that Tommy didn't really use Carter while he had him although it ain't over til that fat lady sings. Carter and Peat would be FORMIDABLE. Especially with Burries and Bradley..

4. "Lloyd chose Burries over Arenas by stop recruiting Arenas." ---> At this point if we can't secure Burries I would do what I could to flip Alijah. We don't really have a team that is a "core" anymore so we might as well try the "Duke" 1 and Done year with Jahlil Okafor, Justice Winslow, Tyus Jones or whatever and Grayson Allen.. all the Freshmen that went the distance.



In Summary - I was really hoping that Bradley, KJ, Carter, and Henri would be our primary building blocks. Awaka/ADO as Depth for Koa Peat to come and start right away. Then maybe Krivas was who I felt may transfer and try to stay more bouncy and athletic with Stephen... but I will definitely admit if I am wrong with Mo Krivas. Assuming he is staying and 100% healthy, I would love to see what his potential is.

Now we are in a bit of a Cluster and Tommy doesn't have to RACE through this Portal Process. He needs to find the right fits. Last year he seemed Rushed and ended up with Townsend who didn't fit his system at all, then we went from too many Bigs to not enough bigs quickly and we went from way too many Guards to only really being functional with 2 True Guards on the floor at a time.

This is why I really want to put some emphasis on Tommy's growth in Team Building, Roster Construction, not just being a Portal Merchant, but if so, finding the ones he feels he can coach up who are capable of Guarding players in the Big12. ADO and Townsend had a tough time at this level.

Maybe follow the Sampson approach and find an Uzon...

We need to really step things up from a 3pt shooting perspective. 3 guys on the court at all times who can let the 3 go helps open up the inside game big time. Even 4 guys and sometimes the 5-spot should be able to let one rip.

This is the first time in a while that I think we are on the same page in enough ways and I think everyone who is extremely into this team and it's ceiling/success should be thinking about all of these topics!

Beardown!

[mvpreed2]

1. I am thoroughly jealous the Bulls acquired Giddey for pennies on the dollar (Caruso). That should hold you over. As a Wizards fan my goals were for my FO to acquire Giddey and Dyson Daniels. Too bad they don't listen to me. Daniels averaging 3.1 steals per game!

2. KJ Lewis wouldn't be able to guard SGA at all. He really could only make it as a defender from my POV. Marcus Smart couldn't stop anyone over 6'3" either so we agree there too.

3. The "Nova Core" as I describe those guys is probably an anomaly now. A.J. Dysbanta is being paid 5 million by BYU next year to come in for a season.. up to 7 million which I presume has to do with staying longer. 5 million is the base pay and biggest NIL deal ever. No idea how BYU found the money... oh wait... I do.. sadly those collection buckets.... (#1 overall prospect --- though I think Peterson is better going to Kansas...)

---> Watching the McDonald's All American Game tonight... the West is basically ALL Big12 players. It will be BEDLAM next season for Superstars on Superstars. Coaching will be the difference. And yes, Henri had me Shook actually. I felt like he was going to return. I really hope Carter returns. I think it will be about 90% going pro, 10% chance he stays. I am just sad that Tommy didn't really use Carter while he had him although it ain't over til that fat lady sings. Carter and Peat would be FORMIDABLE. Especially with Burries and Bradley..

4. "Lloyd chose Burries over Arenas by stop recruiting Arenas." ---> At this point if we can't secure Burries I would do what I could to flip Alijah. We don't really have a team that is a "core" anymore so we might as well try the "Duke" 1 and Done year with Jahlil Okafor, Justice Winslow, Tyus Jones or whatever and Grayson Allen.. all the Freshmen that went the distance.



In Summary - I was really hoping that Bradley, KJ, Carter, and Henri would be our primary building blocks. Awaka/ADO as Depth for Koa Peat to come and start right away. Then maybe Krivas was who I felt may transfer and try to stay more bouncy and athletic with Stephen... but I will definitely admit if I am wrong with Mo Krivas. Assuming he is staying and 100% healthy, I would love to see what his potential is.

Now we are in a bit of a Cluster and Tommy doesn't have to RACE through this Portal Process. He needs to find the right fits. Last year he seemed Rushed and ended up with Townsend who didn't fit his system at all, then we went from too many Bigs to not enough bigs quickly and we went from way too many Guards to only really being functional with 2 True Guards on the floor at a time.

This is why I really want to put some emphasis on Tommy's growth in Team Building, Roster Construction, not just being a Portal Merchant, but if so, finding the ones he feels he can coach up who are capable of Guarding players in the Big12. ADO and Townsend had a tough time at this level.

Maybe follow the Sampson approach and find an Uzon...

We need to really step things up from a 3pt shooting perspective. 3 guys on the court at all times who can let the 3 go helps open up the inside game big time. Even 4 guys and sometimes the 5-spot should be able to let one rip.

This is the first time in a while that I think we are on the same page in enough ways and I think everyone who is extremely into this team and it's ceiling/success should be thinking about all of these topics!

Beardown!

1. In the moment, I thought we lost that trade.
Now that we have had more time, I think we won that deal, BUT OKC got exactly what they needed.
They were not going to extend Giddey, so they threw him in a trade.
Now we are about to pay him $30M/year and he is not even our #1 guy but oh well!

2. We are in agreement here.
His height/weight/speed is not going to translate well to the NBA where (like you mentioned) you have 6'6 PGs like SGA handling the rock.
Now I will say that being an elite defender is more about energy/effort than size.
The size just makes it easier to alter shots and passing lanes.

3. I believe the Villanova thing was able to work because they won.
A lot of that stuff does not work at most places because they do not win.
You do not see many players from Final Four contenders transferring out often.

Unless Lloyd tells Bryant he is going to have a much bigger role?
I believe he is gone.
His minutes were too inconsistent to look at Arizona and want to come back if he is going to guaranteed to be a 1st round pick.
That lineup of Bradley/Burries on ball, Carter/Peat off-ball and Krivas in the middle is a Final Four lineup.

4. I do not believe that Lloyd wants to deal with that type of prospect.
There has yet to be a prospect like Arenas to come to Arizona, and I do not believe that is by accident.
Arenas is a volume shooter/scorer a la DeRozan/Harden/Young and the like.
He will be able to do that at USC where he is the clear-cut go-to guy the moment he signs his LOI.
He could not be that at Arizona as long as Bradley is here, and I would even add Bryant to that list too.

I do not believe Lloyd tries very hard to keep players from transferring.
I believe guys like Murauskas would have been pivotal pieces on this roster for their ability to simply get a bucket.
You him/Borovicanin/Anderson rooting on the bench, when you could have played them more minutes.
Now they are gone, you tried to reload, and I do not believe the pieces you brought in to replace them were better; except for Awaka.

I am interested in seeing how Lloyd tries to fix this because you cannot continue to try to patch these holes with one-year portal free agents.
It has to be done through HS recruiting AND retention because you have them longer to coach/develop.
#BearDown

[KansasCityCats]

I don't think Lloyd made a desperate decision to grab Townsend.  Trey is a talented offensive player and he actually defended Kentucky (and others) well during the tourney.  Unfortunately, his defense in the post didn't work out in the Big-12, which limited his minutes.

Agreed with everything else above.  It would have been nice to keep Krivas as a centerpiece for next season but we should be more efficient on the offensive end without KJ, especially if Burries commits.

[arxpert]

I do not believe Lloyd tries very hard to keep players from transferring.

The truest of all comments.

And for the record, I think Giddey is already a Top 5-7 type PG in the NBA. He is basically 6'9" and a walking Triple Double at Age 22. Unlike someone like Deni Advija who is a good Two-Way player at Age 23 and 6'10" able to guard 1-4, Giddey can really score as a mismatch at the 1 and he has superior Court Vision paired with Elite Passing.

If the Bulls can get him at 5 years 150 Million that would be a Steal in my book. A penny less would be highway robbery. I actually view him as a 200mil player. Mutual trade (Re: Caruso). OKC didn't have a role for Giddey and he is not a 3+D guy so he looked awful at times. "Rare mutual trade" with OKC hoping it brings them a Championship and Chicago hoping they found their Franchise Back Court in Giddey + Coby White... which I believe they did.

[|ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ|]

Steven Adams established his identity in the league once he grew out his beard. I feel like Josh Giddey could really start to climb the ranks if he did the same thing. Not trying to be funny either.

[|ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ|]

Jayden Quaintance? Is he an option lol.

He is now.