The “strategy” for this off season is simply…mystifying.
We knew what we had coming back, which wasn’t much at all - 5ppg in Flory - high potential, but still raw - Elmarko - underwhelming first year and coming off a serious injury - Tiller - essentially an unproven freshman coming off injury - and Jamari - at best a few minutes off the bench guy. And, of course, DP - 1st or 2nd ranked recruit, but still a freshman.
We knew what we needed - 3 P5 level starters with more speed, length and athleticism, one of whom needed to be the first or second option on offense - a 15ppg+ scorer - plus front court depth and better perimeter shooting. Yes, we wanted better fits, but fits that fit the bill. No issues with the three transfers as role players and maybe filling 2 starter slots. Our perimeter defense should be much, much better. But they don’t come close to matching the portal hauls by other teams.
White is a solid P5 role player, but that’s it. Over three years, has averaged 10ppg and 30% from 3. Makes fewer than one trey per game. That isn’t going to help with spacing. Numbers haven’t changed much over the 3 years - he is who he is. Dawson and Council solid contributors on non-P5 teams. Should we expect them to do more against consistently better competition? Dawson stepped up his scoring his third year to 14 ppg and solid from 3, but overall FG% just 41%. I like what Council brings, but he is sub 30% from 3. Are any of the three really 30mpg B12 caliber starters or more like 15-20 mpg role players?
Given what we so obviously needed - and still need - it’s difficult to comprehend the very high risk strategy of waiting out the draft game to fill key starting and depth roles (or the international can they qualify crap shoot). Yes, it’s worked before, but that was before NIL bags got so large. Most (exception of Luis) of the handful of guys that ended up coming back were in the driver’s seat and able to get big hauls from high bidders.
