A couple of days after Shabazz signed with UConn in the spring I was lucky enough to meet George Blaney and have a one on one half hour conversation about the team and the new addition. He said that the team that previous year was missing leadership in the locker room and that fans were going to love Shabazz because of the swagger and the fact that he might even bring leadership as a freshman because he held teammates accountable. He was very self satisfied with the addition of Shabazz in terms of his talent and leadership being a perfect match to what the team needed. As it turned out, no one would now doubt that Kemba owned that team and stepped forward as a great leader, yet for whatever reason had not exerted himself in that role previously. Even a player like Shabazz with leadership skills himself, enrolled 100% behind Kemba. My point being that leadership could come from an existing player on the team like Purvis or Brimah that deferred to Boat, or from our experienced 5th year players like Gibbs and Miller, but, like Shabazz and El Amin before him, I believe Jalen Adams will either support the leader or step in and do it himself. Whenever I have seen him he is directing things the way El Amin did even during pickup games on his official visit. He takes the clutch game deciding shots and makes them like Shabazz. He spits in the eye of precocious competitors like Isiah Briscoe and says bring it on. At the same time he is all about team and keeps feeding the hot hand of a teammate and distributes the glory. I have no doubt we will be lead this year by proven players with Adams 100% enrolled (a la Shabazz), or Adams will fill the void himself by earning the respect of the team, (El Amin).
