Strangely optimistic

[Kitaman]

The biggest hurt on the team of Dham leaving early may be rebounding.

Chief I always think that rebounding is easier to replace than scoring and ball handling. IF (caps yes) our bigs can rebound better that will pick up DHam's loss.

What DHam brought though was an offensive threat, not consistent but enough to win games. He averaged 12 points (6/half). Thank goodness Larrier at least is not an untested freshman, but an experienced D1 player so logically we have a player ready to pick up that loss. If he averages double digit scoring we should be okay.

Brimah could be the biggest loser because I think most of his offensive scoring plays came off of DHam passing the last two years. Yet anyone of our guards can throw an alley oop pass with practice. Still I always wondered if Brimah 'depended' on DHam.

I'm agreeing on the rebounding and hope that we can overcome that by picking up his 9 boards either by committee or a surprising and 'improved' big and Larrier. Easier said than done because that was an excellent gift he had.

Defensively I expect Larrier and others to match or exceed.

Purvis is the wild card.

 

[superjohn]

Your analysis: " 38% shooting guard at the end of the day is still a 38% shooting guard" is then followed by accusing someone else of lacking nuance. You deny making tautological arguments and then make the tautological argument that UConn always do better with two PGs and a scoring wing.

It's bizarre.

Anyway, let me boil it down: Hamilton shot 45% from the field when on the court with Brimah this year. Also, playing on the same court with 2 PGs would lead to 1) better shots, which means 2) increased efficiency, and then you have 3) your high-scoring wing.

Sometimes a 38% shooting guard isn't actually a 38% shooting guard. And sometimes a cigar really is a ****.

You seem too personally invested in this, I've pointed out what made him good at UConn and what made him not so good. You think the kid has a chance to be an excellent NBA player, to me this is laughable. I love the kid but the NBA isn't looking for 6'6 frail point forward's with limited athleticism, a short wingspan who's best trait is rebounding. His position needs to be shooting guard and at this point he's a lousy NBA shooting guard prospect. I get it, you think he's a lot better than I do and think he's a really good NBA prospect, I don't and I'm not going to make excuses for the parts in his game that are lacking. I just wish he made the right decision to come back and work on those things that are lacking in his game.

 

[Chief00]

Chief I always think that rebounding is easier to replace than scoring and ball handling. IF (caps yes) our bigs can rebound better that will pick up DHam's loss.

What DHam brought though was an offensive threat, not consistent but enough to win games. He averaged 12 points (6/half). Thank goodness Larrier at least is not an untested freshman, but an experienced D1 player so logically we have a player ready to pick up that loss. If he averages double digit scoring we should be okay.

Brimah could be the biggest loser because I think most of his offensive scoring plays came off of DHam passing the last two years. Yet anyone of our guards can throw an alley oop pass with practice. Still I always wondered if Brimah 'depended' on DHam.

I'm agreeing on the rebounding and hope that we can overcome that by picking up his 9 boards either by committee or a surprising and 'improved' big and Larrier. Easier said than done because that was an excellent gift he had.

Defensively I expect Larrier and others to match or exceed.

Purvis is the wild card.

I don't disagree scoring is usually hardest to replace since it's a skill not an effort stat. Having said that without Dham and Miller we are a really poor rebounding team. I have some hope for Enoch and Facey can occasionally be a live body on the offensive bounds. Otherwise let's see what the Freshmen can bring to the table. It will be learning on the job.

 

[SubbaBub]

Losing Purvis would be a bigger blow. I won't miss Ham's inconsistency. His numbers can be replaced. Adams needs an experience shooter and scorer to help carry the load and I see no reason to trust any freshmen coming in to do a better job than a 5th year senior.

 

[superjohn]

I thought Dham would be a beast next year. He was finding his groove toward the end of the year and I totally felt next year could be one of those major leaps we see from time to time between Soph and junior years ( most recently bazz and kemba come to mind) . That said with everyone back I was a little worried about chemistry issues as far as who really is the guy. So losing him while I will miss seeing what might've been,doesn't hurt as bad as it might've because it has potential to be addition by subtraction floor chemistry wise. Maybe.

However I will echo what I've seen in this thread. No purvis back and all bets are off and I will be severely worried. I think purvis is first team AAC next year and in running for player of the year if he comes back.

We can't lose purvis.

We could've weathered one or the other. Not both.

We lose Purvis and we are screwed. Even with Rodney we still need at least one more legit ballhandler brought in, preferably one who can shoot it.

 

[Matrim55]

You think the kid has a chance to be an excellent NBA player, to me this is laughable.

Truly you have a bizarre intellect.

This discussion isn't about whether or not he'll make an excellent NBA player (he almost certainly won't), and never has been. It's about how much his departure hurts us.

You assume it'll have limited impact. I posit it lowers our ceiling from potential top 10 team to fringes of the top 25.

And now I'll leave you to your mad ravings.

 

[Ts5034]

I do not see this as addition by subtraction. I really hope Brimah and Purvis dont get any crazy ideas and declare for the draft now. With Hamilton gone, there is an opportunity for Larrier or one of the Freshman to step into that role. I really hope Ollie adds a graduate transfer in the next couple months because we have the scholarships available and I think the team still lacks another rebounder/big man.

 

[Waquoit]

There were several games when the team started clicking when DHam was sitting. The Temple game in the AAC tourney is one.

 

[Gurleyman]

Losing Purvis would be a bigger blow. I won't miss Ham's inconsistency. His numbers can be replaced. Adams needs an experience shooter and scorer to help carry the load and I see no reason to trust any freshmen coming in to do a better job than a 5th year senior.

Thing is, there's a fair enough chance that you wouldn't have been missing his inconsistency next year even if he did come back.

 

[Kitaman]

I don't disagree scoring is usually hardest to replace since it's a skill not an effort stat. Having said that without Dham and Miller we are a really poor rebounding team. I have some hope for Enoch and Facey can occasionally be a live body on the offensive bounds. Otherwise let's see what the Freshmen can bring to the table. It will be learning on the job.

Chief , uk have proven that freshman are unreliable and unpredictable and they get the best high schoolers in the nation. Just saying we have to keep expectations low for freshman and be pleasantly surprised when they succeed expectations. Sometimes you get 'lucky' and we've had a lot of nice freshman ballers/contributers at UConn.

We have to look to our vets and that number is dwindling to graduation and potential declaration. Good news is that Jalen and Enoch won't be freshman, Facey and Brimah are Champion seniors and Larrier is experienced. That's something to work with, so the freshman hopefully won't have to bring a lot. If AG gives us JA performance and development that would be great for a freshman and our team.

Again Purvis is the wild card.

 

[djct1999]

I do not see this as addition by subtraction. I really hope Brimah and Purvis dont get any crazy ideas and declare for the draft now. With Hamilton gone, there is an opportunity for Larrier or one of the Freshman to step into that role. I really hope Ollie adds a graduate transfer in the next couple months because we have the scholarships available and I think the team still lacks another rebounder/big man.

Without question, UConn is a better team with DHam on it. But the gap in ability between DHam and Larrier is far smaller than the two voids that we will feel without Brimah and Purvis.

 

[Gurleyman]

There were several games when the team started clicking when DHam was sitting. The Temple game in the AAC tourney is one.

We played awesome for 10 minutes without Bazz against Nova.

 

[superjohn]

Truly you have a bizarre intellect.

This discussion isn't about whether or not he'll make an excellent NBA player (he almost certainly won't), and never has been. It's about how much his departure hurts us.

You assume it'll have limited impact. I posit it lowers our ceiling from potential top 10 team to fringes of the top 25.

And now I'll leave you to your mad ravings.

"FT% is more predictive of the ability to hit the pro 3 than 3-point % at the college level. If Hamilton gets into the right team and they let him develop, he'll end up being an excellent pro.
If not, he'll get to see Europe."

These are your words, homey. Don't make it out like I'm making up stuff about what you said. You think he has a chance to be an excellent NBA player, I think that's laughable. It is what it is but not being honest isn't a good look for you, so you can cut it out with the bizarre intellect and mad ravings nonsense. I said we are better with Hamilton but I don't think not having him will have the impact many others think it will.

 

[Matrim55]

"FT% is more predictive of the ability to hit the pro 3 than 3-point % at the college level. If Hamilton gets into the right team and they let him develop, he'll end up being an excellent pro.
If not, he'll get to see Europe."

These are your words, homey.

That's A) from another thread, and B) not germane, since the discussion is about how Hamilton's departure will affect UConn next year. That's literally the point of this thread.

You have trouble keeping your thoughts straight, so I'll boil it down even further:

Even if Hamilton was only going to be a 38% shooter again next year, we'd still miss him a ton. Even if he never plays a single NBA minute - which I think is possible - we'd still miss him a ton.

And this...

Hamilton is a jack of all trades who isn't good enough at any one trade.

Remains an depressingly dumb take.

 

[Connrack]

if he's going to get paid playing basketball in say australia, i say that's much better than to go to school when you dont want to

Joe D. said on his radio show this afternoon that word was that Hamilton had dropped down to two classes this semester. If that was/is true, he said that Hamilton probably would have struggled to remain eligible to play in the fall. It appears Hamilton and his family were intent on him leaving after two years.

 

[Waquoit]

We played awesome for 10 minutes without Bazz against Nova.

So you're saying we only played well with DHam sitting once? We did all right when Donyell left, we'll be all right now.

 

[Jerry1714]

Losing Purvis would be a bigger blow. I won't miss Ham's inconsistency. His numbers can be replaced. Adams needs an experience shooter and scorer to help carry the load and I see no reason to trust any freshmen coming in to do a better job than a 5th year senior.

His numbers can be replaced?

This statement is as accurate as when you said UConn was the only bubble team with a record below .500 v the top 100 when there was actually 18 of them.

 

[superjohn]

That's A) from another thread, and B) not germane, since the discussion is about how Hamilton's departure will affect UConn next year. That's literally the point of this thread.

You have trouble keeping your thoughts straight, so I'll boil it down even further:

Even if Hamilton was only going to be a 38% shooter again next year, we'd still miss him a ton. Even if he never plays a single NBA minute - which I think is possible - we'd still miss him a ton.

And this...

Remains an depressingly dumb take.

You've made up things about what I've said and are now saying that your own words don't matter because they are from another thread, even though these are your thoughts that you posted today. I've stated several times that he's a very good college player with very really flaws and think we are better off with him but his loss will not be as big for us as many think. You have gone after me several times now for pointing out the fact that Hamilton has not been an efficient scorer. Now you're calling me out for pointing out that you think Hamilton has chance to be an excellent NBA player. You seem too personally invested in DHam to the point that you're acting a bit irrational. It's boring to me so we should probably end this.

 

[Gurleyman]

So you're saying we only played well with DHam sitting once? We did all right when Donyell left, we'll be all right now.

DHam had 19 on 8-14 shooting and 11 rebounds in 34 minutes against Temple, so I'm not really sure there's much of a sample size to go on there if we happened to play well for a couple minutes while he rested. The AAC tournament was probably the best basketball we played all year and he was the MVP.

You can certainly make a case during the stretch when he was clunking his way to 2-12 nights that we would have been better with him sitting, but pulling him still would have meant sitting our best rebounder and passer. Miller and Gibbs didn't fill those voids as well as hoped.

 

[CTBasketball]

Rebounding is the biggest issue here. His offense was anemic for most of the season, took bad shots, made awful decisions, etc. But the kid cleaned up on the glass like no other. I think if we can get upgraded rebounding production from PF/C, then he is replaceable easier than most think.

Playing a lineup of Adams (6'2"), Purvis (6'4"), Larrier (6'9"), Facey (6'10"), and Brimah (7',0") gives us enormous height and length - @mauconnfan check my numbers . If Larrier, Facey, and Brimah can't make up 8 rebounds a game, we've got a bigger problem.

 

[gtcam]

There were several games when the team started clicking when DHam was sitting. The Temple game in the AAC tourney is one.

Oh yeah the game he scored 32 pts
UConn has played as well if not better in spells when Baz and other have sat

 

[Gurleyman]

Rebounding is the biggest issue here. His offense was anemic for most of the season, took bad shots, made awful decisions, etc. But the kid cleaned up on the glass like no other. I think if we can get upgraded rebounding production from PF/C, then he is replaceable easier than most think.

Playing a lineup of Adams (6'2"), Purvis (6'4"), Larrier (6'9"), Facey (6'10"), and Brimah (7',0") gives us enormous height and length - @mauconnfan check my numbers . If Larrier, Facey, and Brimah can't make up 8 rebounds a game, we've got a bigger problem.

They also have to make up for 6 rebounds from Miller.

 

[CTBasketball]

They also have to make up for 6 rebounds from Miller.

Good point, Enoch volunteers

 

[upstater]

This team is going to need a lot more ballhandling next year. Having DHam as the extra ballhandler was helpful. You can't do it with 3 guys who are going to be constantly subbing for one another.

 

[JMick]

Good point, Enoch volunteers

Enoch has by far the most potential of any big on the roster. He just needs to get better on defense. I wish he got more minutes this year.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

I think the team has enough talent that if they gel together, play UConn defense, and learn to rebound better they'll be fine.

Guards - Gilbert, Adams, Purvis (assuming he stays)
Wings - Larrier, Jackson, Facey (yes, he's actually a 3/4, not a 4/5)
Bigs - Brimah, Durham, Enoch

I'm good with that, and that's assuming they don't get A. Diallo, who I'd love to add to the mix as a 2-3-4 swiss army knife.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Not all that optimistic about next year so much if RP is gone too, but hoping this sets up well for two years from now -- as our young guys are forced to find their way this year and then we can really thrive with a battle-tested JR Larrier, JR Adams, SO Gilbert.

Totally agree. But it would also be nice if next year's team caught lightning in a bottle, if even for a while, it could be a lot of fun.

 

[80shusky]

I'm strangely optimistic as well but we need to find some quality bodies for those three scholarships. We already needed a ball handler and a rebounder. Now we need them even more. Adams has some attitude and swagger. If it doesn't get him into trouble he could be our big dog next year. Depends on what Purvis does of course. I'd love to see Enoch develop.

 

[KemBuckets21]

Not fazed by the Hamilton news - still think next year's team is going to be very good.

With Larrier and Vance coming, if there was one position where wecould afford a defection, it was the wing.

I think it may free the ball up more and allow the guards to dictate more of the game and the pace. I expected Jalen to be the star of next year's team and this may actually help him.

Not worried about this at all- I think it's a mistake for Hamilton, but less of an issue for the team. (Timing is so odd...he either got great feedback, bad advice or is just winging it.)

Still worried about rebounding, though. I'd like us to do more of it next year.

Agree with this.

Are we worried that hamiltons tenuous draft stock hurts the brand at all? I guess it didn't matter much with deandre, but thats one thing I always consider if someone decides to leave earlier than anticipated.

 

[UCweCONN]

Anyone else wish it had been AB instead of DHam? I know we need bodies to field a team but neither has been very impressive. AB is probably wondering where his 8 points a game will come from without the DHam lobs.