I've been up late watching basketball, but wanted to give you all some updates on what is going on with the portal, GT, and other things.
Little Pippen is looking at other OVs still, Cal is one of the schools hoping to get an OV maybe this weekend (I haven't been able to confirm) and Florida is a dark horse that has gotten involved late. Scottie Pippen is pretty heavily involved and Scottie and Damon Stoudamire were teammates for four years in Portland so there is a level of trust and comfort with GT which is why I put in a FC for Pippen earlier this week. It is not done, but I feel like they are in a good spot with him. Scottie was on the OV with Justin and had a blast and apparently was very cool with everyone at GT and laid back like Stoudamire.
Looking at the portal, there hasn't been much action in terms of guys leaving yet. Georgia Tech was on spring break this week and some players went out of town. GT isn't shut down or anything so they could process the requests, but the kids are not in a rush to jump into the portal. To be honest, it is often better to wait a little bit and not get caught in the wave of kids jumping in immediately anyway. Some are trying to focus on finishing school strong or whatever else is going on, but Stoudamire knows where guys stand and obviously, there are still poaching attempts going on as well that they have to deal with as is the norm in the portal age.
They know what their number is going to be and the space they have for the portal. That lack of space is probably going to make GT very picky with the portal as well. They will jump in on obvious guys like Clifford Omoruyi (Rutgers) who everyone thinks is going to St. John's and is probably not in play, but Karl Hobbs will at least make that guy say no. I've seen some Rutgers people suggest that Mawot Mag is in play, but he is not a good fit for what they need at the moment as a tweener forward type who doesn't shoot well as long as guys like Kowacie Reeves and Tafara Gapare stick around. Hobbs knows all the Rutgers guys who went in and Rutgers fans hate Georgia Tech over Baye Ndongo and Jose Alvarado who they believe GT stole from them (they stole Baye, but Jose has told me himself he never wanted to go to Rutgers and this is a message board fantasy on their site). So keep that in mind when you see the connections. Everyone is going to try to be the first to guess where a portal target is going.
What GT needs primarily is a skilled big man who can start along side Ndongo. That is goal #1.
I think goal #2 is the best possible other player they can get in the portal that can help, hopefully, someone who can shoot threes and spread the floor or create their own shots.
So Dishon Jackson (Charlotte) fits the primary need, very solid center who played in the Pac 12 and in the AAC and had a great year and would be an upgrade over Ty Claude and what they got out of Ebenezer this year. Jackson was a 11.4 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.7 APG, 0.9 BPG in 26 MPG player. Shot 55% and 72% from the line. He is a California kid so I'm not sure if he wants to go back out that way, but that is a logical name to target.
Some guys who we think will be in the portal eventually are not in yet because their team is still playing like center Lynn Kidd at Virginia Tech. The Hokies won their NIT game and will play again. Some guys will be very hard to get like guard Kanaan Carlyle (Stanford) who already has interest from Indiana and Gonzaga and GT has a crowded backcourt.
Something else to keep in mind is every kid who says GT has been in contact with him could be talking to a coach or they could be talking to an intern or a support staff person who is just taking their temperature in case the staff likes them. So what we are watching for official visits and in-home visits.
It should be an interesting next two months. Stoudamire has some proof of concept to sell after taking down some big teams with a makeshift roster in year one and the development of two very good freshmen in Baye Ndongo and Nait George to show the coaching/development piece so that will help and I also think whatever tweaks to game style and how they are going to play moving ahead are now apparent to Stoudamire as well. He was coming in cold having never coached in the ACC or really even seeing the teams as a coach against them elsewhere as an assistant or head coach so there was a learning curve coming from the NBA at play.
Little Pippen is looking at other OVs still, Cal is one of the schools hoping to get an OV maybe this weekend (I haven't been able to confirm) and Florida is a dark horse that has gotten involved late. Scottie Pippen is pretty heavily involved and Scottie and Damon Stoudamire were teammates for four years in Portland so there is a level of trust and comfort with GT which is why I put in a FC for Pippen earlier this week. It is not done, but I feel like they are in a good spot with him. Scottie was on the OV with Justin and had a blast and apparently was very cool with everyone at GT and laid back like Stoudamire.
Looking at the portal, there hasn't been much action in terms of guys leaving yet. Georgia Tech was on spring break this week and some players went out of town. GT isn't shut down or anything so they could process the requests, but the kids are not in a rush to jump into the portal. To be honest, it is often better to wait a little bit and not get caught in the wave of kids jumping in immediately anyway. Some are trying to focus on finishing school strong or whatever else is going on, but Stoudamire knows where guys stand and obviously, there are still poaching attempts going on as well that they have to deal with as is the norm in the portal age.
They know what their number is going to be and the space they have for the portal. That lack of space is probably going to make GT very picky with the portal as well. They will jump in on obvious guys like Clifford Omoruyi (Rutgers) who everyone thinks is going to St. John's and is probably not in play, but Karl Hobbs will at least make that guy say no. I've seen some Rutgers people suggest that Mawot Mag is in play, but he is not a good fit for what they need at the moment as a tweener forward type who doesn't shoot well as long as guys like Kowacie Reeves and Tafara Gapare stick around. Hobbs knows all the Rutgers guys who went in and Rutgers fans hate Georgia Tech over Baye Ndongo and Jose Alvarado who they believe GT stole from them (they stole Baye, but Jose has told me himself he never wanted to go to Rutgers and this is a message board fantasy on their site). So keep that in mind when you see the connections. Everyone is going to try to be the first to guess where a portal target is going.
What GT needs primarily is a skilled big man who can start along side Ndongo. That is goal #1.
I think goal #2 is the best possible other player they can get in the portal that can help, hopefully, someone who can shoot threes and spread the floor or create their own shots.
So Dishon Jackson (Charlotte) fits the primary need, very solid center who played in the Pac 12 and in the AAC and had a great year and would be an upgrade over Ty Claude and what they got out of Ebenezer this year. Jackson was a 11.4 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.7 APG, 0.9 BPG in 26 MPG player. Shot 55% and 72% from the line. He is a California kid so I'm not sure if he wants to go back out that way, but that is a logical name to target.
Some guys who we think will be in the portal eventually are not in yet because their team is still playing like center Lynn Kidd at Virginia Tech. The Hokies won their NIT game and will play again. Some guys will be very hard to get like guard Kanaan Carlyle (Stanford) who already has interest from Indiana and Gonzaga and GT has a crowded backcourt.
Something else to keep in mind is every kid who says GT has been in contact with him could be talking to a coach or they could be talking to an intern or a support staff person who is just taking their temperature in case the staff likes them. So what we are watching for official visits and in-home visits.
It should be an interesting next two months. Stoudamire has some proof of concept to sell after taking down some big teams with a makeshift roster in year one and the development of two very good freshmen in Baye Ndongo and Nait George to show the coaching/development piece so that will help and I also think whatever tweaks to game style and how they are going to play moving ahead are now apparent to Stoudamire as well. He was coming in cold having never coached in the ACC or really even seeing the teams as a coach against them elsewhere as an assistant or head coach so there was a learning curve coming from the NBA at play.
