For much all of Josh Pastner's run at Georgia Tech he has famously said he is coaching each possession and not just minute-to-minute in games and needs to think about the future and how to sell his vision of the future of Georgia Tech men's basketball to J Batt his boss and whatever is left of the fans who enjoyed his team's 2021 ACC Tournament Championship.
The team is fatally flawed as constructed, lacks an alpha-type leader to rally behind when things get rough and has no one to get a key bucket. They are undersized and outgunned and the pure shooters who are playing Deebo Coleman (30.5%) and Miles Kelly (35.5%) can't buy buckets this year and are below their freshman-year shooting numbers. Tristan Maxwell has not worked out. Lance Terry, Rodney Howard and Ja'von Franklin are backup pieces (8-10 in a rotation) thrust into major roles and Deivon Smith has not developed offensively enough.
The team is flawed to the point where it lives and dies by three-point shooting. Kyle Sturdivant who is also a 8-10 type piece has tried to take over at Florida State and Louisville and doesn't have enough game to do it.
It is time for Josh to figure out his plan moving forward and what he can sell his boss J Batt on as they move ahead. That means playing mostly the kids.
He did get Freds Pauls Bagatskis minutes in the Louisville game in the first half, but only put him in the final 33 seconds of the game in the second half when it was outreach despite the team going 0-11 from three in the second half.
You can still play Kyle, Rodney, Ja'von and Lance some, but when they struggle he needs to play Freds, Jordan Meka and Cyril Martynov to hopefully accelerate their development.
There are plenty of reasons why the roster is jacked up, but ultimately they come down to two factors, a lack of NIL (GT's fault) and recruiting misses in two cycles by Pastner (his fault) along with delayed development of guys like Miles Kelly and Deebo Coleman who Pastner built the team around.
The team looks as stressed as Pastner on the court and they look like a team that is mentally in the tank.
Hitting the reset and resetting the expectations and building for the future is the only way I see him surviving right now.
GT could pull out 2-3 more wins this year at best right now, but they are going to finish in the bottom of the ACC and the ongoing issues on the court need to be addressed.
Player development has been a staple of Pastner's program and right now players are regressing and there is a lack of guard development in particular that is concerning which was once a strength of the program with guys like Josh Okogie, Tadric Jackson, Jose Alvarado and even Mike Devoe his first three years where you saw the steady improvement. Devoe went backwards last season in ACC play and guys like Kyle just haven't turned into ACC-level players. Maxwell who has been hurt has been a bust as well and plays out of control.
I'd say Pastner needs to come up with a style of offense that suits his personnel and allows them to play with some level of confidence as well. That is his job. If he needs to make staff changes that needs to be part of his plan as well although that should remain private.
Tech death spiraled in the Duke game and several others this season thanks to the bad offense and lackluster defense for the first time under Pastner. The lack of energy on D is also alarming as that has been a hallmark of the program.
By all accounts, Batt would like to give Pastner one more shot, but IMO he has to earn it now over the next month and he needs to show the future of the program and stop worrying about playing possession to possession.
I think the quick hook, the pressure on the kids' possession to possession and the lack of confidence in the offense is what is causing the poor performance as well.
Pastner promised this would be his best shooting team at GT.
As of today GT in ACC play, 38.5% FG, 29.7% from 3 and 66% on FTs.
Last year they shot in ACC play, 42.8% FGs, 32.5% from 3 and 70% on FTs.
Here are the historic numbers in ACC play under Pastner as a reference point
2021-22 42.8%, 32.5%, 70%
2020-21 48.2%, 36%, 72.5%
2019-20 46.2%, 34%, 69%
2018-19 42.6%, 30.6%, 67%
2017-18 41.9%, 31.2%, 70%
2016-17 43.4%, 30.9%, 70%
Josh is a good guy and I hope he turns it around, but he has to read the situation now and this team has to get out of the funk and I think going young may at least give fans something to get excited about and show his bosses that there is a future with some of these players that buys him a chance to fix it. Status quo and 1-2 ACC wins won't.
The team is fatally flawed as constructed, lacks an alpha-type leader to rally behind when things get rough and has no one to get a key bucket. They are undersized and outgunned and the pure shooters who are playing Deebo Coleman (30.5%) and Miles Kelly (35.5%) can't buy buckets this year and are below their freshman-year shooting numbers. Tristan Maxwell has not worked out. Lance Terry, Rodney Howard and Ja'von Franklin are backup pieces (8-10 in a rotation) thrust into major roles and Deivon Smith has not developed offensively enough.
The team is flawed to the point where it lives and dies by three-point shooting. Kyle Sturdivant who is also a 8-10 type piece has tried to take over at Florida State and Louisville and doesn't have enough game to do it.
It is time for Josh to figure out his plan moving forward and what he can sell his boss J Batt on as they move ahead. That means playing mostly the kids.
He did get Freds Pauls Bagatskis minutes in the Louisville game in the first half, but only put him in the final 33 seconds of the game in the second half when it was outreach despite the team going 0-11 from three in the second half.
You can still play Kyle, Rodney, Ja'von and Lance some, but when they struggle he needs to play Freds, Jordan Meka and Cyril Martynov to hopefully accelerate their development.
There are plenty of reasons why the roster is jacked up, but ultimately they come down to two factors, a lack of NIL (GT's fault) and recruiting misses in two cycles by Pastner (his fault) along with delayed development of guys like Miles Kelly and Deebo Coleman who Pastner built the team around.
The team looks as stressed as Pastner on the court and they look like a team that is mentally in the tank.
Hitting the reset and resetting the expectations and building for the future is the only way I see him surviving right now.
GT could pull out 2-3 more wins this year at best right now, but they are going to finish in the bottom of the ACC and the ongoing issues on the court need to be addressed.
Player development has been a staple of Pastner's program and right now players are regressing and there is a lack of guard development in particular that is concerning which was once a strength of the program with guys like Josh Okogie, Tadric Jackson, Jose Alvarado and even Mike Devoe his first three years where you saw the steady improvement. Devoe went backwards last season in ACC play and guys like Kyle just haven't turned into ACC-level players. Maxwell who has been hurt has been a bust as well and plays out of control.
I'd say Pastner needs to come up with a style of offense that suits his personnel and allows them to play with some level of confidence as well. That is his job. If he needs to make staff changes that needs to be part of his plan as well although that should remain private.
Tech death spiraled in the Duke game and several others this season thanks to the bad offense and lackluster defense for the first time under Pastner. The lack of energy on D is also alarming as that has been a hallmark of the program.
By all accounts, Batt would like to give Pastner one more shot, but IMO he has to earn it now over the next month and he needs to show the future of the program and stop worrying about playing possession to possession.
I think the quick hook, the pressure on the kids' possession to possession and the lack of confidence in the offense is what is causing the poor performance as well.
Pastner promised this would be his best shooting team at GT.
As of today GT in ACC play, 38.5% FG, 29.7% from 3 and 66% on FTs.
Last year they shot in ACC play, 42.8% FGs, 32.5% from 3 and 70% on FTs.
Here are the historic numbers in ACC play under Pastner as a reference point
2021-22 42.8%, 32.5%, 70%
2020-21 48.2%, 36%, 72.5%
2019-20 46.2%, 34%, 69%
2018-19 42.6%, 30.6%, 67%
2017-18 41.9%, 31.2%, 70%
2016-17 43.4%, 30.9%, 70%
Josh is a good guy and I hope he turns it around, but he has to read the situation now and this team has to get out of the funk and I think going young may at least give fans something to get excited about and show his bosses that there is a future with some of these players that buys him a chance to fix it. Status quo and 1-2 ACC wins won't.
