Tennessee Transfer Portal Targets

[mr.checkerboards]

I can see BJ Edwards tranfering down to a mid-major. I just don't see a path for him to get any meaningful playing time. No way he sits over there on the bench for another year.

Exactly. I had always thought he left, but with Santi returning, Carr incoming and the staff taking coach's son. There just isn't playing time for him.

 

[CornbreadVol]

When does the transfer window close?

 

[Chris4Vols22]

As I said a few days ago, there's still time for things to happen, but now there's even less to point to that says we're handling roster management well. Hopefully Gainey breaks the trend of subpar transfers; it's entirely possible, but not a lot of indicators to suggest it's likely.

 

[D3Athlete]

When does the transfer window close?

May 15th I believe

 

[zaqhhh]

So can someone explain to me (and truly I mean this in good faith)

What was the cause for his shooting to drop by 16% from 3PT in one year given as I understand it he was and is healthy?

His Freshman year for sure shows potential but the Sophomore year looks like a bust. Just wondering if there is a legit reason why

 

[SN-A-C Orange]

I’ve backed this staff constantly on this board and will continue to do so, I know you’re the same way. That doesn’t mean they’re perfect and excused when they screw up. Not taking a true PG the last two off seasons is malpractice. You would think they’d be dying on the hill of signing a PG a mere month after they blew a GREAT shot at a F4, mostly due to not having someone who can create off the bounce at the lead guard spot. I’m just stunned it seems we are going into a second straight season with this situation. ...

I am confident Rick wants a great PG ... he brought in Kennedy Chandler ... case in point. So, Rick can recruit and sign great PGs!!!!
First and foremost, Kennedy fit the kind of player that Rick brings onboard.
I think Rick's order in recruiting is different from those who post on the board ... it appears that 'they' want the best, most talented PG that is in the portal. I assure you that is not Rick's first priority .
Perhaps a clearer focus might be a discussion of Rick's checklist when evaluating players ... but then again ... if we are measuring his success from "our" list ... well there is bound to be more disappointment on the horizon.

 

[Willy14]

Jury is obviously still out on how Gainey performs, but if he is the only transfer it’s a disappointing haul. I will get clowned by certain posters on this board for saying it, but my personal opinion is going two straight off-seasons where PG is a question mark on your roster and NOT taking a PG is a major disappointment for me. Typical disclaimers apply, obviously, that maybe staff “feels good” about where we’re at but that doesn’t assuage my concerns. I have said from the beginning I thought PG had to be addressed in the portal and it doesn’t seem like it will be.

I’m hopeful that maybe we can get in with Demary, but it’s not sounding like there is much traction there either.

I'm right there with you. I love Barnes and have always defended the staff, but not at least having a PG consider you for a finalist for a transfer destination is disappointing. It would be different if we swung and missed on a couple of different PG, but we seem to be targeting other positions instead which seem like less of a need in my opinion. I just feel like we will struggle with teams with small quick guards again next season. I really hope I am wrong.

 

[wtmvol]

What role is Gainey filling that we don't already have on the roster? His numbers reportedly plummeted his sophomore season due to being forced into the lead guard position. So while Assist Rate went up marginally, all other shooting metrics stayed the same or shot down. He doesn't draw fouls either, so he'll fit right in with the rest of the team. He does steal the ball at a good clip and is a pretty good FT shooter, but shoots WAY too many long 2's.

So it doesn't sound like he can be an effective stopgap or backfill for ZZ. He obviously doesn't fill our need for a stretch 4 unless you argue that Mashack can do that and Gainey can slide into where Mashack was. Nothing against this kid, but unless he regains the 3-point shooting from his freshman year, all I see him doing is either not playing very much, or he takes developmental minutes away from Carr.

 

[SN-A-C Orange]

That's why I think he is coming back. Because we are not getting any of those 2 transfers. Muss at Arkansas inquired about 85 transfers. How many did Barnes go after? Very few.

Muss is like Calipari ... their first criteria is athletic talent and upside .... Rick starts from a totally different place .... that is why he will never inquire about 85 ... and I personally prefer that we make character a high priority.
I am concerned about a PG just like everyone else. But I do not get to see practice and have no idea what Rick has on his mind.

 

[SN-A-C Orange]

A glut of wings and no PG is clearly a failure on Barnes’ roster management and recruiting

Granted .... yet ONLY if they all stay AND none of them can effectively be a PG.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

So can someone explain to me (and truly I mean this in good faith)

What was the cause for his shooting to drop by 16% from 3PT in one year given as I understand it he was and is healthy?

His Freshman year for sure shows potential but the Sophomore year looks like a bust. Just wondering if there is a legit reason why

He was 3-4th option and a freshman year 1, wasn’t the primary focus of opposing team scouts defensively…Year 2 he was the focal point and option 1 for the offense and was the focus of opposing teams scouts. The level of difficulty in his shots went up significantly from Year 1 to 2, obviously the hope here is that he wouldn’t draw near that attention.

 

[VolArmy74]

Muss is like Calipari ... their first criteria is athletic talent and upside .... Rick starts from a totally different place .... that is why he will never inquire about 85 ... and I personally prefer that we make character a high priority.
I am concerned about a PG just like everyone else. But I do not get to see practice and have no idea what Rick has on his mind.

I can only say this regarding PG. We had ZZ and not much else this season. We look to be in the same boat next season, except we don't know if we'll have ZZ. Dillione must be amazing in practice, and they must have a crystal ball saying ZZ is good to go.

 

[SN-A-C Orange]

He's played 8 games vs high majors and the results were poor shooting. We are bringing him in, for shooting vs high majors. We've seen Key shoot 40+ percent from 3 vs low majors and then not so well here. We saw Pember struggle with most aspects of the game here, and then land in Gainey's league and dominate it. The comparisons are concerning, for a scholarship sg when we have a roster full of sgs and are ultra thin at PG, with the sole proven guy in recovery from a major injury.

I recognize the comparison being made .... yet they are two totally different types of players. I would characterize one as lean, a step slow, and not good at taking the ball to the hoops ... vs ... lean, athletic, quick, and fair at taking the ball to the rim. jmho

 

[cncchris33]

What role is Gainey filling that we don't already have on the roster? His numbers reportedly plummeted his sophomore season due to being forced into the lead guard position. So while Assist Rate went up marginally, all other shooting metrics stayed the same or shot down. He doesn't draw fouls either, so he'll fit right in with the rest of the team. He does steal the ball at a good clip and is a pretty good FT shooter, but shoots WAY too many long 2's.

So it doesn't sound like he can be an effective stopgap or backfill for ZZ. He obviously doesn't fill our need for a stretch 4 unless you argue that Mashack can do that and Gainey can slide into where Mashack was. Nothing against this kid, but unless he regains the 3-point shooting from his freshman year, all I see him doing is either not playing very much, or he takes developmental minutes away from Carr.

"His numbers plummeted" is a bit dramatic. His efficiency dropped, but it came at the expense of being the go-to leader on the team who was more relied upon to be the primary scorer. He took 117 more shots as a sophomore (a 37.7% increase) than he did as a freshman. He took 53 more 3s (a 52.5% increase). The 49.3% from 3 during his freshman year just wasn't sustainable. Steph Curry never shot 49.3% from 3 in college at Davidson, not even close. Gainey was the primary focus of opposing defenses. His scoring average jumped from 13.8 to 15.2 ppg. He had 5 more assists, 23 more steals, and 21 fewer fouls.

 

[Vols410]

"His numbers plummeted" is a bit dramatic. His efficiency dropped, but it came at the expense of being the go-to leader on the team who was more relied upon to be the primary scorer. He took 117 morefolks. shots as a sophomore (a 37.7% increase) than he did as a freshman. He took 53 more 3s (a 52.5% increase). The 49.3% from 3 during his freshman year just wasn't sustainable. Steph Curry never shot 49.3% from 3 in college at Davidson, not even close. Gainey was the primary focus of opposing defenses. His scoring average jumped from 13.8 to 15.2 ppg. He had 5 more assists, 23 more steals, and 21 fewer fouls.

Sounds like he could still really excel here as a spot-up shooter. We could use one of those badly.

 

[cncchris33]

Sounds like he could still really excel here as a spot-up shooter. We could use one of those badly.

Yeah, absolutely. If we find ourselves at any point relying on him as our primary scorer, then things went totally off the rails, or he actually is Steph Curry.

 

[OrangeInKy]

Sounds like he could still really excel here as a spot-up shooter. We could use one of those badly.

Having a guy like Knecht would be a huge help for him

 

[MoCo_Vol]

So can someone explain to me (and truly I mean this in good faith)

What was the cause for his shooting to drop by 16% from 3PT in one year given as I understand it he was and is healthy?

His Freshman year for sure shows potential but the Sophomore year looks like a bust. Just wondering if there is a legit reason why

I don't know...maybe a full year of him shooting 49.3% from 3PT made teams realize they needed to pressure him and defend him harder?

He also was asked to take on a bigger role, going from 9.7 FGAs a game (4.7 being from deep) to 13.3 FGAs a game (6.3 being from deep). But even if his average was JUST 34.5% from deep that would have been 2nd on the team behind Santi (not counting BJ since he barely shot any 3s)

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Also in year 1 Gainey lead his team in FTAs, in year 2 he was 2nd on the team. 93 attempts as a freshmen and 104 as a sophomore, only KC and Julian Phillips had more FTAs in the past 2 years here.

 

[Dougie_D]

Knecht is definitely not a true 4. He's a SF, both in size and style. Ledlum plays more like a 4, but has a Grant Williams-lite frame, which isn't really a true 4, either.

Dang, so they would still be rotated like a 3/4 then? I think we are already stacked in that position. Who's getting the minutes?

 

[berryvol]

I am confident Rick wants a great PG ... he brought in Kennedy Chandler ... case in point. So, Rick can recruit and sign great PGs!!!!
First and foremost, Kennedy fit the kind of player that Rick brings onboard.
I think Rick's order in recruiting is different from those who post on the board ... it appears that 'they' want the best, most talented PG that is in the portal. I assure you that is not Rick's first priority .
Perhaps a clearer focus might be a discussion of Rick's checklist when evaluating players ... but then again ... if we are measuring his success from "our" list ... well there is bound to be more disappointment on the horizon.

No one said he’s not capable of recruiting great PGs. Weird rant.

 

[cncchris33]

Dang, so they would still be rotated like a 3/4 then? I think we are already stacked in that position. Who's getting the minutes?

Well, I don't think we would be bringing either guy in to sit the bench. I also think both guys bring an element of something we didn't have, last year. Knecht would allow a guy like Carr to come along slowly without needing to be heavily relied upon as a freshman. Ledlum seems to be the type of undersized post that the staff is trying to make out of DJ Jefferson. Perhaps an Armani Moore type.

 

[hotcypress]

Now that Santi is back, I'm not as worried about who's going to play point. If we get Knecht in conjunction with Gainey, I think we've solved our worst problem: lack of shooting. I'd love to have more players that can play downhill, but I'm hoping we get that from an improved Mashack and Dillone. Anything ZZ can give us next season will be a bonus.

 

[wtmvol]

"His numbers plummeted" is a bit dramatic. His efficiency dropped, but it came at the expense of being the go-to leader on the team who was more relied upon to be the primary scorer. He took 117 more shots as a sophomore (a 37.7% increase) than he did as a freshman. He took 53 more 3s (a 52.5% increase). The 49.3% from 3 during his freshman year just wasn't sustainable. Steph Curry never shot 49.3% from 3 in college at Davidson, not even close. Gainey was the primary focus of opposing defenses. His scoring average jumped from 13.8 to 15.2 ppg. He had 5 more assists, 23 more steals, and 21 fewer fouls.

How about "his 3-point shooting regressed to the mean"? But my point still stands - I'm just not seeing what Gainey adds that we don't already have. He's another wing player that doesn't get to the rim or draw fouls.

While he won't be the focal point of opposing defenses, he's also not going to get a ton of wide open looks at this level unless he develops an ability to beat defenders off the dribble to make them think about crowding him. So I think it's likelier that his 3P% goes down from 33% than up.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

How about "his 3-point shooting regressed to the mean"? But my point still stands - I'm just not seeing what Gainey adds that we don't already have. He's another wing player that doesn't get to the rim or draw fouls.

While he won't be the focal point of opposing defenses, he's also not going to get a ton of wide open looks at this level unless he develops an ability to beat defenders off the dribble to make them think about crowding him. So I think it's likelier that his 3P% goes down from 33% than up.

When was he at 33%?

As for what he adds that we don’t have? How many 40%+ 3pt shooters on 300+ attempts do we have on the roster?