Signed Recruit Thread 2018-19

[Major Majerus]

4 hours ago, Box and Won said:

L

33 & 8 after all that sitting out??!!  Anyone worried anymore about opponents dissing his shot & not guarding him?  Might be on the verge of the greatest SLU TEAM OF ALL TIME 

[almaman]

Today and the verge of which you speak seems ever so far.

[gobillsgo]

3 minutes ago, almaman said:

Today and the verge of which you speak seems ever so far.

This, and also it gets tiring saying, “Wait til next year”. Because then something happens and we lose players and it gets pushed back to the NEXT year.  At some point you’ve just gotta win. 

[Pistol]

I can't find Collins' numbers from game 2, but St. Mary's lost to Chaminade (West Hills, CA) 72--65.

Terrence Hargrove had 13 and 9 in a 62-52 loss to Warren Central, the top team in Indiana.

[NextYearBill]

On 12/22/2018 at 3:48 PM, gobillsgo said:

This, and also it gets tiring saying, “Wait til next year”. Because then something happens and we lose players and it gets pushed back to the NEXT year.  At some point you’ve just gotta win. 

the basis for my screen name, nextyearbill......

[Aquinas]

We know every team is going to pack in the defence until we hit more outside shots. We know we have shooters coming next year, but that doesn't help this season. At the moment, Bess and Isabell are the only threats that require attention.  The one move that might produce an immediate change is having Gordon put up more 3s.  If he hits them, it forces opponents to pull a big man out from under the basket.  Open up the middle and everything changes. Coach would need Gordon look for and take the shot.  Thatch and Goodwin will hopefully improve as well. I think our success this season will largely mirror the development of Gordon.

[willie]

26 minutes ago, Aquinas said:

We know every team is going to pack in the defence until we hit more outside shots. We know we have shooters coming next year, but that doesn't help this season. At the moment, Bess and Isabell are the only threats that require attention.  The one move that might produce an immediate change is having Gordon put up more 3s.  If he hits them, it forces opponents to pull a big man out from under the basket.  Open up the middle and everything changes. Coach would need Gordon look for and take the shot.  Thatch and Goodwin will hopefully improve as well. I think our success this season will largely mirror the development of Gordon.

I don’t want Gordon shooting 3’s. The last one he took was an air ball. The kid has great moves in the post. Keep him there. 

[billiken_roy]

2 minutes ago, willie said:

I don’t want Gordon shooting 3’s. The last one he took was an air ball. The kid has great moves in the post. Keep him there. 

Totally agree.   Why take away a strength for an unproven.

[billikenfan05]

23 minutes ago, willie said:

I don’t want Gordon shooting 3’s. The last one he took was an air ball. The kid has great moves in the post. Keep him there. 

It’s not like you’re giving the kid the green  light but at least throw him a yellow. He’s shown he can knock it down. Once a game isn’t going to hurt.

[VeniceMenace]

1 hour ago, Aquinas said:

We know every team is going to pack in the defence until we hit more outside shots. We know we have shooters coming next year, but that doesn't help this season. At the moment, Bess and Isabell are the only threats that require attention.  The one move that might produce an immediate change is having Gordon put up more 3s.  If he hits them, it forces opponents to pull a big man out from under the basket.  Open up the middle and everything changes. Coach would need Gordon look for and take the shot.  Thatch and Goodwin will hopefully improve as well. I think our success this season will largely mirror the development of Gordon.

These guys coming in next year are so good they’re not just your ordinary shooters, they’re what’s called “Bucket Getters.”

[WVBilliken]

3 hours ago, Aquinas said:

We know every team is going to pack in the defence until we hit more outside shots. We know we have shooters coming next year, but that doesn't help this season. At the moment, Bess and Isabell are the only threats that require attention.  The one move that might produce an immediate change is having Gordon put up more 3s.  If he hits them, it forces opponents to pull a big man out from under the basket.  Open up the middle and everything changes. Coach would need Gordon look for and take the shot.  Thatch and Goodwin will hopefully improve as well. I think our success this season will largely mirror the development of Gordon.

Maybe Welmer will come back soon to help the 3 point shooting. LOL.  

[Billiken Rich]

43 minutes ago, WVBilliken said:

Maybe Welmer will come back soon to help the 3 point shooting. LOL.  

Please just stop......

[slu72]

It's not right to take cheap shots at Wellmer. I'm sure he'd rather be playing than wondering if his feet are going to be a chronic health problem. 

[Old guy]

I am absolutely certain that Welmer would like to be able to play.

[drkelsey55]

22 hours ago, willie said:

I don’t want Gordon shooting 3’s. The last one he took was an air ball. The kid has great moves in the post. Keep him there. 

It wasn't a shoot. It was a great pass, Goodwin scored a basket when he caught it. Should have counted as an assist.

[willie]

7 hours ago, drkelsey55 said:

It wasn't a shoot. It was a great pass, Goodwin scored a basket when he caught it. Should have counted as an assist.

Yeah right. 

[cgeldmacher]

On 12/24/2018 at 2:23 PM, willie said:

I don’t want Gordon shooting 3’s. The last one he took was an air ball. The kid has great moves in the post. Keep him there. 

The point that was being made was to  get him one or two a game to draw the defense out.  If the guy guarding him has to follow him out to the three point line, it opens up more opportunities underneath and for him to drive on a guy, which I'm confident he would successful with.

[billikenfan05]

32 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said:

The point that was being made was to  get him one or two a game to draw the defense out.  If the guy guarding him has to follow him out to the three point line, it opens up more opportunities underneath and for him to drive on a guy, which I'm confident he would successful with.

Exactly, it's about keeping defenses honest and giving Gordon the chance to take his man off the dribble which he has excelled at IMO.

[billiken_roy]

he'll score more on putbacks for being near the basket then he will score at this point in his career shooting 1 or 2 threes a game.   all we would be doing is taking away a man that is built to rebound and score on the inside.  

[billikenfan05]

6 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

he'll score more on putbacks for being near the basket then he will score at this point in his career shooting 1 or 2 threes a game.   all we would be doing is taking away a man that is built to rebound and score on the inside.  

 Nobody is saying change strategy or turn CG into a guard. What's being suggested is that when he finds himself at the top of the key with a defender sagging off of him (this happens in the course of the game fairly often) he should fire it up every once in awhile, nothing crazy just force defenders to get up on him. It will also pull their big guarding him away from the basket.

[willie]

48 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said:

The point that was being made was to  get him one or two a game to draw the defense out.  If the guy guarding him has to follow him out to the three point line, it opens up more opportunities underneath and for him to drive on a guy, which I'm confident he would successful with.

You are assuming that he can make the shot in some reasonable percentage. Nobody will follow him out if he can't make it. 

[billikenfan05]

1 minute ago, willie said:

You are assuming that he can make the shot in some reasonable percentage. Nobody will follow him out if he can't make it. 

He's 2-5 so far. We'll never know if he can keep it up. I'm willing to take a tiny  risk.

[billiken_roy]

that one senior year loe had has spoiled the mindset of the billiken fandom.  

[3star_recruit]

With all due respect we have an entire high school career that suggests Gordon isn't a three point shooter. If he were 1-5 from three right now instead of 2-5, we're not even having this conversation.

[RUBillsFan]

1 hour ago, 3star_recruit said:

With all due respect we have an entire high school career that suggests Gordon isn't a three point shooter. If he were 1-5 from three right now instead of 2-5, we're not even having this conversation.

Gordon didn't take many 3s in HS, but I don't think we have the data from HS to say that he isn't a 3 pt shooter.  Here are the stats:

2014-15 Vianney 0-1 0%

2015-16 Vianney 2-4 50%

2016-17 Webster 0-0 n/a%

2017-18 Webster 0-6 0%

Total 2 - 11 18%

Just like you're not willing to say Gordon is a decent shooter because he is 2-5 so far, I'm not willing to write him off after a 2-11 performance over 4 years in HS.  These sample sizes are too small and spread over too many years to matter at all.  He likely didn't shoot at all in HS because he didn't have to.  His size / athleticism in HS allowed him to dominate the paint in a way that going outside didn't make sense.  I'm not sure we can say the same in college (yet).  His HS teams also perhaps had better shooters around him to space the floor and/or spacing the floor isn't as important in HS.  Further, we don't know what kind of work Gordon put in on his outside shot between his senior year and now.

This is a secondary concern for sure, but if Gordon is going to have any kind of NBA career he is going to have to be able to knock down 3 pointers at a decent rate.  He's undersized as an inside player by NBA standards and won't have the athleticism advantage he enjoys in college.  Therefore, he should be working on his shot for the sake of his professional future.  That's not to say I want freshman year Gordon jacking up a bunch of 3s every game.  However, if he has worked or continues to work on his shot and can make them at a decent clip, then why not.  We need to be able to space the floor better than we currently do.

Gordon (if he can can knock down 3s at even a slightly below average rate) with the current SLU team is a little bit like Joel Embiid with the 76ers.  Emiid's bread and butter isn't shooting 3s, but the 76ers need him to pop those open 3s in order to space the floor because he is surrounded by other non-shooters like Ben Simmons.