Yea it all makes sense. Agree with all that
The discussion of backup PG and secondary ballhandler can get a little jumbled. Secondary ballhandler is probably someone whoās playing with Reece most of the time. We shall see whether that could be McKneely. I donāt know if it could be Armaan (@ElliottHoo discussed this above, which obviously limits his effectiveness). Murray seems a bit loose with the ball, at the moment. Dunn is a total wildcard.
Backup PG is whoever is spelling Reece for a few minutes every half. Could be Malachi. Could be one of the secondary ballhandlers. Could be a transfer.
I think filling that secondary ballhandler role is very important. But Iām less concerned about backup PG.
Armaan Franklin is sort of the elephant in the room when it comes to next season. On paper you have a veteran guard coming back who averaged double figures and showed up big in a few of our wins, but thereās a lot more to it that many of us here acknowledge.
First of all, heās undersized where heās currently being played. Second, heās not a good enough shooter to justify playing him where heās currently being played. And third, heās not a good enough secondary ball handler to slot in next to Reece in that role. So letās say we add a 3&D wing which many would say is our biggest need.
Ok, that solves the first problem, but you canāt move Armaan over next to Reece because Tony wonāt trust him enough to play him as the best secondary ball handling option.
Ok, so you decide that we need another ball handler instead. We know Tony likes to do this so we get a Llewelyn type of player to fill that role. Problem is we still have Armaan at the 3 where again, heās undersized and still canāt shoot enough to overcome the former shortcoming.
This is a conundrum, because we know how much Tony values experience in the system and there isnāt a lot of precedent for a double figure scorer returning as an upperclassman and seeing a substantial minutes reduction. On one hand, you could argue Armaan played so much because we lacked secondary option, but on the other hand, the more jaded view is that Tony likely has him penciled in for 25-30 minutes a game next year too.
In an ideal world, Armaan is a 6th or 7th man. A role I believe he would fill well and might actually help him with the shooting challenges weāve seen. I think Tony will ultimately prioritize adding a proven guard to play next to Reece so we have a secondary ball handler and donāt have to rush PT for our first years, but I do worry that means a penciled in starting spot for Armaan which means another year of limited spacing from the starters.
In an even more ideal world, Tony goes back to his 2017 ways and implements a 8-9, sometimes even 10, player rotation, and we see the young guys (a la Jerome, Diakite, Guy that year) assert themselves and steal PT as the season goes on. Weāre still so jaded from these short rotation, starter-heavy minutes from the last few years that itās so hard to imagine a world where each game might see a different group of players come off the bench and log heavy minutes.
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This came up a few weeks ago, and I mentioned Woldo as a senior guard (also transfer, albeit JUCO) who lost significant minutes. I donāt remember if he was a double-digit scorer.
I donāt think Armaan is penciled in for anything. I think he will be in the mix with a few other guys for the 2/3 minutes. Heās got a leg up over Dunn and McKneely (Bond is more of a 3/4) because heās got a year in the system. Heās got a leg up over Taine because heās older and has a year starting in the system. But those three all may have more skillsā¦ And this ignores potential transfers and/or guys from Norcross GA who may or may not decide to play for us next year.
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Yes thatās all true but he has a major leg up if you think about what Tony most values. His familiarity with the packline alone gives him a high floor of minutes in my opinion.
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You always hear of guys working on their shot and especially threes in the off season. How many really work on their handles I wonder.
Even my favorite Reece!! could tighten is up a bit in my and @chavlicek15s opinion
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I donāt think this is accurate based off Armaanās usage this year. Now whether Tony should trust Armaan as a secondary ballhandler is a different discussion
Not many do ā¦ I remember in college I was mentoring a local HS kid who was pretty good but not heavily recruited at all - likely could have gone D3 out of HS. He would come to open gym and do ball handling drills on the side and wouldnāt play pick up games until he was done ā¦ many times he wouldnāt play at all because he didnāt have enough time to do both ā¦ He went JuCo and actually gray shirted for a year and kept working on his skills - eventually ended up playing D1 by his redshirt sophomore year. His dedication was impressive.
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The closest example I can think of was Shayok transferring out after 2017. CTB didnāt bench him, but he presumably saw the writing on the wall (perhaps CTB flat out told him) so he transferred instead.
However, its worth remembering that Shayok very much was not a settled starter. Shayok only started 14 games and didnāt play more than 20 minutes in any OOC games. Armaan started twice as many games for UVA this year than Shayok did in total.
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What league was he D1 in ?
Cal State Fullerton - Big West - they play Duke today.
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Shayok talks about it in the Intangible book. He wanted to be the featured offensive player and Tony was straight up with him (on not promising anything and defense mattering to get minutes) but he remained really positive on Tony.
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https://twitter.com/uvahoopsriffs/status/1505924477976256514?s=21
Is this based on anything at all?? Or is it literally just a feeling
He doesnāt know anything. Probably just has a feeling
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Thatās what I figured
Lol we are not returning 5 starters from this yearās team. And we cant have 3 years of reece without March madness level floor spaces at the 2-3. Need something different in any regard
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You know what would be really cool. If Kihei came back as a player and agreed to be like a player coach as a reserve. Only use him in case of injury or some such. Continue to mentor younger guards and players but really be involved on court in practices etc.
OK, nevermind
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I agree, but yet again, we donāt always agree with what Tony chooses to do with the rosterā¦
Iām not sure Iād go as far as āuse him only in case of injury.ā But I think heād be awesome in a limited, complementary role, taking some pressure off the new players, giving us a reliable backup point guard, providing a defensive spark. And continuing to be a mentor for the younger players.
Would he be willing to take on a role like that? Would Tony want to do that? I donāt pretend to know. But it wouldnāt surprise me. Itās a bonus year and he has nothing left to prove.
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In case of injury more of an example. foul trouble whatever but we on same page with this genius never before done idea
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